firefox question

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drascus
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Joined: 03/28/2010

I know the answer to this is probably going to be obvious. how does everyone feel about using firefox. I downloaded firefox 4. besides the fact that it recommends non-free extensions is there anyother issues with just using default firefox on a free system.

Cyberhawk

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Joined: 07/27/2010

Not aware of any issue besides the plugins and extensions. You could use the trisquel, or the gnu icecat service for those.

SirGrant

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Joined: 07/27/2010

http://libreplanet.org/wiki/List_of_software_that_does_not_respect_the_Free_System_Distribution_Guidelines#firefox

Yes, the problem is that it recommends non-free extensions so thus it can't be included in a free software distro without being modified to only recommend free extensions. Firefox itself is free software so using it is not a problem. You (the user) just has to be careful to not install non-free software.

Cyberhawk

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epic fail for iceweasel, it is in the same list as standard firefox. Why would the Debian people rebrand firefox, if they don't make it recommend only free software plugins? I thought that was the whole point of rebranding it.

Adrian Malacoda

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Joined: 12/26/2010

Debian rebranded it because they were backporting security fixes from newer versions into older versions. Mozilla said that was enough of a change to break the trademark policy.

Additionally, the Firefox graphics themselves were non-free at the time (I believe they are now), and thus couldn't be distributed with Debian.

Unbranded Firefox is known as "abrowser" by default (as is the Trisquel web browser) and I believe it is possible to obtain an unbranded build of Firefox 4 by this name (there is one in the Ubuntu PPA).

(I personally use the Mozilla-branded Firefox 4 on both my desktop and laptop, each running Trisquel. I figure if I'm smart enough to use Trisquel, I'm wary enough to keep my eyes out for non-free plugins)

Cyberhawk

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Ah, yes, there was something about the artwork. Now I remember, it has been some time since I used original Debian. I'll probably switch to Firefox 4 some time soon. Would be perfect if IceCat got updated to 4, they have the nicest rebrand imo.

SirGrant

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Sorry dup post