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I've been a Firefox user since Phoenix 0.1, and a Mozilla Suite/Netscape user before that. I used Chrome for a couple of years, but went back around when FF56 w

I've been a Firefox user since Phoenix 0.1, and a Mozilla Suite/Netscape user before that. I used Chrome for a couple of years, but went back around when FF56 was released. FF57 is absolutely the greatest version of Firefox to date. I have yet to hear a single legitimate complaint against it that actually holds up to scrutiny.

Silhouette 9y ago
I have yet to hear a single legitimate complaint against it that actually holds up to scrutiny. It breaks about 2/3 of the extensions I was using, and many of them don't currently have similar replacements available. That's a big loss in some of the functionality that made Firefox attractive as my default browser. I understand the desire to fix fundamental architectural limitations. In the medium term some of those extensions will probably be updated or replaced. In the long term, the improvements may well pay off in terms of better security and better performance and easier development allowing faster progress. As a software developer I can see that the move was rational even if it is also somewhat controversial. But in the short term, the loss is still significant for some users. That's a perfectly legitimate concern, and it's apparently sufficient that some people are not upgrading this time.
pfooti 9y ago
You can't inspect websocket frames. It is a tiny quibble in the face of big amazing improvements. But it is a thing (and is why I still use chrome primarily for development), and the extension used to patch this in to the devtools broke in the big extensions change.
- robin_reala 9y ago
  They’re planning to build that in at the beginning of the new year: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=885508#c37 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=885508#c37
megous 9y ago
It broke web experience for me. I write userscripts / extensions for most websites I frequent, and almost none work anymore. Granted, it's because Greasemonkey decided to break backward compatibility, but that was triggered by this move to a new extension model. I tried to think forward, and proactively convert my greasemonkey scripts to new style FF extensions a few months back, to avoid dependency on GM. But abandoned that after it became clear that I'm not allowed to install my own extensions on regular Firefox, because of forced thir-party signing requirement. I have no need for signing. I could create an extension by zipping a directory. Now the workflow is 1000x more complex with all the crap loaded from npm required to sign it. My web experience is s*it, ATM. Firefox is great anyway. But it is power user hostile in some aspects too. Personal extensions/userscripts are central to my use of the web. So this is all quite annoying, since signing was enforced. And now even my userscripts broke with 57, as expected.
- robin_reala 9y ago
  If you use Developer edition I believe you don’t need to sign your own extensions.
  - zeveb 9y ago
    I shouldn't be forced to use a Developer edition to install my plugins in my browser. It's my computer, not Mozilla's.
    - Tomte 9y ago
      That‘s why it‘s open source: because it‘s your computer and you can change whatever you want. But Mozilla doesn‘t owe every single user his own build with their pet features.
    - Dylan16807 9y ago
      What's the downside of developer edition? > It's my computer, not Mozilla's. Then you'll be overjoyed to hear about the unbranded builds! The exact same code, except it's yours, so it allows all extensions and doesn't say "Firefox" on it.
buu700 9y ago
I've been using FF57 on OS X since its release, and it's been great. Two issues have proven particularly difficult to get used to, however, and I'm surprised they aren't talked about more: 1. Video performance. Even something as simple as opening a video in reddit spikes my CPU to 100%, and before reluctantly installing Adblock Plus I ran into multiple kernel panics from opening articles on mainstream news sites and blogs. 2. Pinch-to-zoom isn't supported (closest alternative I could find is some about:config settings to make the pinch gesture equivalent to cmd++/-, which isn't useful). I'm still using Firefox, and there's a lot that I like about it more than Chrome, but I'm seriously considering switching back because of those and some other minor issues.
- greenhouse_gas 9y ago
  >I ran into multiple kernel panics Is it that easy to panic the macOS kernel?
  - x0x0 9y ago
    Not generally, but if firefox is using gpu compositing, graphics drivers are not osx' strong point.
  - buu700 9y ago
    Yep, apparently. (Technically not macOS, but OS X, since I haven't upgraded from El Capitan just yet.) I'd never had an issue with frequent kernel panics before, so I'm not sure what could be up with videos in Firefox.
- lukik 9y ago
  I thought I was the only one with an issue with Firefox57. Got a Macbook Pro 16 GB, 3.1 Ghz Core i7, MacOSX Sierra (10.12.6). The CPU goes wild during a search on Google Maps and also on certain pages of forbes.com. On forbes I've disabled the Ublock origin coz they politely asked me to. At one point the whole browser crashed. So right now got Chrome and FF open and am switching depending on the site. Might just end up back in Chrome if this isn't resolved.
detaro 9y ago
I'm very much on the pro-webextension side, but really, people's workflow being broken is not a legitimate complaint? What exactly would constitute a legitimate complaint then?
- deleted 9y ago
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Silhouette 9y ago

I have yet to hear a single legitimate complaint against it that actually holds up to scrutiny. It breaks about 2/3 of the extensions I was using, and many of them don't currently have similar replacements available. That's a big loss in some of the functionality that made Firefox attractive as my default browser. I understand the desire to fix fundamental architectural limitations. In the medium term some of those extensions will probably be updated or replaced. In the long term, the improvements may well pay off in terms of better security and better performance and easier development allowing faster progress. As a software developer I can see that the move was rational even if it is also somewhat controversial. But in the short term, the loss is still significant for some users. That's a perfectly legitimate concern, and it's apparently sufficient that some people are not upgrading this time.

pfooti 9y ago

You can't inspect websocket frames. It is a tiny quibble in the face of big amazing improvements. But it is a thing (and is why I still use chrome primarily for development), and the extension used to patch this in to the devtools broke in the big extensions change.

robin_reala 9y ago
They’re planning to build that in at the beginning of the new year: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=885508#c37 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=885508#c37

megous 9y ago

It broke web experience for me. I write userscripts / extensions for most websites I frequent, and almost none work anymore. Granted, it's because Greasemonkey decided to break backward compatibility, but that was triggered by this move to a new extension model. I tried to think forward, and proactively convert my greasemonkey scripts to new style FF extensions a few months back, to avoid dependency on GM. But abandoned that after it became clear that I'm not allowed to install my own extensions on regular Firefox, because of forced thir-party signing requirement. I have no need for signing. I could create an extension by zipping a directory. Now the workflow is 1000x more complex with all the crap loaded from npm required to sign it. My web experience is s*it, ATM. Firefox is great anyway. But it is power user hostile in some aspects too. Personal extensions/userscripts are central to my use of the web. So this is all quite annoying, since signing was enforced. And now even my userscripts broke with 57, as expected.

robin_reala 9y ago
If you use Developer edition I believe you don’t need to sign your own extensions.
- zeveb 9y ago
  I shouldn't be forced to use a Developer edition to install my plugins in my browser. It's my computer, not Mozilla's.
  - Tomte 9y ago
    That‘s why it‘s open source: because it‘s your computer and you can change whatever you want. But Mozilla doesn‘t owe every single user his own build with their pet features.
  - Dylan16807 9y ago
    What's the downside of developer edition? > It's my computer, not Mozilla's. Then you'll be overjoyed to hear about the unbranded builds! The exact same code, except it's yours, so it allows all extensions and doesn't say "Firefox" on it.

buu700 9y ago

I've been using FF57 on OS X since its release, and it's been great. Two issues have proven particularly difficult to get used to, however, and I'm surprised they aren't talked about more: 1. Video performance. Even something as simple as opening a video in reddit spikes my CPU to 100%, and before reluctantly installing Adblock Plus I ran into multiple kernel panics from opening articles on mainstream news sites and blogs. 2. Pinch-to-zoom isn't supported (closest alternative I could find is some about:config settings to make the pinch gesture equivalent to cmd++/-, which isn't useful). I'm still using Firefox, and there's a lot that I like about it more than Chrome, but I'm seriously considering switching back because of those and some other minor issues.

greenhouse_gas 9y ago
>I ran into multiple kernel panics Is it that easy to panic the macOS kernel?
- x0x0 9y ago
  Not generally, but if firefox is using gpu compositing, graphics drivers are not osx' strong point.
- buu700 9y ago
  Yep, apparently. (Technically not macOS, but OS X, since I haven't upgraded from El Capitan just yet.) I'd never had an issue with frequent kernel panics before, so I'm not sure what could be up with videos in Firefox.
lukik 9y ago
I thought I was the only one with an issue with Firefox57. Got a Macbook Pro 16 GB, 3.1 Ghz Core i7, MacOSX Sierra (10.12.6). The CPU goes wild during a search on Google Maps and also on certain pages of forbes.com. On forbes I've disabled the Ublock origin coz they politely asked me to. At one point the whole browser crashed. So right now got Chrome and FF open and am switching depending on the site. Might just end up back in Chrome if this isn't resolved.

detaro 9y ago

I'm very much on the pro-webextension side, but really, people's workflow being broken is not a legitimate complaint? What exactly would constitute a legitimate complaint then?

deleted 9y ago
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