Hrm, so many people dunking on FF, and I’ve recently swapped back as it feels like it’s improved a lot. This is within the last month. This is on both Mac and Windows. It’s snappy, doesn’t feel heavy, and generally feels faster than Chrome. And on Mac, better than Safari.
Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
171–180 of 618 posts
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#172Firefox somehow managed to have a prophetic moment and plan their recent reskin to look and feel exactly like Windows 11.
So now when you use the newly released Windows 11, the several month old Firefox reskin matches the taskbar and controls perfectly. That was clever. I wonder if they had any inside help.
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#173Earlier 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.
That's my experience too. Unfortunately I don't think it's possible for complex standards to be well specified in human language instead of in code so a reference implementation is what will always win in the end. At least chromium is open source. The best we can hope is maybe that organizations adopting chromium other than Google can wield more influence over it. As I point out here https://news.ycombinator.com/item…
> complex standards to be well specified in human language instead of in code so a reference implementation is what will always win in the end.
> At least chromium is open source.
That source code is 12-15 million lines of code. They implement literally thousands of specs. Chrome adds 40-70 new web APIs [1] with each release which happen roughly once every 40 days and contain god knows how many code changes.
Good luck deducing "precise specs" from that.
> I wish Mozilla or a similar organization adopted the chromium core
That would mean cementing Google's monopoly of the web.
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#174Edge 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?
Given Edge is based on Chromium, I don't see how it's Chrome's biggest threat, there's all sorts of tricks Google can pull to cripple Chromium so Edge is also punished.
Look at what they've done with Android and the massive "Google Play Services" bolt on. If you try and take away any of its permissions you get a warning that "this may cause basic functionality to stop working"
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#175It'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 a hard sell when one can't install an ad-blocker on it (work on the street is you can but not easily)
You can install plenty of ad-blockers directly from the Mac App Store
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#176At the rate they “improve” the UI it’d be a miracle if even most staunch users won’t jump the ship.
That clown act they pulled in the recent release with tabs and decimated context menus was the last drop that forced me, the loyal user of 15+ years, to disable Firefox updates on all machines under my control. FFS, do they put any thought into these pointless disruptive changes that do nothing else but mess up existing users experience?
They should stop making changes in a hope of attracting new users and give a long and hard thought to how to retain what they already got. Because they will end up with neither.
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#177I suggest Firefox implements a premium paid variant without taking away any features from the free version. This is to increase revenue for development.
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#178Firefox somehow managed to have a prophetic moment and plan their recent reskin to look and feel exactly like Windows 11. So now when you use the newly released Windows 11, the several month old Firefox reskin matches the taskbar and controls perfectly. That was clever. I wonder if they had any inside help.
But by the time Windows 11 becomes popular, Firefox will already have reskinned itself again. Mozilla just can't seem to help it. :(
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#179I switched from Firefox to Brave for two reasons:
1. Brave is building new tech like IPFS, BAT, and Brave Search that are really compelling reasons to use it. Firefox's main selling point is that it simply exists as an alternative to Chrome. Firefox feels like it's digging its heels in to resist Google, while Brave feels like it's going on the offensive.
2. I disagree with Firefox's politics. They cancelled their CEO because he donated to the Wrong Side(TM). They want more deplatforming, they want more fact checks [1]. That is radical compared to mainstream thought in America just a few years ago. This new direction the left is taking is not good for the Internet, IMO. After January 8, I took a hint and left Firefox for Brave.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-than-deplat...
Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019
#180Fun 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...
And yet this gigantic amount of money hasn't resulted in a marked increase of users/functionality etc.
It's almost like the Mozilla execs get paid the big bucks no matter how badly they do their jobs. Go figure.