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Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#11

Post by gjm11 »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

Nowadays Firefox typically uses less memory than Chrome (though of course this depends on exactly what you measure and how). It's highly debatable which is faster -- this depends even more on how you measure -- but Chrome certainly isn't miles ahead. Chrome may have all the extensions you currently use, but Firefox still has a lot more; perhaps the next one you'd find useful will be Firefox-only.

None of which means that you actually should switch back: Chrome is a great web browser. But it isn't obvious that you shouldn't.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#12

Post by jvm »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

I use FF for Vimperator/Pentadactyl. There's no equivalent in Chrome (and never will be because of Chrome's design choices), and it makes every other browser's interface feel hopelessly pedestrian to me now.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#13

Post by kaolinite »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

Firefox extensions, from my experience, are much better - even when there are Chrome equivalents. Plus I don't trust the Chrome extension store, whereas I do trust the Mozilla store (all addons, unless marked, are checked by staff).

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#14

Post by larskinn »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

Same here (used Firefox, switched to Chrome), but I recently switched back. The only reason: I started using Windows on my desktop PC, and the font rendering in Chrome is horrible on Windows.

These days Firefox feels just as snappy as Chrome to me, though this has only recently been the case in my experience.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#15

Post by akavel »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

I recently switched back to Firefox (as main browser), as its speed improved (for me it even started to feel leaner than Chromium recently), and happily I could again use NoScript and a browser which doesn't send so much information to Google under the cover.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#16

Post by mike-cardwell »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

I don't use Chrome because I think it is bad for the web to be influenced so heavily by an Advertising company.

Ultimately, Chrome exists for Google to increase it's advertising profits. It's a clear conflict of interests.

Plus, Firefox is a great browser and works really well on my reasonably high spec'd laptop, so it's not so difficult to be idealistic here.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#17

Post by Garbage »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

I use both browsers, but Firefox is still the primary browser. The add-ons selection is not matched by Chrome.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#18

Post by suprgeek »

I am very happy that the Firefox team has finally managed to lick this issue. When at every occasion I used to raise this issue, the typical Mozilla Evangelist would answer: "It is because of the add-ons".

My counter to this was that the whole Raison d'être for Firefox is its add-ons community. You cannot claim that there are great benefits to this approach while simultaneously ignoring the problems caused by it. Better late than never. It is critical to have a popular browser alternative to Either IE or Chrome.

One is closed source and the other is produced by a company whose entire revenue model is built around showing you the most targeted ads possible in the maximum number of ways possible.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#19

Post by jhatax »

conradfr wrote: post #6

As a webdev who use Firebug (and Adblock) a lot, I'm so glad about this. FINALLY ! However they are three years too late about that, from a market share perspective.

Firefox lost market share because Chrome was a leaner, faster, and better browser. I have started to hear more stories about folks switching back to Firefox because a lot of their issues with the browser have been fixed. And based on independent review sites like Tom's Hardware, there is no longer an appreciable gap in the performance of Firefox and Chrome.

As regards market share, Firefox's market share would be in the low single-digit percentages if all was lost. This is indeed not the case. With the profiling and telemetry tools and infrastructure, the Firefox team has built a foundation that will ensure future releases do not regress memory usage and overall browser snappiness. Market share is a fickle metric for success because it is amenable to change. The strides made in the last few months by the Firefox team have paved the way for adoption growth in the future. Let us have a constructive conversation around what they need to do next to ensure more switchers among the HN community.

Re: Firefox 15 plugs the add-on leaks

#20

Post by kajecounterhack »

twodayslate wrote: post #9

I used to be an avid Firefox user. I switched to Chrome because it was faster and had all the same extensions I used on Firefox. Why should I switch back? Chrome is still faster no?

I did the ff-chrome-ff switcheroo a number of times. Now I generally use both: I find that chrome is a snappier startup and has a better flash runtime (since it does its own rather than relying on adobe). Firefox is more stable / uses less memory for a larger number of tabs.

I do believe in the mozilla mission for an open web, and it's got fairly comparable performance overall, so I use it for my main browsing / firebug. Chrome's for flash-heavy sites and playing with webrtc occasionally.

Inspector on chrome has certainly become quite good -- I've missed firebug less and less over time as I started using it. Though Firefox's new built-in developer tools are really sweet and might add enough functionality for me to miss in the near future. They're adding a command line thing that is super cool!!

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