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Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

robert.ocallahan.org

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Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#21

Post by Santosh83 »

As Facebook shows, most folks don't mind being locked in, even when they're aware of it, to varying extents. The reasons are complex, but basically can be boiled down to easy and seamless use for the "first world" and "cheap" or "free" for the rest of the world.

So, if Mozilla can make FF as fast and "hip" to use as Chrome AND they can make it as free (which in this sense means being bundled in everywhere), then yes, they stand a chance of overtaking Chrome...

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#22

Post by kevingadd »

cyberjunkie wrote: post #7

I notice Firefox does not feel as responsive as Chrome is. On my reasonably powerful system, switching between tabs is slow, even slower when large photos load. It's holding me back. I'm typing this from Vivaldi, because I'm constantly looking for a replacement that feels fast and I can have the few 4-5 extensions I typically use.

Yeah, this is an unavoidable consequence of their (current) 1-process model for tabs. They have a system for running tabs in a process separate from the browser, but they don't currently split tabs out into multiple processes, so you can get lag on switching tabs.

IIRC they are working on expanding this so that tabs are split across multiple processes, without using Chrome's resource-hungry Process Per Tab approach.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#23

Post by nishs »

mattparlane wrote: post #2

(2014)

And even more relevant today. Especially after yesterday's fiasco where Chrome doesn't allow installing self-made extensions permanently—forcing you to publish on the Chrome Web Store [0].

There were a few years (2010-2014) when Chrome was a clear industry leader: in design, web standards, resource consumption, and championing openness on the Internet. Not anymore, at least for me:

  * Firefox has built-in Reader mode and RSS, while Chrome still doesn't.
  * Firefox's ES-next compatibility is comparable to Chrome, and Safari Technology Preview is ahead [1].
  * Chrome hasn't embraced the WebExtensions specification (I'd love to be wrong on this).
  * Killing Chrome Apps [2].
  * Chrome displays an ambiguous/dissuasive popup when you attempt to enable Do Not Track [3].
I hope once Servo is production-ready, it performs far better than Chrome that the browser performance enthusiasts are also willing to switch.

That said, Chrome's Web Inspector is top-notch, and it is the only thing I miss from switching to Firefox.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13325507

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13133135

[2] http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/19/google-will-kill-chrome-ap...

[3] http://imgur.com/a/fHAyx

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#24

Post by kalleboo »

jasonkester wrote: post #10

Why not just say "Good Riddance?" From a pragmatic perspective, the fewer browsers we as developers need to support, the better. There has never been any meaningful standardization between browsers. Even "modern" browsers are all different enough that you need to test and code specific paths for each of them unless you stick to trivial things. Personally, I want the same thing I wanted back in 1996 when I started thi…

> Since then, Chrome has arrived and demonstrated that it is far and away the best

I, for one, am happy to have the option of a browser that doesn't decimate my battery life

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#25

Post by kevingadd »

abhpan27 wrote: post #13

People choose firefox over IE because firefox was better. People choose chrome over firefox and IE because chrome is better. Want to beat google? create better. Not negativity.

This is a pretty naive view that ignores market effects. You can get away with reasoning like this when you're talking about userbases on the order of 100000, but not when literally dozens or hundreds of millions of people use your software.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#26

Post by cantagi »

eggie wrote: post #9

What about chromium browser? Google's tracking features are disabled there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_(web_browser)#Differe... The author might argue that this is weak resistance because it's just adding fuel to Google's fire. They have co-opted the open source community by building their tools this way. I prefer this to the nearest alternative, which is a company that pushes closed software on the world…

Not all the tracking is disabled unfortunately. You might be interested in Inox - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/inox

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#28

Post by jonchang »

abhpan27 wrote: post #13

People choose firefox over IE because firefox was better. People choose chrome over firefox and IE because chrome is better. Want to beat google? create better. Not negativity.

Not sure this is necessarily the case - Google cross-promoted Chrome extremely heavily across all its web properties, ran massive ad campaigns, and contractually obligated Android vendors to preinstall and use Chrome as the default on their handsets. Mozilla, lacking the power or money to do any of these things, wouldn't be able to compete on these fronts, regardless of who built the better product.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#29

Post by ianai »

abhpan27 wrote: post #13

People choose firefox over IE because firefox was better. People choose chrome over firefox and IE because chrome is better. Want to beat google? create better. Not negativity.

I'd write in something ultralight. Either the tracking or the Js frameworks are slowing modern browsers down. Probably both and other things too.

Re: Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice (2014)

#30

Post by babayega2 »

PeterStuer wrote: post #12

As a long term Firefox user, the number of times I have to fire up Chrome because a site will not display correctly in Firefox grows month by month. :(

I have been using Opera. It behave really like Chrome ( I guess it's based on Blink). With less memory consumption. VPN included, add blocker included, and most of all, the best stuff I'd really like to see ported to Chrome: extensions opening at the left Sidebar of the page. So now I can access Google Keep, Translation, 2048 ...on the same page while reading HN, or anything.
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