Post #4179653

2026-07-28 23:11 UTC

I understand politically/organizationally why this module exists, and I understand that Mozilla's priorities will never be my priorities. But given the number of conversations/messages I've had in recent days on the topic of "how many lines of code browsers have / how complex they are." I would just like for it to be understood that much of that complexity isn't inherent to the nature of browsers, it doesn't need to be there (or in many cases, anywhere)

Replies (4)

@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social 2026-07-29 00:48

A scenario I would love a word for: Firefox has code earmarked for "SponsorProtection" i.e. elements that will have additional protections applied to them so e.g. clicking on a link on a sponsored newtab element won't leak IP address to the sponsor (just to Mozilla's relay) So there is this doubling of functional complexity: first the new code needed to display and manage sponsorship elements AND then the new code needed to (partially) protect the client from the sponsorship functionality.

Open ##4179652
@Andreas_Sturm@mastodon.social 2026-07-28 23:16

@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social somehow every software is currently changing into bloatware, spyware, trackingware, with "AI support", I hate that, luckily there are still small, manageable FOSS alternatives, but for how long?! #bloatware #adware #spyware #tracking #ai #foss #floss #opensource #diday #didit #ux #uux #itsec #privacy

Open ##4198345
@simon@tutut.delire.party 2026-07-29 07:59

@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social two things can be true. there’s a lot of fluff that i’d prefer be removed, and there’s an incredible (and ever growing) amount of complexity in the engine to make the web work and make it fast

Open ##4199349
@80columns@indieweb.social 2026-07-29 17:16

@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social I started chasing the references to this World Cup code, and wow there sure is a lot of stuff in here that doesn't belong. It's hard to decide which thread to pull on first.

Open ##4208549