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Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

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Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#61

Post by rvz »

approxim8ion wrote: post #55
roenxi wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Mozilla corporation has to contend with a substantial portion of their community that thinks a $1,000 donation (an unrelated donation, no less) weighs similarly on the scales as something like 20 years in service vigorously supporting the open internet and a long history of technical success. They're going to struggle to focus on their mission with friends like that.

That's their right as consumers. Just as it's Eich's right to be a bigot. That said, I agree that Moz have failed to find a stable business model,which is a pity.

Which is why they have no choice but to continue to take in Google's money which accounts to 80% of their entire revenue.

Not only they failed to find a sustainable business model, they completely failed in their mission of promoting a privacy-focused browser. The users couldn't care less on this message or 'advantage' and are dumping them for Chrome.

The only message Mozilla has stuck to for years is 'if you can't beat them, join them.' (and get paid by them).

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#62

Post by kalleboo »

soperj wrote: post #32
toper-centage wrote: post #15

It's honestly a pity. Firefox is it perfect but the Internet is becoming worse because of chrome. Google is able to fast track any non standard Web tech and the hordes follow. Soon after, that become the standard. I don't want to cheer for a broken browser, but only Safari is able to stop this madness now. Also, Firefox on the Desktop is really good and still let's you do so much more than chrome clones. But it suffe…

>only Safari is able to stop this madness now Safari is usable on less than 20% of machines, it absolutely will not be stopping anything. It's also the bane of my existence as a web developer.

Once Safari is gone you're not a web developer you're a ChromeOS developer

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#63

Post by wolpoli »

berniemadoff69 wrote: post #9

personally, i knew things were headed in the wrong direction when they added that big orange button in the top left corner. i guess that was version 4. i felt like it was the beginning of the end.

Around that time, they also added that Keyhole shaped back and forward buttons that looks off on all platforms. That's one of the first instance where I felt they prioritized what they want - a brand identity, over what the users want - a consistent user interface.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120725235602/https://blog.mozi...

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#64

Post by 0xy »

qersist3nce wrote: post #6

In other news: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-than-deplat... https://www.ghacks.net/2021/03/14/mozilla-plans-to-remove-th... https://www.ghacks.net/2020/04/08/how-to-restore-the-old-fir...

Here's what one of Firefox's Android developers thought of users after they raised concerns over the abolition of extensions and the rushed, buggy and inferior release:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200731235001/https://twitter.c...

Meanwhile Mozilla's CEO continues to fleece increasing millions of dollars while being responsible for a massive collapse in market share (she increased her pay 400%, while destroying the company).

https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/09/23/1528219/firefox-usa...

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#67

Post by KingMachiavelli »

The big issue I see with Firefox is that they lost a lot of power user's when the removed XUL extensions and the underlying engine doesn't have good third party wrappers like QtWebEngine (that I know of) so creating reskined browser's is pain.

I don't pick a browser for the Firefox or Chromium engine (unless a site needs it), I pick a browser based on the UI and configuration management. So I use Qutebrowser that is keyboard based and a declarative configuration. It happens to use QtWebEngine but that is not why I picked that browser.

Since I don't use Firefox... I don't really recommend it to anyone. Firefox's early success was driven by educated user's telling other people to drop IE for the better product. It also means a lot fewer developer's are using the Firefox engine when developing websites... especially the developer's that would put in the effort to submit bug reports & patches.

(At least last I checked, recreating a Qutebrowser like experience in Firefox was at best just really annoying and would still lack features).

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#68

Post by Ygg2 »

SquareWheel wrote: post #56
Ygg2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess firing those people that brought you those improvement really paid up for Mozilla execs.

Would you recommend they simply stop paying their engineers instead?

No. Stop paying the execs. They obviously are steering the ship into the rocks.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#69

Post by roenxi »

tgv wrote: post #54
rwmj wrote: post #30

The recent changes to the address bar and the terrible new "Photon" UI are really annoying. Don't annoy your loyal users.

I'm sort of used to it by now, but I also don't see it as a real reason to stop using Firefox. Chrome also changes. So how big of a factor would UI changes be in this user loss? I'm suspecting there are more trivial and indirect causes too, such as people changing machines: Firefox isn't pre-installed, and then they just pick whatever that also works.

Possibly quite big. It basically drives down the cost of switching. If someone has to learn a new interface anyway, why not switch to the best supported browser at the same time?

And if you add up enough annoyances that don't matter, eventually it becomes something. Mozilla still hasn't reclaimed the lofty peak when something like ChatZilla was feasible. A minor annoyance. One among many.

Firefox is basically in head-to-head competition with Chrome and has a very similar vision of what a web browser should be - just with less dev hours doing maintenance. That plus this user data suggests there isn't any reason to use Firefox.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#70

Post by rwmj »

marto1 wrote: post #38

had no idea people have that much trouble with the new UI. Looks quite alright to me, although I did lose compatibility for 2 plugins so that was a pain in the butt.

When you can't tell which tab is the current tab, that means you haven't done any basic hallway usability testing.
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