3 ms·

I've used Netscape then switched to Firefox when Netscape became way too bloated, then enjoyed years and years of Firefox getting better, supporting new JS and

I've used Netscape then switched to Firefox when Netscape became way too bloated, then enjoyed years and years of Firefox getting better, supporting new JS and HTML5 features all WITHOUT telemetry and with the Crash Reporting window where I can see the data that is being submitted and submit it if I want to submit it. What have changed so much in last 5 years or so that now you have to get all this data? What is wrong with just building a standarts compliant browser that runs JS fast and has easy to understand settings (where I don't have to go to about:config to disable the WebRTC/telemetry/Pocket etc) ?

kannanvijayan 9y ago
> What have changed so much in last 5 years or so that now you have to get all this data? To be honest, a lot. Once again, this is my personal take on the matter, not Mozilla's view. First off, browsers were a LOT simpler back then. The sophistication and complexity in a browser has grown significantly in the last decade or so. Secondly, browsers have matured. Remember that this software category has only been around for 20 years or so. Compared to the code quality in browsers today, browsers of 10 years ago were crude and simple. As a software category matures, the low-hanging fruit dry up, so it's harder and harder to improve your product. Lastly, competition. Firefox has the luxury of being released when the biggest competitor (Microsoft) wasn't putting real effort into its browser product. Google will not make that same mistake with Chrome. Basically, the information we needed back then was less, because the problems were much more obvious, because the whole industry was still pretty young. Now browsers are much more mature, the ecosystem is much more complex, has a much wider user base, and the problems are becoming harder and harder to pin down.
- Vinnl 9y ago
  I think it's good to annotate this with your other comment as to why Firefox has to join this competition, rather than just do it's think and disregard its marketshare: > A perfectly private browser with no marketshare doesn't help users. A completely compromised browser with 100% marketshare doesn't help users either.

kannanvijayan 9y ago

> What have changed so much in last 5 years or so that now you have to get all this data? To be honest, a lot. Once again, this is my personal take on the matter, not Mozilla's view. First off, browsers were a LOT simpler back then. The sophistication and complexity in a browser has grown significantly in the last decade or so. Secondly, browsers have matured. Remember that this software category has only been around for 20 years or so. Compared to the code quality in browsers today, browsers of 10 years ago were crude and simple. As a software category matures, the low-hanging fruit dry up, so it's harder and harder to improve your product. Lastly, competition. Firefox has the luxury of being released when the biggest competitor (Microsoft) wasn't putting real effort into its browser product. Google will not make that same mistake with Chrome. Basically, the information we needed back then was less, because the problems were much more obvious, because the whole industry was still pretty young. Now browsers are much more mature, the ecosystem is much more complex, has a much wider user base, and the problems are becoming harder and harder to pin down.

Vinnl 9y ago
I think it's good to annotate this with your other comment as to why Firefox has to join this competition, rather than just do it's think and disregard its marketshare: > A perfectly private browser with no marketshare doesn't help users. A completely compromised browser with 100% marketshare doesn't help users either.