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Firefox Was Always Enough

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Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#291

Post by narag »

bobmichael wrote: post #282
secondcoming wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of all internet users out there, how many would choose Firefox just because it's written in rust? An insignificant fraction. That said. I've been using Firefox as my main browser for years. I only use chrome when a website needs it or works better in it.

If you read GP carefully, they're not making the argument that users will choose Firefox because it's written in Rust, but rather that the improved security and performance brought about by Rust would be what attracts and retains users.

Are users very worried about browser security nowadays? It was a major concern a few years back, but I seldom hear that kind of complaint. I do hear about surveilance and privacy, but not so much about catastrophic failures.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#292

Post by pvg »

BrendanEich wrote: post #254
_--__--__ wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird how consistent this claim is when the ad stuff (which I personally never used when I tried Brave) was always opt-in and always an advertised feature part of Brave's (possibly misguided) mission to change the landscape of internet advertising.

It's not weird. A lot of people (especially on HN) repeat false claims they hear that "sound right" to them, especially where they have some animus against someone involved (me, in Brave's case). Brave was inspired by All Advantage, but we knew going in that Gator and worse examples of personal ad systems would be used to dismiss or disparage. Marketing challenge, not a reason to give up. “A lie can travel around the…

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#293

Post by nitrogen »

jlokier wrote: post #184
nitrogen wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another thing working against Firefox on mobile is that it seems like every software update for Samsung phones resets the default browser/URL handler to Samsung Internet. Anyone not paying close attention will just click through the EULA and suddenly no longer be using Firefox.

I have a Samsung phone, and it's updated quite recently, but I've never noticed this. I virtually never open Samsung Internet only because I virtually never open any web browser. Browsers launch as a side effect of something else. For example clicking on a link inside LinkedIn, Telegram, bank app help, etc. When that happens, if a separate app gets opened it's usually Firefox Focus that opens for me, so I guess that…

I have a history of being unlucky with technology, which is why I worked in QA before becoming a software engineer. I've noticed lots of jank w.r.t. Firefox and phone updates. YMMV. Firefox desktop updates have reset privacy preferences at least once in the last month or two, and Samsung Internet has made itself my default on top of Firefox at least two or three times in the last few months.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#294

Post by tannhaeuser »

steveklabnik wrote: post #263
tannhaeuser wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to bring it to you, but every single one of your priorities have been long rejected: Thunderbird was officially discontinued like ten years ago, Mozilla had just let go a large number of devs in early 2020 and then again a couple weeks ago, among them all Servo developers. Even if you wanted to financially support Firefox or Thunderbird development through donations, there would be no way to. Your money will g…

The Rust and Webassembly folks: 1. Were a very tiny part of the overall Mozilla budget 2. Were also employees of Moco, not Mofo, and so donations could not go towards them either. > nobody needs (sorry Rustees) Industry adoption says otherwise, see for example, the CTO of Amazon's comments during re:Invent yesterday. (That being said, you could absolutely suggest that it's not Mozilla's job to help the industry in th…

> That being said, you could absolutely suggest that it's not Mozilla's job to help the industry in this way. That's a much better argument than "nobody needs Rust."

Exactly what I mean, of course.

> Also, the main executive pay people complain about is paid by the Corporation, not the Foundation, so, suggesting your donations would go towards that is also incorrect.

Thx for clearing that up.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#295

Post by AsyncAwait »

dleslie wrote: post #116
yummypaint wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox is already the best browser and has been for a long time. The problem is that most laypeople don't even know it exists. Combined with dark patterns used by microsoft and google to steer users toward their own browsers, it's an uphill battle. I'll stick firefox and appropriate extensions on a friends computer so they can watch youtube etc completely ad free, which is a major tangible QOL improvement, but then…

Firefox isn't even the best browser on Linux. On my aarch64 devices, Chromium in a Docker image loads faster, never dominates the CPU, renders video and websites faster, and has working DRM. Firefox is slower in every respect and can't render Netflix.

Opposite experience. For starters, Chromium doesn't even support video hardware decoding on Wayland properly.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#296

Post by AsyncAwait »

bosswipe wrote: post #223
leadingthenet wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely not the best browser on macOS.

It's so weird to me this type of comment pops up on every firefox discussion, but I use firefox on mac everyday and it's rock solid, never run into any problems.

I think it's for non default scaling.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#297

Post by evmar »

> (Ironically [the Firefox UI bits] were called “chrome” before Chrome even existed.)

Not ironic, intentional. Chrome was made by former Firefox engineers, and the name was a joke about exactly this. I remember struggling to come up with a better name for the app other than this code name and then they eventually launched it with it anyway.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#298

Post by chipotle_coyote »

Hammershaft wrote: post #258
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I do really think that is gonna continue in the future. I've said this before and I'll probably say it in increasingly irascible tones, but "next year macOS is gonna become just like iOS" is becoming the new "next year is the year of Linux on the desktop." Yes, Apple will almost certainly keep making security decisions people (including me) don't like, but there's no compelling business decision for trying to lo…

You raise a great point, I'd like to add that growing antitrust concerns are another danger that lies down that path for Apple.

That's also a great point! Apple has not been doing too well at reading the room on this one for a while now, granted, but in a year they've literally been called before Congress over concerns about their control over the iOS application market, "and now we're going to do the same thing for macOS!" would not go over very well.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#299

Post by [deleted] »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #285
fragmede wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can be done with a browser in the future? There's no shortcoming of vision , the problem is monetizing it. A browser in the future is going to let me copy and paste seamless between mobile and desktop. What, are you going to charge 1 cent per completed copy and paste? Am I going to pay a dollar to get nightly builds of Firefox onto my device? If I have an Apple device that's not even possible!

I know this may sound like a blasphemy and anachronism rolled into one, but why can we not return to purchasing a copy of software? All of a sudden, the incentives to deliver 'monetizable' product are gone, because you already got your money. Or that does not jibe with continuous rent seeking?

[deleted]

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#300

Post by vineyardmike »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #285
fragmede wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can be done with a browser in the future? There's no shortcoming of vision , the problem is monetizing it. A browser in the future is going to let me copy and paste seamless between mobile and desktop. What, are you going to charge 1 cent per completed copy and paste? Am I going to pay a dollar to get nightly builds of Firefox onto my device? If I have an Apple device that's not even possible!

I know this may sound like a blasphemy and anachronism rolled into one, but why can we not return to purchasing a copy of software? All of a sudden, the incentives to deliver 'monetizable' product are gone, because you already got your money. Or that does not jibe with continuous rent seeking?

Also because many things that people want require a cloud and clouds are ongoing expenses not one time expenses.
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