Congrats to Firefox, it really has made substantial improvements over the years.
Firefox a few years ago would kill my Mac battery in a couple hours, now it’s as good as safari for energy management. No reason not to use it as a daily driver now.
Maybe it’ll start maintaining Mozilla again. You know: its namesake project.
Mozilla Suite, the thing discontinued seventeen years ago!?
There is a project called Mozilla? Afaik it is the company name? What is it?
Mozilla is the name of the Open Source version of Netscape Navigator. It is the pre-cursor to Firefox.
Not only that, they had goals beyond just a browser. They wanted to create a whole OS ecosystem integrated with the browser. They released Firefox as a side project to just get a browser in everyone’s hands while they worked on Mozilla. Turns out the OS ecosystem in a browser was a bust, and Firefox was a winner. Just the Mozilla devs haven’t stopped being bitter about it. The old Netscape motivations around the project have been a boat anchor.
There was the Firefox mobile OS but apparently that didn’t pan out too well it seems. I remember vaguely hearing about it long ago, but not by much.
I remember that! Pretty sure I tried it out on my Nexus 5. It was cool but even then it seemed an impossible hill to climb. Looks like it was forked into a feature phone OS that’s maintained to this day!
I mean didn’t they achieve that? Today a lot of things are web based. Firefox is a powerful browser. Especially on Android. So if you want you can have your OS in a browser thingy…
Not at all. They created a great browser, which is what us end users wanted, but they never achieved their ecosystem goals.
It’s called SeaMonkey now and AFAIK it is maintained and under community management.
Yep, I use it every day.
That doesn’t change the fact that Mozilla gave up on its flagship.
Now all we need is that it provides a better experience than Chrome.
Meh, I’ll be honest and say that I’m not impressed by chrome in modern day. While I hate Microsoft, edge is a nicer browser to use than chrome, and that’s saying something
I agree, but I think that the normies like to use Chrome because… that’s what everyone is using, so I am eager to see how FF can give a better experience to the normal user.
Normies use Gmail, it’s easy when you login to your browser and you’re partially already authenticated everywhere else.
Same goes for android.
it’s easy when you login to your browser and you’re
partially already authenticatedautomatically sending your personal, private information everywhere else.FTFY
You’re correct, but the majority of normies don’t care. A lot of people don’t naturally feel a strong impulse towards privacy, so the fact that Google knows everything about them doesn’t really bother them.
It already does. I dislike using Chrome. Firefox works better, looks better, and containers are really useful to me.
I’ll stick to Safari. I don’t trust Mozilla any more than Google or Microsoft.
Ah yes, an open source popular browser that is made by a nonprofit organization is less trustworthy than a close source browser made by a public company
An open source organization with a track record of dubious user-hostile behavior.
Apple does not add plugins to my browser without my consent, nor do they show ads in my browser.
Isn’t Safari made by Apple? It’s not like Apple is some paragon of corporate virtue, why do you trust them?
If you’re running Safari, you’re already running their OS. If Apple wants to spy on you, they’ve already got the means to do so, so you’ve already decided to trust them.
Switching to Chrome or Firefox means trusting one more entity in addition to Apple. This expands your possible exposure.
Because with Apple I’m the paying customer, not the product being sold.
You’re always both. With Apple, it doesn’t sell your data, but it does sell curated ad space where they use your data to power their tools. While this is less of an invasion of privacy than Google or the atrocity of Meta’s privacy policy, it still exists on a spectrum of how much companies are willing to use your data for extra profit. I’m not saying to not use Apple, hell I’m currently using Microsoft Edge, but I think it’s important to understand that literally every profit-driven company is subject to the same systemic flaws and none of them can be completely trusted.
I’m sticking with Firefox until some dev decides to use it’s engine to make a new better browser. I truly enjoy Arc and Vivaldi, but since they’re chromium i don’t trust them an inch with my personal data.
LibreWolf is an option. It’s mainly just a Firefox fork but removes the adware and sponsored garbage as well as had more privacy-focused defaults, though IMO the defaults are too much and need to be toned back. No ads though so it’s 100% worth the switch.
Have you ever tried WaterFox?
since they’re chromium i don’t trust them an inch with my personal data.
This is such a ridiculous position. Do you have any evidence at all that every Chromium browser (even the ones specifically designed to avoid this) are transmitting your personal data?
This is such a ridiculous position.
I’m not the original person you responded to, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I disagree. While I personally do not think that all Chromium browsers (especially since there are projects like
ungoogled-chromium
) transmit your personal data, I can’t verify this myself because the Chromium codebase is far too much of an undertaking for myself to review.While the same is also true for Firefox (and really any potential open source browser), on a pure personal-trust factor I trust Mozilla/Firefox to be more caring about protecting my personal data than I do Google, who literally revolves around data collection. Inevitably its a moot point for me since I do use Google services anyways, but I don’t think its that far reaching for someone who potentially doesn’t to take the original person’s stance.
While I personally do not think that all Chromium browsers (especially since there are projects like ungoogled-chromium) transmit your personal data, I can’t verify this myself because the Chromium codebase is far too much of an undertaking for myself to review.
Don’t you think that, with so many contributors and projects having eyes on it (arguably more so than on gecko), if there was foul play wouldn’t anyone have sounded the alarm?
but they did sound the alarm? Debian took Chromium out of their repos for a time because they found unreported telemetry sent encrypted back to Google. All the info is on the net. You just need to read it.
All the info is on the net. You just need to read it.
“The net” is kind of a big place. I’ve researched “the net” on this subject quite extensively and come up empty-handed so maybe you’d like to share where you found this information?
It sounds like you’re referring to the Chromium web browser, which is not the topic of discussion. Rather it is Chromium-based web browsers such as Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, Opera, etc.
Argh, I originally finished typing out a reply and went to upvote your reply - which apparently causes Lemmy to close the reply box, sending my original reply to
/dev/null
, sigh…What I was originally going to say, in a more abridged version is that plenty of people audit and review open source libraries such as OpenSSL which ended up having a massive vulnerability that no one knew about in the form of Heartbleed for two years - so while its possible someone would ring the alarm bell on Chromium, its also possible that they wouldn’t (through no fault of their own).
At the end of the day, I still believe that my own personal trust in a project is going to trump the stamp of approval from people that I have zero connection to. There have been countless times in my life where someone said that
X
was okay, and I blindly trusted them instead of relying on my own judgment only to inevitably bitten in the ass when they ended up being wrong. Even down to medications that I’ve taken in the past that were deemed fine by multiple doctors, which have now resulted in me having permanent negative side effects that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life.I appreciate your level headed reply (as opposed to the passive aggressive “people do not understand chromium is NOT CHROME” reply), and to your credit I would say its probably significantly harder to forget to remove a ton of telemetry from a project than it is to not catch one line of code that accidentally causes a massive vulnerability to a project - but if Firefox works just fine for me, I don’t see a need to even have to take a (probably small) gamble on Chromium.
I don’t even advocate to others that they shouldn’t use Chromium for the reason that was listed in the top parent comment (usually if someone does ask me how I feel about my choice of browser, I will tell them that I prefer Firefox because it doesn’t have a dominant position of marketshare over web standards), but I did feel it was worth retorting that the parent comment was in fact, not really a “ridiculous position to take”.
Fair enough! FWIW, I also think your stance on the matter is fairly level-headed and well thought out, even if I’m more or less on the other side of the fence.
Brave Browser
Brave is icky. It’s smeared in crypto and they were caught injecting affiliate links in 2020.
I can’t verify this myself because the Chromium codebase is far too much of an undertaking for myself to review.
No, but there are several people and organizations that can and do that would be screaming from the rooftops if there was some sort of telemetry that they could not remove.
I trust Mozilla/Firefox to be more caring about protecting my personal data than I do Google, who literally revolves around data collection.
You don’t need to trust Google because Chromium-based projects are not made by Google. They are forks of the open-sourced Chromium, made by completely independent organizations, explicitly for the purpose of removing telemetry.
People are seemingly incapable of understanding that Chromium-based browsers are not Chrome, nor are they Chromium.
Evidence? OF COURSE!
Have you even tried searching for it?
Google even says so for Chromium on its own official page!
https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/144289/privacy-with-chromium
You don’t need to trust us. Trust Google, they are telling you legally if you want to listen.
Also, look up the handful of open bugs on the Debian but tracker, where known people, with name and faces (I’ve met some on conferences), showcase and share how Chromium calls home and sends encrypted data. They share their Wireshark logs.
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=792580;msg=53
Look up how Debian removed Chromium for a time, until some of it got removed upstream.
And all of this doesn’t mean that Google cannot re-introduce it or add different approaches in new updates.
Plus, Google actively creates and pushes for their “standards” via Chrome(ium), which allows them to push for even more surveillance.
In addition, Chromium is not a community project. It’s developed behind closed doors, with a secret roadmap, and a code dump happens on release. That’s no way to develop the 90% of web browser market that society needs in this day and age. But, don’t think you will care about that, do you? you are happy with papa Google for the foreseeable.
Have you even tried searching for it?
Of course I have. I’ve never found any substantiation, which is why I’m asking. I use them every day so I would certainly like to know if there is, but the concerns I constantly see only apply to Chrome, and not Chromium-based browsers.
Google even says so for Chromium on its own official page!
This is specifically for the Chromium browser, not Chromium-based browsers. I know, it’s confusing. Chromium is basically just the open-sourced version of Chrome.
Plus, Google actively creates and pushes for their “standards” via Chrome(ium), which allows them to push for even more surveillance.
This is yet another item attributed to Chrome and it’s users. You can totally create a Chromium fork that adheres to conventional standards.
How hard can you simp for Vivaldi. Jesus Christ.
You don’t think Google themselves admitting that Chromium has the same privacy notice is substantial? What more could you possibly need?
What’s worse is that Vivaldi took an open source browser with a bunch of privacy concerns, added some things and closed the source. And you think it’s somehow less of a cause of concern.
You’re nuts.
How hard can you simp for Vivaldi. Jesus Christ.
I use 5 different browsers, zero of which are Vivaldi, and thus do not “simp” for Vivaldi. The only “simping” I do is for the truth. The Google hate train is valid but misplaced in this instance.
You don’t think Google themselves admitting that Chromium has the same privacy notice is substantial?
You’re simply deliberately misreading my comment because what I said is not that it’s unsubstantial, I said that it’s inaccurate. Google does not and cannot have any control over any Chromium forks or their respective individual privacy policies’. This statement only pertains to the Chromium web browser.
I can see that you have no interest in an honest discussion so I won’t be engaging with you further. Bye.
Google does not and cannot have any control over any Chromium forks
That is not true. I remember several chromium-based browser developers saying for several changes made by google to chromium that they can’t afford the maintenance burden to reverse it.
One instance of that happening is switching the addon framework to manifest v3, which severely degrades the functionality of browser firewalls, like uBlock Origin, by restricting (for “security reasons”, apparently) the amount of network filters they can apply (and maybe with other changes too, I don’t remember it exactly).
But there were also other instances of this happening, which I don’t remember right now. Maybe also when they released the first version with FLoC.
And then I think these 2 (anti)features (even any of them alone) also qualify for invasions of privacy, and they are present in most of the chromium based browsers.
I remember several chromium-based browser developers saying for several changes made by google to chromium that they can’t afford the maintenance burden to reverse it.
…reverse what?
manifest v3
uBlock already solved this issue and still for other browsers it was never a problem in the first place, because they have domain-blocking built into the browser itself.
Know why? Because. They’re. Not. Chrome.
Do you really think there is Google telemetry in all chromium based browsers? lol
Of course I have. I’ve never found any substantiation, which is why I’m asking. I use them every day so I would certainly like to know if there is, but the concerns I constantly see only apply to Chrome, and not Chromium-based browsers.
Just run WIreshark against your Chromium then. Enjoy.
This is specifically for the Chromium browser, not Chromium-based browsers. I know, it’s confusing. Chromium is basically just the open-sourced version of Chrome.
Did you read the link I posted?
Let me copy-paste directly from the Chromium office page for you then:
Additional Information on Chromium, Google Chrome, and Privacy
Features that communicate with Google made available through the compilation of code in Chromium are subject to the Google Privacy Policy.
There, you have it. Now you can try moving more goalposts again, and provide excuses for them.
This is yet another item attributed to Chrome and it’s users. You can totally create a Chromium fork that adheres to conventional standards.
Nah it’s not. I’m talking about Google pushing and implementing IETF standards that hamstring privacy. They are open standards, but they are malicious. That a standard is open doesn’t mean is doing things that are not ethical.
To me, it’s obvious that you don’t even want to look for proof. Why so hell-bent on taking the stance of a state-level billionare corporation built by extracting privacy from users? How do you think they got there?
Or do you have something specific against the legal non-profit organization that is Mozilla?
To me it’s clear, based on your personal attacks, that you have no interest in an honest discussion so I will not engage with you further. Goodbye.
Personal attacks? Jesus, you are a little cupcake.
The mere fact that you’re forced to use a Google service for synchronicity between devices? Yes, Firefox has the same but i find them much more trustworthy.
Give me a browser that allows for using a synchronization service of my own choice.
Decentralize!
The mere fact that you’re forced to use a Google service for synchronicity between devices?
Uh…was that supposed to be a question? If so, the answer is “no”.
Probably more/better fingerprinting techniques for chromium engine browsers but I feel like if invasive telemetry was discovered in the open-source codebase of the chromium engine we’d hear about it.
Yes, or it would just be removed.
Firefox rules
Chrome drools
Three chrome users said, “nuh uh!”.
If only. Every chrome user said the same thing they’ve said after every other overtake. A poignantly disinterested silence. They just don’t care.
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You can literally import passwords from chrome to bitwarden and use it in any browser with an extension. Bitwarden is so much more convenient
Not on my phone it’s not.
Firefox Sync works to keep your logins/passwords in sync on both Android and iOS (and the desktop version too, obviously).
Malicious actors thank you for your patronage and passwords. Get an app with a browser extension
Firstly: Firefox can import your Chrome passwords and if you enable/sign up for Firefox Sync (which is better–privacy wise–than your Google account) you’ll be able to use them with Firefox mobile (it’ll sync your settings and bookmarks too, obviously).
Secondly: You can export your logins from Chrome to a .csv file (hamburger menu in the settings… somewhere; I forget, sorry) which can also be imported into Firefox (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/import-login-data-file) and other password managers. I literally just tested importing both Chrome’s and Firefox’s saved logins into a KeePassXC database and it worked fine (it didn’t automatically figure out which field was what though so I had to manually tell it which column was the password, URL, etc but no big).
Firefox also has the same .csv password export feature BTW.
When I changed from Chrome to Firefox a year ago or so, Firefox imported Chrome’s saved passwords, along with bookmarks and everything else.
You can easily export passwords from Chrome as a CSV and directly import them to Firefox.
Just use a 3rd party password manager, bitwarden will transfer them for you. Also, having used both, bitwarden is superior.
Google is blitzscaled techbro big tech, the honeymoon is over, now it’s time for enshittification !
true for the industry at large --especially at these interest rates
I’ve been using Firefox since Windows XP days and speed has never really been a complaint. Well back in Flash days some sites got janky but that was probably Flash as much as Firefox.
That was the act that most home computers and internet connections weren’t that powerful yet, and when I was loading some old flash games I played back in the day recently, they were so absurdly fast.
Great job Mozilla. I hope that Firefox will one day be as popular as Chrome or even more! ❤️
Oh it was already- Before Chrome became popular. When Chrome came out, only weird people used it. All my friends were FF kids.
Chrome took over FF because of Chrome being a default Android web browser after replacing its vanilla/AOSP browser.
It was better than Firefox at the time. Firefox only needed to be better than IE so it has become a bit of a ram-hungry bloaty mess, then Chrome came along and was actually really quick. How the tables have turned.
Yep. I was very young at the time but what I remember is firefox being spoken of as kind of a “hack” to make everything web-based faster compared to IE.
Then chrome came out and firefox was completely replaced. It felt like an instant change. Anyone that knew anything about computers was using chrome.
I think that chrome is still living off its glorious past.
Multi-process was huge. Firefox was pretty stagnant for a long time, and it took a long time to catch up.
Also being synonymous with “using Google”, where people thought they had to get chrome to use Google.com.
This also applies to Microsoft, but they’re too late, I guess.
Browsers are cyclical like fashion, I guess.
Remember when chrome launched and they had all those commercials showing how fast it loaded webpages?
If browsers are like fashion, Firefox is a well-tailored suit. Never out of style.
@imaqtpie @The_Picard_Maneuver, in Vivaldi you can create your own style to your like and need, or also download one of te more than 3500 user made themes.
https://themes.vivaldi.netYeah, Vivaldi is the best chromium-based browser. Personally, I use it a secondary for sites that were made to only display right on chromium browsers. Librewolf, a privacy-focused fork of Firefox, is the one I use as a main browser.
Vivaldi looks cool, and I have heard tell that Mozilla is far from its former glory, but my user experience on Firefox is excellent so I have no reason to switch
@imaqtpie, that is the point, the best browser is the one which suits the best your needs and use.
Apart of Vivaldi as main browser, I also have Firefox and the Otter Browser for test reasons (f.Exmpl to see if an isue is due to Chromium or general, FF with Gecko and Otter with Qt5)Yeah for sure. You’re much more advanced than I am, let’s just say it’s not a coincidence that I’m on sh.itjust.works 😅
@imaqtpie, I don’t think so, I only a normal user with the experience since my first modem with 56k.
Vivaldi since 7 years, which fits all my needs, due it’s more a Internet suite than a browser, with all the funcionality you mauy need, without using extensions, apart of the end2end encrypted sync with Vivaldi Mobile, without sharing userdata to Google (Alphabet), what Mozilla does.Does it have adblock?
the best browser is the one which suits the best your needs and use
This is objectively false. The best browser is the one that gets the job done and doesn’t have endless absolutely terrible security vulnerabilities (e.g. IE before they switched to Edge which is just Chrome) or intentionally leaks your private information (e.g. Edge leaking every site you visit to Bing and Chrome doing the same but with Google).
Also, from a performance perspective “the best” is obviously objectively measurable and Firefox just took the crown which is what the post is all about. Realistically though both Chrome and Firefox have had completely acceptable levels of performance (imperceptible differences to normal humans) for like a decade. So it’s probably not that big a deal.
A bigger deal for normies using their browser IMHO is memory utilization which is a much bigger factor than, “how fast does the browser load and run HTML, CSS, and JavaScript?” Just ask Google how much more memory efficient Firefox is! LOL
https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&client=ubuntu&q=firefox+vs+chrome+memory+utilization
anyone care to explain what we’re looking at here?
As a Firefox Desktop/Android user this sure sounds awesome.
The purple line is chrome’s speed scorem the blue line is firefox’s
Good. Now, stop being forced as a snap, please.
You could always use a distro made by sane people.
Bro, I’ve been using Kubuntu for 4 years, it’s the most I have spend with a single distro, but I’m this close to jump to Debian 12 (in fact I just tried it with VirtualBox today), I’m just waiting for the weekend because job.
I have also used Ubuntu when they sent out those free CDs. And for work when they had the Unity desktop (12.04 LTS). It was a good distro once.
I am pretty happy with the Arch (btw) I installed as a VM on Ubuntu 12.04 and then used as my main OS on the new work PC since 2017.The memories. My first LiveCD was 10.04. Distro-jumped for some years, then left Linux altogether for some more, and returned and stayed with it.
As a user of Windows my entire life, I’ve tried Ubuntu and Manjaro before and went back to Windows. I randomly felt like trying Linux again recently and set up Debian 12, and am finally not going back.
Your words are encouraging.
Yea do it. It boggles my mind why anyone would use Ubuntu at this point. Makes more sense to use Mint, even.
Kind of crazy that Ubuntu has some packages exclusively as snaps…
Crazy is installing a package through apt and having it install the snap.
This… If I wanted an app in snap form, I would install it through snap instead. But installing an app through apt redirects to snap? No. It’s ridiculous and unacceptable.
Holy shit, didn’t know that
It makes sense that they don’t want to maintain 2 versions. What doesn’t make sense is that when you ask it for an apt, instead of saying “this package isn’t avalible as an apt” and maybe “by the way it is available as a snap if you want”, it just installs the snap without telling you.
Canonical is not maintaining fuck-all. They’re just re-distributing Debian packages (sometimes with a few patches on top at most). The Debian team is doing all the heavy lifting of packaging software (including
firefox-esr
).It’s not a technical limitation that Canonical doesn’t offer firefox as a deb. It’s an intentional attempt to trap people into their walled garden.
I didn’t say it was a technical limitation, I said it was laziness. Even if they just straight up take the deb from Debian, they are still responsible for if it works well on Ubuntu.
Anyway, it’s hardly a very good trap. You can still download the deb from Debian, or use Mozilla’s ppa, or use flatpak. Or hell, snap is the main difference between Ubuntu and Debian at this point anyway, so just use any other Debian distro. I hate to be the person defending Canonical here as I vastly prefer community distros, but when the vast majority of people are using OSs from Microsoft, Apple and Google, painting Canonical as a big greedy villain sounds like a joke.
I hate it.
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04
Unfortunately this is the best you can do with Ubuntu based systems
Great, now do the phone browser
I’ve been using FF on mobile for couple of weeks now, I dont see any major issues, in fact, no issues at all. Plus, it has extension support.
Why do people hate FF on mobile?
Actual answer?
Not a reason to hate it though, just a reason why sadly Chromium-based browsers are preferable for now
People hate on FF mobile? It works great for me. To be honest I think I like it more than the desktop FF.
I was happy with chrome performance. After switching to FF, based on the accolades on Lemmy, I’ve been mostly happy… But fuck if there’s not major lag at times. It isn’t connection related, as I’ve immediately popped over to Chrome for that site and had no issue.
I’m not unhappy with Firefox, but I notice it’s presence, which is not what I want in a browser.
iirc the firefox javacript interpreter is much slower than chrome’s. I guess the lag is most noticable in JavaScript heavy sites?
Idunno, i had mega lag after hitting enter on a duck duck go search in the address bar.
No hate on FF mobile from me, but I can objectively say Chrome, at least visually and subjectively, performs noticably faster than FF. That said, I still prefer FF over Chrome.
My mobile FF install runs uBlock origin, which blocks youtube ads btw, this is enough for me to use it exclusively. That it syncs with my desktop FF is just a nice bonus.
any benefits over using newpipe?
It lags a lot on some websites, but it’s fine for most
i feel like its laggy
i use voyager for browsing lemmy on firefox, it often freeze while chromium fork doesn’t do that
Are you using a potato? I’ve never had an issue. FF with ublock ftw
We don’t do that here
Get your forks out
Never complained about its performance but that’s awesome!
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I use firefox and I like it but they have been dumbfying their UI and nagging users to use pockets.
Why on earth would I need to go to about window to update? Also, I don’t know where to find extensions so I just choose addons then manually go to extensions.
Hm, where do they nag? I don’t know what Pockets is and haven’t seen anything about it.
I also never manually update Firefox, I just restart when it tells me it’s downloaded an update.Every other update would show an ad to use it. Also, you cannot remove it afaik.
Also, you cannot remove it afaik.
Remove it where? If its the toolbar, you can just remove it from the
Customize Toolbar
menu. If it is the home/new tab page, you can remove it by clicking the settings gear at the top right of that page and disable the option (or from the main brwoser settings area). If you use Firefox Account syncing (or just sync your Firefox profile folder via other means) then that option persists across different devices accordingly too. This page explains how to disable any Pocket integration, including the ones that I’ve mentioned here, along with even the “Save to Pocket” menu entry that comes up when right clicking a link.You can remove it
You can with about:config flags, you can also set the API url to some random shit so it can’t even ping Mozilla.
Going to the about window to check for updates is a decades old thing among thousands of different software(it’s the same in Edge, Chrome, Opera(old and new), etc)
Clicking on the “Add-ons and Themes” literally takes you straight to the extension tab(extensions are add-ons).
First of all, I know other browsers keep update in about page, however, this is why I don’t use them. It wasn’t used to be in a burger menu tho.
Second, add-ons and theme isn’t saying exactly “extensions”. Also, it would take you to the last tab which is by default plug-ins. try it.
I like Firefox and I’d support the developers but they should stick to their roots to keep their current user base.
Second, add-ons and theme isn’t saying exactly “extensions”. Also, it would take you to the last tab which is by default plug-ins. try it.
You can click the Extensions toolbar icon that was added by default for everyone a bit ago, and at the bottom of the list of your extensions it has a “Manage Extensions” option (it is actually pinned to the bottom of the visible menu, so even if you have enough extensions that it “overflows” into a scroll menu, the Manage Extensions button is always visible). That page lets you remove / configure any currently installed extensions, and has a search bar for the Extensions store as well.
Would love a more customizable UX for Firefox and the option of a more compressed UI. Aesthetically it definitely needs a rethink.
Yup, the new FF UI is unbearable. And it was the last straw (among other things) that convinced me that it was time to switch to something else (after 20 years).
Yeah i can’t stand it either, stayed on the old UI for 18 months or so until sites started breaking. I’m using this mod to make it work like the old UI and it’s exactly the same, plus you only need to setup once updates haven’t broken it for me so far. https://github.com/black7375/Firefox-UI-Fix
Thanks, I already knew about the “unfuck” fix made by Black. Too late for me, anyway. I have realized that Mozilla doesn’t care about feedbak or users’ opinion (or the users at all…), so I don’t feel like supporting them anymore.
By the way, the fix is fine. But it is a matter of principle: people shouldn’t have to waste their time unfucking Mozilla’s fuckups and users shouldn’t have to waste their time trying to make a browser usable. So, congrats, Moz Corp, you’ve managed to lose an hardcore user.
May I ask what are you using now?
Brave. I was between it and Vivaldi. Finally settled on Brave.
Agreed, this is the main reason I switched to Librewolf over official Firefox. Firefox has devolved into adware.
adware
That’s a gigantic stretch
I’m still using Chrome, but it keeps getting shittier. At some point they’ll push me over to Firefox. Hope Firefox can avoid getting shitty.
While Mozilla is far from perfect, I think they’ve managed to avoid getting shitty for almost 20 years.
That’s because the Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit. They don’t need to maximize value for their shareholders™.
Thank you Netscape for setting Navigator free!
The Enshitification cycle is a feature of for profit corporations, Google was always going to turn evil at some point.
The Mozilla Corporation is for profit, but they reinvest all of their profits. They are also wholly owned by the Foundation. You can’t donate to Firefox.
Yes, and they’ve made some profit-driven decisions, such as pocket integration, but never on the level of what google does.
That’s why I’ve said they are far from perfect (but the best we have).
And dropping Thunderbird :(
Although it seems to be doing well now under its own, newish commercial corporation.
It’s coming along nicely. I donate and am a fan.
That’s what non-profit means. You reinvest the profit back into the project rather than pocket the money. It doesn’t literally mean “no profit”.
Cool. They also have rules about how you make money and where that money goes. The Mozilla Corporation is not a non-profit. It is a commercial company created to make profit to support development.
So, a non-profit that skirts the rules, basically. Good to know.
It is a non-profit.
The Mozilla Corporation was established on August 3, 2005, to handle the revenue-related operations of the Mozilla Foundation. As a non-profit, the Mozilla Foundation is limited in terms of the types and amounts of revenue it can have. The Mozilla Corporation, as a taxable organization (essentially, a commercial operation), does not have to comply with such strict rules. Upon its creation, the Mozilla Corporation took over several areas from the Mozilla Foundation, including coordination and integration of the development of Firefox and Thunderbird (by the global free software community) and the management of relationships with businesses.
Did you read that? Because it says it isn’t.
The Foundation is a non-profit. The Corporation is not. The Corporation is taxable. It can generate revenue in ways a non-profit cannot.
Somehow it’s always the lead software in a category that becomes shitty while everything else is praised. Regardless of what’s being talked about. (I know why)
People get used to it, it’s “fine” but doesn’t improve considerably or add anything exciting, so people get bored. I moved from Firefox to Chrome, and honestly Chrome feels smoother and uses less ram seemingly for me on my laptop. Aside from no support for vaapi on wayland, chrome is fine imo
How about today? I believe in you. You can do it! Break the cycle. Ditch the Chrome.
my friend actually convinced me to switch just a few days ago lol. i’m just super thankful that i could transfer all my bookmarks and stuff
Once you finish setting up and are happy, if you care about privacy and don’t mind a little more upfront work, set up Multi account tabs. It “sandboxes” your logins and cookies to categories you choose. I have a category for each social media site, one for my finances, one for amazon, one for other shopping, etc.
I live by, “never do anything you don’t have to.” But seriously I have some things customized in Chrome I’d have to adapt to Firefox. It would take a little effort on my part and I just don’t want to deal with it until I have to. I’m sure it will happen sooner than later. I think the deprecation of Manifest V2 is going to force it because my browser is essentially a uBO support system. Until then I’ll keep slogging along.
Have you tried Brave? Idk the full story, but it is basically chrome with more privacy stuff and is way faster than normal chrome. Feels just like using chrome but faster.
Brave has recently had some controversy around selling user data for AI training and isn’t really a great suggestion for privacy due to this.
I’ve been avoiding Chrome as devil avoids holy water for years. So I’m glad FF does well.