News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @04:16AM (#41066141)
Firefox only has a marginal market share, so I can understand it's not a high priority target platform.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by n3m4c on Thursday July 25, 2024 @04:26AM (#41066213)
Everything works if you use User-Agent switcher extension. So they went through the trouble of making an "unsupported" page and redirecting you to that page instead of doing nothing
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @04:29AM (#41066237)
This is Apple. They don't expect their users to know what a User-Agent is (and even less how to install a User-Agent switcher extension).
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by pcardoso on Thursday July 25, 2024 @05:24AM (#41066593)
To be fair, Safari has a user-agent switcher built-in. Just enable the developer tools.

Not all Apple users are clueless.

Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @08:03AM (#41067605)
It’s called Developer Tools and not User Tools for a reason
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by JumpCrisscross on Thursday July 25, 2024 @08:05AM (#41067637)
What do you think Firefox calls it?
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @09:06AM (#41068222)
The same, for the same reason
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by pcardoso on Thursday July 25, 2024 @09:15AM (#41068319)
Isn't it just a name?

A user can easily enable the developer tools if needed, same way I'm not a mechanic but can open the hood of my car.

Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:13AM (#41068915)
You can open the hood of your car, but there’s probably not much you can do there.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by pcardoso on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:42AM (#41069267)
Of course I can. Add cleaning water, check oil levels, replace a light bulb. No much else I can do, but others may, and other won't even do any of this.

Point is, this is not a binary choice. Between user and developer there are many people with varying skills that will use a user-agent switcher if needed.

Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by philistine on Thursday July 25, 2024 @11:52AM (#41070097)
It’s not about capability, it’s about interest.

Most people could do a bit under the hood of a car, but they simply don’t care.

It’s the same thing with computers. Most users are savvy. They just don’t care.

Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @12:43PM (#41070693)
In my experience (systems engineer/devops for both Windows and Linux for more than 25 years), very few users are actually savvy. Even those working in tech.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by philistine on Thursday July 25, 2024 @05:14PM (#41073477)
Our definition of savvy probably differs.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Friday July 26, 2024 @01:59AM (#41076126)
That is possible. Mine would be more or less "someone who knows what they're doing"
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by veunes on Thursday July 25, 2024 @05:21AM (#41066564)
Yep, and this philosophy has been a significant factor in Apple's widespread success
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by roshankhan28 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @06:47AM (#41067027)
there is a good reason that most of the people prefer apple for its simplicity, its because apple only shows you what is required. i agree with you there.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by mr_toad on Thursday July 25, 2024 @06:52AM (#41067067)
“We’re not sure if this will work or not, and we don’t want to deal with you if it doesn’t, so we’re not even going to let you try.”
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by sebazzz on Thursday July 25, 2024 @05:58AM (#41066771)
Extremely frustrating. If a user is smart enough to use Firefox, they're probably also smart enough to open another browser if a site does not happen to work on Firefox. (Which I haven't experienced for a while, except when using ESPHome which requires WebSerial)
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by PlutoIsAPlanet on Thursday July 25, 2024 @05:16AM (#41066535)
The point of "standards" is that you don't need to target platforms.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by bamboozled on Thursday July 25, 2024 @07:34AM (#41067340)
Google maps works fine.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by botanical on Thursday July 25, 2024 @09:40AM (#41068575)
That's still around 200 million people using Firefox.
Re:Apple Maps on the web launches in beta by steve1977 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @10:14AM (#41068926)
I guess the interesting metric for Apple is how many of those are current or potential customers.