#google chrome not open

[autolenaphilia]

The main reason to use Firefox and Linux and other free and open source software is that otherwise the big tech monopolies will fuck you as the customer over in search of profits. They will seek to control how you use their products and sell your data. When a company dominates the market, things can only get worse for ordinary people.

Like take Google Chrome for example, which together with its chromium reskins dominate the web browser market. Google makes a lot of money from ads, and consequently the company hates adblockers. They already are planning to move to manifest V3, which will nerf adblockers significantly. The manifest V3 compatible chrome version of Ublock Orgin is a "Lite" version for a reason. Ublock's Github page has an entire page explaining why the addon works best in Firefox.

And Google as we speak are trying to block adblockers from working on Youtube, If you want to continue blocking Youtube ads, and since Youtube ads make the site unuseable you ought to want that, it makes the most sense to not use a browser controlled by Google.

And there is no reason to think things won't get worse. There is for example nothing stopping Google from kicking adblockers off their add-on stores completely. They do regard it as basically piracy if the youtube pop-ups tell us anything, so updating the Chrome extensions terms of service to ban adblocking is a natural step. And so many people seem to think Chrome is the only browser that exists, so they are not going to switch to alternatives, or if they do, they will switch to another chrominum-based browser.

And again, they are fucking chromium itself for adblockers with Manifest V3, so only Firefox remains as a viable alternative. It's the only alternative to letting Google control the internet.

And Microsoft is the same thing. I posted before about their plans to move Windows increasingly into the cloud. This already exists for corporate customers, as Windows 365. And a version for ordinary users is probably not far off. It might not be the only version of Windows for awhile, the lack of solid internet access for a good part of the Earth's population will prevent it. But you'll probably see cheap very low-spec chromebookesque laptops running Windows for sale soon, that gets around Windows 11's obscene system requirements by their Windows being a cloud-based version.

And more and more of Windows will require Internet access or validation for DRM reasons if nothing else. Subscription fees instead of a one-time license are also likely. It will just be Windows moving in the direction Microsoft Office has already gone.

There is nothing preventing this, because again on the desktop/laptop market Windows is effectively a monopoly, or a duopoly with Apple. So there is no competition preventing Microsoft from exercising control over Windows users in the vein of Apple.

For example, Microsoft making Windows a walled garden by only permitting programs to be installed from the Microsoft Store probably isn't far off. This already exists for Win10 and 11, it's called S-mode. There seem to be more and more laptops being sold with Windows S-mode as the default.

Now it's not the only option, and you can turn it off with some tinkering, but there is really nothing stopping Microsoft from making it the only way of using Windows. And customers will probably accept it, because again the main competition is Apple where the walled garden has been the default for decades.

Customers have already accepted all sorts of bad things from Microsoft, because again Windows is a near-monopoly, and Apple and Google are even worse. That’s why there has been no major negative reaction to how Windows has increasingly spies on its users.

Another thing is how the system requirements for Windows seem to grow almost exponentially with each edition, making still perfectly useable computers unable to run the new edition. And Windows 11 is the worst yet. Like it's hard to get the numbers of how many computers running Win10 can't upgrade to Win11, but it's probably the majority of them, at least 55% or maybe even 75%. This has the effect of Windows users abandoning still perfectly useable hardware and buying new computers, creating more e-waste.

For Windows users, the alternative Windows gives them is to buy a new computer or get another operating system, and inertia pushes them towards buying another computer to keep using Windows. This is good for Windows and the hardware manufacturers selling computers with Windows 11 pre-installed, they get to profit off people buying Windows 11 keys and new computers, while the end-users have to pay, as does the environment. It’s planned obsolescence.

And it doesn’t have to be like that. Linux distros prove that you can have a modern operating system that has far lower hardware requirements. Even the most resource taxing Linux distros, like for example Ubuntu running the Gnome desktop, have far more modest system requirements than modern Windows. And you can always install lightweight Linux Distros that often have very low system requirements. One I have used is Antix. The ballooning Windows system requirements comes across as pure bloat on Microsoft’s part.

Now neither Linux or Firefox are perfect. Free and open source software don’t have a lot of the polish that comes with the proprietary products of major corporations. And being in competition with technology monopolies does have its drawbacks. The lacking website compatibility with Firefox and game compatibility with Linux are two obvious examples.

Yet Firefox and Linux have the capacity to grow, to become better. Being open source helps. Even if Firefox falls, developers can create a fork of it. If a Linux distro is not to your taste, there is usually another one. Whereas Windows and Chrome will only get worse as they will continue to abuse their monopolistic powers over the tech market.

[screwpinecaprice]

In the city!

Commission for  missyuniverse_ for her fanfic at Wattpad! ( account: Kittens_escapism or juanitasuniverse ) 😊😊😊

[rachymarie]

Targeted ads, contact syncing, etc are the worst as a schizospec

[wasabikitcat]

community college is so funny because half of the teachers are like "For this class you need to use lockdown browser for all quizzes and tests. You need to buy this 70 dollar textbook, and all papers turned in must be in APA format with a title page even if they're only 500 words long. I will not accept late assignments. Also you have a minimum of 4 assignments a week." and the other half are like "you don't need proctoring for the final exam I trust you. here's a download link to a pirated copy of the textbook. as long as your writing is coherent and demonstrates an understanding of the material I literally could not care less what format you use. I can't figure out how canvas works so I'm not giving you due dates, just make sure it's turned in before the grading period ends. your only weekly assignment is a forum post with a minimum of 100 words."

[gontagokuhara]

switched tabs so i dont do any naughty data breaches but baby. baby kitty please mommy is trying to make bread this is very unhelpful positioning

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

I'm ready to tear my hair out, I want to comfortably use Docs without staring into a flashbang, can someone recommend a functional dark mode for using google docs? All the extensions I've looked at just darken the page and makes the text unreadable so then the whole document has to be edited to change the font (pain in the ass) and/or does not function on the google docs selection page, like the list of my documents is still fuck off bright so it is irritating to move between documents

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

Middle school me used to think I was soooo slick because I was able to download so much music and software and torrent shit without ever downloading a virus or messing up even once(1)!!!!!

but I've been poking around my old laptop recently and Hoo Boy. Is there supposed to be this much non Latin characters in the registry ?

[froggyrights]

Whenever I tap on view post if I've filtered a tag on here it now takes me to the website instead of just opening the post in the app?? Who thought that change was a good idea

[yume-fanfare]

hell simulator

[limelocked]

seeing another download firefox post and looking at my chrome windows, then my pc, then my lack of recent freezes as i switched back from having firefox to chrome

[hollybell51]

Guys my computer is fully actually frozen like not even the power button is working and you wanna know what it’s frozen on? The adam warlock smut i was writing. I can’t take this to my mum or brother for help. Like it’s very very obviously smut from the two paragraphs you can see and OH GOD help me. Please.

[plumadesatada]

All hail ask culture, may she come back from near-death!! How has your day been so far? Gimme one bitching point and one nice thing!

babe!!! yes YES help me with my crusade!

gonna answer this about yesterday (bc today I'm freshly woken up)

bitching point: so. I work in IT. my actual job description is testing and being a help desk for NEW systems being implemented. pay attention to that "new".... because one else at my company does! they think I'm google! "hey so X program closed on me without saving how can I recover what I was working on?" "I need new lines on this excel table can you come over and insert some" (I wish I was joking) "ummmm outlook isn't showing me my calendar" (this one happens once a week. to the same person). I feel like goddamned sisyphus.

one nice thing: I TOOK MOM TO THE THEATER LAST NIGHT FOR HER BIRTHDAY. There was a production of Cyrano and it. was. bloody FANTASTIC. mom fell asleep in the intermission and I bullied her for it ("claims to love theater" etc) after I woke her up and the second bit resumed. afterwards we went out for beer and ummmm what do you call them in English? calamari rings, fried. it was a GOOD night

[fitzpirations]

ladies & gentlemen… we are so back

[blackholesandlions]

alright i'm officially team firefox now this is great

[keleksos]

Anyone else randomly missing youtube quality options above 360p or 720p on Firefox specifically?

Edit: Might have just been a firefox setting I changed (The one that's supposed to help youtube buffer ahead more)

[tls123]

nothing i hate more than the fact that you can't uninstall chrome from phones