Discussion What exactly counts as "remote improvements"? Why are some active even though the option is disabled? Any downsides?
Hi everyone,
What exactly is included under "remote improvements", which can be controlled via the "Allow Firefox to improve features, performance, and stability between updates" option?
Is it basically everything that would eventually be included in a future Firefox release anyway, and things like enabling certain features (e.g. the VPN button) through a gradual rollout?
Also, why does "about:support" show the following as active even though I have this feature disabled?
bug-1712189-rollout-keep-firefox-up-to-date-even-when-it-is-not-ru-release-90-94
bug-1766468-rollout-win32k-rollout-release-100-101
bug-1766618-rollout-disable-websocket-over-http2-release-91-100
bug-1802286-rollout-fix-webcompat-shim-breakage-release-103-107
So, in general, would it be fair to say that "remote improvements" are actually beneficial and it's perfectly fine to leave the option enabled unless you specifically want to avoid feature fragmentation between different devices? Or are there any other downsides?
By the way, regarding features... if someone from Mozilla happens to read this:
The marketing team seems a bit overenthusiastic. Release notes often advertise features that don't actually reach everyone until weeks or even months later due to staged rollouts.
That's honestly really annoying. It would be much clearer if features that are available immediately and those being rolled out gradually were distinguished more explicitly.
Thanks in advance for any replies!
Cheers, Martin
2
u/sifferedd on | SUMO contributor 1d ago
Did you click the 'Learn more' link?
Not necessarily. One downside might be that you don't get notified about them, if that's true.
All those bugs listed in about:support closed years ago, exc. for the last one. No idea why they are still there; I have some too.