4 ms·

Microsoft had checked out of the browser war game in the 2000's, they had won. All of the most important Mozilla improvements in software design, development p

Microsoft had checked out of the browser war game in the 2000's, they had won. All of the most important Mozilla improvements in software design, development practice changes, and testing methodologies in Firefox came in response to and after the arrival and ascendance of Chrome, not IE. Mozilla was not destroyed by Microsoft, and Microsoft gave Mozilla ample time and ammunition to be disruptive. I know you want to be positive on Mozilla, I want to too. But the overall program has been kindof a failure in terms of mindshare.

dman 9y ago
Mozilla abandoning the addon ecosystem left very little reason to use firefox over other alternatives.
- EdSharkey 9y ago
  I think this kind of sourpuss attitude about Mozilla isn't helpful. What they did with addons is about maturing the platform, making it a safer operating environment for non-power users. I believe it's a matter of time and maturity for Mozilla to support 99% of add-on requirements with their more secure, chrome-like, addon system. The fact that vimperator can't be written in today's Firefox, or that it would be a mighty pain to do so right now, is acceptable to me if it means Firefox is less hackable. I've certainly been critical of Mozilla and dislike how the browser has been dumbed-down in many respects over the years in-service of making it an application delivery platform. But, in my opinion, stability and security have to be job #1 for Mozilla.
  - dman 9y ago
    It would be great if the old world of XUL/XPCOM was retired after the new way of doing things could cover the same range of use cases. Breaking userspace without lining up alternatives is why users are up in arms.
    - EdSharkey 9y ago
      Yes, holding off on e10s transition until feature parity for the most extreme popular plugins + a reasonable amount of time to rewrite would have been the most savvy thing for them to have done.

dman 9y ago

Mozilla abandoning the addon ecosystem left very little reason to use firefox over other alternatives.

EdSharkey 9y ago
I think this kind of sourpuss attitude about Mozilla isn't helpful. What they did with addons is about maturing the platform, making it a safer operating environment for non-power users. I believe it's a matter of time and maturity for Mozilla to support 99% of add-on requirements with their more secure, chrome-like, addon system. The fact that vimperator can't be written in today's Firefox, or that it would be a mighty pain to do so right now, is acceptable to me if it means Firefox is less hackable. I've certainly been critical of Mozilla and dislike how the browser has been dumbed-down in many respects over the years in-service of making it an application delivery platform. But, in my opinion, stability and security have to be job #1 for Mozilla.
- dman 9y ago
  It would be great if the old world of XUL/XPCOM was retired after the new way of doing things could cover the same range of use cases. Breaking userspace without lining up alternatives is why users are up in arms.
  - EdSharkey 9y ago
    Yes, holding off on e10s transition until feature parity for the most extreme popular plugins + a reasonable amount of time to rewrite would have been the most savvy thing for them to have done.