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I'm apparently one of those rare people who never switched off Firefox - it's been my default browser on Mac and Linux for years. Open source, good plugin eco

I'm apparently one of those rare people who never switched off Firefox - it's been my default browser on Mac and Linux for years. Open source, good plugin ecosystem, and does everything I need (not a web developer, so the dev tools were never a strong selling point for me). I've used Chrome here and there through the years, but the more invasive Google became about data collection, the less inclined I've been to use their tools. The latest moves to block ad blockers, coupled with nearly every other browser using their engine, had only reinforced my decision to stay with Firefox. Diversity makes for a healthier ecosystem.

dontbenebby 7y ago
I'm the same way. I tried Chrome when it was new but at the time it didn't have a NoScript equivalent so I went back to FF.
- vntok 7y ago
  Chrome has had NoScript equivalents for a while, you should try it again!
  - frenchy 7y ago
    I suspect for most people who hadn't switched already, that ship has already sailed. Chrome had something of an edge over Firefox for a while with a more responsive UI, but since Firefox Quantum it hasn't really had anything besides some creepy Google integrations. Edit: Chromium is also easier to embed, but that doesn't really matter for the purposes of chosing a browser.
    - Qub3d 7y ago
      Its strange, for me. I remember getting super pumped about Chromium when it went live in '09. Then, somewhere along the line, I felt like a boiled frog. Honestly, a big change for me was symbolically realized by The logo change: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#/media/File:Chrome_Logo.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#/media/File:Chro... It went from this space-age, nerdy little project to a cleaned up design that signified its shift to a position as a core Google product.
      - epiphanitus 7y ago
        Does Chromium have the same privacy issues as Chrome does?
        aasasd 7y ago
        Some of them, see https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium for a patched version. For me, Google's hold also manifested as complete absence of support for H.264 on Mac, because calling the Cisco's freely available openh264 is ‘too slow.’ In Linux, distro maintainers patch in the support for openh264.
  - devcpp 7y ago
    "at the time" Also, I see no benefit to "trying out Chrome". I use it often for a few broken webpages (blame the devs but there are really few) or on co-workers' computers and find no benefit whatsoever. Firefox has all of its features and much more. As far as I'm concerned: tree style tabs, containers, privacy and flawless ad-blocking.
chungy 7y ago
I never switched from Firefox either. I always felt the UI has been vastly superior (especially bookmarks) on this side of the browser ecosystem.
clairity 7y ago
yup, i've been a user since v0.3, when it was called phoenix. chrome's been handy for dev/testing but not as a primary browser, as google's ambitions/intentions became evident with gmail's debut.
megaremote 7y ago
I use all 3, but prefer firefox for most of what I do.
Ayesh 7y ago
I didn't switch to Chrome at all either, and I am a web developer too. I liked the Firebug for web development, and the built-in dev tools that came later was good for me too. Sometimes even better than Chrome's. In a comparison today, Firefox dev tools still are better with a nice profiler, font tab, CSS layout helper, etc. The only few things I use Chrome's dev tools are for their CSS/JS code coverage tools and accessiblity tester.
- c0vfefe 7y ago
  Firebug has now been mostly integrated into the main dev tools.
pirogen 7y ago
I've been using Firefox as my default and only web browser on Windows and Linux since it was called Firebird and Phoenix before that (or was it the other way around?). When Chrome first came out, Google's aggressive attempts at shoving it down my throat on what seemed like every single page of every single Google service, made the contrarian in me really, really not want to try it, and I never did. Never felt like I was missing anything, either.
MrMember 7y ago
I've been using Firefox for ages, probably 2003 or 2004? When Chrome came out I gave it a try and it was neat, but it didn't have several crucial extensions so I stuck with Firefox.

dontbenebby 7y ago

I'm the same way. I tried Chrome when it was new but at the time it didn't have a NoScript equivalent so I went back to FF.

vntok 7y ago
Chrome has had NoScript equivalents for a while, you should try it again!
- frenchy 7y ago
  I suspect for most people who hadn't switched already, that ship has already sailed. Chrome had something of an edge over Firefox for a while with a more responsive UI, but since Firefox Quantum it hasn't really had anything besides some creepy Google integrations. Edit: Chromium is also easier to embed, but that doesn't really matter for the purposes of chosing a browser.
  - Qub3d 7y ago
    Its strange, for me. I remember getting super pumped about Chromium when it went live in '09. Then, somewhere along the line, I felt like a boiled frog. Honestly, a big change for me was symbolically realized by The logo change: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#/media/File:Chrome_Logo.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome#/media/File:Chro... It went from this space-age, nerdy little project to a cleaned up design that signified its shift to a position as a core Google product.
    - epiphanitus 7y ago
      Does Chromium have the same privacy issues as Chrome does?
      - aasasd 7y ago
        Some of them, see https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium for a patched version. For me, Google's hold also manifested as complete absence of support for H.264 on Mac, because calling the Cisco's freely available openh264 is ‘too slow.’ In Linux, distro maintainers patch in the support for openh264.
- devcpp 7y ago
  "at the time" Also, I see no benefit to "trying out Chrome". I use it often for a few broken webpages (blame the devs but there are really few) or on co-workers' computers and find no benefit whatsoever. Firefox has all of its features and much more. As far as I'm concerned: tree style tabs, containers, privacy and flawless ad-blocking.

chungy 7y ago

I never switched from Firefox either. I always felt the UI has been vastly superior (especially bookmarks) on this side of the browser ecosystem.

clairity 7y ago

yup, i've been a user since v0.3, when it was called phoenix. chrome's been handy for dev/testing but not as a primary browser, as google's ambitions/intentions became evident with gmail's debut.

megaremote 7y ago

I use all 3, but prefer firefox for most of what I do.

Ayesh 7y ago

I didn't switch to Chrome at all either, and I am a web developer too. I liked the Firebug for web development, and the built-in dev tools that came later was good for me too. Sometimes even better than Chrome's. In a comparison today, Firefox dev tools still are better with a nice profiler, font tab, CSS layout helper, etc. The only few things I use Chrome's dev tools are for their CSS/JS code coverage tools and accessiblity tester.

c0vfefe 7y ago
Firebug has now been mostly integrated into the main dev tools.

pirogen 7y ago

I've been using Firefox as my default and only web browser on Windows and Linux since it was called Firebird and Phoenix before that (or was it the other way around?). When Chrome first came out, Google's aggressive attempts at shoving it down my throat on what seemed like every single page of every single Google service, made the contrarian in me really, really not want to try it, and I never did. Never felt like I was missing anything, either.

MrMember 7y ago

I've been using Firefox for ages, probably 2003 or 2004? When Chrome came out I gave it a try and it was neat, but it didn't have several crucial extensions so I stuck with Firefox.