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from the left-hand-doesn't-know-what-the-right-hand-is-doing dept.
Mozilla has sent mixed signals about the future of the Firefox Web browser:
The head of Mozilla's Firefox browser is looking to the future. And, for the moment at least, it seems to lie in rival Chrome. Senior VP Mark Mayo caused a storm by revealing that the Firefox team is working on a next-generation browser that will run on the same technology as Google's Chrome browser.
"Let's jump right in and say yes, the rumors are true, we're working on browser prototypes that look and feel almost nothing like the current Firefox," Mayo wrote in a blog post. "The premise for these experiments couldn't be simpler: what we need a browser to do for us – both on PCs and mobile devices – has changed a lot since Firefox 1.0, and we're long overdue for some fresh approaches."
The biggest surprise, however, was that the project, named Tofino, will not use Firefox's core technology – Gecko – but will instead plumb for Electron, which is built on the technology behind Google's rival Chrome browser, called Chromium.
However, Mayo updated his post to say that "I should have been clearer that Project Tofino is wholly focused on UX explorations and not the technology platform. We are working with the Platform team on technology platform futures too, and we're excited about the Gecko and Servo-based futures being discussed!" Mozilla's CTO also reaffirmed the company's commitment to the Gecko rendering engine:
Just two days after Mayo broke ranks, Mozilla's CTO jumped up and announced another new project – this one called Positron (geddit?) – which will take the Electron API and "wrap it around Gecko." Or, in other words, make it possible to take Mayo's new, better browser and pull it off Chromium and back into the safe hands of Gecko. And so the status quo seeks to reassert itself.
Also at CNET.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 13 2016, @12:36PM
So, this is what you call a Market Test. You're allowed by the SEC to propose a new product, and then cancel it, to gauge market demand.
The Mozilla devs all know about the "Chrome" vs "Chrome" dichotomy. You see, "Chrome" is what Firefox calls all the stuff surrounding the web page, the menus, buttons, etc. "UX". However, Google made a browser that's called Chrome.
So, some Mozilla devs do some UX experimenting and grab a lean browser based on Google's Chrome to render with rather than go and make a stripped down FF explicitly to play with. Meanwhile other devs and pointy haired bosses decide to float the idea of ditching the FF codebase and just leaching off of Chrome(ium). They can say "The future of Firefox is Chrome" and have plausible deniability that "Oh, no silly, we meant the UX widgets, not letting our competitor do the render engine work for us." If they could ditch their codebase and just do UX, then they could cut costs a lot. This is just testing the waters to see how outraged the userbase would be. Plus it gets their name in the news.
Now, what a lot of people don't realize is that, just like Debian, Mozilla has had a hostile takeover by SJWs. Thus, they've been making stupider and stupider decisions as serious devs have jumped ship or been witch hunted out for wrong-think, like their ex-CEO. FreeBSD finally got rid of that toxic idiot SJW "FreeBSDGirl". SJWs have even been targeting Linus Torvalds. [ibiblio.org] The aim is to put their censorious authoritarian thought police in places of power everywhere. That's their way. It's how 4chan and Reddit fell to SJW censorship. Funny thing is: It's classic soviet subversion tactic. [youtube.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 13 2016, @01:14PM
Go back to patreon, ESR. There is nothing for you here... also, take your meds!
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Thursday April 14 2016, @01:52PM
Now, what a lot of people don't realize is that, just like Debian, Mozilla has had a hostile takeover by SJWs. Thus, they've been making stupider and stupider decisions as serious devs have jumped ship or been witch hunted out for wrong-think, like their ex-CEO. FreeBSD finally got rid of that toxic idiot SJW "FreeBSDGirl". SJWs have even been targeting Linus Torvalds. [ibiblio.org] The aim is to put their censorious authoritarian thought police in places of power everywhere. That's their way. It's how 4chan and Reddit fell to SJW censorship. Funny thing is: It's classic soviet subversion tactic. [youtube.com]
Makes one wonder what opponent that are acting. If it's plain prospiracy, ie colluding actions that are only coordinated by being in similar thought patterns. Seems three candidates are good matches, TLA agency wishing to undermine a secure platform, Microsoft and feminist movement wishing to be the king of important FOSS projects.
As a side note advice to males on technical conferences. Make sure you can prove that you never been alone with any female, and don't be it either. Have evidence to back it up to.