- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- firefox@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- firefox@lemmy.ml
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Waterfox might have just got a new convert here.
I wish people would stop talking about “AI browsers” like everyone even knows what that actually means.
I wish everyone would stop talking about AI…
I just switched from Firefox to waterfox. It took less than five minutes, and the installation is quite straightforward on Linux. Move the folder to opt, make a symlink, and create a .desktop. The instructions are on the website. I suggest switching the default search to duckduckgo.
We still need some organisational alternative to Mozilla. None of the privacy forks would survive Firefox going away.
Firefox clones like librewolf and waterfox greatly increase the supply chain attack risk, but they seems more and more attractive every day
Why do they increase the supply chain attack risk?
I’m currently in the process of switching to Waterfox while I wait to see what Ladybird can do, and so far I’m pretty happy with my decision.
Disclaimer: very satisfied user of Waterfox talking ;)
But I believe Mozilla is making a fundamental mistake.
I believe that too, but I’m no millionaire CEO either.
Some will argue that AI browsers are inevitable, that we’re fighting against the tide of history. Perhaps. AI browsers may eat the world. But the web, despite having core centralised properties, is fundamentally decentralised. There will always be alternatives. If AI browsers dominate and then falter, if users discover they want something simpler and more trustworthy, Waterfox will still be here, marching patiently along. We’ve been here before. When Firefox abandoned XUL extensions, Waterfox Classic preserved them. When Mozilla started adding telemetry and Pocket and sponsored content, Waterfox stripped it out. I like to think that where there is want for a browser that simply respects you, Waterfox has delivered.
Long live Waterfox.
This may sound silly to say, and it probably is, but to me it’s almost impossible to imagine I could one day stop being a Firefox user. I mean, my first Web browser was Mosaic, I followed it when it turned into Netscape, which I then followed as it became Netscape, before morphing into the giant Mozilla T-Rex, and finally becoming Firefox.
Take back the Web, I believe(d) in that. Heck, I still have one of their T-Rex t-shirt dedicated by a few of its devs.
I also have a chromium-based browser (Vivaldi) but Firefox has always been home to me (edit: so seeing it moving away from what I care for is not a great feeling). I’m so glad forks like Waterfox exist because if it was not for them, for the first time ever I would not know what browser I can trust.
They have an interesting take. They’re not against AI per se, they’re against AI they can’t audit. It was an interesting read.
The problem with forks such as Waterfox is that they don’t get fixes as quick as the mainline browser. But, this is also somewhat of a myth. When Mozilla fixes something in Firefox, they don’t push the update out to everyone right away. Some people don’t get it for days. Someone who uses a privacy-centric fork like Waterfox is going to be more apt to stay on top of the updates, so even if it takes a day or two for Waterfox to integrate the fix, Waterfox users are likely updating before a lot of Firefox users. And even then, the chances of the average user being affected by whatever is being fixed is typically low, so it’s better to have for browsing, but it’s not like something that is constantly threatening you — in most cases.
That said, I use Firefox, and I was able to disable the AI stuff. Saw it, said nope, saw the option to disable, did so, and have been happy ever since. I don’t always agree with Mozilla, but, I have been curious about forks and I have used Waterfox in the past. It’s fine. It might be better, especially for “default settings” Firefox users, but for someone with a relatively low threat level and an intermediate to high skill in hardening browsers (my own assessment, subject to bias), I’m not particularly bothered by using regular Firefox. And if you’re subscribed to a Privacy community (or subreddit), you probably shouldn’t be, either, but then again, only you can judge your own threat level. There are certainly situations where something like Waterfox would be preferred.
The new CEO isn’t talking about the AI that’s already in Firefox. He’s talking about more AI with greater integration.
“Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software. Firefox will remain our anchor. It will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions.”
We here at $brand think your car should be more than just a car… that’s why we’re now including a panini maker in all models! And no, you can’t take it out of the trunk. Just don’t use it if you don’t want it, silly!
Don’t get me wrong I hate LLMs being shoved down our throats, but I think the “Mozilla using AI” stuff is overblown. The few LLM features they’ve implemented are useful and non-intrusive. I actually think it’s a rare example of the tech being used intelligently (no pun intended).
These things have been incredibly intrusive. They even added a whole sidebar to take up more space like they were fucking Yahoo and this was IE.
Weird, I don’t have a new AI sidebar and I’m running the latest version.
I’ve been distro hopping lately, and I’ve discovered that if you don’t turn the sidebar off before you log into your Mozilla account, it will turn the sidebar back on on all of your other Firefoxes (as well as other settings like the studies).
I could not disagree more. a browser is a local piece of software to me that I use to connect to a variety of servers. It having an ai server its communicating with all the time and with access outside the add on system is not something I want. I have looked at and was not put off by other firefox “controversies” but this one is making it where it is not simply a browser anymore. which is what I want.
Well you’re in luck because the translation feature is local https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/website-translation
this does not make me happier. I can turn it off but if im going to run a local llm I rather do that as its own piece of software. Its funny because I have mentioned I would like to see a linux operating system using a local llm where its acting a bit like the change from text based to gui based operating systems. I don’t want every piece of software operating a local llm to do its job or a part of its job on my computer. Its great I can turn it off but I don’t want to be downloading an llm model with every piece of software and just turn it off for my browser and my office suite and anything else im running. Its actually worse with the browser that already has taken over so much of the application space as a kind of universal tool.
I wonder how long before someone says “Having to wait for security patches to be made only when new exploits are discovered is inefficient, we need an AI agent running all the time, inspecting every command, to respond immediately if an exploit is found.” and then they just stop security patches and you need that AI crap consuming ram and energy like hell while sending all your data to the mothership.
Does anyone know about Zen browser, if they stay abstinent as well?
Yes, an explicit No to AI, also LibreWolf said the same, no AI, that means that every fork will have AI disabled
Thank god (And thank @zenbrowser@floss.social !)
Check out Vivaldi’s Roadmap for 2026 😀
Jokes aside, is Vivaldi good? Is it worth looking into even tho it’s just another chromium browser?
It’s very good! Honestly, try it. I use it on Android, Linux and Windows. Very customizable and pro-user, nice community.
It’s based on Chromium but they declared they’ll keep supporting Manifest v2 extensions (uBlock Origin etc.) how long it will be virtually possible even though Chrome blocked them.
not AI, and still not open source either
and chromium based
