6 ms·

Firefox is spending millions on political goals, failed OS' etc. Only a small portion is put into the progress of FF - speeding up rendering a notable exception

Firefox is spending millions on political goals, failed OS' etc. Only a small portion is put into the progress of FF - speeding up rendering a notable exception.

_red 8y ago
Ever since they forced out Brendan (co-founder and creator of javascript no less) because of their political intolerance, FF has really started to go down hill. Each release you have to go through more about:config settings to turn off all their "helper" apps (ie. spyware partnerships).
- Allower 8y ago
  Care to elaborate on these '"helper" apps'? Personally I feel like Firefox has made significant progress this year in particular. Mostly because of the performance improvements. I haven't noticed any 'spyware partnerships' and that would certainly concern me.
- toyg 8y ago
  > Ever since they forced out Brendan [...] FF has really started to go down hill I'm sorry you weren't around when Firefox (then called Phoenix) was really good, but most FF problems pre-date 2014. They are actually being addressed just about now.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    I used Phoenix (from about 0.6 IIRC) and for the most part had FF as my main browser - trialing alternatives occasionally (Opera, Flock, Chrome, etc.) and doing web testing with others (Links, IEx, android browser, Maxthon, etc.). When Eich was ousted it seemed like things took a sea change and we started getting "commercial" stuff shoved in our faces (alright, stuck on our toolbars). Firefox doesn't appear to be a high moral FOSS project trying to release us from the grip of commercial enterprise taking over the web -- as it did to me before. They went from being very user-centric to being a bit more like Microsoft (of old, at least): "we added a non-removable addon to /our/ browser", rather than "would you like to add this addon to your browser". Now I've no idea if the removal of Eich's influence on "business philosophy" was behind that; could be a coincidence. But, either way FF seems to have changed for the worse IMO. Mind, I'm still mourning the demise of Opera Unite -- with their browser as a server concept -- which seemed to be on track to change the focus of the web and give us the distributed peering that has always seemed to be the proper focus for the web+internet.
    - toyg 8y ago
      Nah, the tension was already there, since forever. It’s just that, after the failure of the misguided FFOS white elephant, they have gone back to the realization that their main source of funding will remain the browser for the foreseeable future, and that inspired (and inspires) some poor choices here and there. Eich’s departure was coincidental, imho. Quantum (which is very good) came way after he left, for example.
    - Allower 8y ago
      Are you complaining about Pocket?
    - _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
      For Mozilla FF is now only a money making machine, they've lost all interest in a browser, they use it to further their political goals. As a browser user I have nothing about political goals or making money, as long as the browser experience comes first.
porker 8y ago
While I appreciate the political work, I would like to see better leadership at Firefox, and less spent on side and failed projects.
- _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
  I have nothing against political work, but I think they should just give money to the EFF instead of doing their own - they are much better at the job, imagine what they would do with 300M$. And FF should focus on the browser because this is their cash cow, and progress is needed. But as the declining usage numbers show, FF employes just do what they want, riding FF to death then jumping ship to raid the next project. As a longtime FF user (25y) you're just left in the dust.
  - shady-lady 8y ago
    Exactly. Employees who get to engage in the theatre of running a software company with 0 risk. They need an oversight committee (from outside the valley preferably) Anybody got the breakdown on community commits to FF vs. employee commits?
    - gsnedders 8y ago
      > Anybody got the breakdown on community commits to FF vs. employee commits? Last time I saw anyone try to do this, it was vastly predominately employee commits (this isn't that surprising, there are hundreds of people working full-time on Firefox at Mozilla, and very few spending a comparable amount of time per day in the larger community); it's hard to get exact numbers because determining whether a commit is by an employee or not is hard (e.g., there's no requirement for employees to use Mozilla email addresses for their commits).
  - the_duke 8y ago
    Left in the dust? I have no idea what you are talking about. Current Firefox is better than ever for me.
    - 8y ago

Firefox is spending millions on political goals, failed OS' etc. Only a small portion is put into the progress of FF - speeding up rendering a notable exception.

_red 8y ago

Ever since they forced out Brendan (co-founder and creator of javascript no less) because of their political intolerance, FF has really started to go down hill. Each release you have to go through more about:config settings to turn off all their "helper" apps (ie. spyware partnerships).

Allower 8y ago
Care to elaborate on these '"helper" apps'? Personally I feel like Firefox has made significant progress this year in particular. Mostly because of the performance improvements. I haven't noticed any 'spyware partnerships' and that would certainly concern me.
toyg 8y ago
> Ever since they forced out Brendan [...] FF has really started to go down hill I'm sorry you weren't around when Firefox (then called Phoenix) was really good, but most FF problems pre-date 2014. They are actually being addressed just about now.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  I used Phoenix (from about 0.6 IIRC) and for the most part had FF as my main browser - trialing alternatives occasionally (Opera, Flock, Chrome, etc.) and doing web testing with others (Links, IEx, android browser, Maxthon, etc.). When Eich was ousted it seemed like things took a sea change and we started getting "commercial" stuff shoved in our faces (alright, stuck on our toolbars). Firefox doesn't appear to be a high moral FOSS project trying to release us from the grip of commercial enterprise taking over the web -- as it did to me before. They went from being very user-centric to being a bit more like Microsoft (of old, at least): "we added a non-removable addon to /our/ browser", rather than "would you like to add this addon to your browser". Now I've no idea if the removal of Eich's influence on "business philosophy" was behind that; could be a coincidence. But, either way FF seems to have changed for the worse IMO. Mind, I'm still mourning the demise of Opera Unite -- with their browser as a server concept -- which seemed to be on track to change the focus of the web and give us the distributed peering that has always seemed to be the proper focus for the web+internet.
  - toyg 8y ago
    Nah, the tension was already there, since forever. It’s just that, after the failure of the misguided FFOS white elephant, they have gone back to the realization that their main source of funding will remain the browser for the foreseeable future, and that inspired (and inspires) some poor choices here and there. Eich’s departure was coincidental, imho. Quantum (which is very good) came way after he left, for example.
  - Allower 8y ago
    Are you complaining about Pocket?
  - _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
    For Mozilla FF is now only a money making machine, they've lost all interest in a browser, they use it to further their political goals. As a browser user I have nothing about political goals or making money, as long as the browser experience comes first.

porker 8y ago

While I appreciate the political work, I would like to see better leadership at Firefox, and less spent on side and failed projects.

_Codemonkeyism 8y ago
I have nothing against political work, but I think they should just give money to the EFF instead of doing their own - they are much better at the job, imagine what they would do with 300M$. And FF should focus on the browser because this is their cash cow, and progress is needed. But as the declining usage numbers show, FF employes just do what they want, riding FF to death then jumping ship to raid the next project. As a longtime FF user (25y) you're just left in the dust.
- shady-lady 8y ago
  Exactly. Employees who get to engage in the theatre of running a software company with 0 risk. They need an oversight committee (from outside the valley preferably) Anybody got the breakdown on community commits to FF vs. employee commits?
  - gsnedders 8y ago
    > Anybody got the breakdown on community commits to FF vs. employee commits? Last time I saw anyone try to do this, it was vastly predominately employee commits (this isn't that surprising, there are hundreds of people working full-time on Firefox at Mozilla, and very few spending a comparable amount of time per day in the larger community); it's hard to get exact numbers because determining whether a commit is by an employee or not is hard (e.g., there's no requirement for employees to use Mozilla email addresses for their commits).
- the_duke 8y ago
  Left in the dust? I have no idea what you are talking about. Current Firefox is better than ever for me.
  - 8y ago