I've finally switched to the @Vivaldi browser. I've been using Firefox for as long as I've been on the internet, but the focus on AI means it's no longer the browser for me. Thankfully unlike Chrome, Vivaldi supports the uBlock Origin extension which is the most important extension for being able to browse the web nowadays.
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@Gargron And unfortunately, unlike Firefox, there are major screen reader accessibility problems. I'd really love to switch to it, or something like it, but that makes it hard.
@Gargron Not sure how anyone can feel comfortable trusting a chromium-based browser :(
@Gargron @Vivaldi Before this news, I used Firefox on my phone as an additional browser for viewing sites, but after this news I immediately deleted it, because if I left, then I would have agreed with their artificial intelligence, but I just need a browser that accesses the Internet, and if I need ai, I’ll just go to the official website, I don’t need it in my browser, put in a calculator, messenger, crypto wallet, and maybe even a whole system like firefox os wow, this is some kind 😳
@Gargron I removed Firefox some time ago on my phone and Chromebook. The only instance is my personal laptop and if they put the AI slop there and nuke my using uBlock then I will remove it there too. The work machine will also have it removed too. I have been using Vivaldi for some time and I like it. All I want is a browser that renders pages, quickly and securely.
@Gargron I've been giving #Helium a test run for several days now and I like it a lot. Yeah, it's Chromium based too, but I've tried the Firefox forks and something about each of them was a turn off for me. I just want a web browser that gets out of my way and doesn't try to force me into some new workflow paradigm or make me jump through a bunch of hoops and tacked-on settings to make the web work like it's supposed to. Helium seems like that so far and, until something better comes along, may end up my daily driver. If you're not turned off by the Chromium base, it might be worth a look if that's what you want out of a browser, too.
@Gargron LibreWolf is a good fork of FireFox and has a strong anti-AI stance. They acknowledge that some might slip through, but let them know and it'll be removed. I run Vivaldi and LibreWolf since there are still sites that work on one but not the other. I'm a big fan of FF/LW containers to separate work, banking etc. Good for parking Google things so most things are done "logged out" but can still use their services when you want.
@Gargron
I spontanously changed from #Firefox to @librewolf yesterday. Took like half an hour of time.
Bye AI crap 🚮
Wonder what this means for @privacyguides recommendations on web browsers other than chrome and Firefox
@Gargron I think the problem is somewhat exaggerated until we see actual negative actions from Mozilla.
@Gargron @Vivaldi That seems like a step backwards to be very honest. Firefox is a truly open-source project, with its own nuts and bolts under the hood, whereas Vivaldi is just another Chromium fork with a bunch of proprietary bits strapped to it.
I don't agree with the choices from Mozilla, but if everything is opt-in, local, and respects user privacy, what is the problem? And if it does bother you, why not use something like LibeWolf?
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115737483111161917
@Gargron @Vivaldi I did the same. For a few weeks. Then I met Zen Browser.
Less is more.
@Gargron That's a reasonable switch, made one such myselfnot long ago. But got really tired of the Opera era bloat, so I'm now on Zen. I recommend making acquaintance with Zen team. They have the strong policy against useless AI and the UI is so less cluttered.
Welcome to the family!
@Gargron What do people think of DuckDuckGo?
@Gargron Have you tried out @zenbrowser?
@Gargron Vivaldi uses Chromium, and therefore Manifest V3
https://vivaldi.com/blog/manifest-v3-update-vivaldi-is-future-proofed-with-its-built-in-functionality/
which breaks uBlock origin. Only Lite will work.
@Gargron @Vivaldi The question is how much longer browsers dependent on Chromium upstream will still be able to support uBlock Origin against Google's will.
The better choice would have been a Firefox-based browser like Waterfox, which takes Firefox and strips it of all the annoying telemetry and AI nonsense
https://www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-here-response-to-mozilla/?v=1
@Gargron
If memory serves me well, my first browser was Netscape - guess my age 😉
Briefly used Mozilla and Opera but Firefox has been my dominant browser after Netscape ever since.
I'm not liking certain decisions within the Mozilla group, including the AI hype, but so far I'm sticking to it.
@Gargron but like chrome, it uses the blink engine and reinforces google's monoculture over web standards, which is ultimately far more disastrous for everyone than whatever "ai" means for firefox. i would hope @Vivaldi uses a different web engine or builds their own, if they care about the future of the web.
@Gargron @Vivaldi - Vivaldi good, if you want to use a Chromium browser (I’m not sure I do).
Still on Firefox here (despite the increasingly bad news), albeit it with the Betterfox user.js file, to limit much of the damage.
Another option for the Mac crowd is the Orion browser, which uses Safari’s guts, but actually makes that browser useful by allowing for most of Chrome and Firefox’s extensions.
@Gargron @Vivaldi vivaldi also autodiscovers #rss feeds on a page (small detail yet speaks volumes about their value system).
It will be heartbreaking to part ways with firefox after decades, but alas mozilla does not seem to have a way out of its enshittification predicament. Pacts with the Devil eventually extract their pound of flesh.
@Gargron @Vivaldi Vivaldi is good browser and very customizable.
As for Firefox, Mozilla's leadership still has no idea how to choose the right direction for the project. The browser is behind competitors, Mozilla depends on Google's funding, there is no clear vision and goals for Firefox and Mozilla.
I'm not saying it because I don't like Firefox as long time ago I was using it for years, but there are problems that put a lot of doubt over the project's future.
I've been using Vivaldi since 2016. Switched after Opera got terminally enshittified. Its main advantage is that its UI doesn't change unless changes are genuinely required for new features. Even when they did a redesign a year or so ago, I was only mad for 10 minutes until I discovered a setting to undo it :D
There are occasional annoying bugs and performance regressions, and the feedback on bug reports could've been better, but overall, I like it.
@Gargron @Vivaldi
I think I'll switch to #Vivaldi as soon as they implement multi-account containers
(https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/25289/multi-account-containers)
@Gargron i hate to be that guy but, why not something like waterfox? https://mastodon.derg.nz/@anthropy/115734945877820056
