cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/20260243

Google Chrome warns uBlock Origin may soon be disabled

Google Chrome is now encouraging uBlock Origin users who have updated to the latest version to switch to other ad blockers before Manifest v2 extensions are disabled.

  • @[email protected]
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    04 months ago

    The issue at hand is not Firefox disappearing overnight. It’s the slow decline of the userbase continuing until the ones that do don’t bring in enough money to keep paying enough developers.

    And no, the devs aren’t going to twiddle their thumbs - they’re going to take jobs elsewhere. Firefox is still mainly dependent on paid labour.

    People could try to start a new company (hopefully another non-profit), but it’ll face the same challenges. I hope it would be successful, but I sure as hell won’t be counting on it and actively contributing to the demise.

    • @[email protected]
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      04 months ago

      Kinda weird that you focus on the financial side on this site of all places. I thought Lemmy didn’t care too much about that.

      But regardless. I don’t care about the financial side. There are several competing open source browsers and any of them can take the helm.

      • @[email protected]
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        04 months ago

        As soon as there’s another spectre level security incident that requires a massive rewrite of the engine, any rendering engine developers with sub 100M budgets are sunk. Frankly 100M is probably being optimistic.

        • @[email protected]
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          04 months ago

          Eh. Like I said… financial shit I don’t care about.

          Spectre wasn’t even Firefox’s fault. It was a CPU vulnerability.

          In the end, if an open source browser cannot step up, some other will and take its place. I’m okay with that.

          • @[email protected]
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            04 months ago

            You may not care about financial shit, but that doesn’t change the reality of the situation. My point is precisely that the financial costs are so prohibitive, that the most likely scenario is that no one will be capable of stepping up long term.

      • @[email protected]
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        04 months ago

        I care about viability. There is no way to keep up a project like Firefox and maintain web compatibility and proper security hygiene by relying on volunteers in today’s world. All those competing open source browsers only have the luxury of not caring about the financial side because they’re relying on the efforts of organisations that do.

        • @[email protected]
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          04 months ago

          I can understand you, friend. We both want the same thing. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to help in that respect, so I’ll help in the ways I can - spreading the word and contributing to code if necessary.

          • @[email protected]
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            04 months ago

            spreading the word and contributing to code if necessary.

            That’s exactly what I’m calling for - keep up the good work!