Most developers at Mozilla’s Firefox add-on development community are very upset over the firm’s plans to change the ecosystem to a more chromium ecosystem. Mozilla argues that the move will help the company leverage on new technologies such as Electrolysis and Servo. These technologies are aimed at improving browsing speeds, enhance users’ performance and multitasking abilities.
Additionally, Mozilla argues that the new developments will reduce spyware and adware while at the same time hastening the process of authorizing new add-ons. These changes are said will be effected in four parts, and not even one part agrees well with the developers. These changes are as follows:
Mozilla is deploying a new extension API referred to as WebExtensions that will offer the Firefox browser a broader compatibility with other Chromium-based browsers.
Mozilla has given notices to developers that their extensions will have to be compatible with the new Electrolysis Firefox version when the changes take
Going forward, Mozilla will need to validate all add-ons and sign them before they get submitted
All XPCOM and XUL add-ons that are currently found in the add-ons library will undergo a depreciation for the next 12 to 18 months.
In a blog post, Mozilla defended its move by writing: “A major challenge we face is that many Firefox add-ons cannot possibly be built using WebExtensions or the SDK as they currently exist.
Over the coming year, we will seek feedback from the development community, and will continue to develop and extend the WebExtension API to support as much of the functionality needed by the most popular Firefox extensions as possible.”
Some of the members on the Firefox add-on developers in a rather hostile manner. As cited by The Inquirer, the following are some of the responses some of the developers made to Mozilla’s move.
“Have you lost your mind? Good add-ons are the reason to use Firefox. If you remove them, you basically have a bad Chrome clone. Thanks, Mozilla.”
“Well, was fun while it lasted I guess. Thanks for ruining something beautiful.”
From the look of it, the above sentiments are shared by the better part of Firefox add-on developers community. They are arguing that without the XPCOM and XUL, Firefox browser will become just another Chromium browser.
As an end-user, you might not understand what all the tech jargons mean or how they will affect your experience on the future Firefox browser. To make things a bit easier, ask yourself if you like the current version of Opera browser. Opera made the same move in 2013 and turned the Opera browser in the current Chromium-based browser it currently is.
