Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again • Hacker News Board

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#31

Post by bitwize » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:04 AM UTC

I liked Firefox a whole lot better back before Mozilla effectively became a UN NGO with a few developers working on a web browser in a God-forsaken basement somewhere, Milton Waddams style.

If they want me to love Firefox, they need to love Firefox. And show that love in the form of vision, resources, and better open-source, open-internet style governance. No execs saying "deplatforming is nice and all, but we really need to go even further beyond". As soon as a browser company makes it a mission to decide what people see online, they cease to be trustworthy as a browser company. So I may as well just use chromium (or ungoogled-chromium).

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#32

Post by ilrwbwrkhv » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:09 AM UTC

alberth wrote: post #19

Dumb question: who’s Firefox target user? Chrome is able to capture the mass consumer market, due to Google’s dark pattern to nag you to install Chrome anytime you’re on a Google property. Edge target enterprise Fortune 500 user, who is required to use Microsoft/Office 365 at work (and its deep security permission ties to SharePoint). Safari has Mac/iOS audience via being the default on those platform. Brave (based o…

All devs should be using Firefox. If not, you are failing in your moral duty.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#33

Post by _jackdk_ » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:09 AM UTC

rasz wrote: post #27

I already love Firefox. Its Mozilla what I dont like. Fire the board and especially CEO, transfer assets to Firefox, dissolve foundation and never come back to software sector.

Or at the very least, let me fund the browser directly!

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#34

Post by transfire » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:09 AM UTC

I already do. Use it everywhere.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#35

Post by _jackdk_ » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:10 AM UTC

dtx1 wrote: post #17

PenguinCoder wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we lost Firefox I agree, and am looking for other alternatives, that aren't chromium based; but not finding any modern browsers that fit that bill. So I still use Firefox. Any recommendations?

There's nothing left. That Ladybird Browser[0] is the biggest name in the game outside of Firefox and Chromium but it's pre-alpha and if they don't switch to a memory safe language there's no point to it. That leaves you with Firefox and chromium derivatives, either LibreWolf if you want something Firefox based or Brave if you chose to get assimilated. Both have their issues: LibreWolf, like Firefox, lacks about a de…

From the FAQ at the bottom of https://ladybird.org/ :

> Why build a new browser in C++ when safer and more modern languages are available?

> Ladybird started as a component of the SerenityOS hobby project, which only allows C++. The choice of language was not so much a technical decision, but more one of personal convenience. Andreas was most comfortable with C++ when creating SerenityOS, and now we have almost half a million lines of modern C++ to maintain.

> However, now that Ladybird has forked and become its own independent project, all constraints previously imposed by SerenityOS are no longer in effect. We are actively evaluating a number of alternatives and will be adding a mature successor language to the project in the near future. This process is already quite far along, and prototypes exist in multiple languages.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#36

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:14 AM UTC

dtx1 wrote: post #17

PenguinCoder wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we lost Firefox I agree, and am looking for other alternatives, that aren't chromium based; but not finding any modern browsers that fit that bill. So I still use Firefox. Any recommendations?

There's nothing left. That Ladybird Browser[0] is the biggest name in the game outside of Firefox and Chromium but it's pre-alpha and if they don't switch to a memory safe language there's no point to it. That leaves you with Firefox and chromium derivatives, either LibreWolf if you want something Firefox based or Brave if you chose to get assimilated. Both have their issues: LibreWolf, like Firefox, lacks about a de…

> That Ladybird Browser[0] is the biggest name in the game outside of Firefox and Chromium but it's pre-alpha and if they don't switch to a memory safe language there's no point to it.

There's WebKit, which shares lineage with Blink (Chromium) but is separate.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#37

Post by SXX » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:17 AM UTC

alberth wrote: post #19

Dumb question: who’s Firefox target user? Chrome is able to capture the mass consumer market, due to Google’s dark pattern to nag you to install Chrome anytime you’re on a Google property. Edge target enterprise Fortune 500 user, who is required to use Microsoft/Office 365 at work (and its deep security permission ties to SharePoint). Safari has Mac/iOS audience via being the default on those platform. Brave (based o…

Firefox target users are whoever need Manifest v2 extensions to work on Chrome after Google will completely remove it. So basically everyone who want working ad-blocker.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#38

Post by SXX » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:21 AM UTC

I use Firefox on both Mac and Android and it works well. I'd just wish it was proper open source project with BDFL and public team of developers and not some corporate failure.

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#39

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:23 AM UTC

SXX wrote: post #37

alberth wrote: post #19

Dumb question: who’s Firefox target user? Chrome is able to capture the mass consumer market, due to Google’s dark pattern to nag you to install Chrome anytime you’re on a Google property. Edge target enterprise Fortune 500 user, who is required to use Microsoft/Office 365 at work (and its deep security permission ties to SharePoint). Safari has Mac/iOS audience via being the default on those platform. Brave (based o…

Firefox target users are whoever need Manifest v2 extensions to work on Chrome after Google will completely remove it. So basically everyone who want working ad-blocker.

[deleted]

Re: Mozilla wants you to love Firefox again

#40

Post by sevg » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:23 AM UTC

Afforess wrote: post #4

I don’t know if Firefox can be saved. I say that using Firefox for iOS right now. I use Firefox because it’s not chrome, not because it’s good. Mozilla’s reputation is trash, Firefox is riddled with ancient bugs, and the bleeding hasn’t stopped. I’d like to be wrong but I don’t see how.

Worth noting that Firefox for iOS isn't actually truly Firefox. Due to platform rules, browsers on iOS are all required to use the webkit engine so they all are basically just reskins of Safari.