Skip to main content

lemmy - Link to source

Inside Project Nova, Firefox's biggest redesign in years

Inside Project Nova, Firefox's biggest redesign in years

We sit down with Ajit Varma, the head of Firefox at Mozilla, to learn more about the Project Nova redesign, how Firefox will integrate AI, and the challenges and opportunities as a smaller browser maker.
Mark Hachman (PCWorld)
#technology
in reply to lostwonder

Leon
lemmy - Link to source
Leon
• •
“Definitely, the idea of extensions and just customizations in general is: can you create more of like a natural language interface that lets people do everything they want?”


What?

“There’s really no reason for anyone to say, ‘This is your browser; you can do whatever you want,'” Varma added.


What??

Are they drunk, or is my reading comprehension failing? I don't understand these sentences.

in reply to Leon

XLE
piefed - Link to source
XLE
• •

Those quotes are nearly incomprehensible and they aren't isolated incidents either. This CEO talks like every tech CEO selling AI products.

When you look at the term browser, it’s very antiquated in the sense that there’s static content, and when I click on the content, I get to the next link... With apps, it became more bidirectional. There’s more rich engagement with AI.

Instead of being a browser, it’s becoming a generative system, but it’s not doing it in a negative way that prevents the person’s incentive from creating the content in the first place.


CEO sure did say a thing. But it's the interviewer's job to say please explain what you mean" in response.


Make Fun Of Them

Have you ever heard Sam Altman speak? I’m serious, have you ever heard this man say words from his mouth?  Here is but one of the trenchant insights from Sam Altman in his agonizing 37-minute-long podcast conversation with his brother Jack Altman f…
Edward Zitron (Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At)
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to Leon

OwOarchist
lemmy - Link to source
OwOarchist
• •
can you create more of like a natural language interface that lets people do everything they want?


I don't want a 'natural language interface' in my browser.

I want a browser interface in my browser.

This shit ain't broke. Don't fix it.

in reply to OwOarchist

ViatorOmnium
piefed - Link to source
ViatorOmnium
• •

Based on the rest I think they don't mean actual natural language interface, but having enough personalisation options to setup the UI in a way that's natural for your workflow. They are just speaking 2026-corporatise instead of English.

The full sentence is:

“Definitely, the idea of extensions and just customizations in general is: can you create more of like a natural language interface that lets people do everything they want?” Varma added. “For example, we announced an update that we’re doing to our design, which is called Project Nova. And a lot of people didn’t like the rounded corners modernization. Now, we can let people pick how round they want their corners. People care, so we put it in the settings.”


They also mention some misguided "AI" features, but not in this part.

in reply to OwOarchist

Leon
lemmy - Link to source
Leon
• •

It's a direct follow-up on a question about if you can create widgets on your home-page. At least I think that's the interviewer asking a question, it could be a weird Trump-like ramble from the CEO as well.

I didn't like the previous CEO, particularly given her connections to Airbnb, but this one is undeniably worse.

in reply to Leon

Banzai51
lemmy - Link to source
Banzai51
• •

You have to remember that when Mozilla first formed the goal was to create a mini-OS in the browser with apps and the whole caboodle. With that they then wanted TO DOMINATE THE WORLD!!!! But their vision was tricky and taking way longer than expected, so they released Firefox as a temporary band-aid. Firefox went on to be their greatest project while the Mozilla Project burned, fell over in the swap, and was bulldozed into the sea. Over at Mozilla HQ there is still resentment that Firefox is their greatest project. They never gave up on WORLD DOMINATION. It's like the ego of Marc Andreessen haunts them like a ghost.

With AI, they see their opportunity for WORLD DOMINATION and are going for it again.

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to lostwonder

floofloof
lemmy - Link to source
floofloof
• •
“Like every tech company, we’re really excited about the velocity increases from AI, and so we have a lot of internal prototypes that are up and running, and extensions is one of them,” Varma said. “But a lot of things we’re staring includes questions like: Can you customize your homepage? Can you add widgets? Can you change your background in whatever way you want?”


All that and rounded corners? Not sure I can handle this much future.

in reply to floofloof

OwOarchist
lemmy - Link to source
OwOarchist
• •
Can you customize your homepage? Can you add widgets? Can you change your background in whatever way you want?


I could already do all of that, without AI.

in reply to lostwonder

XLE
piefed - Link to source
XLE
• •
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to lostwonder

azolus
lemmy - Link to source
azolus
• •

So you have chosen death.

I mean cool, we saw it coming, so no surprise here. But damn that sucks.

in reply to lostwonder

Hond
piefed - Link to source
Hond
• •

I'm using Firefox since 1.5 and since 2.0 it was always my main browser on every single device. Even on my short stint with an Ipad as my main computing device over a decade ago(it was just a skin of webkit but still better than safari).

While i never really liked Mozilla and Firefox suffered from so many baffling and bad decision i never felt the need to switch my browser. But i'm seriosly reaching the point where i consider maybe Mozilla and Firefox just need to die so there is space for a true alternative to google/chrome/blink.

All these firefox forks just feel like bandaids.

in reply to Hond

Maestro
mbin - Link to source
Maestro
• •
If firefox dies before a viable alternative exists then the Chrome lock-in won't ever be broken.
⇧