Linux Mint signs a partnership with Mozilla

[Bilbo47]

Not happy with this. https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4244 Mint is suddenly less attractive to use or recommend for potential migrators from Windows. LibreWolf and Betterbird are now more necessary on Mint and Win. Any info on the new best option for Linux choice and privacy instead of Win? Without going all Tails and Tor ...

[Night Wing]

@ Bilbo47

Firefox is Mint's default browser. So if people like everything else about Mint, but don't like using Mozilla's Firefox browser, no one is forced to use Firefox in Mint. That is the long and short of it.

I run Mint on all four of my computers. Even though Firefox is installed by Mint by default; I configure Firefox to my liking which includes Preferences and things in "about:config", load all of my Bookmarks from my flash/thumb drive onto the Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox and then once that is done, I click on a bookmark link. That link (Pale Moon for Linux) is for linux Pale Moon.

http://linux.palemoon.org/download/mainline/

After getting Pale Moon up and running, setting my Preferences in Pale Moon and in "about:config", I then load all of my Pale Moon Bookmarks onto Pale Moon's Bookmarks Toolbar. Then I click on the another link (Waterfox Download) which is for the linux Waterfox browser.

https://www.waterfox.net/download/

Then I go through the motions of setting up Waterfox to my liking, etc, etc. In the end I have three browsers I use in Mint. And they are in order of preference depending on what site I'm going to be visiting which are:

1. Pale Moon (Default Browser)
2. Waterfox (Second Backup Browser)
3. Firefox (Third Backup Browser)

To think if someone likes Mint a lot, but they will cast it aside because of the Firefox browser, is just wacko thinking when there quite a few browser alternatives and I've just listed two of mine. Other alternative browsers people can use in Mint are Vivaldi and Brave.

And I've been quite happy using Mint since late December of 2012. Liked Mint even better when linux Pale Moon was released in January of 2014 when I started using linux Pale Moon in Mint.

So sum up. No one is being forced to use linux Firefox in Mint if they don't like Firefox.

[moonbat]

I use Mint as well, and have made a customized install USB using Cubic with all my preferred PPAs and repositories, including Pale Moon, plus I've removed Firefox and other useless touchscreen style apps like Hypnautix, as well as unwanted locales for LibreOffice (that alone saves so much space!). So if I ever have to reinstall the OS, it will have everything I need already set up.

[loxodont]

I use Mint as well, ... plus I've removed Firefox and other useless touchscreen style apps ...

Now, that's interesting. I never spent much time on Mint configuration and the only thing I got notifications about Firefox presence was in Mint Application Updates after launching. There were almost always Firefox updates to install. I just left it as Mint "default" app and didn't think about really removing it, just like keeping IE tied with Windows in the old days ... . Removing it might save some update load.

BTW - article quote -

"Firefox didn’t just save the Web, it promoted the idea of Free Software to millions of people who were using Windows, ..."

I'm no real FF hater, but I don't know what kind of tears came out my eyes on "FF didn't just save the web ..." - did I miss something?

Anyway, from the promotional toned article I can't see how this technical and economic partnership could make things worse for using Mint.

[Moonchild]

I don't know what kind of tears came out my eyes on "FF didn't just save the web ..." - did I miss something?

I think they are referring to the once upon a time when they pushed for actual standards as opposed to MSIE quirks. Today, they implement all Chrome quirks, so it's certainly no longer applicable and quite the opposite. they are no longer saving the Web, they are working hard on its demise. I'm surprised they still harken back to that in 2022. It's been so long ago that most people don't even know what they are talking about.

[ron_1]

Any info on the new best option for Linux choice and privacy instead of Win?

I'm quite happy with Devuan. A few distros based on it are Refracta, Miyo, and Exe GNU/Linux. I install Miyo, which uses Openbox, but I delete that and install Mate . . . so basically I have Devuan with the Mate desktop. I prefer to be systemd free.

[moonbat]

I'm no real FF hater, but I don't know what kind of tears came out my eyes on "FF didn't just save the web ..." - did I miss something?

To add onto what Moonchild said, they're trying to take credit for the original Mozilla that was founded by Jamie Zawinski and other ex Netscape employees. That Mozilla begat Firefox and Thunderbird and actually was able to break the IE monopoly. All the people who worked for it in those days are long gone, starting with the ousting of CEO Brendan Eich for his private views on LGBT (you know him better now as the founder of Brave browser).

[loxodont]

I'm well aware that young Mozilla had been a game changer in those times and I do not underestimate their fights against the desired right-in-the-face "standards" of the advertising industry. They offered a good alternative browser with some kind of protection against spam, ads and data spying. That's why most of us appreciated Firefox and it got some popularity. But then Google came up with Chrome, won, and Mozilla assimilated to stay in the game.
So "Firefox saved the web" is big words - in the Now, one is attempted to ask "from what?". If you look at the actual state of the web, or only just read MCs blogposts about Tribalism and such, it appears as thick nice paint over what Firefox has reached with its temporary changing the game in the far past.
But, as I said, I take it more as a promotional article.
//sarcasm-turn on// Perhaps in the not so far future we will see DRM Netflix movies about "The day Firefox saved The Web!" or japanese style "Mozilla vs. Chromezilla Reloaded" - who knows