We’ve been anticipating it for years,1 and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.2 Daly Barnett. “Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening.” EFF, December 9, 2021. ↩ Lawrence Abrams. “Google warns uBlock Origin and other extensions may be disabled soon.” Bleeping Computer, October 13, 2024. ↩

We’ve been anticipating it for years, and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for Chrome extensions”.

Now that it is finally happening, many seem to be oddly resigned to the idea that Google is taking away the best and most powerful ad content blocker available on any web browser today, with one article recommending people set up a DNS based content blocker on their network 😒 – instead of more obvious solutions.

I may not have blogged about this but I recently read an article from 1999 about why Gopher lost out to the Web, where Christopher Lee discusses the importance of the then-novel term “mind share” and how it played an important part in dictating why the web won out. In my last post, I touched on the importance of good information to democracies – the same applies to markets (including the browser market) – and it seems to me that we aren’t getting good information about this topic.

This post is me trying to give you that information, to help increase the mind share of an actual alternative. Enjoy!

  • dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    15·
    9 days ago

    Honest question here, since chromium (vs chrome) is open source, can someone not fork an older version, or remove the new code blocking ublock?

    I mean i assume it cant be done, but i dont know why

    • 4z01235@lemmy.worldEnglish
      50·
      9 days ago

      It can be done, but then whoever forks that will need to stay on top of keeping that fork up to date with other changes in the original chromium, and that gets harder and harder to do as time goes on and more changes are made to the same or related parts of the codebase.

        • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
          27·
          9 days ago

          Google: We changed a color

          Fork Developer: they changed a color and it caused 50,000 breaking changes that a diff tool can’t handle automatically wtf.

          Google: sorry wrong color here’s a new one

          Fork developer: another 100,000 breaking changes that a diff can’t handle?!?!

      • cum@lemmy.cafeEnglish
        3·
        8 days ago

        Also all the ad blocking extensions would have to continue maintaining forks of their own projects for increasingly obscure manifest V2 Chromium browsers.