This would not be a problem if Mozilla had sided with users for once and allowed us to install xpi extensions from outside their app store.
It's permanently disabled in the normal version because malware would piggyback on the browser to steal passwords and so on. Obviously Mozilla have no problem with people wanting to make their own extensions and so on.
And that's what Moz is being these days; emulating the Apple App model, the Windows Phone app model, and other obnoxious "you have to ask us permission to do stuff on your device" rules.
Id rather take toolbar hell. We'd have more functionality overall.
What's somehow worse is that you can literally have your cake and eat it too -- just install Dev or Nightly, you're exactly the advanced user those branches are targeting.
Mozilla is saying "your contribution is not welcome due to US laws" to people who don't even live in the US.
Becuase if they're not I can't imagine not being able to side-load them.
And if they are, with the amount of Firefox forks we have, it should be trivial to create one that allows for side-loading unsigned or 3rd party signed extensions. Hopefully without too much source modification, just creating a distribution of Firefox would easiest to manage.
Yes, you should definitely switch to Chrome instead, which has a sterling track record of respecting you as a human and not as a revenue source.
Or maybe knock off the hyperbole and start asking whether there are tradeoffs being made in favor of increased security for the average user. Which does require a more nuanced view than Braveheart-style screaming about freedom.
Is changing your release branch really that much more of a burden than flipping a preference?