this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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In this thread lots of uninformed people rationalizing why it's actually okay to use chromium.
In this thread lots of uninformed people misunderstanding how the open source Chromium project works (or the difference between Chrome and Chromium). Vivaldi is a Chromium-based browser who frequently disable the parts of Chromium they don't agree with.
This argument not to use anything Chromium is the same as if someone was fanatically opposed to using Linux Mint or Elementary OS because they're based on Ubuntu, and Canonical bad.
I love Firefox as much as the next person, and probably do a 75% Vivaldi 25% Firefox split, but let's not act like Google isn't bankrolling Mozilla, because they account for 85+% of Mozilla's revenue, and if Google does implement this Web DRM and if it is widely adopted, Mozilla either submits and enables it to make sure daddy Google stays happy, or they die.
Typically this thinking is mostly correct - e.g. Manifest v3 - but not in this case. If websites see enough users using chormium, via user agent or other fingerprinting, they'll be more willing to require WEI. And unlike Manifest v3 etc. this affects the whole web, not just users of one browser or the other.
In every case monopolies are bad. Including in tech.
Yeah these half informed zealots really think this is somehow a righteous fight against the man.
And you fail to understand how terrible monoculture software is for the freedom of the web.
Stop to spread misinformation.
So why is a company, one that has a clear incentive to reduce dependence on their competitor, funding something like Rust or Thunderbird?
Google used to give a lot more money to Mozilla, then they massively cut it which led to huge layoff affecting a lot of Firefox dev. Thankfully the new Firefox engine were just completed at that point. People like to complain about Mozilla pushing their VPN and Pocket, but they have to find another source of income to reduce their dependency to Google.
It is ok to use whatever browser you want
And spoiling Internet for the rest of us. None of us would have to go through this if more people used alternatives to chromium. No website would've accepted a 50% loss in visitors over accepting some companies special protocol
I mean, define "ok" in this context
Will chrome kill you? No
Will chrome physically hurt anyone else because you used it? No
Will the internet become less free if google is able to successfully force this? Yes
Does using chrome contribute to this? Yes, marginally
Would as many people as possible switching off of chrome and chromium and onto an alternative help? Yes
I find this whole thing an interesting argument, as someone who switched from chrome to firefox for extremely unrelated reasons months ago.
The same people say "boycotts don't work". The facepalming here is hard. Welcome to the ad riddled future that you helped make because "people can use what they like" (because it's being pushed by a huge corporate entity and they want you to use it so they can shove ads down your throat and you should laugh at people who would use anything different)
He ain't bright and Google will win this because most of men are just puppets unwilling to discern
I think Google will win this too, just like I think we're going to make the planet uninhabitable.
But I'm not going to roll coal, and I'm not going to use Chrome.
It absolutely is not. Just how it's also not ok to buy the overpriced RTX 40 cards because it ruins the market for all of us.
Exactly right. It requires seeing yourself as a part of a community vs. fulfilling our selfish interests at the expense of others.
Another example were the suburban PS5 buyers who bought from scalpers so "their kids" could have one, not giving any thought to the fact that they're contributing to a system that excludes the disadvantaged (or, even worse, knowing but not caring).
How does participating in the market ruin the market? It's literally a fucking market. If they're so overpriced then why are people buying the cards?
Why don't you flock to their competitor if they're pricing their items right and providing just the right value?
True fucking statement.
Most normal people don't even know adblockers exist. Guys, if you're going to convince people to switch away from Chrome, it won't be on the grounds of protecting against some API or ads.