Concern about WebExtensions exclusive strategy from add-on authors and users

Mozillians
34

I look forward to watching Who Moved My Cheese – thanks!

Cheese and spam

Off-topic from WebExtensions APIs, but relevant to addons.mozilla.org (receiving great attention in connection with the transition to Firefox 57): I do think of cheese whenever I find mis-placement of an extension in a category or collection. Yesterday for example:

Metaphorically: it’s miscategorising knives as types of cheese, because a knife might be used to cut or spread cheese. It’s simply wrong …

… and when misplacements significantly increase the information overload, there’s a sense of being spammed by AMO. If I’m shopping for edible cheese: be relevant – offer me cheese, don’t use inedible knives to obscure my view of the cheeses. If I’m shopping for tab-related extensions: offer me only what’s relevant. If I’m shopping for an organisational tool: offer me only that type of extension. And so on.

Back on topic …

:100:

I hope that developers and other contributors at Mozilla and elsewhere will avoid burn-out.

I’m allowing a few months for transition, for mature uses of WebExtensions APIs. Other users will be less patient.

Alternatives/complements to Firefox

A few days ago, in IRC:

I have yet to see a balanced blog post that puts, in perspective, some of the alternatives that people are looking towards. To be honest I have not sought one but none of what I see in IRC refers to any such post so … I smell an absence.

Later:

… sorry, I was distracted from the ‘alternatives to Firefox’ shortlist stuff.

(I’m compiling a shortlist, but I’m not a blogger.)

@amyt as you are Community Manager for Add-ons and Marketplace please, can you point us towards a reasonably balanced blog post?

I foresee things becoming extremely heated in IRC with vents of steam from people who will be surprised by losses of functionality with 57. It will be easier to keep users on board if there’s a single, reasonably authoritative point of reference.

(Wikipedia’s list of web browsers is fairly comprehensive, but it’s not the type of thing that can help to guide a passionate user of Firefox through a period of transition that ends with renewed, or continued, use of Firefox.)

Thanks

Other essentials will include:

  • points of reference for users who wish to downgrade (if, technically, there is no downgrade path) from 57.x to 56.x or from 57.x to ESR 52.x.