Bleeping Computer reported that Firefox will set itself as the default web browser while being installed. This happens under certain conditions on Windows.
The feature works by embedding a unique identifier, called an attribution campaign ID, into the lightweight “stub installer” that you download from Mozilla’s website.
When users run Firefox for the first time, the browser detects this identifier.
If the identifier matches the campaign to “set Firefox as the default browser,” Firefox initiates a background task to set itself as the default on the user’s system.
There’s also a setup screen which sets Firefox as the default on Windows even if you use a standard installer.
All this will do is annoy people who are trying to find another browser they can use as a “cookieless window” to visit the same site they would normally visit on Chrome without all their cache.
People who want to use Firefox are already going out of their way to do so, and will set it as the default given a prompt. It’s not like Microsoft Edge where there’s inertia to overcome to consider a change.
The only people I can imagine will set Firefox as a default browser this way that they otherwise wouldn’t are people who wouldn’t have chosen to make Firefox the default. People who don’t know how to override the default, for example.
This is aggressive and poorly thought-out, and for what benefit?
many of the patently stupid things Mozilla has done to gain market share have backfired spectacularly and this is yet another one that’s likely to bite them in the behind
it amazes me that they are unable to learn from their mistakes - one has to wonder how much longer they can keep shooting themselves in the foot
funny thing is, i highly recommend Firefox because of the privacy aspects, but it takes some time and effort to take full advantage of that
I like Firefox. I think it’s a good browser! Firefox is my default browser and probably will remain so for as long as Mozilla is around. There are things I can do in Firefox that are harder or just not possible in other browsers.
But a dumb, anti-user move is just that, and Mozilla isn’t exempt from them. I do worry about Firefox existing 5 years down the line. At least Thunderbird will still be around.
Some thoughts on "The end of Mozilla"
Tor Browser is a big consumer of Firefox's technology. In fact, probably the most serious consumer. What are they going to do when/if Mozilla folds? Will they maintain the Gecko engine themselves, or will they try to pivot to another browser engine?
What browser engine would they switch to? They’ve envied Chromium and its security for some time now. But maybe they’d prefer to switch to something up-and-coming in a memory-safe language like Servo, so they can really make something secure from the start? Or maybe Ladybird would be a better fit because it has more momentum? Tor gets more funding from individuals than Mozilla, so it would be a healthier project, one might think.
Will Librewolf, Floorp, Zen, and Waterfox come together to get something done? Do these people even have the skills to work on the lower-level stuff? Makes you wonder. I’ve been using Firefox all my life, and it would be sad to need to switch to something else…
In the end, though, I think Mozilla had a far better run of it than its architects ever thought it would: nomo zilla
Maybe Ladybird will become an interesting competitor one day…
i wonder how much money they spent developing that … fine piece of artwork?
what a joke
and yes, initiatives like that should worry people - Mozilla is not interested in protecting free speech and this isn’t the first time they’ve let people know how ‘woke’ they are
Today, we are announcing the Mozilla Information Trust Initiative (MITI)-a comprehensive effort to keep the Internet credible and healthy. Mozilla is developing products, research, and communities to battle information pollution and so-called ‘fake news’ online.
sounds a lot like gatekeeping to me … or should we just call it what it is: communism