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Bad News About Firefox Android: It's Not Broken, It's Working as Intended

posted by martyb on Tuesday August 25 2020, @11:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-way-back dept.

maxwell demon writes:

Mozilla seems to be hell-bent on alienating users, as they did it again:

An update to the Android flavor of Firefox left fuming punters thinking a bad experimental build had been pushed to their smartphones. In fact, this was a deliberate software release.

A Reg reader yesterday alerted us to an August 20 version bump that was causing so many problems, our tipster thought it was a beta that had gone seriously awry. "To sum it up, on 20th of August, Firefox 79 was unexpectedly forced on a large batch of Firefox 68 Android users without any warning, way to opt out or roll back," our reader reported. "A lot got broken in the process: the user interface, tabs, navigation, add-ons."

Meanwhile, the Google Play store page for the completely free and open-source Firefox has a rash of one-star reviews echoing similar complaints: after the upgrade, little seemed to work as expected.

Among the complaints are a missing back button, frequent browser crashes, and extensions not working.

Sounds like a buggy release for sure. But:

Unfortunately for our source, and the other Firefox for Android users, this isn't a mistaken release or a broken beta build: it's the new version of Firefox for Android, and it's set to hit the UK today, August 25, and the US on the 27th.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by fustakrakich on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:45AM (26 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:45AM (#1041886) Journal

    That's right. *You won't find reverse in a Russian tank*

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:22AM (21 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:22AM (#1041908) Journal
    You don't need it. Each track is independently controlled, like a bulldozer. Lock one track, pivot, or set one track to forward, the other to reverse, and literally turn on the spot. Same with hydraulic excavators. And the bigger it is, the easier it is.
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    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:26AM (12 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:26AM (#1041909)

      > ...set one track to forward, the other to reverse...

      You won't find reverse in a Russian tank!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:38AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:38AM (#1041917)

        And modded Informative!

        We have fine scientific minds here, don't we?

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:35AM (6 children)

        by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:35AM (#1041947) Journal
        Because there is no overall "reverse " each track is independent. How hard is it to wrap your head around the concept. Get in bulldozer or hydraulic shovel. There is no single reverse OR forward, just a lever to lock the two controls together. Same as many tractors don't have a single brake - just two independent brake pedals that you can lock together with a pin or lever. Or just step on both of them at the same time - the pedals are side by side for that reason. Stop thinking of cars and trucks:
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        • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:58AM (5 children)

          by coolgopher (1157) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:58AM (#1041964)

          Swoosh.

          • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:44AM (4 children)

            by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:44AM (#1041979) Journal

            I, for one, am flummoxed! I don't know how they do it

            --
            La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..

            • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:57AM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:57AM (#1042028)

              Some people have one track minds others have no track minds...

              • (Score: 4, Funny) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:18AM (2 children)

                by PiMuNu (3823) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:18AM (#1042047)

                Some have two track minds that you can lock together with a pin or lever.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:31PM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:31PM (#1042081)

                  Keep moving forwards, no retreat no surrender.

      • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday August 26 2020, @08:08AM (2 children)

        by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 26 2020, @08:08AM (#1042031)

        You won't find reverse in a Russian tank!

        You'll find four reverse gears on an Italian tank!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:10PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:10PM (#1042243)

          Y'all buy from the ${FAVORITE_COUNTRY_TO_MAKE_FUN_OF}...?

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:02PM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:02PM (#1042317) Journal

          and six reverse gears plus hi and low range in a French tank

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:02PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:02PM (#1042316)

        Maybe you can only put one track into reverse. So its its semi-reverse instead of full-reverse, totally different.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:42AM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @01:42AM (#1041921)

      So, you're going to expose the engine section behind just to reposition? Great design there.

      • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:39AM (5 children)

        by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:39AM (#1041948) Journal
        ??? Have you ever even tried any heavy equipment? Left and right tracks are independent. Left and right brakes are independent. You can have one going forward and one going backwards - they're independent hydraulic transmissions. You can literally pivot 180° in place.
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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:04AM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:04AM (#1041967)

          You wrote that the tracks don't need to go backwards to the GP that said the tanks can't move backwards.
          Now that you claim that they can go independently backwards, what do you think happens if both tracks move backwards at the same time?

          • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:54AM (3 children)

            by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:54AM (#1041987) Journal
            The gpvsaid there was no reverse. I said there is no need for reverse because both tracks are reversible independently. There is neither a reverse or forward " gear. " it's not like a car where a single reverse or forward gear actuator applies to all the drive wheels. It's like talking about the steering wheel to turn left or right with all-wheel steer independent steering front and rear wheels on a grader. You can turn all the wheels in one direction to crab , in different directions to pivot, or leave one axle straight and just the other for steering - but you don't want to do that when you're actually working.

            Also, on bulldozers and shovels and air tracks (pneumatic rock drilling machines) there's no actual gear that shifts between reverse and forward. Just valves to reverse the flow of hydraulic fluid or air to the independent drive motors. On a tank you can have gears for different speeds, but the reverse/forwards is still hydraulic, not an actual gear switching.

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            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:15AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:15AM (#1042003)

              Oh wow.

              Dude, what if GP meant that there was no way to put either track in reverse?

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:31AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:31AM (#1042052)

                Somples, they would jst reverse one of them. ::ducks::

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:36PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:36PM (#1042085)

              Hey Barbara - I don't get it. Do you mean there is no reverse? Or there is reverse? It's so hard.

    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:12AM

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:12AM (#1041935) Journal

      *sigh* Why me, lord? [quotes.net]...

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..

  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:32AM (3 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Wednesday August 26 2020, @07:32AM (#1042025)

    That's right. *You won't find reverse in a Russian tank*

    Whereas in Italian tanks all the gears are reverse [thedailymash.co.uk].

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:12PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:12PM (#1042250)

      Yeah, that's right, we invade you on our fuckin' backs!

      • (Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday August 27 2020, @05:24AM (1 child)

        by driverless (4770) on Thursday August 27 2020, @05:24AM (#1042556)

        I thought invading the other side's backs was more a Greek thing.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @09:48AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @09:48AM (#1042607)

          That involves horses.