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a) There should have already been a kill switch. I shouldn't have had to go into about:config and mess with a bunch of settings over the last few browser updates.

b) Vivaldi has made a public no-AI statement. I prefer FF, but a good alternative is sitting there waiting.

c) Mozilla really needs to move the HQ away from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The toxic inward-looking techbro culture is corrosive, no matter how much they might try to be different. Almost anywhere else would be better, maybe even Europe.

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Quoting: Kimyrielle

Quoting: CentrisToo late. Already got rid of FF.

Hmm... now you made me curious what you replaced it with. The only other widespread browser engines I am aware of are made by Google and Apple. And replacing the only major free browser engine with a corporate product would be an interesting choice, wouldn't it?

In my case, I switched to LibreWolf. It's Firefox based but with enhanced tracking protection (anti fingerprinting) and with all the stupid things Firefox has been adding lately also removed.

Took me like 5 minutes to switch: install the browser, copy the profile from Firefox and done, I had all my tabs, all my extensions, the configuration, etc.

The only warning is due to the enhanced tracking protection, some pages might break (e.g. typically calendar apps will show incorrect time due to timezone spoofing) or if you use dark theme it might get ignored. You can disable the protections globally or per site to go back to the correct behavior.

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Quoting: doragasuToo late, today I switched to LibreWolf after literally DECADES of loyalty, and everything is working great, I'm not going back unless things change A LOT.

Also about that killswitch, let me guess, it will be opt-out and will reset each time a update is installed, right?

btw read those settings above. They are currently enabled in Librewolf too.

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Too late, today I switched to LibreWolf after literally DECADES of loyalty, and everything is working great, I'm not going back unless things change A LOT.

Also about that killswitch, let me guess, it will be opt-out and will reset each time a update is installed, right?

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Quoting: CentrisToo late. Already got rid of FF.

Hmm... now you made me curious what you replaced it with. The only other widespread browser engines I am aware of are made by Google and Apple. And replacing the only major free browser engine with a corporate product would be an interesting choice, wouldn't it?

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Quoting: Cley_Fayeso I'll take the kill switch.

_
As i mentioned in my other post, i'll take the conscientious FOSS Dev's pouring over the code to make sure it's actually fully 'Off'.

Speaking of which:

Spoiler, click me

Apple experienced a significant security flaw in FaceTime in early 2019 that allowed users to eavesdrop on others without their knowledge or consent. This bug affected the Group FaceTime feature and sparked widespread concern over user privacy.

The issue was first discovered in January 2019 and became publicly known when it was reported that a teenager in Texas had found the vulnerability and alerted Apple. Notably, the bug allowed a caller to activate the microphone—and in some cases, the front-facing camera—of the recipient’s device even if the recipient did not answer the call

Is that related to Ai ? Not specifically but it does show how a piece of software can be unintentionally ( or maliciously) coded to function in a way that the user has no knowledge of until it's too late. We trust these devices more than ever, there can be no ambiguity with privacy or security and by extension we have to place a certain degree of trust in the Company maintaining the software.

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I'm not totally agreeing with the direction Mozilla is taking Firefox. And by that I mean I'm opposed to many of the decisions that plagued the software in the last half decade.

This is another one. The "AI everywhere" thing is problematic for a lot of reasons, some listed here:

- privacy issue with third party
- trust in the software itself
- normalizing uses that may or may not have short and long-term negative impact on people
- diverting funding for small-ish projects (I'm sure integrating AI everywhere is far from free in term of dev time)
- aggressive "be all end all" approach
- intrusiveness

With that said. If Mozilla is bent on adding these features, AND they keep maintaining Firefox as a browser (you know, the thing it should be), keep it as compliant as possible with evolving specs, etc., while having a clear, proven to work "AI kill switch" on the side, sure, why not.

I still fear that this will lead to less resources allocated to actually useful stuff, and that it is part of normalizing the mindset of "we can't do anything without AI", but currently the alternative is "go back to chrome" or "use forks that don't have the resources to keep things clean", so I'll take the kill switch.

…until some other, more sane alternative gets seriously worked on. If the FSF decided to publish and maintain a free, working browser, I'd up my donations I guess. Or to anyone else for that matter; a working, up-to-date browser is kind of a big thing these days.

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btw in the last Firefox thread someone mentioned you have to set 'browser.ml.enable' to 'false' in about:config.

Actually it might be more like a whole bunch of this:

browser.ml.enable

browser.ml.chat.enabled

browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled

extensions.ml.enabled

browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled

browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled

browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge

browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge

browser.ml.chat.shortcuts

browser.ml.chat.shortcuts.custom

browser.ml.chat.sidebar

browser.ml.checkForMemory

browser.ml.linkPreview.shift

____________
Disclaimer*: Im not advocating for anyone to do this, if it breaks your browser experience then that's on you to set at your own discretion. Just pointing out how un-user friendly this is for non tech savvy folk who want to use firefox daily.

Just Having a big 'Turn Ai Off' button is pretty lame, it should either be a browser extension or be turned Off by Default and have a pop up to ask if the user want's it enabled ( within which information is displayed as to how it works and what data is gathered in full )

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When talking about 'Ai' , but for web use when asking simple questions it always seems to present anything you asked about as being correct even if it's not.. it's kind of hard to explain but almost like excessive flattery, & the information isn't always correct when i do manual research on the same question, perhaps i look at a tutorial video. i.e the consensus vs the common-sense(sus) from a human.

But then, if you ask it something intentionally controversial it reverts to what seems like a pre-defined script offering no true insight but just guard rails to shuffle you back to a predefined end point, no learning, no intelligence essentially ingrained propaganda.. it reminds me of the basic talk programs i used to write on my ZXSpectrum , literally no better.

And to think that there is around half a trillion $ invested in this stuff. What's a viable use case so far for normal people to subscribe and pay for it ? , im not even convinced there is any enhanced ad tracking revenue from it either more than the current algorithms. Just a way to summarize (badly) a webpage and render some creepy looking images , which again .. im not paying either. Oh and Ai music isn't anything other than formulaic garbage.

What about the mistakes too, no human required to vet that brand new Ai vibe code when machines start faltering and killing people ? Sound's like it will cost a lot more money in the end and possible prison sentences.

Im not against tech in general, this time though i just don't see it doing anything other than augmenting existing situations but with the same caveats as a normal system which is that a human needs to trust that system and that still requires non Ai human intervention.

BTW not convinced by FF here, i run Librewolf which also has the ML turned on by default. Not sure where to turn but im pleased there are Dev's out there keeping a beady eye on any blackbox stealth features these companies might add.

That's the power of FOSS :)

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On one hand I'm glad, but on the other hand, I'm starting to think that Mozilla would be better off if they put slightly more of their budget towards getting competent PR people, rather than AI features.

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I assume the first video on the Steam page is the same as the YouTube trailer; YouTube seems to be actively hostile to non-Chrome browsers yet again.

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25.3.0/1 had a bug that forced me to downgrade to 25.2.7 if I wanted to use SteamVR, so let's hope that one's fixed too.

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Nah. Mozilla's burned too much goodwill with their various stunts and I honestly don't trust them any more. It's off to Waterfox for me.

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Quoting: rea987Fuck. Is there a Firefox fork that supports DRM for Spotify, Netflix, HBO Max etc?

Waterfox

When FF changed the language to be as vague as possible a few months ago i left it after using it since the netscape days in the 90's.

I dont give a toss about large profit making corps wanting to stuff ads in my face. I will refuse to pay for that as well in the form of M$. So i just left windows when 10 died and moved to linux. Nobara, so can still game.

So i am sure as heck not going to stick around by FF.

I worried about these FF spin offs that i use. Brave might be big enough to to get sucked into AI as they have to fork FF and delete stuff.

I watch Netflix on water fox.

You might be able to get Librefox to do it now.

There is also a japanese one called Floorp or something like that i tried for a FF. Not sure if it ran netflix though.

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Too late. Already got rid of FF.

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So ones looking for AI options will be able to use them and ones who want to nuke them from orbit will also be able to do so. Perfect middle ground.

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It's shocking to me that none of these big companies have made the realization of "Hey, you know what would go over really well? Committing to NOT adopting AI in our product." Out of anyone, it should've been Mozilla.

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if i'm being extremely charitable - i can see how a focus on AI might support their goal of diversifying funding away from google (by hitching their wagon to the AI bubble)

you have to assume that at the board level it's being done out of sincere belief and motivation though, so we'll see.

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This sounds great! I had actually never heard of Revenge of the Savage Planet, so I looked it up: it's a scifi action coop game. Not really my thing, but this is cool they did another update to Museum! Going to have to fire that back up sometime soon.

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Quoting: JarmerAs a follow up to my own comment LOL:

https://bsky.app/profile/zen-browser.app/post/3ma4y3npgjk2e

So Zen is safe (for now). So seems like we have:

librewolf
zen
waterfox

as the privacy focused - fuck you ai - alternatives.

There are also tor-browser and thus mulvlad browser.

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Quoting: ChrisznixAnother one percenter (new releases) here. Guess i am an old man of habit. :)
I really lile this feature. While i get that this is a bummer for people that only play offline, it shows that they don´t collect any data then. Which is something i really like. They easily could have snuck in a service that tracks things offline.

or at least they don't share it publicly, which still is a great improvement.

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Neat(h).

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Quoting: LoudTechie

Quoting: vic-baythankfully steam controller 2 is around the corner, so i will be looking to that as my next controller.

wtf is firmware update in xbox controller? how and why it breaks any compatibility?

xbox controller should be a braindead simple device with design that has practically no changes for three decades, it is a dualshock 1 with dpad and left stick swapped. what firmware updates can it possible have?

i know what these updates do. they are made for the sole purpose of breaking compatibility with non-windows machines. although microsoft only shoot themselves in the foot with this decision.

at this point whatever they do just makes everyone hate them more.

I assure you that compatibility breaking frimware updates can have reasonable cause.
Things like EU cybersecurity laws, anti-cheat compatibility and cummulative memory corruption.
I do suspect you're right in this case though.

Under Linux, there is FWUPD in command line and Gnome-Firmware in graphical version which allow you to update your various firmwares, provided that the manufacturer of your hardware supports it. This is particularly the case for Dell, Leonovo, etc.

Unfortunately, Microsoft makes very little effort on its own initiative to offer drivers or frimwares compatible with its hardware for Linux. ANd this has absolutely nothing to do with European laws, anti-cheating systems or anything else. It's just that Microsoft is refusing to do it for now ;-(

About 25-30 years ago, Microsoft filed a criminal complaint against Linux, falsely claiming that Linux was copying Microsoft's source code! They lost the case... They just wanted to undermine Linux by any means possible, even immoral and dishonest ones.

Since then, the hatchet seems to have been buried. While more than 50% of the servers used by Microsoft run on Linux, they remain hostile to the widespread adoption of this OS by the general public.

Today Linux is clearly the best choice for users in terms of free access, respect for privacy, stability, performance and durability of hardware support.

This situation is solely due to Windows 11 and its undesirable features : UEFI required, TPM 2.0, Online accounts have become almost mandatory (forcing you to provide your administrator password to Microsoft and their associates), Advertisements for their own products, Data collection without user consent and now they want to force us to use their AI in Windows 11 even though all security experts say there is a serious security problem with this type of functionality... ;-(

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that is because most of the time spent playing 2025 AAA relases was on epic desperate store, with they paying an premium price for big companies to give away their floped games for free. 😆

then people proceed to download and never purchase an thing on their store.

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%98 Linux %2 windows no deck
%76 The Finals %6 Strinova %6 HOI4 %5 Mecha Break. Huh I didn't know I had that much playtime in Strinova or Mecha Break.

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Quoting: tmtvlThe LibreWolf devs, on the other hand, have already stated that they won't be able to keep development going if Mozilla implodes.

yeah that's the most worrisome. I wonder about Zen in that case as well. Oh well, once Orion for linux releases, I think I'll be all-in on that on every machine I have (desktop / laptop / tablet / phone).

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Quoting: vic-baythankfully steam controller 2 is around the corner, so i will be looking to that as my next controller.

wtf is firmware update in xbox controller? how and why it breaks any compatibility?

xbox controller should be a braindead simple device with design that has practically no changes for three decades, it is a dualshock 1 with dpad and left stick swapped. what firmware updates can it possible have?

i know what these updates do. they are made for the sole purpose of breaking compatibility with non-windows machines. although microsoft only shoot themselves in the foot with this decision.

at this point whatever they do just makes everyone hate them more.

I assure you that compatibility breaking frimware updates can have reasonable cause.
Things like EU cybersecurity laws, anti-cheat compatibility and cummulative memory corruption.
I do suspect you're right in this case though.

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thankfully steam controller 2 is around the corner, so i will be looking to that as my next controller.

wtf is firmware update in xbox controller? how and why it breaks any compatibility?

xbox controller should be a braindead simple device with design that has practically no changes for three decades, it is a dualshock 1 with dpad and left stick swapped. what firmware updates can it possible have?

i know what these updates do. they are made for the sole purpose of breaking compatibility with non-windows machines. although microsoft only shoot themselves in the foot with this decision.

at this point whatever they do just makes everyone hate them more.

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My backlog clearing progresses with 123 games played (and still I have a ton of games from different bundles which I have yet to play). Most of my Steam gaming happens on the Deck, as GOG doesn't track me like Steam does I can't know for sure, but I expect that the real stats would be more balanced. I'm also 1 whole percentage point over the Steam average at 15% playtime for 2025 releases (which is doubtlessly because of Digimon Story Time Stranger).

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Quoting: rea987Fuck. Is there a Firefox fork that supports DRM for Spotify, Netflix, HBO Max etc?

[Waterfox](https://www.waterfox.com/) supports DRM if you need it. I also like it because they have the foresight to look for sponsors so if/when Mozilla goes entirely off the deep end Waterfox can go its own way. The LibreWolf devs, on the other hand, have already stated that they won't be able to keep development going if Mozilla implodes.

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