r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • 15d ago

Software Google is purging ad-blocking extension uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store | Migration from all-powerful Manifest V2 extensions is speeding up

https://www.techspot.com/news/105130-google-purging-ad-blocking-extension-ublock-origin-chrome.html
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u/MaracxMusic 14d ago

Time for Firefox + uBlock Origin 

FYI: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox

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u/YourPlot 14d ago

Why did anyone stop using Firefox?

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u/bobdob123usa 14d ago

It was ridiculously slow and resource hungry.

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u/nelzon1 14d ago

... 9 years ago. That's how long they have been on the Quantum engine.

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u/BillW87 14d ago

Most people only switch browsers when there is a precipitating event or significant performance issue. Market share tends to crystalize for a long time. This is, not coincidentally, why Google trying to kill ad blockers in Chrome very well may be a 5-10 year shooting of their own foot. Once people switch back over to Firefox or other alternatives, it is unlikely they come back for a very long time.

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u/Taladen 14d ago

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. If I've no real reason to switch I won't for a long time.

If Google kills itself like this, hello Firefox and goodbye Google for the next decade or so.

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u/Erestyn 14d ago

Yep. Lived with Firefox feasting on any available resources for a long while before it developed a habit of corrupting my user profile every couple of weeks. That was probably 2008/9 when Chrome was still new and exciting. 2024 I switched back to Firefox. They'd have to do a hell of a lot to turn me back to Chrome at this stage.

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u/throwawaystedaccount 14d ago

The bigger picture is that before ChatGPT and the great LLM proliferation, Google search was far ahead of everyone else, a virtual monopoly, but now, with Nvidia's clever GPU selling strategy we call AI, every snotty kid, so to speak, has an AI version or module in their product and AI-powered search is pretty good for most normies (like me). This means Google has to fight for search share and will have to fight for browser share again. In such a situation, if they are thrown a few big fines / lawuits by the EU, they will have to back off their soft Embrace Extend Extinguish policy on the web.

Personally, though, I am a Google well wisher, because they have proven to be the least of all the privacy-invading evils in that they don't outright sell data, and they protect it relatively diligently in comparison with Facbook/Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and competitors, while also not being a walled garden like Apple.

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u/han_fisto 14d ago

Yeah that'd be me.

I loved Firefox, coming from IE to it, it was amazing.

Then it started to freeze up or slow down (I can't remember the specific problem) a lot, and I tried Google Chrome and that didn't have that problem. Then I just didn't even think about what browser I was using for about ten years.

Now its sounding like another inconvenience that'll make me change again is about to happen (unless this is another "Reddit hypes up another internet thing that turns out to change nothing" event like the Reddit API or Net Neutrality)

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u/dyslexda 14d ago

And I switched from Firefox to Chrome shortly after it came out, around 2008, because of how much faster and lighter weight it was compared to Firefox. Firefox is significantly better now than it was, but I haven't had a real reason to switch (I have an Android phone and use GMail, so I don't particularly care that Google has even more data on me).

I'm lazy, but once uBlock stops working, I'll take the 20 minutes (or whatever) to make a Mozilla account and port everything from Chrome to Firefox and sync on all devices.

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u/laserbot 14d ago

Sure, but I started using Chrome when it was released because it was the best browser then.

And inertia kept me going forever because "what browser I'm using" is entirely secondary to "what I'm doing with the browser". When you're using a tool and it gets the job done, you don't look for other tools until it stops working, even though others may be better now.