Advice Request Firefox to do away with Plug-ins in early 2017

[AtlBo]

Here is the link to the information:

Plug-in support has been dropped other than Flash (Affecting)

What are they thinking? This is crazy.

Here is the original quote I found about this:

"Mozilla plans to drop support for all NPAPI plugins except for Flash in March 2017, when Firefox version 52 is released. See this article and this blog post for details."

here:

What is plugin-container | Firefox Help

If this has already been posted, apologies, but this is kind of earth shattering for Firefox users it seems to me. This quote floored me:

"From animation effects, video playback, drag & drop file upload, clipboard manipulation to interactive 3D games, realtime video chat, now everything can be done without a plug-in. Firefox offers a build-in PDF reader and DRM support as well."

This statement is ludicrous to me on its face. Just because I can make a car, doesn't mean that I attempt to make one or cause me to believe that I could make one that is anywhere nearly as good as a corporation that specializes in making cars. The plug-in support structure for Firefox (and Chrome and Opera) is amazing and worth saving in my opinion.

 

[Vanduss]

abobe gets exploited too much, imo we can do without plug-ins

 

[AtlBo]

Pintos had an exploding gas tank. Do we do away with all cars? Of course not.

I don't understand your logic Vandus. What about Evernote and Wunderlist and all the hoards of productivity utilities for the browsers? Also, what about the security applications like NoScript and uBlock, mBblock, Ghostery, AdBlock, BluHell, just to name some of the hundreds. That doesn't even include the web service advisory add ons of the a-v/internet security bundles. So all the work in the countless brilliant add ons is just going to be nothing now? That makes no sense.

Anyway, the whole Flash is too dangerous thing is way over hyped imo. I've used it for 20 years with not one single solitary episode of any kind...

 

[Vanduss]

Pintos had an exploding gas tank. Do we do away with all cars? Of course not.

I don't understand your logic Vandus. What about Evernote and Wunderlist and all the hoards of productivity utilities for the browsers? Also, what about the security applications like NoScript and uBlock, mBblock, Ghostery, AdBlock, BluHell, just to name some of the hundreds. That doesn't even include the web service advisory add ons of the a-v/internet security bundles. So all the work in the countless brilliant add ons is just going to be nothing now? That makes no sense.

Anyway, the whole Flash is too dangerous thing is way over hyped imo. I've used it for 20 years with not one single solitary episode of any kind...

o wait all plug ins? lol i didnt think about that. i just meant plug-in like abobe that get exploited alot.

 

[AtlBo]

Well, as it turns out Firefox will continue supporting Flash, even though the other plug-ins won't be supported.

It seems to me that Mozilla is cowering from the challenge of securing the plugin container. What will developers have as an option to plugins? They will each have to come up with their own way to attaching to Firefox, and this could only lead to a less secure browser. The best solution imo is for Mozilla to stand up and face the challenge. They can build a container that will hold Flash, why not the rest? All they have to do is requirements developers to meet the same standards they will require of Adobe. If they want to sandbox plugins, ok fine, sandbox them. That's what I'm sure they will do with Flash since that's what MS did with Flash in the Edge browser.

 

[marzametal]

Wow... interesting times ahead, Firefox trying to manipulate how people use browsers just as much as CyanogenMod is trying to manipulate how people use Custom ROMs on phones. Interesting times indeed.

 

[uncle bill]

you guys should read about plugin and extension difference before posting. there's no plan on giving up on extension support so feel safe: ublock, adguard and other browser extension will not stop working. a plugin it's something different from an extension and, if i was in firefox guys, i'd stopped support for flash as well, not to mention that, following chromium/chrome road, they've added support for native messaging...

 

[kev216]

Yes, like @uncle bill said I think too, you are confused with the terms extensions and plugins. Extensions (in Chrome and Opera etc) and Addons (in Firefox) are little applications you can add to the browser like adblockers, downloaders... Those are not going to be removed! So don't be afraid that you will not be able to use your favorite extensions anymore.
What is going to be removed are the plugins and with that Mozilla is following the path of Chrome and others. The NPAPI plugins like for example Silverlight, Java, Unity... will be not supported anymore. Chrome also stopped the support for them already quite a while and Opera recently also removed them from the browser. Flash under Firefox is also a NPAPI plugin, but they are going to keep this one for now. However they are looking on how they can implement the Pepper Flash player variant (PPAPI) that Chrome is using and which is, relatively speaking, more secure than the Firefox one. I agree that some websites still use Java or Silverlight, but those plugins are so old and have so much exploits, they need to do this to force the website makers to change their webpage and use newer techniques. They don't do something new here, they only follow the competition.

 

[RoboMan]

End plug-ins for the good of our sake.

 

[conceptualclarity]

They won't get rid of extensions as well as plug-ins. That would be the end of Firefox because its extension store is its main selling point. Flash is the one I'd want to be shed of. I think it's the main reason why plugincontainer.exe is a major resource hog.

I look at my plug-in page and I see that LastPass and Sticky Password have plug-ins there.

It's weird because I thought I'd heard Firefox had already ejected Flash; maybe I'm thinking of YouTube. I know lately a lot of times I just get a black screen with the featured video on a YouTube page when I'm in Firefox.

 

[Aura]

Seems like a lot of people don't know what "NPAPI" is.

NPAPI - Wikipedia

This kind of technology is vulnerable to exploits and is keeping web browsers from improving at a faster rate, hence why they need to go.

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

As long as they do not remove extensions,if firefox will perform as well as it does now.
Firefox is my secondary browser(64bit) i am a chrome user,so i will save the tears

 

[AtlBo]

Thanks for straightening me out on this . I didn't realize there is a difference between a plug-in and an extension technically speaking. I was seriously worried that this was the end of all the great browser add ons (ahem extensions).

I guess it is the end of Unity player, the games engine? I did notice that it's a plug-in.

 

[jamescv7]

Firefox is creating a move for a good purpose.

Remember that plugins should be conventional thus avoiding another piece of tool which can affect the performance on browsing besides on security concern.

It's all about plugins not extensions; Firefox will never bring down extensions support cause majority of people wants customization.

 

[AtlBo]

It's weird because I thought I'd heard Firefox had already ejected Flash; maybe I'm thinking of YouTube. I know lately a lot of times I just get a black screen with the featured video on a YouTube page when I'm in Firefox.

Various sites like Facebook and YouTube have ended support for Flash. However, the Flash player can still be configured to work on YouTube. There are extensions like "YouTube Flash Player" that can make it possible to watch the videos in Flash player. I like Flash player better.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong I hope, but it's my impression that the whole get rid of Flash thing revolves around the ability that developers (or hackers I guess) have to use Flash components to save script to a computer in the form of Flash cookies. For games developers of Flash games, this is how they save metadata for the game so a person playing the game can come back and start where they left off when they ended their session. There may be more to this idk. If this is the case, couldn't there be a way to save the Flash games and Flash if someone (Adobe/Unity) could come up with a way to require a certain format from developers for the metadata? Also, is it so hard to monitor media players for script activity?

I like having the ability to play Flash and Unity games, and I do occasionally when I am thinking something through, etc. And one thing I will say after 20 years of Flash Player. I kind of feel that Adobe has gotten mistreated with the program. There should have been imo a deal between Adobe and MS to have the Flash Player bundled with IE way back, considering who has a browser and doesn't watch video. And Adobe should have gotten a little something monetarily in the deal. I am going back to when there weren't any options I know. That said, if Flash can be secured, why shouldn't there still be options for a player. It's easy to say get rid of Flash because it's the newest thing to say, but is it for the best? Personally, I don't think so.

I honestly feel that it was a mistake to get on the get rid of Flash bandwagon. Time will tell, yes, but in the end I'm pretty sure Adobe will step up with a solution, and sites will go back to supporting the player.

As for plugin-container, now that I understand this better, I guess it could be that Mozilla is just rearranging things to improve the performance of the program. I could see how it could be sort of a hindrance to have a separate process associated with media/plugin operations. However, I don't mind it the way it is now.

BTW, all the above applies to the Unity player also. I like the Unity games. It's out of my hands, so I don't feel there is much I can do but say that I hope something can be done. It just seems "end me" "end me" "end me" is a little bit rash of a way to deal with things. There is always a solution, be it security or optimization or anything else. That's really how it is with computers.

Others are of course free to say that they just can't stand Flash player or Unity. That's what makes boards great, but I hope anyone saying so will take the time to substantiate their comments. It helps to really be able to see into someone's viewpoint and not just the surface. One thing about this. For me, it goes all the way back to the mid-nineties when everyone was wondering how Adobe and RealPlayer would get paid and when things were just getting started on the internet and Prodigy and CompuServe and all that. There is a different timetable for improvements and change for those who relied on computers in those days than the standards being set by the loudest voices on the internet/television and so on. It's because they understand maybe in a little more personal way who made things possible in the first place. Seriously, for me it makes a difference.

 

[Exterminator]

End plugins.A move in the right direction for Firefox.

 

[Vipersd]

Thank you Mozilla for one smart move after long list of bad ones.

 

[kenthebuilder]

I would just be happy if they gave you the option to disable plugin-container. It causes me nothing but grief.

 

[212eta]

How do you feel about Mozilla dropping support for plug-ins?

*WebExtensions = Future.
*Plug-ins = Past.