I had a crash that took down Firefox, so when I restarted it it was the newest version (an update I'd installed, but hadn't restarted after).I just went looking through the settings pages, which is a habit I've unfortunately had to get into because #Firefox and #Mozilla keep adding new anti-user fuckery in their continuing quest to drive users away from the only product they make that anyone gives two shits about.And lo and behold, *this* is the new fuckery I found. Enabled by default. And it reinforces the need to go *check* for this bullshit every version update.Firefox, if you had asked me how to cut my already diminishing trust in you to do the right thing by your users to near zero, I wouldn't have even dreamed this batshittery up. It's so much worse than I would have suggested. I have *all* the crap turned off - silently adding new crap and silently defaulting it to on is 1995-era Microsoft-screwing-the-users.You feel you need to add this shit? Fine. But show me a dialog asking me whether I want it on or not when that version first starts. Don't turn it on behind my back and HOPE I DON'T NOTICE.#fuckery #TwoShits #batshittery #abuse #DarkPattern #user #BehindYourBack #Enabled #EnabledByDefault #permission #AskPermission #sponsored #ads #privacy #version #update #bullshit

There is a #phenomenon where a person successful in one area decides to focus their #energies on an unrelated area, to the detriment of their more successful work.Michael Jordan, a #basketball wizard, decided to try to become a professional #baseball player. He (to use a technical term) #sucked at it.After the incredible success of the single "Jump" from the 1984 #album, Eddie van Halen became obsessed with adding more synthesizer to Van Halen's music. The reality he never accepted: nobody ever went to a #concert to watch Eddie van Halen play #keyboards.Why do I bring this up? Because it's the closest thing I can think of to explain the way that Mozilla has behaved for years. #Mozilla had #Firefox, a great, freedom-and-privacy-respecting web #browser used by millions of people. Instead of focusing on that, they pissed away engineering time, money, and #users by chasing #irrelevant crap.Nobody ever used Firefox or supported Mozilla to build an encrypted file transfer service.Or to become just another player in the VPN market.Or to build a VR browser.Or a reading list manager.Or an IoT device manager.Or a Macromedia / Adobe Flash clone.Or authentication service.Or geolocation service.#AI #junk.Voice recognition.Journalism.Built-in #ads.Search engine.Van Halen continued to be #successful despite Eddie's #synthesizer obsession, not because of it.If Mozilla continues, it will be despite their #distractions, not because of them.#VanHalen #Jump #why