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Chrome browser for businesses

enterprise.google.com

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Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#51

Post by satysin »

krzyk wrote: post #18

Is this about replacing one monopoly with another? It is slowly starting too look like in the early 00's, most developers are starting to support only chrome, with no testing in Firefox or latest IE. On Android it is even worse, no one is testing with Firefox Mobile (Fennec) - this is WinXP-IE6 all over again.

I was a long time Firefox user until the start of this year. I think I started using Pheonix as my main browser around 0.5 or 0.6. However over the years Firefox has got heavier and slower and taken way too long to evolve. It sucked when I realised I hadn't opened Firefox for a whole month. Now I just stay in Chrome as it is, for me, the best browsing experience. It is fast and looks good. It might be a large program in terms of install size but it doesn't feel bloated. The UI is snappy, scrolling is instant, etc. I do miss a few things about Firefox but not enough to slow down my whole browsing experience. I have moved on from the huge UI changing extensions. Now I just keep things minimal with just a content blocker and one or two other things for convenience.

What I don't understand about Firefox is that Mozilla have a lot of money but progress seems very slow. Sure they get there in the end (or most of the way) but it just seems to take forever. Why?

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#53

Post by ZenoArrow »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #23
krzyk wrote: post #18

Is this about replacing one monopoly with another? It is slowly starting too look like in the early 00's, most developers are starting to support only chrome, with no testing in Firefox or latest IE. On Android it is even worse, no one is testing with Firefox Mobile (Fennec) - this is WinXP-IE6 all over again.

I completely agree. It's re-enforced with Chrome's supplied dev tools which are really, really nice (I always found them far better than Firefox's built-in or Firebug). It's going to be harder to unseat Chrome. IE 6 wasn't so difficult due to an increase in competition who offered features that IE wasn't even working on (standards, tabs, etc). How would you even unseat Chrome?

>"How would you even unseat Chrome?"

I won't directly mention the project that's best placed to do that, as it's not yet ready for primetime, but let's just say Chrome may not have the performance crown in the next 5 years.

Also, aside from on the Mac, what's holding back Firefox? I accept that the Mac version seems to have more problems than the Windows or Linux versions (I have no technical explanation for this, it's just what I've heard anecdotally), but on Windows it seems to be a solid choice. Is it just about momentum for Chrome rather than superiority at this point?

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#54

Post by twblalock »

ktta wrote: post #9

I think most interesting part of all this is that they're offering support for this[1]. So that and it now being a part of G suite is making it an 'official' service/product. And since Chromium browser is an open source browser which receives many contributions from many developers[2], this will add Google to the list of companies which take contributions from OSS and make money off it. Please correct me if I'm wrong…

> this will add Google to the list of companies which take contributions from OSS and make money off it.

There is nothing wrong with making money off open source software if the license allows it (and most licenses do allow it).

If developers don't want other people to make money off their project, they are free to use a license that would prevent it.

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#55

Post by sametmax »

satysin wrote: post #51
krzyk wrote: post #18

Is this about replacing one monopoly with another? It is slowly starting too look like in the early 00's, most developers are starting to support only chrome, with no testing in Firefox or latest IE. On Android it is even worse, no one is testing with Firefox Mobile (Fennec) - this is WinXP-IE6 all over again.

I was a long time Firefox user until the start of this year. I think I started using Pheonix as my main browser around 0.5 or 0.6. However over the years Firefox has got heavier and slower and taken way too long to evolve. It sucked when I realised I hadn't opened Firefox for a whole month. Now I just stay in Chrome as it is, for me, the best browsing experience. It is fast and looks good. It might be a large program…

You are not answering his concern at all, just talking about your preferences.

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#56

Post by sametmax »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #23
krzyk wrote: post #18

Is this about replacing one monopoly with another? It is slowly starting too look like in the early 00's, most developers are starting to support only chrome, with no testing in Firefox or latest IE. On Android it is even worse, no one is testing with Firefox Mobile (Fennec) - this is WinXP-IE6 all over again.

I completely agree. It's re-enforced with Chrome's supplied dev tools which are really, really nice (I always found them far better than Firefox's built-in or Firebug). It's going to be harder to unseat Chrome. IE 6 wasn't so difficult due to an increase in competition who offered features that IE wasn't even working on (standards, tabs, etc). How would you even unseat Chrome?

I have strong hopes for Servo performance wise.

But my guess is that Google will become more and more monopolistic, more and more close in disguise. And closer to the big companies interest with DRM and such.

And if Mozilla keeps being Mozilla, they will be a natural alternative.

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#57

Post by sametmax »

TwoBit wrote: post #49
vorticalbox wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome is more convenient in that it syncs everything once you sign in and Firefox sync system just doesn't feel as refined. Probably doesn't help that google plaster "get google chrome" over all of their services.

What is Firefox's sync lacking?

For me it just never works. It never did during the last 3 years I tried it. The tab just don't sync, and I don't have the time or will to play the debug game.

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#58

Post by twblalock »

One notable thing about the dominance of Chrome (and the decline of Firefox) is that WebKit is now a de facto standard. The desktop and mobile versions of Chrome and Safari are based on it, and according to Microsoft, "any Edge-WebKit differences are bugs that we’re interested in fixing." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Edge). That covers every major desktop and smartphone browser except Firefox.

At some point, developers are going to target their stylesheets for WebKit only, because Firefox rendering differences are going to be seen as nuisances that aren't worth overcoming in order to reach a tiny minority of users. Firefox will have to work toward WebKit compatibility as Microsoft Edge does.

WebKit is doing pretty well for something that was originally part of KDE.

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#59

Post by sametmax »

abtinf wrote: post #43
ianai wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bingo. One might say the economic system in whole really pushes monopolies or oligopolies.

One might say that if one were completely ignorant of economics and economic history. There are no examples of long running monopolies unsupported by state power.

Define "supported" and "long"...

Re: Chrome browser for businesses

#60

Post by ricardobeat »

twblalock wrote: post #58

One notable thing about the dominance of Chrome (and the decline of Firefox) is that WebKit is now a de facto standard. The desktop and mobile versions of Chrome and Safari are based on it, and according to Microsoft, "any Edge-WebKit differences are bugs that we’re interested in fixing." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Edge ). That covers every major desktop and smartphone browser except Firefox. At some p…

Firefox already does that, started long ago. They even added support for -webkit prefixes for the same reasons.
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