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Mozilla will open Firefox for Android for more extensions (blog.mozilla.org)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] 71 points 3 years ago (22 children)

They'll soon be forced to allow sideloading, in the EU at least. Should open the doors for proper alternative browsers.

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  • [–] 65 points 3 years ago (13 children)

    I loathe the very fact they made people call it "sideloading". It's just installing on your own terms, like it used to be the norm.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago (12 children)

    Well, it's a carry over from its early days in how it used to work. You needed to install things via USB debugger. Generally that's all sideloading ever meant, transferring information from one device to another using a generally "local" method (SD card, USB, etc). Now sideloading, on Android at least (as it retains its original meaning elsewhere), just means not from the official repository.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (11 children)

    I just activated Windows 10 on a laptop I bought from ebay, and I was reminded that Microsoft too wants people to view its official store as the default way to obtain software.

    One of my goals for this weekend is to set up a dual boot for Linux Mint, which I've never done before. I'm fully aware of its limitations, but I'm getting so tired of all this crap.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (8 children)

    Yeah, I'm not sure what Microsoft is attempting with S mode. Its just such a half baked concept to me. I'd rather a simplified group policy interface or something if they wanted simplified restrictions.

    But yeah, dual booting is a great way to transition. You can also do Windows in a VM, but not sure how licensing works or if you can use an OEM license in there.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (7 children)

    It just seems much better for me to set up a dual boot. I know it's more work, but it's not like it's irreversible, and I think it would give me a better experience overall.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    There are a few Linux distros I can recommend as someone who started doing this as a little tinker project when I was younger.

    Pop_OS! Is a really great basic setup to help usher you into Linux. I installed the KDE desktop environment onto my install because I really like and enjoy the KDE experience. You have plenty of other Ubuntu “flavors” to choose from. I’d recommend giving them all a whirl or look and decide which one you think is the best fit for you.

    ElementaryOS is great if you want a semi-MacOS experience but I feel it is perfect for someone who doesn’t want to tinker around too much or for family members to use on their 10 year old laptops/desktops.

    I also recommend not fully setting your Linux side up (email, saving documents, etc.) until you get done with your testing different distros out. You’ll be thankful you didn’t go through the full setup process if you decide to try a new distro out. Have fun, and remember it’s all a learning experience. Don’t be afraid to ask for question or look anything up. If you finally find a distro you want to make permanent and remember me, I’d love to hear what you settled on. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And enjoy your newfound freedom! 😌

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Does this comment seem fresher from Linux :P

    I finally got Linux Mint set up and joined the forums. First I tried it as a dual boot, but my old laptop never played well with Windows anyway, so I went ahead and did a full install. It's got a HDD so I don't feel to concerned about using this as a test machine and overwriting multiple times.

    After I use this for a while, I want to try some of your recommendations. Then once I find exactly what I want, I'll consider what I want to do with my main rig. Some people have warned against dual booting, but it worked just fine for the short time I had it set up like that.

    Anyway, I still have your comment saved for reference, so thanks!

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I’d go as far as to say it’s.. MINTy fresh!

    I dual boot Pop with KDE and Windows 11 on my laptop while trying to use the Pop side more. I need the Windows side for playing games when traveling so I can’t fully integrate into Linux just yet. No problem at all, and I hope you’ll be able to sudo apt yourself into the perfect distro just for you!

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    I actually think I'm going to enjoy trying out different versions. The official Linux Mint forums pretty much say no dual boot, go all in, but shhhhh don't tell them that dual booting actually works just fine lol

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I have had some problem with some Distros not appreciating Windows being installed first, and some distros require more hoops to be jumped through to get it working than others, but dual booting is worth it in my use case and therefore is a requirement to even have Linux on the laptop to begin with. I love it to bits, but I bought the laptop to game!

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    I've had people try talking me into using my main rig as a full Linux system, but I think I'd never do anything except dual boot because I appreciate the performance I get for games that don't support native Linux way too much for that.

    If it weren't for gaming, I'd gladly take the plunge.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    They'd still be restricted to the Webkit rendering engine though, right?

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  • [–] 19 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    If you can sideload anything you want, why would that be the case? I don't think there's a technical limitation, they just don't allow it on the app store if it doesn't use safari.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    If you can sideload an app there's nothing Apple can do to stop you from shipping a new rendering engine.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    They can still prevent the JIT from working because the resulting native code would not be signed. That would result in worse JavaScript performance in such browsers, but considering today's hardware and software optimizations, it may not matter that much in practice.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yes, but the point of the law is that apps that you install that are not from the official store actually have to work. It even has clauses so that installing stuff from different sources than Apple can't intentionally be a worse experience than the official app IIRC. That might be just for messaging though.

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