The inherent problem with creating a new browser/platform is getting people to create addons/extensions for it.
If you don’t think Google could do this, think again. Google has an iron grip on the Chromium project.
From the beginning of its time with Google, Android was touted as THE open-source phone operating system. The Android Open Source Project was used by several projects to create their own version of Android.
Then at a certain point, Google introduced an app called Google Play Services. This app is not open source and contains all of the stuff you need to access Google’s services.
Years ago, I would have recommended Firefox as a good alternative option. However, in the last couple of years, the Mozilla Foundation has been speaking more and more favorably of censorship.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
They are clearly not sponsored by Brave.
This is a problem I see in privacy circles a lot. Yes, Mozilla definitely has a lot of problems, but people immediately start saying that it’s just as bad as Google and/or that you should use a Firefox version that’s entirely forked and not dependent on the upstream Mozilla repo or something.
IMO, at most use Fennec F-droid and IceCat (which still rely on the upstream Mozilla code) if you can’t stand Mozilla, but to say that they’re just as bad as Google is just wrong.
You can use Pale Moon or Basilisk based browsers that are developed independently. Only in security backports things from Mozilla Firefox but it is not dependent on it and it is only to make implementation faster.
They are not close to Google but they are still doing pretty shady shit:
- That “fake news detection” or whatever feature
- Google Safe Browsing
- Integrating Widevine etc.
I mentioned Widevine in the article. They came out and said they don’t support open source.
I’m a bit on the fence regarding WideVine. It is important to keep everything open, but broad adoption is also important. Not implementing DRM would make Firefox unusable for many users.
Pretty much any american foundation has been capture by this cultural revolution occurring in the USA. It’s not very close but there are some parallels to the Chinese cultural revolution, where a country cuts off its nose in spite of its face. IMO the European software foundations are less affected by sociopolitical upheaval happening in the states. KDE, Debian, and other European based FOSS programs haven’t had to jump through the same hoops. I hope KDE Falkon gets a resurgence because of this.
What are you talking about and what does that have to do with my comment?
Mozilla Corp is based in California.
That still has nothing to do with the comment I left that you replied to. Find somewhere else to soapbox.
Sorry bud, I can soapbox anywhere I want on Lemmy, just like you friend! If you don’t like what I have to say you can down vote me, but telling me to go away is immature.
If you don’t see the connection to what I’m saying to what you wrote then that’s your lack of understanding, not mine or others.
Oh, okay. Then the response I’m looking for is,
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Certainly your right to roll your eyes, much like I’m rolling my eyes at your response 😉
Is Google Locking Down Chrome to Resist the Rise of Chromium Based Browsers?
Yes?
It was just a matter of time.
There have been a few good articles posted here about this in the past. I will try to dig some up from desktop.
A lot of attention is being paid to the sync feature, which I would just assume have removed entirely. A bigger issue imo, is this “Google has an iron grip on the Chromium project” because if they defund mozilla and break chromium, the internet quickly becomes a chrome and safari garden with all the tracking (cookie-less or otherwise). This is another reason to start using gemini and keep a close eye on google’s centralisation tactics.
edit: here is one past post with commentary: Chromium maintainer for Fedora has disabled Sync and Google Sign-In support right now https://lemmy.ml/post/49089 , https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2021-48866282e5
I am afraid that Gemini is not the answer in this case. Gemini is not supposed to replace the Web, it is supposed to coexist along the Web, meant for different use cases. One couldn’t host Lemmy on Gemini for example. If we want to find an alternative, we would need to look elsewhere, as far as I know.
Yes, it is just another reason to use gemini, not as a replacement but as an option keep paths open outside the garden walls. You could mirror lemmy on gemini like this lobsters example gemini://typed-hole.org/lobsters/lobsters.gemini
https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/typed-hole.org/lobsters/lobsters.gemini
But yes, it seems we still need a browser for most things.
How do I use Gemini? it seems intresting
there’s a community /c/gemini with some basic information
For starters, you can visit gemini sites through the browser at https://portal.mozz.us
and there is a list of clients (and servers) here:
https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemini.circumlunar.space/software/
on iOS I use deedum and on laptop lagrange
some android people can probably recommend a good app and command-line enthusiasts probably have good cli options
here is a another list of resources: https://github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini
Deedum works on Android too, but there are many other applications if necessary, e.g. Ariane.
I agree. This is exactly what was missing in my reply and I should have thought about that. Having an option to escape walled gardens is just as important, even if for example Gemini is not sufficient to replace the modern Web entirely.
You could mirror lemmy on gemini
Ye, but not communicate easily, allow multiple users to post etc. In general, if I am not mistaken, the problem with Gemini would be its passive, read-only nature from the point of view of a capsule’s visitor (not creator).
In terms of interactivity, I need to look more into this bliz. I don’t know what it is capable of, but maybe some limited form of a comment section could be implemented
Bliz is an extension to text files to allow interpolated shell scripting - in this case, the fish shell. Of course, the shell can call any other program to embed content from.
It’s intended to be used to generate gemtext dynamically, but it can just as easily generate any kind of text file.
bliz: Incredibly easy, interpolated server-side scripting for Gemini
example of submitting a search: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gus.guru/search%3Flemmy
more on cgi: https://github.com/makeworld-the-better-one/gemlikes
OK, that seems interesting. Maybe Gemini could be capable of even more than I anticipated then. Will have to look into that.
What would happen to these Chromium-based browsers if Google blocked their access to the Google Chrome Store? Without access to their familiar tools, would they stay with Brave or Edge? I think many would switch back to Chrome because people tend to choose the path of least resistance.
Is the author talking about a scenario which is not yet reality but that is being hinted by some recent moves from Google - or it’s just pure speculation? Has Google somehow manifested the will to block chromium forks from accessing its extensions store?
It’s hypothetical, I think, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened a year or two down the line.
Google isn’t the best company around, but chromium was supposed to be chrome without the Google bits.
Derivatives were also unaffected, since most of them had their own sync solutions. I don’t see how this is a move to harm competitors.
The extension section was interesting, but restricting access to the store would probably mean another lawsuit, which Google has plenty of right now
Yes, this seems like a case of not caring about non-chrome browsers while making sure the API only works with their own client is actually a security benefit for their users. Lets not forget that many people use the sync feature as a password manager, so from Google’s perspective at least this is quite a security issue.
The solution? Use LibreWolf :^3
I don’t use this feature anyway.
Pale Moon deserves more attention. Also, Gemini for the win
Pale Moon’s developers threw a tantrum when OpenBSD devs did, uh, something? that violated their branding policies. That’s not very FOSS of them.
Pale Moon also blocked the “Ad Nauseum” browser extension. I have no idea if this was ever undone because I stopped paying attention to Pale Moon at this point.
Amazing. I didn’t think my opinion of them could sink lower, and yet…
Yeah, I saw that. I don’t understand their argument that you wasting ad payer’s money on fake clicks? who fucking cares? ads shouldn’t exist
Well, sometimes branding is more important than the FOSS ideals :)
UXP devs are painful interacting with people but they had already set option to this and the OpenBSD maintainer didn’t care.
The branding is only added using a build flag and not by default and using it you ensure the browser is compiled as desired by the devs in a way they wouldn’t forbid you for distributing I with the branding.
Even if the OpenBSD devs were in the wrong, that sort of attitude ensures I want nothing to do with the Palemoon devs.
And that is not taking into account the redistribution terms.
Yup, they are pedantic as fuck sometimes. they mean well though.
