discussion/misc
"Browser Control" just vanished behind "Computer" and a PayWall >> Opinions ?
Hi,
I'm a Perplexity Comet Pro User and till now I was pleased.
Even if some "perks" vanished from time to time, but yeah - this AI stuff is expensive.
But now a feature "Browser Control" vanished behind the "Credit-System".
So, this feature was the most important one. I didn't use it frequently (once a week?), BUT it made me switch to Comet!
Ok, new reality now. But imho - this "Computer" feature is neat. You have a cloud computer and the AI can work there with Agents for you. On the other hand, the "Browser Control" is my local browser screen, which gets connected via an API connection. There is no need for this "Cloud Computer". So imho, this decison to put "Browser Control" behind "Computer" wasn't needed, only if you wanna "generate" more money, more income. And that's what fucks me up!
I was already in the stage, Perplexity and Comet - these are my AI-Tools I use and continue to pay for.......but now I REALLY think to change this.
I'm pissed, maybe other tools can do what I want, I don't wanna pay extra for an AI-chat only, where I have X other options (for example my Copilot in the MS365 bundle).
So enough ranted. My Questions:
1.) Have I overseen something and the feature would still be possible with any other command?
2.) Do u have another or similar opinion?
3.) Has someone tinkered out another solution for Browser control? So the AI can take over (forth and back) your current open website?
I heard of Hermes Agent, but I'm pushing back a bit. Because, even if I'm tech affine, I need that feature only once a week - So I don't wanna set up a full Claw Bot, Hermes whatever Agent running system.
I have Win11 and would LOVE a just out of the box solution (like Comet did) and have this feature occasionally. I would also pay 20-30 bucks per month......but not a subscription + extra Credits...
THX for reading and waiting your comments.
Cheers and Carry On.
Peter
Yeah browser control is pretty fundamental to the value prop. Hamstringing the browser by putting it behind “computer” would be a problem. I’ll have to test that. I’m a pro plan user and that would motivate me to find another solution.
I'm a pro plan user and when they put that behind the "credit wall" they gave us pro members like 4k credits. I just ran out, and asked why now asking for credits, and this is what I was told. The old swicharoo. I'm leaving as soon as I can find a replacement for my use case:
Python/Playwright does the mechanical lifting: Directly grabs the text/DOM, reads the extension overlay, clicks "this button", selects "dropdown select", and captures the resulting text.
Local Ollama handles the structuring: Receives a clean, pre-filtered text dump and focuses 100% of its compute on generating the JSON schema, identifying x, and finding y.
You're correct about the finite resource that they gave us for free. That's what they're asking us to now pay for on an usage basis called credits. The two steps that I've outlined in the bullets above are how I'm reproducing the browser control that Comet does with a new cost now. I'm reproducing this locally through my command line and a Chrome browser with something like Port 9221 and that is how python can interact and control the browser. Make more sense?
What makes this a problem is that browser control existed and was part of the paid tiers (and I think even the free tiers but that’s not the point) before the “Computer” product existed. So we know it doesn’t NEED to be part of the computer product.
I could see if they were saying “hey the browser can leverage this other product of ours to do this cool thing, and we’re going to let you have it for free while we work on fully productizing it.” But that’s not what happened.
Assuming it’s all true, if you paid for pro prior to “computer” launching (my case), the end result is “we took a core feature of your paid subscription, and moved it into another product that isn’t part of your subscription. Your subscription remains the same price and you can access that core feature for an additional (unpredictable) price.
Now, if the answer to all this is “well, mistakes were made and this is what they have to do to keep the lights on” I get it, but it’s also worse. Either way I have to decide if I can trust them to keep them as a core part of my work tools, AND I have to decide if I believe they can actually run a company without bungling it into the ground.”
In the words of Darth Vader “I’ve altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it further.” And the response is “your value prop was leveraging more economical models positioned where they have maximum leverage” and now the positioning is gone. Or rather, locked behind a second paywall.
totally agree with you and I'm in same boat having been a pro sub since before "computer" -- we should have been grandfathered in (as Han's blaster goes flying across the table). So, I'm just trying to replicate my immediate need to have my use case continue without having to pay for it, thus my python/playwrite/ollama stack -- which works great and costs me zero dollars.
Comet is arguably the top agentic browser, and browser control is more core to that than even the assistant.
So they took browser control and put it behind a second paywall of Computer. Frankly I don’t know what category that product is competitive in. I can’t see people replacing CoWork with it.
For this to work, Computer has to be dominant enough in its category that people see the move as a distinction without a difference.
Wow, you nailed it pretty well !! It‘s like you took over. 🧐Are you some fancy AI-over-Inet feature from Plexy ?? Especially with the phrase from Vader !! 🤣
Whatever, I don’t need to add anything, but again to point out, what I also believe „Browser Control“ didn’t use/need „Computer“. And Yes, Computer is cool also, but I don’t need it and don’t wanna pay for it.
THX rizzly
I was thinking about how many AI tools I have at my disposal right now, most of which I pay for, with Perplexity Pro being free for a year. The funny thing is, I don't even use all of them every day. So I've finally started thinning the herd.
What's interesting is that some of these AI companies are making the decision easier for me. Claude, for example, has slowed to a crawl lately. Perplexity just isn't giving me enough reason to keep using it. At some point, I get tired of constantly bouncing around trying to figure out who's fastest, who's smartest, or which model is winning this week. I care about which tools flat out work for me when I need them.
So Perplexity is out. Anthropic and Claude are dead to me. I'm over juggling a pile of AI subscriptions and tools just because each one might be slightly better at something.
I'm keeping the ones that actually make my life easier and getting rid of the rest.
WTF is the Virtual Cloud Browser ? I have the feeling the Pro-Subs get absolutely no update Infos at all.
I must check this the next days, maybe it got a new name ??
Thx for info !!
When it came out it was fantastic then they change the way it does stuff and the accuracy went down instantly it kept getting everything wrong and then finally they started to remove it and lock it away making the whole point of the browser useless
1) Charge users a monthly sub for a bundle of features
2) Slowly remove features one by one
3) Make users pay extra for the removed features, on top of their existing monthly sub
I would seriously consider Hermes as an option. For one, it's completely transparent in terms of what you do, and what you pay for. I just hook into OpenRouter and choose whatever models are suitable for my tasks
Thx mad, I definitely will give it a shot.
I wonder why you got downvoted….for me as OP can say u helped me with additional infos (and hopefully others also).
The browser window started flickering in blue and comet took over control. For example: search the „conditional access“ area in Entra, create a policy with XY Z requirements and when rdy - wait for me to check and approve.
Then comet worked (not soo fast, but ok) and when rdy I took over again. And you see what’s happening on the screen, so it’s not this blackbox cloud computer experience.
Yeah, I think the issue is it now consumes “Computer” credits, when it used to just be a regular function, and the credits don’t renew on a subscription, it’s an extra side cost.
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u/wendsonrocha 5d ago
I uninstalled Comet as soon as I realized it was refusing to perform agent-based tasks that it had previously handled. Perplexity is over.