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Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

batsov.com

11–20 of 675 posts

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#11

I prefer typing to pointing -- and I like clean interfaces --, so I use the VIm-inspired but Chromium-based Qutebrowser; but maybe I should just use Firefox and let the inconvenience of pointing inspire me to browse less. Qutebrowser would -- at least alternatively -- use the Firefox backend if it could, but Mozilla has chosen not to make it usable by other browsers than Firefox.

There are multiple capable vi plug-ins for Firefox so you don’t even need to self-flagellate

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#12
> Clearly, that market share was lost solely to Chrome & co.3 I can attribute this decline to various factors:

>Google’s massive development resources and marketing machine. >Most people not thinking about the long-term ramifications of ending up in a market with a single vendor in it. >Firefox losing its status of a shiny new thing over the years. >Mozilla’s inability to capitalize on the popularity of Firefox in the past. I think almost all of their revenue came from a search deal with Google.

The true reasons Firefox lost market share are:

1. Firefox has become a mess

2. Mozilla is terribly mismanaged

To see Firefox thrive, we have to push towards management change while there's still something to be saved or by forking Firefox

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#13
post #10

I feel the article misses how Firefox's inability to get a foothold on the mobile platform contributed to its decline. There are more people today using web browsers via mobile then desktop. In many poorer countries the first and only access to the open internet for the people is through chrome on Android. I don't blame Mozilla for this though since they did not have a monopoly on a platform to capitalize on unlike t…

I'd use FireFox in iOS if I had my extensions and containers available. Sadly FireFox isn't even able to make proper use of the system wide ad blocking method iOS offers (probably due to iOS). I found DDG browser to block stuff a lot better (and I like the UI more).

But FireFox on Android was perfect, at least it was until the latest UI update when suddenly they lost the notion of favorites (or, they were now hidden under "new tab" instead of available on touching the address bar) and you needed to open a new tab for just about anything. I'd still prefer it over Safari or Chrome though.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#14
post #11

I prefer typing to pointing -- and I like clean interfaces --, so I use the VIm-inspired but Chromium-based Qutebrowser; but maybe I should just use Firefox and let the inconvenience of pointing inspire me to browse less. Qutebrowser would -- at least alternatively -- use the Firefox backend if it could, but Mozilla has chosen not to make it usable by other browsers than Firefox.

There are multiple capable vi plug-ins for Firefox so you don’t even need to self-flagellate

I tried those in the past, but found they didn't work well. They also tended to break with every Firefox update.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#15
There is one thing I don't understand from the article. What is that he is so afraid of?that the website becomes more standarized and developers don't need to make a website for 5 different browsers? Or that because of that users will have less problems? Is that such a big deal to make most of the browsers dependent on chromium? Isn't chromium open source and tomorrow anyone could create a better browser? I use Vivaldi, can't be happier.... Some people seem to be worry about a lot of stuff

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#16
post #10

I feel the article misses how Firefox's inability to get a foothold on the mobile platform contributed to its decline. There are more people today using web browsers via mobile then desktop. In many poorer countries the first and only access to the open internet for the people is through chrome on Android. I don't blame Mozilla for this though since they did not have a monopoly on a platform to capitalize on unlike t…

Android user (and dev) and I exclusively use Firefox. That also goes for my Linux and Mac desk-/laptops.

I actually do not enjoy using Chrome on my Android compared to the feel of the new Firefo client.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#17
Just as a data-point, I forced myself to use Firefox on Mobile and Desktop in my personal life, and Chrome at work.

* Firefox is fine, the sync works well, I don't see any of the drama around management or new-tab or search being an issue, and I get a pile of benefits like sandboxing and better ad-control.

* Chrome is faster, but it also has literal billions of investment.

There really isn't that much drama about this? Sure I wish Firefox had more market share, but it also runs on a fraction of Chrome's budget, so it's never going to be as good, and I can't judge people for not caring about helping Google.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#18

Firefox would fit neatly in the corporate world in my opinion. You can have a centrally administered configuration file and Firefox is indeed able to just use certificated from your OS. It is just a small toggle. Still, a bit of effort and maybe advertising would do wonders, because there are companies critical of Chrome that think data protection is worth more than personal advertising. I think Edge is trying to fit…

It would be easier for companies (who aren't anti Google) to administer Chrome policy via their existing Google/Gmail accounts and Google Workspace. Profiles, sync, extensions, etc. can all be centrally administered. And also deployed to Chromebooks for certain users. All without having to manage the overhead of a minority browser with Especially for any web shop... Firefox is even less relevant than Microsoft now and forcing it as a primary internal browser is a great way to alienate your company from end user experiences.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#19
I've held the same view as the author for some time now. The popularity of "ungoogled-chromium" in some corners of the internet has always struck me as trading the data collection aspect of chrome for furthering the chromium hegemony even further. Same goes for Vivaldi and Brave.

Re: Firefox is the alternative to a Chrome hegemony

#20

Among the points missing under the "I can attribute this decline to various factors" section is IMO that Moz/FF have managed to alienate their original user base/plugin developers to become "more like Chrome". Maybe that's an unfair thing to say, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore anyway.

Which is hilarious since extensions are clearly something Chrome barely cares about at all as is obvious from the Chrome extension page where one can’t even search for extensions to install.
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