Firefox to become a modern AI platform
According to Mozilla's new strategic direction, Firefox will evolve from a pure browser to a modern AI browser.
Then I'll stick with Brave.
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It does not make much sense.
The announcement from the CEO implies that their primary goal is winning trust back from users.
Yet, the directions they are choosing are the least trusted and hardest to win.
In light of such a glaring contradiction, the only logical conclusion is that winning back trust is not the priority.
If it is not the priority, then the words we are being given are false and misleading...
And have therefor failed to win trust.
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Then the Zorin team seems to have made the right decision to make Brave the default browser.
Well, they want integrate AI - which I'm not a Fan of - but Brave has already integrated AI.
And on the Firefox Site they communicate clear that it is an Option which You can disable. So, You don't have to use it. To quote that from @Aravisian's Link:
AI should always be a choice — something people can easily turn off.
Of Course, I would find it much better when it would be disabled by default and when You have installed Firefox, You would get on first Start a Prompt which asks You if You want enable the AI Stuff.
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Ok, but now compare Mozilla's announcement with Brave's, and tell me which one you think feels more trustworthy:
Mozilla talks about strategy, business models and revenue. Moving fast, changing fast. Whereas Brave talks about privacy, security and browser controls.
Mozilla is implementing opt-out features, whereas Brave is implementing opt-in ones. The difference is subtle, but significant. And since actions speak louder than words, to me this makes Brave feel much more trustworthy than Mozilla.
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To be honest: When it comes to AI Stuff, I wouldn't trust any of them more than the other - I want say: I don't trust any of them.
The sad Thing for me is: I don't see any good Browser out there. I only see ''okay'' Browsers. And I have to see what is for me the best ... Compromise - and that is for me still Firefox.
The Future will show if this will then be still the Case or if I have to orientate differently.
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Of course, to each their own. However, like I said, actions speak louder than words:
If you like Firefox, I'd suggest looking into LibreWolf instead. It's a fork of Firefox without a lot of the bloat that comes with it, and pre-configured for privacy. As a result of that, there are some features that don't work but you can always keep another browser, even Firefox itself, to use it exclusively for those cases.
And that's the thing about the state of browsers today. You can't possibly have one that does it all. Pick a few, configure them for different purposes, and use them accordingly.
But soon we'll get an alpha version of the Ladybird browser which shows a lot of potential.
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That's true, but I currently only use the Brave browser. At first, I used both Firefox and Brave, but I'm forgetting about Firefox more and more and using it less and less.
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I like this rebuttal from Vivaldi.
PSA: Our roadmap for 2026: | Vivaldi Technologies | 19 comments
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I've been more and more pleased with Vivaldi since I gave it another tried earlier this year. It seems they've finally up there.
PS: Same link to site not owned by a Trillion dollar company
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Its not, they care nothing about the hearts and minds, of the (real) people who use their browser. The CEO is only sad that he got caught. Mozilla are the next Microsoft, their only goal, is to mind the crud out of your data, since they discovered how lucrative your data is.
Privacy is dead, nobody has it any longer, and corporations are willing to destroy our planet, which is the cost of all this AI and mining, all over the acquisition of money. (Welcome to the Ferengi)
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We will see what the Endresult will be. Maybe it will be a good alternative, maybe not. That it is independent from Chromium and Firefox Base might bring fresh Air in the Browser Section.
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Many old heads Firefox users remember when Firefox advertised Brave on their Mozilla page and how it was in the same likes of privacy as Firefox.
What a beautiful thing the Zorin group did removing Firefox and making Brave the primary browser. That move clearly demonstrates how private Zorin OS is.
Firefox = untrustworthy
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I'm still not at ease with Brave being the default browser, mainly because its CEO is a known homophobe (Brendan Eich). But also, dunking on Firefox because AI and praising Brave which also uses AI is not a posture I understand.
I oppose genAI nearly as much as I oppose LGBTQphobia, and I think like others there are more browsers available. I'm currently using LibreWolf, a fork of Firefox that won't ever use AI (and has strong stances against LGBTphobia), but others here also choosed Vivaldi, which I think is a better alternative than Brave.
The use of AI has nothing to do in that conversation.
I criticize Mozilla because they have failed to keep their word and compromised their own values. I praise Brave because they have done and deliver exactly what they've promised.
On the topic of AI, specifically, Brave implements it in such a way that you must explicitly enable it. That means that I don't even have to worry about it if that is something I don't want to use.
In contrast, Mozilla is implementing AI as an opt-in feature. So if you don't want any AI you have to take steps to disable it.
And it wouldn't be the first time that a user has to disable some settings after an update quietly enabled those again. Or Firefox decides to run some experiments without user knowledge nor consent... So even if you do disable AI, you simply cannot be sure it will stay that way.
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In addition, Mozilla has been repeatedly shifting the goal posts in order to justify their privacy policy being opened up to user data, rather than give a solid and coherent response to the end users.
To be fair, I must point out in the spirit of debate that Brave has not upheld it's word so cleanly.
While not related to A.I., BAT and tokens have been controversial, including Brave setting parties as affiliates without their knowledge or authorization, then keeping any money that generated, with the unwitting party unaware that they generated revenue.
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% absolutely that! They absolutely went back on their word, 20 years after they became popular. They went corrupt, over the thing that makes most people corrupt in the first place, MONEY.
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That's a fair point. But at the same time, this isn't something that affects end users, which is what I'm concerned about. Which isn't to say that it's okay to turn a blind eye on past blunders like that, but if at the end of the day there's an improvement in how the company is dealing with things, that's something I'm willing to put behind.
This is what I've done with Mozilla for a long time, as well. But it's just unacceptable for me to continue to do so anymore. Even Microsoft has redeemed itself from a lot of past mistakes, for instance going from famously calling Linux a cancer to become one of the largest contributors of source code.
Whatever happened before, the reality is that Mozilla are not the good guys anymore at this point in time.
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To me, there are no good guys in this; there are no Good Browsers.
It is a trade off.
There are many valid anti-Brave-Browser comments because of this.
I think we can rationalize ZorinGroups decision to switch to it based on need and balance, not because it is good or without flaw. There isn't a good browser that is standing by the end user, because the end user is no longer the customer of that product.
ZorinGroup expressed concern and hesitancy over switching to setting Brave Browser from the outset, given that it met all of the criteria that they needed a default Browser to supply. Can you think of any other software which they specifically asked for open feedback on?
I stopped using Firefox a long time ago. I tested Brave Browser initially in order to understand it well enough for the forum, now, I no longer use it.
Partly due to my own reservations with the browsers past antics, partly due to the fact that they have not fully addressed or corrected them, to this day.
@OrangeLux is quite right to promote user choice and alternatives to defaults.
Users still fully have a choice.
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