 I love it so much! Firefox has made it SO EASY to switch to Firefox from Chrome, that you dont even lose your OPEN TABS. Have you got 34 open tabs lol? And you lost uBlock ad-blocker today? (You did, you lost your ad blocker, because Google) You dont even lose open Tabs! (And you get to install uBlock) Fancy that. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-chrome-firefox 103 comments
@strangeculprits @kevinrns @Pineywoozle best way to freely support a foss software is talking about it, peoples don't always understand how helpful it is. @kurtseifried  @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood They've got a native profile switcher in beta behind one of the many config settings. I used to use a third party extension for it, but now use the built in with no issues. (Sorry not to share the actually useful details...not at my desktop right now. I might remember to come back with the details)  @JacksonBates @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood Beta? The profile switcher's been around for donkey's years. Command-line parameter -P, or it appears automatically if you have multiple profiles and none default. @wizzwizz4 @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood no, I specifically mean a simple UI affordance for it, in the menu bar. @wizzwizz4 @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood ah, here it is. in about:config you can set browser.profiles.enabled to true to access the UI switcher. @JacksonBates @wizzwizz4 @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood why on gods good earth is that not a default or easily enabled? Sigh. @kurtseifried I'm an extensive user of container tabs and enjoy having a single window holding my browsing so less use of Alt-tab ( my fingers are gratefull to Mozilla ). It is great, after a small training websites open in the right container (except google ones, I have to look at the container name in the URL because that is how you keep them separated) Consistent user expertience... I love it @reinouts @kurtseifried Different sets of extensions, or config that isn't covered by container tabs or private windows. For example, a work VPN.  @reinouts @kurtseifried @JacksonBates @wizzwizz4 @kevinrns @ghorwood I was often in a situation where for example work used a different password manager than I do. Having two password managers fight for a single login form is annoying. In those cases, it's also more comfortable to have a higher degree of separation, I sometimes open tabs in wrong containers. @kurtseifried @JacksonBates @wizzwizz4 @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood it's behind a setting because it's a new development, simple as that. It'll be turned on by default when deemed ready, it's been publicly announced. @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood about:profile then "Launch profile in new browser", then close the original window. Not technically a switcher function but it does the same except close the original window. Also turn on the profile selection dialog when you launch Firefox change the shortcut to include the -P switch.  @kurtseifried @reinouts @kevinrns @ghorwood It's about:profiles, not about:profile Or you could make a shortcut that runs firefox.exe -P (capital P) Once you have more than one profile the default when you launch Firefox is to ask you which one you want to use. Or you could do what I did, ditch profiles and start using Containers instead, they're also built in and far more flexible, addons further enhance them. Happy to help, have a nice day. :) Import Profiles "You'll be prompted to choose which data you want to import. If you've set up multiple Chrome browser profiles, you'll first be asked which profile you want to import data from. " https://www.howtogeek.com/333047/how-to-migrate-all-your-data-from-chrome-to-firefox/ @kurtseifried @kevinrns @ghorwood Firefox currently has containers. They're not quite the same as profiles, but they're in some ways more flexible, since you can control them on a per-tab basis. For some reason, they choose to ship this functionality in an extension. I don't really know why. @mitchellmebane @kurtseifried Containers are the best. Can have multiple Microsoft/Google tabs right next to each in different accounts, and set stuff like Facebook to only open it its own sandboxed container.  @kurtseifried @kevinrns @ghorwood 4 days ago I started migration Chrome --> FF. I'm using multiple synced Google profiles as you, Chrome on desktop and mobile. @kurtseifried @kevinrns @ghorwood I really thought that feature was useless, but it makes me glad that someone appreciates it. I tried it ~10years ago but found it more confusing than helpful. What are some of your use cases for browser profiles? Maybe I'm missing out on something? @elhult @kurtseifried @kevinrns @ghorwood Personally, I run a "Personal/default" profile, which is just me, and I have a work profile, and a writer profile, and a profile I manage to easily manage my son's accounts that he's old enough to use but too young to have the passwords for ... I often run 3 browser sessions at the same time (personal, writer, work) & flick between as I move through my daily tasks for each ... @debe @kurtseifried @kevinrns @ghorwood thanks for the practical example. What benefits does the profiles bring you? Active session (e.g. staying logged-in on a site with multiple different accounts)? Tabs-as-bookmark? Privacy? The graphical compartementalization helping the mind separate things? Something else?  Germany has The Sovereign Tech Fund "The Sovereign Tech Fund supports the development, improvement, and maintenance of open digital infrastructure. Our goal is to sustainably strengthen the open source ecosystem." It donates to open source free software, because its in high use throughout German states. I would advocate for more such models. Your suggestions? @kevinrns No thank you. Taking uBlock away is a wake up call on how crappy a company it is, how unfree the browser is, how little they respect users. No Thank you.  @kevinrns @gpshead @coderCyclist It's just a natural result of the largest browser being owned by a company that makes the majority of its revenue from ads. Sure a few users might jump ship from chrome, but they're betting that the majority will stay and no longer be able to use adblock. This is what happens when companies become monopolies.  @wesley @kevinrns @gpshead @coderCyclist I still don't see the point. All that an online ad is likely to do to me is make me pissed off with the advertiser and not buy the product.  @TimWardCam i don't understand what you're doing in this thread. not implying you don't have the right to, mind! but since you're fine with ads and chrome… why do you insist on lecturing people who are not? :-| @tivasyk I'm not fine with ads. I thought I just said that! They piss me off, and if they have the same effect on other people I question why the advertising spend. @TimWardCam ah, sorry! i must have completely misunderstood your comment :-( well, afaiu ads in their present form pose a number of security issues in addition to the psychological, esthetical and ideological ones… anyways, i am sorry, and thank you for the explanation! @tivasyk From time to time I ask in various places "has anyone ever bought anything from an ad that was shoved in their face when they were trying to look at something else" and nobody has ever said "yes". So I do wonder at the effectiveness of this advertising.  @gpshead @kevinrns @coderCyclist It's far weaker than real UBO and exposes you to malware and tracking. @gpshead @kevinrns @coderCyclist Chrome sadly went to complete shit, so there isn't much to lose.  @kevinrns I don't entirely trust Mozilla as I used to, but Firefox is still my good ol' buddy, yes, it is I think I read that there's upcoming features related to this - vertical tabs, maybe grouping? not sure but maybe there's hope... @kevinrns@mstdn.social wow! I love firefox :foxjump: @kevinrns but beware, there is no light without shadow: https://www.guidingtech.com/firefox-ad-tracking/ An app has to be configured properly for you needs. Elsewhere it fits the needs of others.  @kevinrns i wonder when will other stupid companies such as cloudflare and microsoft get such heat  @kevinrns Except one thing : firefox won't preserve the stacked tabs (yet). But soon it should be possible… soon… @kolya @kevinrns with no uniform naming of the "grouping of tabs" feature it's card to use a generic term… (and stacked tabs was initially an opera term if my memory is not failing me). By the way I'm a firefox, chrome and vivaldi user but yes mainly vivaldi for the moment (I'm waiting for a tab grouping/stacking/whatever equivalent to land in firefox to come back to my beloved mozilla flavored browser !  @pmartin @kevinrns It blocks ads. Google is funded by he ads that once allowed newspapers. Google collects data on who to advertise to, through watching how ads and topics are followed. Google sells that information to advertisers, and nefarious actors. Search, surveillance and ads/ Google pays Apple 20 billion a year to not develop a search engine. https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/05/google-search-antitrust-monopoly/ @kevinrns Ah yes, I know that. I thought there's something wrong with uBlock, maybe that Google bought it or something like that, but I just read it wrong @kevinrns all great but Mozilla is an advertising company now https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/06/mozilla-is-an-advertising-company-now/ On the other hand, there aren’t many reasonable alternatives.. I agree, tell them to stop, or ruder. They have responded to user anger in the past, and they are looking for ways to grow. Be angry, demanding, watch for forks, join eff.org  @kevinrns   @kevinrns Fun fact: same procedure works for #LibreWolf (privacy fork of FF) and you don't need to install uBlock because LibreWolf already comes with it installed LIKE IT SHOULD ON FF   @kevinrns Thanks, Kevin. I didnʼt know this about the open tabs, so I did them all manually a couple of days ago. But because I didnʼt change my preferences (in Librewolf), I lost them all again when I rebooted (with no easy recovery)! Thanks to your link I wonʼt have to repeat the manual exercise.  @kevinrns @satanskrapfen on the other hand you have now firefox collecting personal data from you in order to sell it to add-companys (PPA). 😤  |
Gregory's Server
@kevinrns @Pineywoozle
And, for anyone concerned about Firefox / Mozilla continuing to exist in the face of recent FTC actions against Google (Google is a major financial underwriter of Mozilla), there's an even more secure and private browser based on Firefox called Floorp Browser:
https://floorp.app/en