Comments on: I Bought My First Firefox Extension Today http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/ Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and blogger Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:39:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Club Penguin http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-5537 Club Penguin Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:41:18 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-5537 I disagree with it being the only the extension developer's problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0? I disagree with it being the only the extension developer's problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0?

]]> By: Club Penguin http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-5501 Club Penguin Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:41:18 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-5501 I disagree with it being the only the extension developer's problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0? I disagree with it being the only the extension developer's problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0?

]]> By: Firefox 3: Impressions, Issues, and Verdict | TechConsumer http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1611 Firefox 3: Impressions, Issues, and Verdict | TechConsumer Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:27 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1611 [...] copy plain text, delicious complete, dictionary tooltip (this is the extension I found so useful, I paid for it), AVG safe search, and Google pagerank status, to name a [...] [...] copy plain text, delicious complete, dictionary tooltip (this is the extension I found so useful, I paid for it), AVG safe search, and Google pagerank status, to name a [...]

]]> By: Mark Evans http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1606 Mark Evans Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:29:17 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1606 The only extension I have paid to use is AdSense Notifier - donated a $1. Admittedly, it was a tiny amount of money but at least I did pay something for it. The only extension I have paid to use is AdSense Notifier – donated a $1. Admittedly, it was a tiny amount of money but at least I did pay something for it.

]]> By: Paul Ellis http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1605 Paul Ellis Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:26:49 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1605 Guess I should have followed the think huh? I figured it was for the hack you can do to individual extensions. I disagree with it being the only the extension developer's problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0? Honestly, Mozilla is pretty generous with their version numbering, did 2.0 really justify being a major release? IMO 1.5 was more significant than 2.0. FF3 should probably be what they called 2.0. Again, IMHO... :) Guess I should have followed the think huh? I figured it was for the hack you can do to individual extensions.

I disagree with it being the only the extension developer’s problem. Mozilla needs to make the extension platform more stable. Why did extensions break between 1.0 and 1.5, and then again from 1.5 to 2.0, and now with the arrival of 3.0? Honestly, Mozilla is pretty generous with their version numbering, did 2.0 really justify being a major release? IMO 1.5 was more significant than 2.0. FF3 should probably be what they called 2.0. Again, IMHO… :)

]]> By: Kevin C. Tofel http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1604 Kevin C. Tofel Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:17:52 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1604 Paul, the tweak I wrote about isn't perfect by any means, but it's a global hack. Meaning: you do it once for the browser and it should allow all of your extensions to be installed, i.e.: it's the same effort whether you use one or one hundred extensions. I agree with the central problem regarding extension compatibility, but that's up to each extension developer, not Mozilla. Just wanted to clarify on those points. Paul, the tweak I wrote about isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s a global hack. Meaning: you do it once for the browser and it should allow all of your extensions to be installed, i.e.: it’s the same effort whether you use one or one hundred extensions. I agree with the central problem regarding extension compatibility, but that’s up to each extension developer, not Mozilla. Just wanted to clarify on those points.

]]> By: Paul Ellis http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1603 Paul Ellis Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:17:07 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1603 Kevin, I've been tweaking extensions since the 1.0 -> 1.5 upgrade, and I don't know about you, but it is really annoying to have to do that. It isn't like I'm just using one extension that I'd have to hack. Honestly I'd pay $$$ for the 4-5 extensions that are a must-have on my Firefox if they all worked on the first day of each new version of FF. A few of the extensions (update notifier, image zoom, autoHideStatusbar, etc) I use should really just be rolled into Firefox as new features, but Mozilla is paranoid about that. Kevin,

I’ve been tweaking extensions since the 1.0 -> 1.5 upgrade, and I don’t know about you, but it is really annoying to have to do that. It isn’t like I’m just using one extension that I’d have to hack. Honestly I’d pay $$$ for the 4-5 extensions that are a must-have on my Firefox if they all worked on the first day of each new version of FF.

A few of the extensions (update notifier, image zoom, autoHideStatusbar, etc) I use should really just be rolled into Firefox as new features, but Mozilla is paranoid about that.

]]> By: Kevin C. Tofel http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1601 Kevin C. Tofel Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:03:30 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1601 If a function can be had only by paying for an extension, I'd be willing, but it would have to be an extension I simply couldn't live without. There's the value / cost issue as well. Regardless: your extension *may* well work with FF3 RCx, but the browser is built by design to not allow older, incompatible extensions to be installed. Consider a quick tweak to get around this and test: http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/how-to-force-fi.html If a function can be had only by paying for an extension, I’d be willing, but it would have to be an extension I simply couldn’t live without. There’s the value / cost issue as well.

Regardless: your extension *may* well work with FF3 RCx, but the browser is built by design to not allow older, incompatible extensions to be installed. Consider a quick tweak to get around this and test: http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/how-to-force-fi.html

]]> By: Jason http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1602 Jason Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:01:41 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1602 Oops, I guess my reading comprehension skills aren't awake yet this morning. Oops, I guess my reading comprehension skills aren’t awake yet this morning.

]]> By: Bob Caswell http://bobcaswell.com/2008/06/05/i-bought-my-first-firefox-extension-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1610 Bob Caswell Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:59:16 +0000 http://www.techconsumer.com/?p=892#comment-1610 clint, what if I rephrase the question like I did in my comment above? That is, given the option between not using an extension you already use or paying $4, which would you choose? As long as the question is "would you pay for something you already get for free?" the answer is usually going to be "no." But the point was to ask more what the value is of something you already use (quantified in dollar terms). But it's fair to say that many see the value drop to zero once the measurement used is money. This isn't the only example in life of something that's generally free but has a pay alternative (e.g. bottled water). In the case of extensions, I just wonder what that pay alternative might be if it existed. (For me, it's the idea of not having to deal with extensions breaking version to version; if that were streamlined, I'd likely pay for it.) clint, what if I rephrase the question like I did in my comment above? That is, given the option between not using an extension you already use or paying $4, which would you choose?

As long as the question is “would you pay for something you already get for free?” the answer is usually going to be “no.” But the point was to ask more what the value is of something you already use (quantified in dollar terms). But it’s fair to say that many see the value drop to zero once the measurement used is money.

This isn’t the only example in life of something that’s generally free but has a pay alternative (e.g. bottled water). In the case of extensions, I just wonder what that pay alternative might be if it existed. (For me, it’s the idea of not having to deal with extensions breaking version to version; if that were streamlined, I’d likely pay for it.)

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