Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> It's open source [...] You can recompile it

Careful. Thats a somewhat empty response. It's technically true, but its an enormous barrier— even if someone else compiles it for you, how do you know their binary is trustworthy?

It's like saying that humans don't need oxygen to survive, because you can extract oxygen from the electrolysis of water. :)

You have to consider the tradeoffs users are presented with, and the _practical_ freedom to choose is lost far before the cost of the choice becomes infinite.

Fortunately in this case participation will be opt in, though perhaps market forces will make it hard to opt out— but if so the belief is that the same forces would just force you to use Chrome and miss out on the other choices that Firefox leaves open to you.




Careful. Thats a somewhat empty response. It's technically true, but its an enormous barrier— even if someone else compiles it for you, how do you know their binary is trustworthy?

Your claim is incoherent... if you don't currently compile firefox yourself, then you're in exactly the same situation, how do you know the binary is trustworthy?

If you do currently compile it yourself, what's the big deal?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: