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Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

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111–120 of 618 posts

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#111

Fun fact: Under current conditions (200M users) it looks like Google is paying $2-2.25 per active user annually to be the default search engine in Firefox. "Mozilla renewed its search deal with Google in 2020 for three years. The organization will receive an estimate of $400 to $450 million per year from the deal alone. " https://www.ghacks.net/2020/12/10/mozillas-revenue-jumped-to...

Given how they make a minimum $450M a year in revenue, how on Earth is Mozilla not swimming in cash?! How high can their expenses be?

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#112
post #53

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…

I dont worry. I have seen these cycles with IBM and Microsoft. And they all blow up eventually because the unintended consequences keep increasing. So Google has got itself locked into that same trajectory for a long time now. "Features" are total bullshit. Its all about making sure every small thing is in the cloud or eventually gets pushed into it. That vision is as dumb as moving the DNA in every cell in your body…

IE was essentially a one-trick pony (the browser)

Chrome is being used on the browser (with a mobile footprint Microsoft never had), the desktop (VS Code, Slack, etc), and v8 is driving a substantial part of the web's backend (Node). Even the smaller use case of web scraping is moving towards Puppeteer.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#113
post #5

I may be the odd one but I dropped FF after the drama over brendin eich and his support of prop 8. I just did not feel the same after seeing how he was attacked for his personal contributions. There was just some hateful stuff that came from both sides that really uncovered some toxic personalities in the FF legion.

Now you're using Lynx or what? Because something tells me you will find people with stupid opinions in every corporation of a reasonable size. Moving to Google is a really counter-productive move if you value minorities.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#114

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…

> Safari is able to stop this madness now

Apple stopped developing Safari for Windows nine years ago.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#115
Edge is the biggest threat to Chrome and Firefox is still great. uBlock Origin does not even work as well in Chrome as it does in FF which will always create demand for alt browsers. I can't deal with with Chrome but if everything else goes away, Edge is fine. Ms is doing exactly what Google did with webkit, what can you do?

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome is already the standard. Firefox usually works, but more and more often nowadays I encounter a glitchy or poorly performing page, which I switch to Chrome to use properly. I use Firefox to not be part of the Chrome monopoly, not because it's actually a fundamentally better browser.

I have used Firefox for about a decade now and I can't think of a single page that did not work. I'm not saying it's impossible, but incredibly rare. I'd be more inclined to just give up on the site than install Chrome.

I haven’t noticed any issues, though I thought there were some that forced me to switch to chrome.

But it turns out the difference was the I was running ublock-origin in Firefox and sometimes that was causing issues for some sites..

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#117
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to help, report the sites you have issues with here: https://webcompat.com/

Why bother the current version hangs constantly forcing a re-launch to get it moving again, has been a known issue since the new updated version which is quite old now. They removed about:config and most addons. May they burn on the pyre they have built. This is what happens when MBAs fire the engineers and chase the bottom line. Obviously us users are using it wrong.

What do you mean was removed in about:config? The page is still available in Firefox 90/91. Just curious!

They even added a new page recently about:third-party though only available on Windows: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/90.0/releasenotes/

You can view all the “about“ pages on about:about, e.g., about:performance, about:processes, about:networking, about:profiles, about:protections, about:crashes, about:support.

Have you tried refreshing Firefox using about:support or giving the Troubleshoot Mode a go? It sounds like there may be either something wrong with your profile or some incompatibility somewhere. Hope that helps!

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#118
post #108
post #98

And that is the price they pay for trying to be Chrome clone UI wise and not listening to to the "power users". I hate to use the words "power user" but it is the small group of very active and enthusiastic users that you need to give the appears to every one else that they are missing out on something cool. I still use Firefox because it works reasonably for my usage but I stopped promoting it to other people around…

We shouldn’t just look at power users. Google and Microsoft, for example, constantly advertise to use their browser when you visit their properties. I imagine this has an impact.

Google, yes. But Microsoft? I haven't noticed, and I'm on Office 365 all day (my client uses that) while running Firefox / Linux.

Microsoft does keep asking me to use Edge on my Windows gaming machine, although it's the only browser I have installed...

But I guess the point is... where is Mozilla going to ask people to use Firefox?

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#120
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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

That's the already the unfortunate state of frontend development, a Chrome world from development to end-users.
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