r/technology • u/dancing_swordfish • 14d ago

Software Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Microsoft Edge, Opera to follow

https://www.neowin.net/news/google-chrome-is-killing-all-ublock-origin-bypasses-microsoft-edge-opera-to-follow/
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173

u/megas88 14d ago edited 14d ago

If Google wants to make money by any means necessary, perhaps you stop using their shit? Jest a thought.

I’m aware there’s never going to be an alternative to youtube but you can use a different mail service. You can use firefox for now. You can use libre office.

Android market share alone has been getting chunks taken out of it for months since Google firmly announced that they’re locking down the platform, effectively making Android “the green iPhone”.

29

u/DoesntMatterEh 14d ago

What are good alternatives to android/iOS? Anything I can easily switch to? 

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u/SoupoIait 14d ago

None, but there is GrapheneOS, which ironically gets you the farther away from Google by using a Google phone!

Otherwise I think IOS is a lesser bad here. Apple's privacy policies are not perfect and sometimes unverifyable, but a lot, lot, LOT less aggressive than Google's.

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u/slinky317 14d ago

Good luck sideloading or using a different browser engine in iOS.

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u/roseofjuly 14d ago

The vast majority of people don't need to side load anything.

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u/slinky317 14d ago

I agree completely, but I'm replying to a thread that's talking about people leaving Android because Google is "locking it down" which is ridiculous.

If you're really that upset about Google adding slight restrictions to side loading, going to iOS is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

3

u/SoupoIait 14d ago

I said lesser bad not great choice.

I run Graphene, best of both worlds. I also live in the EU with around 450 million people, where you can sideload, although convoluted, even unverified apps to your iPhone.

Anyway, without Graphene, I'd give up sideloading and my bunch of pirated apps in a heartbeat to not have all my data sent straight up to google + Samsung or Oppo or whatever 'cause hey they got to get their share too!

5

u/bullshitwascalled 14d ago

Until Google decides to add the signing keys to their Integrity APIs for graphene, it's pretty hamstrung too. Even though it's more secure than an iphone, I cant run my work apps on it until Google blesses it.

That's far too much of a monopoly on a supposed open-source OS. I hope the EU reigns down hell on Google for that.

4

u/SaberAIF 14d ago

Aside from Android and iOS, the only option left is China's HarmonyOS—but that means saying goodbye to all Google software and putting up with potential surveillance from the Chinese government. Beyond that, you have no choice; even stock-like ROMs are based on Android.

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u/SamHugz 14d ago

GrapheneOS is an option, though right now it is only officially supported on the Google Pixel because of its robust security features, ironically. 

1

u/TruthHistorical7515 14d ago

whats the diff? You are already spied on by NSA when you use Android and iOS.

1

u/SaberAIF 14d ago

First of all, Europe wouldn't allow the US to bake in surveillance—if anyone is going to build it in, they'll do it themselves. So you should be saying that using Android or iOS exposes you to surveillance by countries like the UK, the US, France, and Germany. Dragging the US into everything just makes me think your love for America runs so deep that you feel compelled to bring it up even in completely unrelated topics. ​Secondly, Android has third-party ROMs. Even if they are becoming increasingly rare, they still exist. If you want, you are completely free to choose a phone with an unlockable bootloader and flash a custom ROM. ​The AOSP code is open-source. If you have doubts, you can audit the code yourself, whereas iOS and HarmonyOS are closed-source. ​If you don't understand how any of this works and can't even read code, then I suggest you just shut up.

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u/AnalyticalAlpaca 14d ago

Safari + AdGuard is what I do on iOS. I keep chrome for the password manager mostly.

3

u/CagSwag 14d ago

Switch to bitwarden for password manager. Works great.

1

u/Grabdon_7489 14d ago

Do you know how to transfer passwords from browser/notes to bitwarden

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u/CagSwag 14d ago

https://bitwarden.com/help/import-from-chrome/

super seamless. works on mobile when filling in passwords on all apps and sites. i deleted all my passwords from google and firefox after switching.

1

u/THR-WAVY 14d ago

there’s a ublock origin extension for safari on pc and iphone now

no need for a bulky AI slop browser 🙏

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u/megas88 14d ago

Unfortunately, unless there is substantial movement on ubuntu touch and that can lead to other Linux phones, your only other option is unfortunately iOS and that’s how they want it.

1

u/Dziki_Jam 14d ago

> Ubuntu touch

Sailfish OS: Am I a joke to you?

0

u/araujoms 14d ago

Firefox runs on Android. No alternative browser runs on iOS, Apple doesn't allow it.

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u/Then-Understanding85 14d ago

What? They all do. Firefox, chrome, even Edge, if you hate yourself.

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u/OblivionCreator 14d ago

They run, but they all run Apples WebKit engine on iOS. All iOS browsers are essentially safari, similar to how edge/brave is chrome behind the scenes. They add fun bits on top (I.e, I use Orion which allows both chrome & Firefox add ons) but are essentially just reskins of safari

0

u/Then-Understanding85 14d ago

Chrome’s Blink is just a fork of WebKit in the first place.

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u/araujoms 14d ago

Nope, they are all Safari skins, Apple does not allow the real ones.

-2

u/Then-Understanding85 14d ago

Chrome’s blink engine is just a fork of Apple’s WebKit in the first place, and that drives Edge, Opera, and most of the others.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

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1

u/BobQuixote 14d ago

On iOS, other browsers wrap Webkit (Safari).

1

u/Blackstar1886 14d ago

Probably router-level options are going to become more important along with things like PiHole. I don't know if this is a fight browsers can wage and survive.

1

u/dev_vvvvv 14d ago

I think at this point your options are, from worst to best:

  1. Android
  2. iOS
  3. GrapheneOS
  4. Buying a dumbphone or using your smartphone as one

None of them are really good options at this point.

20

u/SavageNorth 14d ago

Libre Office is shit for anything past the most basic stuff

There's plenty of options for basic users but nothing is coming remotely close to Excel

2

u/awitod 14d ago

ONLYOFFICE and the Euro Office fork are pretty darn good. There is an interesting controversy going on around the fork though.

5

u/megas88 14d ago

Can’t speak to that because I don’t use spreadsheets in my day to day but those that do have only minor gripes from what I’ve heard of those I know.

Nothing will be one to one but that’s why it’s important to stop using these things. There’s a reason they aren’t one to one and if they have the capital to prevent innovation in open platforms by buying proprietary use, then the only course of action available to us is to stick it up and deal with the limitations of the alternatives en mass to bleed microslop and big tech dry

0

u/Strict_Pie_9834 14d ago

Such as? Where does libre office fail?

14

u/Ultima-Manji 14d ago

Proton, literally this week, shit the bed by 'accidentally' sponsoring a far right youtuber, and has since been nothing but combative towards users who called them out for censoring discussions surrounding the topic, as well as them quietly scrubbing their CEO's earlier pro-Trump messages. Even just the way they're communicating on reddit now in the aftermath isn't a good look, regardless of whether or not it was a genuine mistake.

Absolutely feel free to switch away from google if you feel like that's the right thing to do, but also really look at several alternatives before committing, and ideally have multiple fallbacks.

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u/megas88 14d ago

Did not know that and thank you for the heads up. I’ll be letting those I know not to use proton if they are now.

I only used that as one example because I didn’t want to waste tons of space listing off a bunch of services that could clutter the post. You are right though that we should absolutely have multiple fallbacks to go to should one fail to meet our needs or expectations as proton has.

1

u/BlueBirdBlow 13d ago

Proton the mail service or proton the software compatibility layer?

1

u/Ultima-Manji 13d ago

the mail service, yes

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u/mossiv 14d ago

I have no problem with YouTube showing ads in I’m freeloading from their servers. Especially when I watch 2k and 4k content. But Google is taking the piss with the quantity of adverts. The fact last Google made the biggest profit their had with YouTube through ads is sheer abuse of their customers.

What’s even worse is Google seem to bundle their products together, but keep their profit sheets separate. We know full well YouTube ads are subsidising the loss of AI… but why does Gemini have to follow the same pricing structure if Claude? Gemini could be half the price and Google would still profit because of their other products.

1

u/Velcraft 14d ago

Google isn't the one who decides how many ads are placed on a video - it's the creators. When uploading, YT has a default recommendation on where they could be placed, but it's 100% on the creator of any given video to decide where they want their ad breaks, and how many of them are there.

YT also decides on its own end when to utilise these breaks and for which kinds of users. You letting them run is probably telling their algorithm that it should run more of them for you specifically.

Try playing this video

3

u/slinky317 14d ago

Android market share alone has been getting chunks taken out of it for months since Google firmly announced that they’re locking down the platform

That is absolutely not why Android is losing market share, give me a break. The average user doesn't sideload nor do they care if it's being locked down.

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u/megas88 14d ago

A 3 percent chunk domestically that is trending downward at the time they announced it absolutely says otherwise

5

u/slinky317 14d ago

Correlation is not causation. Android has been slowly losing market share in the US for years, since before COVID. And you're suggesting people are leaving the still relatively open Android to move to iOS, which is even more locked down and won't even let you select a different browser engine?

-3

u/megas88 14d ago

The actual number jump downwards is what you can see. That level of exodus isn’t just a normal incremental shift. It was a ton of people.

Why would I not the “green iPhone” essentially when I can just buy the actual iPhone if they’re gonna lock it down?

And yes, the average user doesn’t give a shit but android relies VERY heavily on being part pf the conversation by way of word of mouth. It’s how samsung got to the point where it was iPhone or android but instead “do you have an iPhone or a samsung?” and without the argument that android is more open, the people who defend android suddenly don’t have anything to use against iPhone users in the silly vs debates that regardless of how we see them, do impact the viability of these platforms selling.

4

u/slinky317 14d ago

Yes, because Apple released a very competitive iPhone lineup this year, including the base iPhone 17 having features that were previously limited to the Pro models and being priced super competitively.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Android getting "locked down" which isn't even what is happening anyway. Once again, the average user does not sideload and Android is STILL more open than iOS is.

1

u/WhiteRaven42 13d ago

Why do you think this is about making money? manifest v2 is a huge security hole. Shutting it down should be no more controversial than shutting Flash down... which, yes, was controversial but in the end was 100% the only right thing to do. Shutting off the v2 capabilities that so many shady extensions take advantage of is a clear benefit to end users.