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FYI: Duck Duck Go has two Firefox plugins that simplify the default search engine switch:
DDG Search just switches the search default: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-ssl/
DDG Plus (which I use) adds a (removable) toolbar button and "Remove those annoying marketing pop-ups Google keeps putting on their sites that advertise their own services (reversible)"
I don't use Firefox much on mobile, but I can also report few problems with it in a variety of environments (Win7 at work, Win10 at home, a variety of Linuxes in virtual machines at home).
Cheers,
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+mike -dot- mccallister=pkware -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+mike -dot- mccallister=pkware -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Ken Poshedly
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2016 1:32 PM
To: Kathleen MacDowell
Cc: TECHWR-L Writing
Subject: [BULK] Re: iPhone browser change?
Importance: Low
Kathleen,
I've had no stops-and-starts with Firefox (and restating that it's still only on my desktop and laptop computers).
Same with my experiences with Duck Duck Go -- never any problems searching and finding anything.
I will say that Google made it VERY hard to install Duck Duck Go and set it as the default search engine. I've read online accounts of what others had to go through, and it seems pretty plausible to me that Google really, really, really does NOT want to lose you for monetary rea$son$, thus the roadblocks I and others had to go through. All in the past now.
-- Ken
On Friday, December 2, 2016 1:56 PM, Kathleen MacDowell <kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
I used Firefox for quite a while, but about a year ago it started bombing all the time. I put up with it through several updates and finally gave up. No patience me. Switched to Chrome. Yes, Google can be creepy, but I'm not sure what else we're going to do--not sure IE is any better. Funny, I never had much luck with Duck Duck either. Maybe because I use a gmail account? At any rate, I gave up Facebook several years ago, so one less tracker.
Paranoid? Oh well...
Kathleen
On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 10:47 AM, Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> wrote:
Gang, while not directly "tech writing" oriented, it _can_ be. So here goes . . .
Just like I decided a long time ago to use Mozilla Firefox on both my desktop and laptop platforms, I'm now considering making the switch and using Firefox on my iPhone 6S Plus for online searches instead of Apple Safari.
Regarding my desktop platform, I found out the hard way some years ago that Internet Explorer worked like molasses (I could practically go out and wash the car and return before it would move from one online site or page to another), so I moved on to Google Chrome. Yes, IE (and its new Windows 10 iteration) are much faster, but they're still just Microsoft data mining operations.
But then found out from a Google engineer here in Atlanta about the hourly algorithm-change that Google uses to scan every email and all online clicks to gather online histories and better sell itself to advertisers. That engineer recommended Firefox. I even saw it demonstrated a few years ago on an ABC Evening News segment. It's just downright scary and spooky to see how the friendly folks at Google are so good at stalking. (One ABC news staffer used his gmail account to email another staffer to suggest dinner at a local Italian restaurant, and within minutes, all the pop-up ads were for Italian restaurants.)
No, I'm not a paranoid, and while I know that online anonymity can never be achieved, anything I can do to minimize my online presence to marketeers is what I want to do. (I also use Duck Duck Go as my search engine.)
Is anyone else on this list using Firefox instead of the default cell phone browser and if so, what advantages/disadvantages are there?
-- Ken in Atlanta(Sshhh, don't tell!)
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Kathleen MacDowell
kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com
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