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Firefox is losing users fast

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41–50 of 80 posts

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#41

If they focused more on the browser and spent less time and effort on these weird side projects they'd probably be in a better spot. Some data points if anyone from FF sees this: I try and proselyte users to Firefox as often as I can. The biggest selling point I've had success with so far is the containers feature. The big place I see people going is Brave under the idea it is more private or secure. I'd also love to…

Firefox had its chance 17 years ago when it was at its prime and was in a position to expand and get more users to become the dominant browser. Instead, they chose not to and Google overtook and sabotaged them whilst Mozilla was under the spell of Google's billions even thinking that they could do without Google's billions. [0] Mozilla did not care and did nothing about that.

It is now too late to stop Google. All roads lead to Chromium.

> I'd also love to donate money to help the FF browser development but I have no guarantee that money will actually go to FF instead of some other crazy thing I don't really care for/about.

Exactly. Everyone knows donating would be pointless, since we all know who is bankrolling the development.

Mozilla is the only one that can save itself and is already at the mercy of Google. No one else can do anything about it to help them unless Mozilla steps up and properly leads itself by example rather being lead by Google.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20120105090543/https://www.compu...

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#42

If they focused more on the browser and spent less time and effort on these weird side projects they'd probably be in a better spot. Some data points if anyone from FF sees this: I try and proselyte users to Firefox as often as I can. The biggest selling point I've had success with so far is the containers feature. The big place I see people going is Brave under the idea it is more private or secure. I'd also love to…

> Please FF is the only place still not under the Chromium dictates, please save Firefox Mozilla.

There is WebKit! The only other remaining browser-engine held by WebKitGtk and Apple. WebKitGtk is used by many applications which use Gtk and the official web browser of GNOME, Epiphany. And as built-in engine by Apple on iOS and MacOS. Despite rumors, there is still a Qt5-Port used by Otter-Browser.

I would be happy to see a full integration of WebRTC in Epiphany. Luckily we will see soon support for WebExtensions.

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#43

If they focused more on the browser and spent less time and effort on these weird side projects they'd probably be in a better spot. Some data points if anyone from FF sees this: I try and proselyte users to Firefox as often as I can. The biggest selling point I've had success with so far is the containers feature. The big place I see people going is Brave under the idea it is more private or secure. I'd also love to…

This is what Mozilla does. They did it with Mozilla, then Phoenix(now Firefox) saved them. Did they learn anything from that and keep developing Firefox as the best browser? Of course not, they slowly turned Firefox back into Mozilla.

People complain about Google and Chrome/Chromium for turning the browser market back into a monoculture, but it's just as much Mozilla's own fault for failing to keep up. I want to use Firefox, I want to LIKE Firefox, but Mozilla has for years now decided not to prioritize making Firefox a great browser.

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#44
I used FF for testing apps, now I use Edge or Chrome to do so. The main problem with FF browser is their UX, IMO, it is so outdated. For example, it is hard to distinguish a active tab from the rest, as the difference is tiny.

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#45

Anecdotally, I've noticed an increasing number of websites where basic functionality does not work on desktop Firefox. I now have to open Chrome on a daily basis whereas just a couple years ago I was 100% FF for browsing (not counting using other browsers for front end testing etc). For example, FedEx tracking refuses to work on Firefox. Shapeways (3D printing service) landing page was (is?) broken/non interactive on…

I've noticed this more and more. What's strange, is that Safari is often more compatible with such websites than Firefox.

"Is the website down, or is it just Firefox?" is a question I ask myself several times a day nowadays.

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#46

Anecdotally, I've noticed an increasing number of websites where basic functionality does not work on desktop Firefox. I now have to open Chrome on a daily basis whereas just a couple years ago I was 100% FF for browsing (not counting using other browsers for front end testing etc). For example, FedEx tracking refuses to work on Firefox. Shapeways (3D printing service) landing page was (is?) broken/non interactive on…

Chrome is the new IE

The IE reference was specific unreasonable technologies, forced defaults and restrictions placed on developers by the browser vendor. Not related to popularity.

Safari is the new IE by any measure.

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#47
post #37
post #2

Is there a general trend of losing web users to mobile? That might explain the slow decline.

It seems there is: https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share#monthly-202... This definitely seems like a decent explanation in my opinion. Sure Firefox is available on mobile, but on iPhone there's not much point to it since its WebKit anyways, and Androids have Chrome on them by default, which most people are already comfortable with. I feel like I care more about my browsing experience on my desktop than I d…

Don't you he stupid amounts of ads with chrome on android? I wouldn't want to miss uBo

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#48
post #23

Please try Firefox on mobile if you've been using Chrome on Android. The adblocker makes it faster than Chrome, as well as more pleasing to use. Google refuses to support extensions on Chrome, hence no adblock there - but various Chromium forks could also be alternatives.

Yep this is why I stopped using firefox for android, they restricted the list of extension they support. I had extensions I didn't want to stop using so I stopped using firefox on android and moved to chromium

Too bad

Re: Firefox is losing users fast

#50
post #22

How do you come to this conclusion given that YOY data shows July of last year: 197.8 million active users July of this year: 196.2 million active users

Maybe they looked at the US statistics, 29 million users in July 2019 to 22 million users now is quite the drop.

The US has a lot of Apple products relative to the rest of the world. Perhaps this is why the US numbers are dropping.
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