Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 326 posts

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#211

Post by simias »

erikb wrote: post #202
franga2000 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried Vivaldi a while ago and, while I really liked it, it didn't justify not being open-source. I'm not one of the OSS elitists, but the browser, like the OS, is just one of those basic things that I want full control over.

I'm a huge fan of FOSS, but do you really think that you have full control over any modern piece of software? I think that underestimates how many people actually work on such a project and how many new updates we're getting on a daily basis. Nobody is more than %-wise controlling that stuff anymore. And this % is based on regular financial(!) investment in developer-hours but not in what software you use. PS: I just…

It's not about meticulously reviewing every commit for every project that I use, obviously nobody has time for that. For me the most important part is being able to fork the project if you want to add features or are unhappy with the way the original project is going, you don't merely have to beg the maintainers to add a certain feature, you can do it yourself. And perhaps more importantly I'm not screwed if, for one reason or an other, the original maintainers decide to drop the project.

It's very important to me that emacs is open source not because I review every single commit (I don't) but because it means that I can commit a lot of time tweaking and learning the ins and outs of the editor without worrying about having to switch to a different one a few years from now when the original devs get acqui-hired by Facebook and they stop working on their project.

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#212

Post by dragonwriter »

aedron wrote: post #210
mythz wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only iOS forces you to use WebKit which is why it's used by Chrome/Edge/Opera. It's not impossible to decouple them, you're prohibited by the license from using an alternative browser engine. Android doesn't have any such restrictions so Firefox on Android are able to use their Gecko engine.

> you're prohibited by the license from using an alternative browser engine Interesting. Isn't that what Microsoft was tried and convicted for in the 90s?

> Isn't that what Microsoft was tried and convicted for in the 90s?

No, Microsoft was tried and convicted for illegally leveraging an existing monopoly.

The particular actions weren't necessarily illegal outside of the context of a pre-existing monopoly.

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#215

Post by mehrdadn »

So I tried moving off Chrome 68 to Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean [1]. I start both of them at the exact same frame that I release the Enter key, so you can see exactly how much longer Firefox takes. Notice that it takes longer to render the Star/Important icons, too (including the very noticeable flash of placeholder text), not merely load the page. The situation gets even worse when I install extensions, but these are on profiles that have already visited this page, but which are otherwise fresh. (Edit: Trying it on Facebook with a clean profile now. I realized I hadn't cleaned the profile before testing non-Google sites.)

So I have to say, I'm really baffled. How are people switching to Firefox and finding it to be so fast? Is this speed difference unnoticeable for everyone but me?

UPDATE:

On Facebook, I see similar speeds without extensions. However, when I browse with my usual extensions, Firefox is again noticeably slower -- even though the extensions in Firefox are literally a subset of those in Chrome. Are other people's experiences similar?

[1] https://imgur.com/a/1oFr5Q7

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#216

Post by AsyncAwait »

mehrdadn wrote: post #215

So I tried moving off Chrome 68 to Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean [1]. I start both of them at the exact same frame that I release the Enter key, so you can see exactly how much longer Firefox takes. Notice that it takes longer to render the Star/Important icons, too (including the very noticeable flash of placeholder text), not mere…

> Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean

If you use any Google service in Firefox, it's slowed down by Google on purpose, so you don't switch. I'd use a 3rd party email client or switch off Gmail, otherwise I just let Google know their sleazy tactics work.

Other than that, I notice Firefox having some performance issues specifically on macOS. I'm using it as my primary browser on Linux and since v57 it has been super fast.

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#217

Post by [deleted] »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #216
mehrdadn wrote: post #215

So I tried moving off Chrome 68 to Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean [1]. I start both of them at the exact same frame that I release the Enter key, so you can see exactly how much longer Firefox takes. Notice that it takes longer to render the Star/Important icons, too (including the very noticeable flash of placeholder text), not mere…

> Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean If you use any Google service in Firefox, it's slowed down by Google on purpose, so you don't switch. I'd use a 3rd party email client or switch off Gmail, otherwise I just let Google know their sleazy tactics work. Other than that, I notice Firefox having some performance issues specifically on macOS…

[deleted]

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#218

Post by worble »

mehrdadn wrote: post #215

So I tried moving off Chrome 68 to Firefox 62 today, and it's quite noticeably slower than Chrome. Here's a couple GIFs from Gmail to show what I mean [1]. I start both of them at the exact same frame that I release the Enter key, so you can see exactly how much longer Firefox takes. Notice that it takes longer to render the Star/Important icons, too (including the very noticeable flash of placeholder text), not mere…

Google actively hamper their services on Firefox. Gmail, YouTube, GoogleDocs, they all run worse. Try an independant site, you'll find much better results. Additionally, Firefox handles having a lot of concurrent tabs way way better than Chrome, so if you do that often you'll definitely notice the speed increase there.

Re: Modifications to Google Chromium for removing Google integration

#219

Post by grive »

lucb1e wrote: post #175
lettergram wrote: post #7

You could always switch to Firefox and use something like fastmail or protonmail. Did that a year ago, and actually it works better on mobile imo

What does email have to do with switching browsers? Last I heard Gmail also works on Firefox.

Google uses non-standard extensions that only Chrome supports for Gmail and Youtube.

For neutral email apps, Firefox runs perfectly fine. For Gmail, it will be slightly slower than Chrome.

Post reply on HN