> It’s only a matter of time before the modern Phoebus cartel starts blocking Firefox.
I feel like nobody will have to consciously do anything in particular, with the current way how things are going.
- Chromium is the modern IE and developers will primarily be on the hook for supporting it, Firefox support will be an afterthought so some sites will just be broken, moving more users over to Chromium.
- The Firefox marketshare is dwindling, it's likely that the users with proper ad blocking will eventually be a rounding error and therefore quite inconsequential. Especially if there are any more ad-related APIs pushed by Chrome that make users more profitable (e.g. Topics API).
- Even among tech enthusiasts, Mozilla in particular doesn't have very good reputation (e.g. how much they spend on actually improving the browser vs other initiatives) and I don't see the marketshare of Firefox skyrocketing, unless something big happens. New competitors like Ladybird are also niche, though it's a really cool project.
- If Apple ever moves over Safari to Chromium, like Edge did, then that effect will only be amplified.
Yet I genuinely don't understand how people can tolerate the modern web with ads?
It's possible some people accept it because they don't know any better, but I have never seen anyone going back once they realize it's possible to get rid of the pollution; I have never heard anyone say "where dit the ads go? I miss them".
So maybe it's just our responsibility as power users to educate our friends more?
The more people block ads, the bigger the incentive for companies to invest in blocking blockers. In a way, it's in the interest of power users to keep their tricks obscure so it's not worth to eliminate these options.
I honestly don't understand it either! I'm a screen reader user, and if I had to use the web without adblock, it would take me a lot longer!!! However, I have friends who also use screen readers who do!!
We were seen as failing a security audit recently for having firefox installed on some of the development laptops and got ordered to remove it by IT who conceeded that it was stupid but had to check boxes for insurance is ISO standards.
This causes the majority of people to only be exposed to Edge/IE or Chrome at work, and use their phones the rest of the time.
I can live with that. By blocking Firefox they would self identify as user hostile in the same way that google has done with V3. I think this would a huge step forward, a massive shit filter.
A certain amount of websites are mandatory today, like local utilities, employer chosen health insurance, etc. I have to keep Chromium around for some that don't work right with Firefox.
I feel like nobody will have to consciously do anything in particular, with the current way how things are going.
- Chromium is the modern IE and developers will primarily be on the hook for supporting it, Firefox support will be an afterthought so some sites will just be broken, moving more users over to Chromium.
- The Firefox marketshare is dwindling, it's likely that the users with proper ad blocking will eventually be a rounding error and therefore quite inconsequential. Especially if there are any more ad-related APIs pushed by Chrome that make users more profitable (e.g. Topics API).
- Even among tech enthusiasts, Mozilla in particular doesn't have very good reputation (e.g. how much they spend on actually improving the browser vs other initiatives) and I don't see the marketshare of Firefox skyrocketing, unless something big happens. New competitors like Ladybird are also niche, though it's a really cool project.
- If Apple ever moves over Safari to Chromium, like Edge did, then that effect will only be amplified.