If Firefox stops being a supported codebase, would Rust popularity be another domino to fall? Since it is the largest (and probably best known) Rust project in the world.
Firefox on the brink?
611–620 of 840 posts
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#612If Firefox stops being a supported codebase, would Rust popularity be another domino to fall? Since it is the largest (and probably best known) Rust project in the world.
Firefox is mostly written in C++.
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#613It’s not on the brink, it’s that Firefox shims GA[1] with Enhanced Tracking Protection, which is on by default.[2] analytics.usa.gov uses GA. So you really can’t rely on usage figures that don’t represent the truth of your situation. [1] https://github.com/mozilla/gecko-dev/blob/413b88689f3ca2a30b... [2] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-now-ava...
Per the article, this is irrelevant. The case being made is that the figure seen by the government falling under 2%, which it is getting close to, will trigger a chain-reaction of consequences that will dramatically hurt Firefox, and it's not clear if Mozilla, the organization, could weather that. It doesn't particularly matter whether or not the figure is accurate in that context. Maybe that can be fixed easily by h…
I work in govt tech, we already internally do not care about FF support at all and only really look to chrome based browsers (chrome edge mostly) and safari. Many people don't even know what it is anymore, seems like time killed this browser too. Mozilla spending too much time/money and other crap over the years
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#614What should Firefox do for you to select it as your default browser? (It’s my default browser, I’m pretty happy with it, also use the pocket functionality quite bit)
Multiple profiles
I'm not sure what your use case is, but Firefox has Containers [1], allowing you to isolate different online identities into containers. It separates the cookies and storage for each container.
An example of where I use this is for separating my personal Gmail from my uni's Google's Workspace account. It's annoying clicking on a uni Google Doc link only for it to block me because it chose my default login which is my personal Gmail. I have to switch between Google accounts (which I believe wasn't possible until recently?). With Containers however, I just open the link in my "Uni" container and I'm good to go. No fuss.
I have seen classmates use Chrome profiles for the same example above, but from what they showed me they couldn't have their personal profile and their school profile open at the same time - they had to switch between profiles each time. With Containers, I can access tabs from all containers at the same time. Containers are colour coded so you know which is which.
There are additional containers available. If you don't like Meta snooping on you outside of their websites, there's a Facebook container by Mozilla [2] that isolates your web activity from Facebook.
Other than that, Firefox does appear to support profiles, but it appears to be a bit clunky. [3] I've never used it and until @dralley's comment didn't even know it existed.
[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...
[2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-cont...
[3] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-...
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#615Mozilla should develop a rudimentary Blink or Webkit mode for FF that allows it to fallback to a better supported engine (with obvious limitations wrt extensions, privacy policy) for select websites. I think once the user has opened Chrome/Safari because something rendered all fucked up in FF, they're likely to keep using it. The telemetry from fallbacks could be used to prioritize compatibility issues and drive down…
I’m not sure if the specifics but I think embedding an alternative rendering engine within a browser already built around a different one would be a significant chunk of work.
I could imagine a sort of quirks mode though, just a few hand selected chrome bugs/features implemented in gecko to make it behave just a little more like chrome. What a horrible future but it’s a possibility.
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#616I switched over after the Manifest v3 debacle, and after a couple of months, I wonder if the implications of using a browser with a lower market share are overblown. I haven't encountered any site that misbehaves, and the only missing feature so far is within the Google Drive web app because it uses a Chrome-only extension [1]. Maybe the ongoing standardization of the web shows its effects here, and using a standard-…
Same for me! I have been always using Firefox as my main browser for at least 15 years and never had any problems. Actually, I don't really understand why so many tech-savvy people continue to use Chrome... Just switch to Firefox, for foxs sake!
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#617I've worked with a ton of start-ups and digital agencies on countless projects by now in my career, and I can honestly say supporting Firefox has never been a priority. I've tried to push for cross-browser testing many times, but according to the stats (which management makes these decisions with) Firefox users are such a tiny, insignificant amount of most websites and products that it doesn't make a lot of sense, which I'm sure even further adds to abysmal Firefox usage when sites work badly or don't work at all because nobody tests anything with it. Ce'st la vie, I guess.
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#618Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Genuine question. What is justifying Mozilla Corporation CEO Mitchell Baker's salary? This question is why I don't expect Mozilla to last at its current course. I like their work, but the endless increases in CEO salary while their most important money maker is fledgling is not justifiable.
The increases look reasonable to me, but not when you consider their declining market share. I guess she only returned to the role of CEO in 2020, but she's been in leadership for a long time, and the org's performance has been poor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker#Negative_salary...
There's nothing reasonable in these salaries.
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#619Earlier quoted context omitted.
Per the article, this is irrelevant. The case being made is that the figure seen by the government falling under 2%, which it is getting close to, will trigger a chain-reaction of consequences that will dramatically hurt Firefox, and it's not clear if Mozilla, the organization, could weather that. It doesn't particularly matter whether or not the figure is accurate in that context. Maybe that can be fixed easily by h…
I work in govt tech, we already internally do not care about FF support at all and only really look to chrome based browsers (chrome edge mostly) and safari. Many people don't even know what it is anymore, seems like time killed this browser too. Mozilla spending too much time/money and other crap over the years
> Mozilla spending too much time/money and other crap over the years
It seems like a pretty bit conflict of interest when the #1 money source for Firefox comes from Firefox's only real competitor.
Re: Firefox on the brink?
#620Firefox needs to focus all their effort on making a good web browser first . If the browser is slow, has a clunky interface, or lags behind on features, then people won't use it. Mozilla focus way too much of their attention on privacy and non-browser related projects. Look at how much attention that The Browser Company has gotten for their Arc browser on Mac. Their primary focus is great UI and making an excellent b…
I always see comments like this on HN, and I struggle to understand why. Firefox is plenty fast. Its interface is extremely similar to most of its competitors. It works well. What special sauce do you expect Mozilla to implement that'll suddenly change their fortunes? It's a browser, after all. And why do you think that such features aren't being implemented due to lack of resources or muddled priorities - surely Moz…
I have two PWAs that I use all the time and Firefox doesn't appear to support PWAs.
There is a third party extension for it but I'm generally reluctant to install browser extensions because I worry about security.