An Open Letter from Mozilla

[Michael]

"Mozilla exists to bring choice, control and opportunity to everyone. We build Firefox and our other products for this reason. We build Mozilla as a non-profit organization for this reason. And we work to make the Internet experience beyond our products represent these values as much as we can.

Sometimes we see great progress, where consumer products respect individuals and their choices. However, with the launch of Windows 10 we are deeply disappointed to see Microsoft take such a dramatic step backwards.

These changes aren't unsettling to us because we're the organization that makes Firefox. They are unsettling because there are millions of users who love Windows and who are having their choices ignored, and because of the increased complexity put into everyone's way if and when they choose to make a choice different than what Microsoft prefers."

(Literal quote from https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/07/30/an-open-letter-to-microsofts-ceo-dont-roll-back-the-clock-on-choice-and-control/)

It's really sad to see that the exact scenario Mozilla used to define Windows 10 can also be applied to Firefox latest developments in addons management. Maybe we aren't millions, but "only" thousands, yet it's absolutely disappointing that our choice to use unlisted addons is ignored and an increased complexity is put into our way just because Mozilla prefers to control which way we can use our computers.

I know this message won't change Mozilla people's minds regarding this issue, but I sincerely hope that, if sometime soon there is no longer open software and the users have no choices at all using our computers, they will remember that they are the ones to blame because they stopped fighting the big corporations and their abuses and started acting exactly like them.

Mozilla no longer exists to "bring choice, control and opportunity to everyone". Today Mozilla is no different from any other corporation. And that's a shame.

[a2jc...@gmail.com]

I 100% agree. Firefox has become increasingly controlLING, and this recent change is the worst yet -- by a wide margin.

[hims...@gmail.com]

I agree. This is entirely pointless, and there haven't been a single good argument as to why removing the override is needed.

I've never had a virus in the last 15 years of working with my PCs. I've never installed an addon or an app I hadn't wanted to install.

There's an addon I want to use. I know it is safe and meets my needs because I have in fact used it for several years.

In what world, in what way is it okay for a browser to interfere and say "Look, no. You aren't gonna be using this. For your own safety". Who thought it's a good idea? What went through their heads?

How am I to continue trusting Firefox with my web experience? What am I to say to myself? "Oh, it worked and was what I need but Firefox decided I should not use it, so I guess I'm out of luck"? How did people who thought of this idea envision it?

[trainman261]

Agree. Just posted a message in the main page, it's insanely stupid at best. There's a reason I don't use Windows 10, there's a reason I don't use Apple devices, and there's a reason I stopped using Chrome completely when it didn't allow extensions from outside the Chrome Web Store. Absolutely disgusting

[gene...@gmail.com]

That might have been true once. But it hasn't been for several years. Mozilla is every bit as controlling as Microsoft, as intolerant of actual "user choice" as is any other organization dedicated to making everyone see the world its own way. This is just the latest example of that. And why FF is no longer my default browser. I don't like control freaks and spend as little time with them as possible.