Unpopular opinion: the Firefox hate is completely out of proportion.
Whether we like it or not, a lot of users are interacting with the internet through AI agents. Every browser larger than Firefox already has AI agents locked into the browser. Firefox is providing an option for people who would like to use it, and that’s it. They’re providing it in a better and safer context, in which users can define the scope of access that the AI has, which AI agent they want to use, or even use a local AI model.
A lot of people here will start simping for the Google-backed Chromium browsers, or for crypto mining browsers, or for browsers that are essentially reskinned Firefox.
I’ve used the beta version that’s out now. There’s a little pop-up when it updates that says, hey, would you like to set up your choice of AI agent? If you don’t want one, you just click no thanks and skip it and everything else still works the same.
Maybe I’m the one with the clown makeup in the last panel, but I just don’t see what the big deal is for everybody.
I like your take. An optimistic me would be fully onboard with it. But this isn’t a single change in a vacuum. I think the reason people aren hating is because they’re seeing it as yet another symptom of enshitification, and I don’t disagree.
There are rare examples of outstanding companies like Steam that talk the talk and walk the walk. But with Firefox, they’re headed the wrong direction. They cut 30% of their staff this time last year, cut their internet freedom advacacy group, and I think that was the point where they started a hard shift away from who they were. They’re harvesting and selling user data now (removed the old “Nope. Never have, never will” [sell user data] from their FAQ), they’ve got a CEO that’s taking an absolute fortune off the top of a struggling company, and they’re steadily removing long time features like pocket integration and compact mode.
The last straw will be if Google ever pulls their deal as Firefox’s default search engine… Mozilla will very likely pivot hard to nasty, modern money making practices to keep themselves alive if they lose 80% of their revenue all at once like that.
So while I generally agree with everything you have to say here, there are only two things I want to add.
Firstly, and potentially my more salient point, a lot of end users doing something is nearly never a reason to do something, if that thing itself is bad.
Bringing to my second point, AI is being done in the worst, and nearly most unethical, way. Participating in that front is only encouraging this behavior amongst heinous tech leaders to continue this farcical push to oblivion.
And while this isn’t a point of contention worth discussing, since it’s entirely my already decided opinion that I have no interest in reconsidering, but AI injection is a step further into enshittification of the last true competitor to google. It erodes mindshare and trust among the loyal and evangelizers. I know personally I’m now a little conflicted on recommending FF. On the one hand, it’s still the best recommendation, but we’ve also watched this type of decline many times before and it generally spells the end when a product goes the direction of trendy fads and enshittifying for short term gains at the expense of long term gains and user trust.
Unpopular opinion: the Firefox hate is completely out of proportion.
Whether we like it or not, a lot of users are interacting with the internet through AI agents. Every browser larger than Firefox already has AI agents locked into the browser. Firefox is providing an option for people who would like to use it, and that’s it. They’re providing it in a better and safer context, in which users can define the scope of access that the AI has, which AI agent they want to use, or even use a local AI model.
A lot of people here will start simping for the Google-backed Chromium browsers, or for crypto mining browsers, or for browsers that are essentially reskinned Firefox.
I’ve used the beta version that’s out now. There’s a little pop-up when it updates that says, hey, would you like to set up your choice of AI agent? If you don’t want one, you just click no thanks and skip it and everything else still works the same.
Maybe I’m the one with the clown makeup in the last panel, but I just don’t see what the big deal is for everybody.
I like your take. An optimistic me would be fully onboard with it. But this isn’t a single change in a vacuum. I think the reason people aren hating is because they’re seeing it as yet another symptom of enshitification, and I don’t disagree.
There are rare examples of outstanding companies like Steam that talk the talk and walk the walk. But with Firefox, they’re headed the wrong direction. They cut 30% of their staff this time last year, cut their internet freedom advacacy group, and I think that was the point where they started a hard shift away from who they were. They’re harvesting and selling user data now (removed the old “Nope. Never have, never will” [sell user data] from their FAQ), they’ve got a CEO that’s taking an absolute fortune off the top of a struggling company, and they’re steadily removing long time features like pocket integration and compact mode.
The last straw will be if Google ever pulls their deal as Firefox’s default search engine… Mozilla will very likely pivot hard to nasty, modern money making practices to keep themselves alive if they lose 80% of their revenue all at once like that.
So while I generally agree with everything you have to say here, there are only two things I want to add.
Firstly, and potentially my more salient point, a lot of end users doing something is nearly never a reason to do something, if that thing itself is bad.
Bringing to my second point, AI is being done in the worst, and nearly most unethical, way. Participating in that front is only encouraging this behavior amongst heinous tech leaders to continue this farcical push to oblivion.
And while this isn’t a point of contention worth discussing, since it’s entirely my already decided opinion that I have no interest in reconsidering, but AI injection is a step further into enshittification of the last true competitor to google. It erodes mindshare and trust among the loyal and evangelizers. I know personally I’m now a little conflicted on recommending FF. On the one hand, it’s still the best recommendation, but we’ve also watched this type of decline many times before and it generally spells the end when a product goes the direction of trendy fads and enshittifying for short term gains at the expense of long term gains and user trust.
Yes, yes you are the last panel
The backlash is over the CEO’s comments of “evolving into an AI browser” instead of the current implementation
Isn’t this already covered with extensions, though?
No no, you are not the clown and absolutely right. This fad will end soon as all the others.
Just like that pesky “internet” thing people are always talking about.
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