And people keep asking why I prefer Firefox
This is just another reason to add to the pile
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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This is the thing about Chrome and the whole Chromium based ecosystem. Why on earth would anyone use a browser from an Ad company.
By the way. They are planning on putting it in Android apps too. So there one gets little choice. A non-starter like Apple where you cannot even load your own apps and app stores or Android from an Ad company where you can with effort at least choose your own software and even image your own OS.
@Gormadt They say Firefox is slow. Because in the past it used to, especially with the old engine and when Chrome was new, that's true. But nowadays it does not matter anymore and the speed differences are negligible. If that is the only reason to not use Firefox, then people should reevaluate their decision.
Then there is the argument that people do not like Mozilla. But they like Google more? Even if you use a Chromium based browser by a different company, you give more power to Google this way, as the engine becomes a bigger part of the web. Am I crazy for thinking that?
I use Firefox since version 1 as my default. Occasionally I switched to a different browser, but always came back to good ol' Firefox.
Personally it's not that it's slow, it just holds on to weird patterns for way too long, kinda like how new outlook just feels like old outlook with a new skin. Whenever I open edge, it loads. Whenever I open firefox, it's the "Firefox is installing updates" window that's probably been there since the 90s. Refusing to honor the 'close multiple tabs' etc. It's minor stuff but when there's an objectively better way to do things, it's just annoying.
I don't think I've seen either of those in a decade? Maybe it's because Firefox is my daily driver so it isn't trying to install months worth of updates at a time.
Nothing wrong with Firefox. The problem though is that too many people have been convinced that some how Google is better. I personally do not think that it is about details people argue about. It more about using what they know, what their friends know, or what their friends will think is cool. In the end you either care about having an open web and user focused browser or you do not. Most people do not it seems.
The challenge for Firefox is that if user base is too small, developers will no longer test their sites against it. The other issue is that it is not clear if Firefox can keep pace with Google. For example Firefox desktop does not support WPA, and mobile versions it is not complete. It will be interesting how things will evolve. Maybe Google will even take steps to actually keep Mozilla and Firefox around and viable just to keep the Monopoly busters away. Who knows.
For me I do care, and will use Firefox until it is not feasible to do so if that day comes. At the moment it is just fine. Who knows the future.
I've been using Firefox since just before the launch of 2.0, it's never let me down except for a once after Google Play Music went away and I had to use YouTube Music.
For a little while after the switch Firefox wouldn't play a few albums but Google Chrome would. But that was quickly fixed.
Firefox has been slower to startup for a long time. Maybe a few seconds slower compared to Chrome. But it has always made up for it in it's memory usage. The more tabs you open, the worse Chrome gets.
@NaoPb Firefox starts in 2 seconds total for me on my 10 years old CPU, even with many plugins installed. While there are constantly 6 or more tabs open, most are not loaded in when starting Firefox, unless I click the tab itself. And opening a new private window is almost instant. I even use Firefox for reading PDFs, instead installing a dedicated application, because it is fast loading and does the job. All in all, it's probably not far away from Chrome in starting up Firefox. And it probably isn't that important, because the browser is open all the time for me.
As for the memory usage, I always thought Firefox is being bad here. Can't imagine Chrome being worse. Are people happy with that?
I remember Chrome starting nearly instantly. But that could be that it's doing some preloading. I haven't used Chrome in years though. 2 seconds for Firefox startup sounds about right yes.
As for memory, I wouldn't say Firefox is great. But I often have a lot of tabs open at once while I am researching some things and Firefox is just rock solid for me. It has had some memory leaks in the past but they seem to be mostly gone now. You'd probably find browsers that use less memory but I dare to question if they would use less memory than Firefox in my usecase.
In an unrelated note I am curious which modern browser (in Linux) uses the fewest amount of memory.
@NaoPb Hi, I just wanted report that the startup of Firefox is almost instant. I have a new modern PC build with a modern and fast M2 SSD and took the exact same Firefox profile over. Now running Firefox starts basically instant. The tabs are not loaded in however, so obviously the webpages would start loading once clicking the tab. But Firefox itself is now instant operation for me.
You are probably right. My memories are of using Firefox on a PC with a mechanical hard drive. Back then Chrome seemed to have the upper hand. But these days Firefox loads instantly when you have an SSD. So yes, please ignore my earlier argument.
Hope other browser developers realize chromium is a ticking time bomb. I've used firefox for over 15 years and see no reason to change with the current landscape of browsers being so reliant on google .
Seriously… I’ve never once strayed from Firefox since its release.
I’m forced to use chrome for work and it is crap.
I guess that using safari on iOS devices is one exception, and it isn’t too bad.
I've been using Firefox since it was called Phoenix. Mozilla, for all it's flaws, has been our first and only line of defense for an open web for so long.
Damn… I think I came on a bit later than that. I don’t recognize the icon of Phoenix so I doubt I made the switch that early on!
I think I started using it in the 1.x times. I remember all the flaws it's had since. I've given lots of other browsers a try in the meantime but none come close to Firefox. They might be good enough for others but for power users Firefox is the way to go.
I’ve used firefox for over 15 years and see no reason to change
Okay, but change to what then? All the other options are just Chrome, Safari, and Firefox again.
Ungoogle-Chromium, Brave, Vivaldi, Librewolf, anything that isn't paid by Google. That they are still based on Chrome or Firefox doesn't really matter, since they remove the undesirable parts of them.
they are still based on Chrome or Firefox doesn't really matter, since they remove the undesirable parts of them.
Actually it does matter, since Google are killing off the ability for ad blockers to work with a new manifest specification in Chromium.
In the case of Brave and Vivaldi, they add their own undesirable parts (Brave adds crypto bullshit and Vivaldi is closed-source, so $DEITY knows what they're adding).
Librewolf is open and doesn't contribute to the Chromium monoculture; so it's the best option
Lol, reading that "censorship" section alone tells you all you need to know about the author there.
Literally hammering 1984 quotes like they love to do (dude, if Mozilla has the same kind of power as the Party, I must be chilling under a rock somewhere). Even has one of their sections called "Cucking to Manifest V3".
Back to the "censorship":
They want to algorithmically decide which content is allowed to be posted, and which isn't. This is especially relevant in the context of the fake pandemic, during which the whole world has been enslaved exactly thanks to the propagation of the "factual voices" over the so-called "disinformation". The "disinformation" here includes mentioning the factual harm done by COVID vaccines or even proven alternative treatments for COVID itself. So, Mozilla supports a world where people are harmed without being able to defend themselves.
Yeah, sorry. No. People with this little regard for reality shouldn't be taken seriously when presenting arguments.
This whole screed is aimed at a very particular brand of user that looooooves to pretend they're all "facts", when it's just emotional outrage over perceived slights. Same ones who complained about DDG when they tried to deal with Russian propaganda links showing up too often.
It's all very conspiratorial, as is expected, yet offers no real answers because conspiracies very rarely have any.
Also, have to lol at the SystemD shit showing up at the end there as well.
Lol, reading that “censorship” section alone tells you all you need to know about the author there.
The site is obviously a bit over the top, however that doesn't change the fact that the (criminally overpaid) Mozilla CEO openly endorses censorship:
Seemingly my Google pixel phone has stopped connecting to the Internet with other browsers. So I'm stuck using Google Chrome on it. 😠
I have a pixel 5a and haven't had that problem, currently using Fennec (firefox fork).
Looks like I'm finally switching to Firefox.
I reinstalled my pc and didn't install chrome. Firefox is pretty decent.
I remember going from IE to Firefox when they came out with tabs way back. We probably shouldn't have switched to chrome en masse in hindsight.
Nah, Firefox went through a buggy resource hungry slow period for sure. Chrome was miles better, I'm making the jump back. I kind of have been by default on Ubuntu, but I'll probably switch on phone too.
I've been using it on my phone for a fair bit. I still run into issues from time to time where pages don't render properly, but that could also have to do with the adblocking which is a major advantage of Firefox. I only use Chrome now if Firefox doesn't work.
I used to use Brave for years, and tried Kiwi for a fair bit too, but both of them have their own issues. I've found that Firefox works well enough for me now and allows me to stick it to the man.
Ridiculous. Time to switch to Safari or Firefox, folks.
My advice would be the latter. That case you can always use the same browser, no matter what OS you decide to use in the future.
Fair, although I personally use Safari on macOS/iOS and Firefox on Windows/Linux. If you’re interested, it’s fairly easy to sync between them with https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/icloud-bookmarks/.
Interesting. I did not know that.
Why Safari? Apple is just another greedy corporation.
Because Safari is chock fill of strong privacy features, just like Firefox. It’s a very good browser, if you’re using Apple devices, especially with the forthcoming OS updates.
Apple may be a greedy corporation, however, as they make their money selling you expensive hardware and a premium experience, they are not incentivised to monetise user data.
Google has the opposite incentive given they make money at all from Chrome or Android, other than advertising. Arguably they barely make any money at all, other than advising… so of course they’ll track you.
Man, this sucks for anyone dumb enough to use Chrome.
You beauty! I want chrome to become a malware and exploit the idiots who refuse to use firefox. Let's gooooooo
@yoz Most people aren't idiots, they are uninformed. But they become an idiot ones you inform them... So most people are potential idiots. :D
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Unlike the glitzy front-page Google blog post that the redesign got, the big ad platform launch announcement is tucked away on the privacysandbox.com page.
The blog post says the ad platform is hitting "general availability" today, meaning it has rolled out to most Chrome users.
This has been a long time coming, with the APIs rolling out about a month ago and a million incremental steps in the beta and dev builds, but now the deed is finally done.
Users should see a pop-up when they start up Chrome soon, informing them that an "ad privacy" feature has been rolled out to them and enabled.
That's actually what started this whole process: Apple dealt a giant blow to Google's core revenue stream when it blocked third-party cookies in Safari in 2020.
Google says it will block third-party cookies in the second half of 2024—presumably after it makes sure the "Privacy Sandbox" will allow it to keep its profits up.
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Why i recommend everyone use librewolf or firefox