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Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

robert.ocallahan.org

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Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#11

Post by aduitsis »

sametmax wrote: post #2

And it didn't work. Some people were aware of this. A few took the time to read/discuss/think about it. A minuscule fraction of passionate people acted on it. And the rest of the world took the path of least resistance, as usual. People don't shape society willingly. They mostly let life happen to them. Even when you see them protesting, it's the consequence of an emotional reaction and a group effect, not the reflec…

I'm sure a lot of people around here won't be able to hear you over the sound of how Firefox somehow doesn't feel quite right on their macs.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#12

Post by ginko »

askaboutit wrote: post #4

I chose Firefox then it made the CPU fan go nuts whilst it chewed all the available power.

Even if Firefox were an objectively worse browser than Chrome(which I don't think it is these days) there is still an argument to be made to use it anyways to ensure the freedom of the web.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#13

Post by ekianjo »

nindalf wrote: post #9

Just so we can avoid rehashing the discussion whenever a post encouraging the use of Firefox is posted. - Yes, Mozilla is still the better browser when it comes to privacy. - Yes, Mozilla has made missteps with Pocket and Mr. Robot. - Yes, it is slow/resource heavy on certain Macs with non-default resolutions. Yes, Mozilla is working on a fix. - Yes, it has become really fast for most users after Quantum improvements…

> - Yes, Mozilla has made missteps with Pocket and Mr. Robot.

and the removal of RSS support. So much for the champions of the Free Web!

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#14

Post by [deleted] »

nindalf wrote: post #9

Just so we can avoid rehashing the discussion whenever a post encouraging the use of Firefox is posted. - Yes, Mozilla is still the better browser when it comes to privacy. - Yes, Mozilla has made missteps with Pocket and Mr. Robot. - Yes, it is slow/resource heavy on certain Macs with non-default resolutions. Yes, Mozilla is working on a fix. - Yes, it has become really fast for most users after Quantum improvements…

[deleted]

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#15

Post by js8 »

sametmax wrote: post #2

And it didn't work. Some people were aware of this. A few took the time to read/discuss/think about it. A minuscule fraction of passionate people acted on it. And the rest of the world took the path of least resistance, as usual. People don't shape society willingly. They mostly let life happen to them. Even when you see them protesting, it's the consequence of an emotional reaction and a group effect, not the reflec…

As a long time Firefox user, let me offer a different perspective.

Upgrading any application is a chore, and you never know what will break or whether you lose your data. People don't want to do it, and yet they are forced to do it by companies (and open source is even worse). So if you can avoid it, you avoid it.

I'll leave up to you to decide if Firefox haven't destroyed its own market share by confusing changes to UI and breaking backwards compatibility.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#16

Post by izacus »

welly wrote: post #8
izacus wrote: post #3

How will avid Apple users on this website choose Firefox as a browser on their iPhones and iPad computers? EDIT: To clarify, mean the rendering engine (so we keep the ecosystem diversity), not the reskinned Safari. Reskinning Safari with Firefox branding does nothing for WebKit web monoculture.

We can, just not the Firefox rendering engine. As frustrating as that is, perhaps if more iOS users picked firefox as their "browser" then maybe Apple would take a hint and open up allowing other rendering engines. Although I'm not holding my breath. I'm an Apple user in as far as I have an iPad Pro and a Macbook Pro, I certainly don't hold Apple in as high regard as I used to do but those two products are superb eve…

Not using the Firefox rendering engine means you're effectively using Safari for rendering sites and not helping ecosystem diversity. The renderer is still WebKit controlled by Apple, not a Firefox browser controlled and built by Mozilla.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#17

Post by izacus »

codezero wrote: post #6
izacus wrote: post #3

How will avid Apple users on this website choose Firefox as a browser on their iPhones and iPad computers? EDIT: To clarify, mean the rendering engine (so we keep the ecosystem diversity), not the reskinned Safari. Reskinning Safari with Firefox branding does nothing for WebKit web monoculture.

They can use Firefox, just not the rendering engine. I expect that would still be considered an adequate move. Nobody I know (bias) has an iOS device and no laptop or PC, so they can also adopt it on their PC.

How is using reskinned Safari with WebKit rendering engine considered adequate move?

That would be like putting a Firefox skin over IE6 engine a few years back - it would not help the ecosystem in the way this article asks for.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#18

Post by speedplane »

ginko wrote: post #12
askaboutit wrote: post #4

I chose Firefox then it made the CPU fan go nuts whilst it chewed all the available power.

Even if Firefox were an objectively worse browser than Chrome(which I don't think it is these days) there is still an argument to be made to use it anyways to ensure the freedom of the web.

> there is still an argument to be made to use [firefox] anyways to ensure the freedom of the web.

Definitely. Remember when Google wanted to buy Wikipedia but promised to keep it a free resource? So happy that didn't happen, it would have been the end of Wikipedia. Services like Firefox and Wikipedia are the last vestiges we have of the original intent of the internet, an place to congregate with the user in mind.

Most of everything else is walled gardens with the hope to create a monopoly via network effects.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, or Later You Won't Get a Choice (2014)

#19

Post by shaki-dora »

sametmax wrote: post #2

And it didn't work. Some people were aware of this. A few took the time to read/discuss/think about it. A minuscule fraction of passionate people acted on it. And the rest of the world took the path of least resistance, as usual. People don't shape society willingly. They mostly let life happen to them. Even when you see them protesting, it's the consequence of an emotional reaction and a group effect, not the reflec…

That’s hard to prove or disprove without having an alternate universe ready for A/B testing.

Although, frankly, I can’t shake the feeling I’ve been living in the B-branch for, say, the last two years. If so, let me just say: if your results are not yet conclusive, please ask your statisticians for what “multi-armed bandit” means to them, then shoot them if the quizzically look at you. You may even skip the question.

Back on point: I know many people who use Firefox for “ideological” reasons. In fact, anybody who still used FF as of 6 months ago arguably fell in that group, save some extreme cases of inertia.

But, even more tittilating: Firefox seems to be once again be competitive wrt performance. That may just be its salvation, and not a moment too early to make it dramatic.

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