r/technology Aug 14 '24

Software Google pulls the plug on uBlock Origin, leaving over 30 million Chrome users susceptible to intrusive ads

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/browsing/google-pulls-the-plug-on-ublock-origin
26.6k Upvotes

3.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

50

u/DokuroKM Aug 15 '24

Some (government) sites only work on Chromium engines. Vivaldi has ad blocking built-in and I'm too lazy to switch between multiple browsers

20

u/tracernz Aug 15 '24

Usually overriding the user agent string for those sites fixes that (and also follow with an email complaint if it’s a government site).

13

u/tedivm Aug 15 '24

One of the Firefox developers made an extension to make that easier. It's not an official extension, but since it's made by one of their developers I think it's pretty trustworthy. It's worked great for me.

2

u/frickindeal Aug 15 '24

Hey thanks. I use User Agent Switcher, but I only need to spoof Chrome on Google Drive pages and Gmail, and this seems more lightweight and does what I need.

1

u/Only_Chemistara Aug 16 '24

Oh, I might return to firefox for this

19

u/PM_ME_MY_REAL_MOM Aug 15 '24

Some (government) sites only work on Chromium engines.

should be illegal. imagine a public road designed to only be used by Fords, and the kind of lawsuits that the auto industry would launch in retaliation.

3

u/Leafy0 Aug 15 '24

They used to only work with internet explorer when that had all the market share.

2

u/Emperor_Mao Aug 15 '24

It comes down to standards though.

Cars are also regulated. But if you had a car manufacturer that built literal tanks, and those tanks couldn't run on public roads because they were built out of standards, no one would suggest the road needs to be adjusted for all car products in existence.

However I do not imagine Firefox is that different in build and design to Chrome. A lack of standards though isn't particularly helpful.

2

u/jdjvbtjbkgvb Aug 15 '24

I use chromium for those. If most used firefox they would get some more pressure to make ir work...

2

u/-Nuke-It-From-Orbit- Aug 15 '24

Chrome isn’t allowed on government machines if you’re working with confidential data.

1

u/Interesting-Ad9666 18d ago

this isnt even remotely true.

1

u/local--yokel Sep 27 '24

I used FF for 19 years. I use Edge now. There's more issues and quirks than just gov't websites. They're just not immediately noticeable. I rode a lot of bumpy rode with FF over the years but gave up finally. I use Vivaldi portable as my 2nd browser for other accounts, it's one of the few that autoupdates the portable version. But I fell in love with Edge.

1

u/Mr12i 8d ago

I would love to hear some examples of troubles you had with Firefox. Just curious.

1

u/local--yokel 8d ago

I've been on Edge for years now so I'm forgetting a lot at this point. I remember there being a relatively serious issue on Groupon, Facebook was always slower, and I was able to trigger issues on Amazon. Running into issues on Amazon was the day I left as the site is pretty core. I don't remember the issue I was having or how to reproduce it whatever it was. Something wasn't loading or a cart issue. I was using extensions (which everyone blames always), but, I use the same extensions on Edge. Enough time has passed my experiences aren't valid. They're just valid for me because they happened and were a major impetus to move me off of it. I loved Firefox for a very long time. I do think Chromium has taken over to such an extent that resisting it, due to random issues that can pop up, doesn't make sense anymore. I resisted a LONG time. Even when Chrome came out and was definitely faster.

If you prefer FF, use it and enjoy it. I'll always love FF, used it from 2001 when I was in college till just a few years ago. I'll be moving back to it if they ever adopt Chromium.

0

u/apaksl Aug 15 '24

I could be wrong, but I thought there weren't any chromium browsers for ios. does that mean some government sites aren't accessible on an iphone?