Mozilla Launches Experimental Voice Search, File-Sharing and Note-Taking Tools For Firefox (techcrunch.com) 74
Firefox has just launched three new Test Pilot experiments that bring voice search, built-in note taking and a tool for sending large files to the browser. From a report: While the new voice search, which currently works on the Google, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo homepages, and note-taking features are browser plugins, the new Send tool is web-based and allows anybody -- no matter which browser they use -- to send files up to 1GB in size. It encrypts the file as it is uploaded and gives you a link you can share with your friends and co-workers. Files are automatically deleted after one download or after one day. That's not exactly the most novel concept (and Mozilla has often been criticized for diverting its attention from its core competencies), but the built-in encryption and the open-source nature of the tool do make up for that.
Bloat, bloat (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Wasn't there an article about how they sped it up just a day or two ago? I'm guessing that they needed to take that step forward so they could take these two back. It's all part of their master plan to slowly sink into oblivion.
Re:Bloat, bloat (Score:4, Informative)
I still remember the days of how FireFox started. Mozilla browser was "bloated" in their eyes because of the mail and chat client, so they wanted to rip those parts out and make everything separate applications. Now they're just shoving the kitchen sink back in again, because WHY THE HELL NOT!? Good thing to know that history never repeats itself.
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Completely agree. Firefox should just focus on being a really good 'core browser'. I don't want frills and extras for social bookmarking, file-sharing, or note-taking. I don't want them continually dumbing-down the UI, either. (Remember when you could disable image loading without jumping into about:config?)
Chrome is kicking their ass, and it's not because Chrome has lots of pointless extra features. It just works really well.
Re:Bloat, bloat (Score:5, Insightful)
*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
I just wish they'd spend some development time to actually improve the browser, rather than let it continue on the decline it's been engaging in for years now.
They are! (Score:1)
I've just installed firefox again... and it no longer seems slow and bloated!
Re: (Score:2)
I just wish they'd spend some development time to actually improve the browser, rather than let it continue on the decline it's been engaging in for years now.
Yeah, *sigh*, SMH, tsk tsk, *smirks sagely*, they need to get off their asses and do some REAL work, instead of developing whole new programming languages to fix the security issues, rewriting the rendering engine from scratch, and publishing multi-process speedups only the other week.
Seriously though, these new tools probably took up 1% of their development time, and less that 1% of the binary size & memory footprint. Firefox got way way faster & more memory efficient only the other week, due to ye
Re: (Score:2)
My point is that the changes that have been made to Firefox over the last few years have been making Firefox consistently worse. Literally the only reason I continue to put up with it is the existence of the NoScript plugin -- which, from everything I've learned, is impossible to replicate in their new plugin system.
Adding these sorts of things to it only perpetuates that decline. I'm not necessarily against these new features (although I do miss the days when FF was a lot leaner), but I'd like to see real
I wish... (Score:1)
I wish they'd get accelerated video working on Linux instead of shit like this. I know they don't care because Linux is such a low percentage of users; but seriously, how long do we have to wait?
Next Steps? (Score:2, Interesting)
As a firefox user, I wonder if I'll ever see an emoji?
Or if I could actually watch netflix in my browser.
Glad to see they're working on features that will be so beneficial to their users.
Hopefully they use checksums on their file transfers, so they only need 1 copy of the 1080i version of the latest cam recording of latest movie.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Next Steps? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Next Steps? (Score:2)
I installed the appropriate font for Linux, and I can see emojis.
Trends! Trends! TRENDS! (Score:5, Informative)
Voice-to-text wrappers are a nice touch - but they really shouldn't be a 'browser' feature - but a system feature that can be used in ANY application, so you don't have to tweak it separately for every tool you use.
Note taking is also an occasionally neat thing - but not something you want constrained to the browser developers controlling. Browser developers shouldn't have an interest in getting a piece of that pie, or shaping that 'market', even between open source options.
And file sharing tools? That's an odd technology to push into - not too removed from HTTP/FTP (filezilla) logic at times, but very fiddly even for companies that devote their full focus on it. That said, I'd love it if the 'default' tools could smoothly resume arbitrary download after an interruption, integrate multiple downloads from identically hashed sources, and so on... but companies that take such tools on as secondary interests tend to let such tools fall to dust shortly after trumpeting their first launch. Also, something better done through an official plugin, rather than integrating directly.
Honestly though, these should all be officially supported PLUGINS ("add-ons"), not integrated components. Oh, and they should focus on NEVER BREAKING PLUGINS - they've basically killed half the plugins I've liked about their browser over time, due to their allergy to backwards compatibility options.
Want to know what makes for a good base product over time? Become a platform that bigger hits work with smoothly. Support that platform, and make a brand out of the efficiency, stability and reliability of that platform. Don't try and redefine yourself every two weeks. Let the plugins redefine what can be DONE with your platforms instead - best of both worlds.
Don't just slap a new forced coat of paint or end-user feature on, and pretend that you're trendy - you're not a public traded company, you shouldn't have to play that game.
Ryan Fenton
Re: (Score:1)
...Want to know what makes for a good base product over time? Become a platform that bigger hits work with smoothly. Support that platform, and make a brand out of the efficiency, stability and reliability of that platform. Don't try and redefine yourself every two weeks. Let the plugins redefine what can be DONE with your platforms instead - best of both worlds....
Gee, I said about the same thing, and it was marked flamebait.
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Perhaps the bell rings once global usage drops below 5%, after almost reaching 50% in 2009.
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Voice-to-text wrappers are a nice touch - but they really shouldn't be a 'browser' feature - but a system feature that can be used in ANY application, so you don't have to tweak it separately for every tool you use.
I agree that the system should provide voice-to-text or voice control capability.
Note taking is also an occasionally neat thing - but not something you want constrained to the browser developers controlling. Browser developers shouldn't have an interest in getting a piece of that pie, or shaping that 'market', even between open source options.
Do one thing and do it well. Oh, make it easy for plugins to extend functionality. Note taking should be a different app.
And file sharing tools? That's an odd technology to push into - not too removed from HTTP/FTP (filezilla) logic at times, but very fiddly even for companies that devote their full focus on it.
File upload should be part of the browser, IMHO. I'm not sure I like how they implemented their gigabyte upload.
That said, I'd love it if the 'default' tools could smoothly resume arbitrary download after an interruption, integrate multiple downloads from identically hashed sources, and so on... but companies that take such tools on as secondary interests tend to let such tools fall to dust shortly after trumpeting their first launch.
You can't do that for arbitrary downloads; the web server needs to fully support appropriate HTTP headers (such as chunked transfer encoding [wikipedia.org] and byte serving [wikipedia.org])
Do we really need more data exfiltration routes? (Score:4, Informative)
If your organization has any restrictions on sharing information, this is just another hole to monitor and / or plug.
Re: Do we really need more data exfiltration route (Score:1)
Mod parent up. I'm tired of the games of crippling software functionality in the name of aiding incompetent IT staff and leadership
Opera had this (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Could be some dumb fun for luddites like me still with a beige tower and wired keyboard, meaning I can sit far back (or have food plates in the way) and use only the mouse sometimes.
But the main reason is probably that they've been doing research on voice features. And so this is a way to expose it to the public, more specifically willing users. This might well bring attention to that "Test Pilot" programme in the first place.
Even if it's kind of useless, the four or five evil giant companies are pushing vo
Make up your damn mind (Score:3)
Mozilla needs to decide whether they want a rich browser or a minimalist one. The Firefox strategy used to be to remove as many features as possible in order to make the browser more like Chrome, while encouraging the development of extensions that replace those features. The problem was that Chrome only started as a barebones browser out of necessity, and have been steadily adding stuff while Mozilla was removing them. Meanwhile, the Chrome-like rapid release schedule was causing problems with compatibility, weakening Firefox's extension ecosystem. But while abandoning the minimalist strategy might seem like a good choice, I don't think Mozilla has a coherent plan of what to do next. These additions seem haphazard, putting in a bunch of complex functionality should come after solving the basic problems. As long as I need separate extensions for mouse gestures or rebinding hotkeys, integrating a dropbox clone into the browser should be pretty low on the priority list. I guess this is a common problem in open source, unpaid hobby developers will want to work on te new and interesting stuff, and nobody wants to do the housekeeping. There may be a lesson to be learned here: open source projects should be a lot more careful than commercial ones about removing features, because they will have a hard time convincing their coders to develop the same thing again if they change their mind later.
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I think nobody at Mozilla sat down and had a real talk about what's core features and what's customization and accessories, because I think they should be treated differently. To use the car analogy, certain parts are essential like an engine, brakes, suspension and such. These typically follow a linear pattern from basic to premium where the best option is generally considered to be the objectively best. Customization are generally things that you must choose, but have trade-offs or are a matter of prefere
Re: (Score:2)
in order to make the browser more like Chrome
Which is one of the problems with the direction FF is going.
RIAA/MPAA will have SIX FITS over this (Score:2)
No! (Score:2)
Mozilla- please stop it!
Stuff like that needs to be in ADDONS, that is why we have ADDONS! If you want to make it something official, then release your own addon for those features. If you REALLY think it should be included, make it an included addon that we can still easily turn off and/or uninstall.
expires after 1 download? (Score:3)
So, if I want to share a 1 GB file with 3 friends, I need to upload it 3 times? And send 3 different (non-encrypted) emails?
Or I could just use GDrive or Dropbox, which don't have this awful limitation. Seems to me that they forgot usability an only thought about privacy and security.
Failed emulating Chrome (Score:2)
So now it looks like they want to emulate Edge? Guess what? Edge is declining marketshare as people migrate to 10. No one wants it or care about cortona or MS pen and OneNote integration. At least folks wanted Chrome
I see people say bloat... (Score:3)
I read a few comments here and I think there is something worth pointing out. This is part of the Test Pilot program and only is in your browser if you've opted in on the Test Pilot program and only then is it "added" to your install.
Do note, this isn't me condoning anything here, I'm just merely trying to point out that if you aren't in the Test Pilot program, then you're not seeing these tools/invasion of privacy/wherever you stand between those two points. I don't know what the ultimate intention is here and honestly I forgot my asbestos suit at home so I'll abstain from any flame.
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(while making Firefox competitive again, but all of that news suspiciously never gets mentioned here on Slashdot).
Maybe because they're not?
Key exchange (Score:2)
the new Send tool is web-based (...) It encrypts the file as it is uploaded
How did they implement key exchange with recipient? Encryption is of little value if the operator also transmits the key.
Fix the damn RAM usage first! (Score:2)
Why don't those Mozilla imbeciles spend a a few days making Firefox so that releases some memory after it is done with it? It's normal to have FF sitting there WITH NO OPEN WINDOWS using 1.5-2 GB of RAM.
Oh well (Score:2)
Just last week I finally threw in the towel on FF on my home machine. Random hanging just got too annoying. Guess I won't be changing back, since they're getting even further from what I want in a browser.