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Why I’m done with Chrome

blog.cryptographyengineering.com

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Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#531

Post by peheje »

ino wrote: post #418
jwr wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are on MacOS, why don't you use Safari? I'm puzzled as to why people seem to dismiss the "built-in" browser. It's the fastest, smoothest, best integrated, and least power-hungry browser on the platform. I regularly use all three major browsers (for testing, I write web applications) and I consistently switch back to Safari for all my non-special browsing.

One thing I don't like is having a 30% chance to have to wait 2-4 seconds whenever I swipe to go to the previous page or click the back button.

This. This a thousand times. I get these random slow downs as well with safari. But only every once in a while. What is happening?

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#532

Post by JoshMnem »

reticulan wrote: post #500
JoshMnem wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. AMP and the current move to get rid of URLs were the last straw.

What do you mean by get rid of urls? I just have missed it

https://www.wired.com/story/google-wants-to-kill-the-url/

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/07/google_kills_www/

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#533

Post by freyr »

colordrops wrote: post #526
slededit wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you around back then? It’s realy hard to describe how much MS was hated. There’s nowhere near that animosity towards Google today.

The difference is that MS was only hated by nerds, whereas Google is hated by everyone on earth.

I don’t know anyone who actively hates Google. Most people don’t even think about it, even though they’re constantly using it in one form or another.

People hated Microsoft. Remember blue screens of death? Clippy? Developing for IE?

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#534

Post by tbassetto »

wild_preference wrote: post #516
jwr wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are on MacOS, why don't you use Safari? I'm puzzled as to why people seem to dismiss the "built-in" browser. It's the fastest, smoothest, best integrated, and least power-hungry browser on the platform. I regularly use all three major browsers (for testing, I write web applications) and I consistently switch back to Safari for all my non-special browsing.

It has the worst UX. It doesn't show favicons on tabs. It has the worst selection of extensions: https://redditenhancementsuite.com/safari/ . Everything just seems to be worse than Firefox/Chrome from the developer tools to extension development (you need Xcode). To use Safari, you pretty much need to decide that performance / battery life are more important than anything else which only describes my needs when I nee…

Safari 12 can show favicons on tabs now :o)

This is how to enable it: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-enable-safari-favicons-on-mac-...

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#535

Post by hexane360 »

reaperducer wrote: post #86
Twirrim wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't for _now_. Which is no small part of his point. The next step is to automatically turn on sync etc, which is an easier step now people will start to be used to the idea they're automatically signed in to stuff in Chrome. The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on.

The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on. Over the last year or so, it feels more and more like Google, as a company, is getting desperate. Like it feels the external tide of popular opinion turning against it. But rather than mend its ways, a decision has been made somewher…

How does your boss' opinion of GDPR relate to her opinion of Google?

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#536

Post by colordrops »

freyr wrote: post #533
colordrops wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that MS was only hated by nerds, whereas Google is hated by everyone on earth.

I don’t know anyone who actively hates Google. Most people don’t even think about it, even though they’re constantly using it in one form or another. People hated Microsoft. Remember blue screens of death? Clippy? Developing for IE?

I hear plenty of non-tech people bringing up google as Big Brother. Much worse than UX annoyances.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#537

Post by wtetzner »

atombender wrote: post #472
wtetzner wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I completely understand what you dislike about container tabs. For me, I find them very useful. It's convenient, for example, to be able to have two side-by-side Gmail tabs open. e.g. one for work email, and one for personal email.

As I commented elsewhere, they don't pass the "grandma test". They're a techie's solution to a problem that shouldn't really exist in the first place, if we'd got "logins" and privacy and so on right.

I guess I don't see why everything has to pass the grandma test.

But I do see your point that they shouldn't be necessary.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#538

Post by Myrmornis »

Can't these issues be solved by using the "People" feature and using a different identity for gmail vs your browsing when you want not to be signed in?

I use the different identities extensively (work gmail, personal gmail, and other identities) and the quick switcher in the top right is for me the biggest reason why I've been unable to move to Firefox. (FF containers are not the answer, I know that much. I think FF identities are but they lack easy switching.)

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#539

Post by Daniel_sk »

tananaev wrote: post #398
partiallypro wrote: post #248

Google started going down the path I would describe as an "evil" path years ago. I'm glad people are starting to notice. I used to be a huge Google advocate, up until about 2008. So many things have changed since then. Adsense was the first breach in trust for me, when they banned my account for no reason and ruined any chance of every monetizing my content...since they are basically a monopoly in that area. Getting…

I'll add my very recent negative experience with Google. I have a couple of apps on the Google Play that use Firebase analytics and crash reporting. This weekend both apps were removed by Google without any warnings. The issue was that apps were in "Violation of Usage of Android Advertising ID" because by default Firebase collects Advertising ID. I don't really need Advertising ID in my app or my analytics and there…

We (software agency) had the same problem, a simple app with just basic Google libraries was violating their own privacy rules.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#540

Post by peterkelly »

wyclif wrote: post #439
jwr wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are on MacOS, why don't you use Safari? I'm puzzled as to why people seem to dismiss the "built-in" browser. It's the fastest, smoothest, best integrated, and least power-hungry browser on the platform. I regularly use all three major browsers (for testing, I write web applications) and I consistently switch back to Safari for all my non-special browsing.

This past weekend I tried Safari again when I saw it updated to version 12. I was surprised to see that Apple deactivated my uBlock Origin plugin, saying it would slow the browser down. So now Safari is unusable and filled with ads, and there's nothing Apple provides to replace uBlock Origin. This is a total show-stopper for me.

You can turn it back on. Go to Preferences -> Extensions and check "uBlock Origin". I've been using Safari 12 since it came out and uBlock Origin works with it just fine.
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