dblohm7's recent activity
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
dblohm7 Link ParentThis was never the case during my time there.This was never the case during my time there.
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Comment on Everything is Chrome in ~tech
dblohm7 Link Parent(I worked for Mozilla for 9 years) While I agree that there have been many mountains made out of molehills over the years, they have never been the cause of the market share drop — the shift to...(I worked for Mozilla for 9 years)
While I agree that there have been many mountains made out of molehills over the years, they have never been the cause of the market share drop — the shift to mobile was.
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Comment on The carbon tax is good for Canadians. Why axe it? in ~enviro
dblohm7 Link ParentIt depends on the province, but in many of the jurisdictions, they'd keep the funds for high-income individuals, but they'd also put them into general revenues, and provide "just trust us"...It depends on the province, but in many of the jurisdictions, they'd keep the funds for high-income individuals, but they'd also put them into general revenues, and provide "just trust us" assertions that the funds were being used for climate projects.
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Comment on The carbon tax is good for Canadians. Why axe it? in ~enviro
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Comment on The carbon tax is good for Canadians. Why axe it? in ~enviro
dblohm7 LinkI've always been firmly on team carbon tax. I've always felt that the real liberal/conservative dichotomy should be around revenue neutrality, not on the tax itself. Personally I am in favour of...I've always been firmly on team carbon tax. I've always felt that the real liberal/conservative dichotomy should be around revenue neutrality, not on the tax itself.
Personally I am in favour of true revenue neutrality because I believe that's the only way for a carbon tax to maintain its legitimacy as a mechanism for influencing consumer spending.
HOWEVER: The carbon tax is also a means to an end. One thing I've realized as I've observed Canada's carbon tax is that people don't care about the rebates when they feel like the market isn't giving them sufficient choice. If people don't have lower-carbon options at their disposal, then they have no choice but to pay the tax. What good is a tax that is intended to influence choices, if there is no choice? Canada's marketplace in general, and the rural marketplace more specifically, don't offer many options.
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Comment on Firefox will consider a Rust implementation of JPEG-XL in ~comp
dblohm7 LinkI think this is the right approach. Image decoders are ripe for exploitation, and an excellent candidate for implementation in Rust.I think this is the right approach. Image decoders are ripe for exploitation, and an excellent candidate for implementation in Rust.
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Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech
dblohm7 Link ParentIt's not a Windows problem, it's a CrowdStrike problem.It's not a Windows problem, it's a CrowdStrike problem.
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Comment on CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world in ~tech
dblohm7 Link ParentApple can afford to forbid third-party kernel extensions because they control their hardware.Apple can afford to forbid third-party kernel extensions because they control their hardware.
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Comment on Getting tired of Firefox in ~tech
dblohm7 Link(Former Firefox/Gecko engineer here) Yeah, the whole data loss thing you're seeing is definitely some kind of bug. It's unfortunate that these kinds of things go on as long as they do. In my...(Former Firefox/Gecko engineer here)
Yeah, the whole data loss thing you're seeing is definitely some kind of bug. It's unfortunate that these kinds of things go on as long as they do. In my experience, things like this are unfortunately the result of not having enough data to figure out what's going wrong. Back when I used to spend a lot of time on /r/firefox, I'd quite often see the same two or three issues go by, but most people don't want to provide a bunch of data to help fix the issue, they just want the issue to go away. (To be clear, this is a perfectly rational thought process on the part of user; it just unfortunately means that it's also very hard to get the right information about the root cause of the problem!) So instead we end up with users who just blow away all their data and reinstall, and move on with their lives. Meanwhile, the root cause lives on...
As for userChrome, there's not much to expect there; it's unsupported. The front-end devs are under no obligation to preserve the underlying structure of the UI from version to version, with good reason: Nobody's going to commit to freezing that because it would tie developer hands even when making important changes for security, performance, or ease of development.
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Comment on Help with web accessibility problem for screen readers - ARIA in ~comp
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
dblohm7 Link ParentNot really, sorry. That wasn't my area of expertise, unfortunately.Not really, sorry. That wasn't my area of expertise, unfortunately.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
dblohm7 Link Parent(Former Firefox developer here) I could help you troubleshoot that if you want.(Former Firefox developer here)
It's a pity, but the weird and uncontrolable tab crash bug was enough for me
I could help you troubleshoot that if you want.
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Comment on Google user data has become a favorite police shortcut in ~tech
dblohm7 Link Parent"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." Edward..."Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."
- Edward Snowden [1]
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Comment on Mullvad on Tailscale: Privately browse the web in ~tech
dblohm7 Link Parent(Tailscalar here) I normally don't jump into discussions like this, but since this post is a Tailscale-themed post, I will point out that Tailscale does all of the above things too. :-)(Tailscalar here)
I normally don't jump into discussions like this, but since this post is a Tailscale-themed post, I will point out that Tailscale does all of the above things too. :-)
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Comment on Mullvad on Tailscale: Privately browse the web in ~tech
dblohm7 Link Parent(Tailscalar here) Agree with you 100%. We built this because we were receiving a lot of requests for such an integration, but we're also fully aware that this isn't for everybody.(Tailscalar here)
Agree with you 100%. We built this because we were receiving a lot of requests for such an integration, but we're also fully aware that this isn't for everybody.
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Comment on Prepare your Firefox desktop extension for the upcoming Android release in ~tech
dblohm7 Link(I used to work on Firefox for Android via GeckoView) When I was there, my colleagues had more or less achieved extension API parity with Fennec, but not the entire WebExtensions API as a whole. A...(I used to work on Firefox for Android via GeckoView)
When I was there, my colleagues had more or less achieved extension API parity with Fennec, but not the entire WebExtensions API as a whole.
A lot of the restrictions on extension installation were product management decisions, not engineering, however there were still some technical concerns around the extensions process for Android...
Your desktop browsers essentially host extensions in their own sandboxed process. Unfortunately the programming model for those extensions pretty much operated under the assumption that the extensions process would never be killed for the duration of the browsing session (notwithstanding anomalies like crashes and such).
These assumptions completely break down on mobile, where the OS pretty much reserves the right to terminate processes at any time as it sees fit. This didn't matter much with Fennec because it was single-process. OTOH, as the new Firefox for Android adopted multiprocess to an ever-greater degree, it became pretty apparent to us that the existing extension process code was not ready to deal with the realities of running on a mobile OS, and the WebExtension APIs weren't either.
A lot of progress has been made over the past couple years to get things into a state where everything could work in this environment.
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Comment on Android Mozilla browsers with access to about:config in ~comp
dblohm7 LinkI used to work on Firefox for Android, particularly on GeckoView, which is the framework for embedding Gecko into apps. I was there when we transitioned the app from the old Fennec architecture...I used to work on Firefox for Android, particularly on GeckoView, which is the framework for embedding Gecko into apps. I was there when we transitioned the app from the old Fennec architecture over to the new Fenix+GeckoView architecture.
At the time, I supported the hiding of
about:configin release builds, and I still do today. The reason is because GeckoView and Android are both significantly different from their desktop counterparts.A lot of users assume that they should be able to set various
about:configknobs the exact same way that they can on desktop, and it just isn't true. In fact, on Android, changing the wrong setting to the wrong value might completely break the installation: in the worst case, it could completely disconnect the rendering engine from the rest of the app. Unless your device is rooted, the only way to fix it is to reinstall the browser (a destructive operation).A lot of people now say, "I'm willing to take the risk." Well, if you're going to use untested and unsupported settings, then use the beta channel.
"But I want the stability of the release channel." Guess what: you're already significantly breaking stability by tweaking
about:config! I would suggest that changing config settings affects stability far more than choosing the beta channel anyway.As a final digression, a lot of people make changes to
about:configsettings without even understanding what those settings do. I can't tell you how many times I've seen outdated guides telling users about settings that don't even exist anymore.Bottom line: if those non-default settings were tested and reliable, they'd either be made default or be made available via the normal preferences GUI. Nobody's intentionally concealing things just to mess with you.
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Comment on Windows 11's latest endearing mess contains rigorously enforced Britishisms in ~tech
dblohm7 Link ParentI read something somewhere (HN, maybe?) where somebody claiming to be a Microsoftie said that the Windows design team has more or less been replaced by a bunch of young Mac users who want to make...I read something somewhere (HN, maybe?) where somebody claiming to be a Microsoftie said that the Windows design team has more or less been replaced by a bunch of young Mac users who want to make Windows more like macOS, without understanding their customer base.
Take that with a grain of salt, of course, but it certainly seems to fit the situation.
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Comment on The ideal backend language to write web apps in 2023? in ~comp
dblohm7 LinkWith respect, Go was never taking "baby steps" toward web development; Go is absolutely designed for web development, and I personally think that it would be my primary choice for a new web...And now, we also have the evolving languages like Golang, Rust, etc. taking their baby steps towards web development too!
With respect, Go was never taking "baby steps" toward web development; Go is absolutely designed for web development, and I personally think that it would be my primary choice for a new web backend in 2023.
Actually it originally was — it is an entire application framework. That’s why Thunderbird is a Gecko-based application on desktop operating systems. Also, Gecko is still embeddable on Android.
The issue is really that Mozilla stopped maintaining XULRunner, which simplified building third-party desktop apps atop Gecko.