Re: Stop the bling, fergawdssake!

On 13/11/2011 7:23 AM, Henri Sivonen wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Greywolf<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> I just downgraded my wife's FF8 to 3.6.24, because the Skype
>> plugin won't work with FF8.
>
> This is the first time I've seen anyone complain about the Skype
> extension *not* loading into Firefox. I've seen people complaining
> about the Skype extension loading into Firefox numerous times, because
> the Skype extension has made the Firefox user experience worse (see
> for example http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/01/mozilla-blocks-skype-add-on-caused-33k-firefox-crashes-in-a-week.ars
> ). In particular, the Skype extension is notorious for getting
> re-enabled after Skype updates if the user has previously chosen to
> disable it.
>
> I'm curious, why do you or your wife need the Skype extension (as
> opposed to initiating or receiving Skype calls from the UI offered by
> the Skype app itself)?
>

Well, if it was clear that you don't actually need the FF Skype 
extension, I wouldn't have bothered. But that was not clear. See, the 
obvious inference is that Skype somehow needed the browser to function 
properly, else hwy would there be an extension for it? So I just dumped 
FF8, Just In Case. Foolish by hindsight, but wotthehell, I wasn't about 
to waste my time trying to figure that out.

I suppose someone will now tell me I should've known or tried to find 
out (they'd certainly do so on the Linux NGs, which I no longer bother 
with). But why should I? We are well past the time when a user shoiuld 
have to know arcane details about the need for/behaviour of/effects of a 
plug-in or extension. A computer is an appliance. It should just work.

HTH
Wolf K.