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How Firefox Got Fast Again

hacks.mozilla.org

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Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#191

Post by callahad »

symlinkk wrote: post #95

I'm still worried about how secure Firefox is in relation to Chrome. From what I understand, Firefox exploits only go for $30k at Pwn2Own, while Chrome exploits go for $80k. Should I be worried?

I'm not sufficiently familiar with Chrome's architecture to speak comparatively, but Firefox Quantum (57) has a significantly improved sandbox thanks to finally going fully multi-process (full status at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Sandbox), and replacing C++ components with Rust prevents certain classes of potentially exploitable issues at compile time.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#192

Post by kodablah »

mtmail wrote: post #91
mapgrep wrote: post #52

I switched back to Firefox 54 from Chrome when multiprocess browsing ("Electrolysis") came out of beta. It's been absolutely great. It's fast and I trust and like the nonprofit behind it. And all the extensions I care about are available. My main issue with Chrome was the endless nags to sign in to a Google account, and just generally wanting less dependence on Google. I also like that Firefox has a built in tracking…

https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium removes many of the nagging and background features related to Google services.

They are a good ways behind stable: https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium/issues/262. You might be opening yourself to security issues being this far behind.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#193

Post by e40 »

mapgrep wrote: post #52

I switched back to Firefox 54 from Chrome when multiprocess browsing ("Electrolysis") came out of beta. It's been absolutely great. It's fast and I trust and like the nonprofit behind it. And all the extensions I care about are available. My main issue with Chrome was the endless nags to sign in to a Google account, and just generally wanting less dependence on Google. I also like that Firefox has a built in tracking…

The signing into an account in chrome is the killer feature for me. I have work and a couple of personal accounts that I have signed in in different browser windows. That allows me to keep things separate (extensions, mail, browsing, bookmarks, etc).

How do FF users do this?

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#194

Post by acqq »

nerdwaller wrote: post #141
mapgrep wrote: post #52

I switched back to Firefox 54 from Chrome when multiprocess browsing ("Electrolysis") came out of beta. It's been absolutely great. It's fast and I trust and like the nonprofit behind it. And all the extensions I care about are available. My main issue with Chrome was the endless nags to sign in to a Google account, and just generally wanting less dependence on Google. I also like that Firefox has a built in tracking…

I've been on Firefox since I can remember it being out, but the latest versions, 56+, have me using it only intermittently due to battery drain issues on Mac[0] :(. I am really hoping they get this fixed shortly. [0] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1404042

Exactly, Firefox is slower for both me and my girlfriend, I am a kind of "typical non-typical" and she "typical typical" user, and it got annoyingly slower for both. And now I've just lost all the extensions too, including NoScript and the dictionary(?!?)! See my other post here for details.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#195

Post by [deleted] »

heydonovan wrote: post #156

I know this is just one data point, but I just downloaded Firefox 56, and it is still as slow as I remember. Loading YouTube seems to lag behind Chrome, and viewing .gifv videos causes a noticeable stutter. I'll give it another shot next version.

[deleted]

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#196

Post by alkonaut »

Are Google doing anything along the lines of Servo/WebRender etc?

I'm assuming the Chrome code suffers from the same issues the FF did/does: you simply don't shoehorn in shared memory concurrency in some nontrivial piece of C++ code.

Mozilla threw some serious research and time at the problem. Is Google doing that too? Or are they confident enough that Chrome will be fast enough in the future without major architectural refactoring?

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#197

Post by mxuribe »

dogprez wrote: post #100

Somewhat tangentially, I really like the cartoons Lin has made. I’ve found I’ve naturally anthropomorphized code. Often when I start working with someone new they get confused when I start talking about constructs like people. I think it’s given me a different perspective on encapsulation and concurrency than most people. I don’t know if I’ve ever worked with someone that thinks the same way. When I work on code that…

You are not alone in your way of thinking!

Also, I had never previously seen the code cartoons produced by @linclark...but now seeing them (and digging a little deeper), count myself a fan!

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#198

Post by asdgkknio »

Touche wrote: post #38

Am I the only one that is confused by Firefox's "fast again" narrative? I remember that they launched the https://arewefastyet.com/ site a few years ago to fight the idea that FF was slow. It feels like there's a new blog post that essentially says the same thing "we're fast now" every couple of months. So I find this all confusing. Am I just remembering incorrectly, or haven't they already declared "we're as fast as…

I'm confused by it, too. The main reason I've preferred Firefox to Chrome for years has been performance. It's pretty much the same in responsiveness and uses far less memory.

Chrome being the fastest browser is ancient history.

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#199

Post by eliben »

Did it? With FF 56 on Ubuntu lately I have to restart Firefox once in a day or two because its memory usage balloons out of proportions (> 1 GB for 4 open tabs) and it starts getting sluggish. It felt speedier a few months ago

Re: How Firefox Got Fast Again

#200

Post by sp332 »

heydonovan wrote: post #156

I know this is just one data point, but I just downloaded Firefox 56, and it is still as slow as I remember. Loading YouTube seems to lag behind Chrome, and viewing .gifv videos causes a noticeable stutter. I'll give it another shot next version.

Do you have one of these blacklisted GPUs? https://wiki.mozilla.org/Blocklisting/Blocked_Graphics_Drive...
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