Firefox lost 50M users since 2019 • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#231

Post by ghosty141 » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

csmpltn wrote: post #126

I've been using Firefox daily for over 15 years now. My experience with Firefox over the last 2-3 years in particular leaves me very disappointed and frustrated. The constant nonsense UI redesigns that come about with every new update. The instability, and ridiculous resources consumption. The slowness and slugishness. I want a browser that works, respects my privacy, stays out of my way and lets me get shit done. A…

I'm the complete opposite. I don't have any problem with firefox. Everything works perfectly.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#232

Post by f32jhnjk33jj » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

cs2733 wrote: post #218

In the last decade, the proliferation of smartphones led to billions of newly "connected" people using the default browser, not knowing or caring about what a "browser" is. Firefox doesn't ship its own hardware so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I switched to Firefox on Android, because I can use uBlock Origin (adblocker) extension with it and stop watching nonsense ads. It's also good for battery life and protect against some malware. Chrome on Mobile, on the other hand, doesn't allow extensions.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#233

Post by croes » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

csmpltn wrote: post #126

I've been using Firefox daily for over 15 years now. My experience with Firefox over the last 2-3 years in particular leaves me very disappointed and frustrated. The constant nonsense UI redesigns that come about with every new update. The instability, and ridiculous resources consumption. The slowness and slugishness. I want a browser that works, respects my privacy, stays out of my way and lets me get shit done. A…

Same for me with Chrome on Android. This forced tab grouping is totally killing my workflow.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#234

Post by f32jhnjk33jj » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

Guys, what do you think about switching Firefox to WebKit or Blink engine? This will greatly cut the development costs and will make Firefox almost 100% compatible to Chrome. FF is the only major browser with an engine different from Webkit/Blink.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#235

Post by tomcooks » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

It's almost as if focusing on ugly UX (which hinder power users and do not engage casual users) and useless paid-for services, being sponsored by your main competitor, focusing on anything but making the browser work, and a plethora of well known annoyances was not the best strategy to retain users.

(FF user since Netscape-era)

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#236

Post by TLLtchvL8KZ » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #168

rmsaksida wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla pays millions of dollars per year to their CEO, despite the decrease in usage and user base. Could be a symptom of a larger problem in the organization.

Mozilla also spends its cash on various other bullshit that nobody cares about.

Feels like a lifetime ago they were humble-bragging about their Paris office with gold leaf ceilings!

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#237

Post by criley2 » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

granzymes wrote: post #225

eitland wrote: post #143

I have contacted local authorities twice about anti competitive behavior from Chrome. If two - three other Norwegians do the same that should start to look like an earthquake ;-) Same if ten - twenty Germans or Brits or French do the same. I would mention: 1. that some of their web properties (calendar and YouTube) have been intentionally incompatible with Firefox as evidenced by how well they work in Firefox if one…

> How they have pushed Chrome as a "better browser" on the front page of Google (were no one else have been allowed to advertise) to Firefox users since way before Chrome was anywere nearly as good as Firefox, making it both a lie and - more importantly - a massive abuse of dominance in one market to gain monopoly in another just like Microsoft did with IE. Microsoft’s primary offense was illegally tying Internet Exp…

Microsoft's crime was doing it in the 90s. What Apple has done with iOS and OSX takes Microsoft's bundling, third-party lockout and lack of consumer choice to an exponential level, and it's celebrated as a feature now. iOS literally disallows any other browser technology from running, requiring them all to use less-featured versions of the first party tool. Microsoft must be jealous seeing them get away with that.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#238

Post by cbmuser » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Looking at the version history, support for version 52 ESR ended in September 2018.

Since that version was the last supported version with XUL, the lack of XUL after that might be one of the reasons.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#239

Post by bombcar » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

foepys wrote: post #202

sleavey wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to give a contrasting data point: I always see people complaining about resource consumption in Firefox in these threads, but I have honestly almost never had trouble like this and I use it for hours every day with lots of tabs and lots of rich media websites open. It happened more in the past (maybe 5+ years ago), but I am sure some of the blame in those cases would have been down to Flash. Now that I think mor…

A friend of mine has over 4,000 tabs open in Firefox at the moment - they just never close a tab, ever. Their Firefox' memory usage is only a little higher compared to mine with 3 open tabs.

I wonder how many of those are actually “open” - disconnect the internet and try looking at them. I suspect many just are the URL and nothing more and on view it reloads.

Re: Firefox lost 50M users since 2019

#240

Post by cs2733 » Sat, Jul 31, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

cs2733 wrote: post #218

In the last decade, the proliferation of smartphones led to billions of newly "connected" people using the default browser, not knowing or caring about what a "browser" is. Firefox doesn't ship its own hardware so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In World War 2 the Allies didn't win because they had the best tanks and airplanes. They won because they - the US, really - could build them much faster than Axis. It's a numbers game.

Edit: One could argue this isn't what the news article is about but what's losing 50M in a market of billions? A device, specially a smartphone, is a delivery mechanism for services and in this day and age when internet access (apps) has become massified, having "choice" is irrelevant as far as browser marketshare goes. I do hope Firefox continues because I quite enjoy using it but if they do fold someday I won't be surprised.