Unrelated of course to foisting it on people...
But perhaps I am the only one who remembers them shoving it down everyone's throats.
I can't surely be the only one thinking it's not a coincidence?
Mozilla has acquired Read It Later, Inc. the developer of a web clipping app called “Pocket”. Pocket lets you bookmark content from the web and then syncs it to make it accessible on all manner of devices, even when they are offline. The service can pull off this trick for text,images and video. Read It Later, Inc. claims 22 …
Why can't they focus on Firefox security & bugs?
Stop messing with other projects and stop messing with GUI.
I've not used Pocket as I don't like the idea of a 3rd part server. I simply save webpages or paste into LibreOffice Writer. Sometimes I convert them to ePub/Mobi via Calibre.
"What about Firefox?"
You mean the "Return control of the web to you" browser?
It had its run, was very popular.
Then what I call the "graffiti artists"* at Mozilla took over and a once promising project was history.
*"Graffiti artist" - the type of "programmer" that joins a popular project, and proceeds to "make his mark" everywhere, to the detriment of the project. A most lamentable sub-species of human.
Pocket has been integrated in to Firefox for ages. Pocket is a very good and useful app.
I a;so use the desktop version of Pocket
The only negative when Firefox integrated Pocket they made the previous Pocket addon defunct, the integrated method was a possible security risk.
I managed to get a copy of the last signed Pocket addon and it is installed permanently.
"Pocket is a very good and useful app."
If you don't mind a 3rd party collecting information about everything you find interesting on the internet and linking it to you across multiple devices.
I never considered the utility of pocket to come close to justifying the loss of privacy and was annoyed as hell to find it baked in to Firefox.
First thing I do on anyone's PC I install FF, is for their user account, I go to the menu and remove pocket. I also add Classic Theme Restorer and Noscript.
Having 3rd party cookies disabled by default and something like Noscript makes more sense than privacy stealing & pointless pocket. There are loads of "safe" ways to do what pocket does.
Pocket is also on my Kobo. Facebook is on my Kindle & Kobo. Are they all mad? Yet I can't email highlighted text from Kindle or Kobo.
I have no difficulty at all using Calibre to make ePubs for the Kobo from saved webpages.
I can read them on phone too.
The Kindle & Kobo & phone do sort of work on web pages anyway.
I don't use Firefox bookmark sync etc either. Privacy & Trust. If I need a link on another gadget / machine I use methods I trust to copy it. I rarely do.
For those who can't be bothered to read the press release that Sharwood copy / pasted, the story goes more or less like this:
Firefox had its own offline reading feature that was being developed internally, then the Pocket guys were approached by Mozilla Business Development and told "would you like us to bundle your stuff in our browser as a core component?" There was a monetary exchange here, of which Mozilla developers were initially unaware, thinking that it had been purely a decision on technological grounds.
Fast-forward a couple of years and the money now seems to be going in the other direction. I haven't checked but it would be interesting to know if anyone at Mozilla had a material interest, disclosed or not, in Pocket.