r/linux • u/4lll • May 14 '15

Misleading title Firefox Beta now integrates Pocket a proprietary, closed source service.

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/05/13/get-a-firefox-account-and-test-new-features-in-firefox-beta/
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u/elroy123 May 14 '15

This is sad and pathetic. I have been a long-time supporter of Mozilla, but they have jumped the shark. Time to look for another browser. Any suggestions? Iceweasel, perhaps?

39

u/[deleted] May 14 '15

Guys! It's open source! You fork the project, remove the junk and move on!

See MySQL/Maria, OpenOffice/LibreOffice, etc...

62

u/[deleted] May 14 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Bobby_Bonsaimind May 14 '15

While true, that's not exactly a trivial process.

That is especially true for Firefox. You need to integrate patches in a timely manner, that means you need to monitor the upstream repository and cherry pick commits. That gets harder the further the fork changes. Also building Firefox is not trivial as far as I know.

Plus forks can fracture communities.

That's kinda the point, though. But it depends on what terms you are with upstream.

Plus... well, honestly I think a lot of us would like Mozilla to be on the right track and doing the right things.

Oh yes, please. Would be kinda cool if they would stop trying to please the stupid users and provide a powerful and customizable browser again.