Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 15, 2014 17:33 UTC (Thu) by roc (subscriber, #30627)
In reply to: Firefox gets closed-source DRM by palmer_eldritch
Parent article: Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Right. There is no way Mozilla can make DRM more difficult to use in Firefox than "use Chrome instead".

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 16, 2014 11:40 UTC (Fri) by krake (guest, #55996) [Link] (5 responses)

Are you saying that the next victim will be the certificate exception handling due it being more diffcult to pass than what other browser are doing?

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 16, 2014 23:28 UTC (Fri) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link] (4 responses)

Yes, that is an issue. We can make it a little more difficult than other browsers since there is a small switching cost, but not much more difficult. Users can and will switch browsers to view pages we block; denying that reality would be wishful thinking and unhelpful.

However, we can and do coordinate with other popular browsers on this sort of thing. When everyone agrees, implicitly or explicitly, to make it more difficult over similar timeframes, we can make the situation better.

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 17, 2014 8:04 UTC (Sat) by krake (guest, #55996) [Link] (3 responses)

> Users can and will switch browsers to view pages we block; denying that reality would be wishful thinking and unhelpful.

Right, but you seem to be under the impression that nothing in Firefox itself is of value to its users, that they would not only switch for the pages that do not work but for good.

In my case it is Firefox that it sometimes switch to so I can't really tell if it has any selling points or what they are, but there must be something, doens't it?

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 18, 2014 6:01 UTC (Sun) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link] (2 responses)

A switch for a page that doesn't work won't always lead to a permanent switch but it will certainly push in that direction.

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 18, 2014 7:13 UTC (Sun) by krake (guest, #55996) [Link]

Well, in this case it would only be one or two fixed sites, no?

Wouldn't the familiar behavior, potential customizations, tons of bookmarks, etc. be way stronger incentices to stay with the current browser than to switch to just for one or two sites that basically don't do anything else than show a video fullscreen?

I have my doubts that any user, lest a significant portion of the Firefox userbase, has subscriptions to more than a handful of video streaming sites.

Most users won't even have the availability to subscribe to that many.

Firefox gets closed-source DRM

Posted May 19, 2014 7:38 UTC (Mon) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link]

"A switch for a page that doesn't work won't always lead to a permanent switch but it will certainly push in that direction."

No, you are wrong, it was usually is a push in the opposite direction.

Firefox earned its following for being safer, more secure. LOTS of firefox users are used to the idea that occasionally they have to use another less secure browser for a badly designed website. I have NEVER seen anyone switch to the other browser full time because of this.

I have however seen at least a dozen switch because "firefox updated and now I have something else, help!"

The first few times that happened I went through and did my best to repair all the damage, shuffling through about:config, searching for and installing and testing various extensions, just to try to fix something that worked fine for this person for years before. Then there's another "upgrade." Then another, and another. And eventually I said I am sorry I cant keep doing this. And THAT is when the regular joe user gives up on Firefox and switches to IE or Chrome or Safari full time.