this post was submitted on 12 May 2026

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704

EU browser choice rules send millions more users Firefox's way (www.theregister.com)

submitted 2 days ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] spaceracoon@lemmy.zip 95 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Man it's so funny how the only company that even thinks about allowing you to not have AI, gets so much shit from people.

OK you don't like AI, you can turn in off. They added an option for that. Meanwhile Chrome is automatically downloading 4gb worth of models without your consent. Same with basically each other browser.

Folks are free to use whichever distro they like, Librefox, Waterfox, but remember that without Mozilla foundation the very engine would stop working. Then these forks will not work anymore. Then where will you go? Chromium? Safari?

It's important to keep companies accountable, but nothing is ever black and white.

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

Yeah I get the feeling like 70+% of people here will never understand that.

[–] KatherinaReichelt@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago

Yeah - people love to shit on Mozilla while posting from fucking Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 28 points 1 day ago

People seem to care more about synthetic benchmarks than using a browser that gives them much less tracking and ads. Remember when chrome was popular because its so fast? I never noticed a difference between that and Firefox in ordinary web pages, except Googles, since they are intentionally making it slow for Firefox.

And with all that going on, people still picked chrome. :)

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

OK you don’t like AI, you can turn in off. They added an option for that. Meanwhile Chrome is automatically downloading 4gb worth of models without your consent. Same with basically each other browser.

Because Chrome is used by normies who have no idea and wont care while Firefox is used by tech-literate users who care and like to tinker. The backlash was because FF implemented AI that you had to go to about:settings to disable. Result of backlash - a switch in settings to disable it.

It would be smart to implement AI and advertise people that they can switch it ON if they want to. Not the other way.

Folks are free to use whichever distro they like, Librefox, Waterfox, but remember that without Mozilla foundation the very engine would stop working. Then these forks will not work anymore

There is nothing to go to. But if we accept the outcome, we just submit to the system. Might as well switch to chrome at that point hoping that Servo gets developed fast enough. Firefox would lose their browser share at an instant once they are not different from chromium based browsers. Basically seppuku themselves.

Not understanding your user base is how you get a backlash.

[–] TotalCourage007@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Its okay we'll just cope with living in idiocracy. Some of this stuff is beyond basic. No wonder people find IT a thankless Job.

[–] Eximius@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I like Vivaldi

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[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Now if only Apple will let Firefox run its own rendering engine instead of Safari’s.

Like, that’s the only thing I don’t get. Other apps which are not web browsers, fine. Use Safari. But an actual web browser? FFS, let them use their own engine.

[–] pwxd@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago

You can! There's a browser called reynard and it's based off gecko web browser but you still need to sideload them, it isn't available in App Store :-(

The main goal for this browser is to make web browsing usable for older iOS, I find it pretty neat so I wanted to share this!

https://github.com/byeCl0ud/reynard-browser-compiled

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

its just that Apple forces Webkit to all Apps on the app store.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

Orion has gotten around that, somehow. Not sure what kind of wizardry they’ve pulled, but they managed to get both Firefox and Chrome extensions working on iOS.

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's Apple's explanation why, but it has flimsy justification. There is no technical reason why Firefox mobile can't use the Gecko rendering engine on Apple iOS. So, unlike every other graphical OS I've ever heard of, you can't really pick your browser. You can only play dress-up with Safari and pick its outfit.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm no apple fan, but I will note that their Tight AF control over the apps nets them a very very small power draw and ram footprint. I don't think they're pushing safari because they don't want you to have a choice, I think it's control over their own perf that they're looking for in this case

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

That argument seems flimsy when I can still download Trash Match Casino Deluxe: Extra Ads Edition from the app store.

[–] ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

I doubt it. There's a lot of money in surveillance capitalism and I don't buy for a minute that Apple are too good to do that or any stupid excuses.

[–] Fuckswearwords@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Does anyone here know how to get the old menu UI back on mobile?

I can't get used to the new one. It's not ergonomic at all imo.

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

What do you dislike about the new one?

[–] Fuckswearwords@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Mostly that my eyes (and hand) have to change focus and that there's a more button. The new short menu takes up the same amount of space as the old one while showing less.

But it's mostly the firs reason I gave. It really breaks the flow.

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 2 days ago (19 children)

Now if Mozilla would finally get a CEO who is not driven by stupid capitalistic bullshit, I would actually start using Firefox again.

Until then, I stick to WaterFox.

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does WaterFox allow using Mozilla accounts to sync bookmarks and tabs between devices or have some equivalent option?

[–] yessikg@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

It does, it's only flaw is that is uses Brave's ad hijacking thing

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[–] skami@lemmy.ml 73 points 2 days ago (17 children)

Nice but it's kinda wierd how people decided to use these browsers after this new law was passed, I mean it's so easy to install apps on smartphones right now but people needed this choice screen to choose another browser of their liking? I would guess it's probably old people that switched that didn't know how to install browser without it, I googled but couldn't find any prove of this tho so it's just my guts

[–] axh@lemmy.world 126 points 2 days ago (7 children)

It's laziness. Most people just take the path of the least resistance.

Once you show them the screen, any choice is the same amount of work so they will select what they really want. But without the screen, 90% of people will be good enough with the default option. Or, they might even be mildly uncomfortable with that option, but not enough to do something about it.

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 56 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s laziness. Most people just take the path of the least resistance.

we all do in many parts of life

[–] axh@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago (6 children)

I didn't say it's a bad thing. If someone tried to pay attention to every little choice they make, they would be exhausted before the morning coffee.

What kind of browser I use is important to me, since I am a geek. But I don't pay attention to many things that more socially adept people would consider important.

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[–] morto@piefed.social 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We tend to overestimate people's skill in tech. The average user uses what came installed, doesn't like installing and experimenting apps, uses a browser while logged in to google, taps yes on everything, will install apps when sites ask for it, without even noticing, and will register in every site or app that asks for it, and even give their real email, name, etc

[–] yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And there are probably many users that do all of this due to being afraid that things might just start breaking, or that more actions they don't understand will be required to keep the system rolling, if they stray from this path for even a little.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah, there is a very large part of society that tends to default to “if I change anything, I’ll probably break it. It works now, so I won’t change anything.” It likely has a lot of overlap with the “you touched my computer eight months ago, and it stopped working yesterday. Whatever you changed must have broken it” population; anyone who has become the de facto family tech support will know exactly who I am talking about.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago

it’s so easy to install apps on smartphones right now

Providing choice as a default is precisely about people who are influenced by defaults. It's NOT about how feasible something technically is.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

i've legit seen many people who have no idea what a web browser is, internet == chrome/safari/edge (which opens automatically when clicking a link on some app) for them. this isn't just older people, actually it's usually worse with younger people.

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