The trouble with mission and feature creep in software

[moonbat]

There are several popular software that long ago reached the peak of what they could offer in terms of core functionality. Take the venerable WinZip as an example. It dates back to at least Windows 95, I won't be surprised if there was a 16 bit version for Windows 3.1 either. What did it offer? The ability to create and update zip archives, and extract files from them. Windows 95 let it add to the context menu so you could directly manipulate zip files. I think around version 6.3 was when it was feature complete in terms of zip files. Then they started adding the fluff. Send your zip for virus scanning. Zip and email. Outlook addin to manipulate zip files from within. And now I believe it has cloud storage support! All of these are functions best left to their own dedicated apps - virus scanners have long been able to scan inside zip files and I can easily copy zips like other files to cloud storage. There was a time when they should've just let the core application be and moved on to something else, but no - have to justify the corporate licensing that probably makes the bulk of their revenue compared to home users.

Windows reached the pinnacle of ease of use and beautiful looks with version 7. From that point there was no need to tune it further, they could have made a separate shell for touchscreen/metro apps as optional. Firefox started as a browser built on Mozilla's application platform - a goldmine that they never recognized for what could've been a way to create powerful web aware cross platform desktop applications (what Java hoped to do but never managed to) and now due to ideology and politics they're doing everything other than fixing its problems - including introducing new ones.

[mr tribute]

The ultimate in mission and feature creep must be when every application becomes its own OS sitting on top of your existing OS.

https://ludocode.com/blog/flatpak-is-not-the-future

[Blacklab]

Mozilla Proton Dev Team working up another new UI improvement...

Mozilla Proton Dev Team working on a new keyboard layout.jpg

Thank God for userChrome CSS and the old 'Compact' density mode still being available in the Firefox Proton UI... but both options now need to be switched 'On' (False > True) in Firefox's 'about:config' first... as discovered having just fought through recent Firefox ESR update to v91.3.0... which introduced the 'Proton' UI into the ESR release stream.

[moonbat]

Thank God for userChrome CSS

Thank God for? What will you do when they inevitably castrate that ability too as an improvement because who are you but a mere end user to be allowed to fiddle with the software in ways we don't approve? There are no bigger masochists than Firefox users since version 4.
If you look over the last 10-12 years, it follows a predictable pattern:

• First the feature disappears from the UI (But you can always turn it back with this about:config hack!)
• Then it disappears from the regular build and is only available in the ESR version (So what? You can still run the ESR instead).
• Then it vanishes from the ESR itself as that also gets upgraded (Who needs that feature anyway?)

Tabs on top, mandatory extension signing, addressbar changes, Pocket integration..the list goes on.

And the irony of there being multiple 'hardening' guides for a supposedly out of the box privacy respecting browser is of course lost on the fanboys. No wonder we sometimes get noobs here asking about 'hardening' Pale Moon or worrying about losing their settings after a minor upgrade as though any of that nonsense was ever applicable to it.

[Moonchild]

we sometimes get noobs here asking about 'hardening' Pale Moon or worrying about losing their settings after a minor upgrade as though any of that nonsense was ever applicable to it.

I'd make the distinction here of calling them newbies instead of noobs (there's a difference!) but aside from that, you have to understand the environment they are coming from in which any "fork" is actually a rebuild that would follow Firefox release for release. Pale Moon's independence is seen as "just a variation on an existing browser" but we've not been that since.. well.. 2010 or so?

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Not to mention the definitive break when we with our modified and developmentally advanced codebase continued on from what was based on esr24 to Pale Moon 25 and 26. When we did Tycho it was only after much debate and research and Pale Moon 27 happened. It was intended to be the last jump ever and every possible step was taken to ensure Pale Moon would stay Pale Moon as was explicitly promised.

We had every reason to expect the damage to accelerate after that point that would render any future possibility not possible. We were very lucky to get one last successful attempt even if the final jump set us back in the short term. Tycho was a great codebase but what became the Unified XUL Platform was even better. It was not JUST a repeat of Tycho but policy and conception changes allowed it to be something greater but it WAS our very last jump. The anticipated damage did happen just not on the timescale anticipated but it surely happened.

The fact IS we are the ONLY legitimate fork of the Mozilla codebase in existence. Classiczilla and TenFourFox were not proper forks but deadend rebuilds with targeted OS support. Even Waterfox's attempt to do what we did failed due to lack of vision and commitment beyond personal glorywhoring. If you want the soul of Mozilla.. What it was and what could have been.. WE are the ONLY game in town. This has been true for years.

The Mozilla community and broader open source community cannot accept that we continue. Very few true forks of any open source project survive and the few that do merely take the place of the original. Mozilla continues to do whatever pointless and token effort that Google's half a million dollars a year will allow it. We cannot replace Mozilla and take their position. It simply isn't permitted but in the eyes of true believers and those who's minds are not filled with abject hate, lies, subversion, and deception.. We still fulfill the role even if not afforded the same rights and considerations such as being allowed to exist without interference to succeed or fail on our own merits.

Our survival is a threat no matter how insignificant we may objectively be in the grand scheme. Well I say good because we must be doing something so fundamentally right to be elevated in importance by corporations and groups out to destroy us.

[Marcus]

Our survival is a threat no matter how insignificant we may objectively be in the grand scheme

This.
Thanks Tobin.

[Bilbo47]

we must be doing something so fundamentally right to be elevated in importance by corporations and groups out to destroy us.

Absofrickinlutely uh-GREE. This is the bit to remember when the facists come around and try to distract.