5 ms·

Maybe just maybe, you will consider Firefox. 1. Same or better performance 2. Open source for real not just (pretending to be) Open Source 3. More transparen

Maybe just maybe, you will consider Firefox. 1. Same or better performance 2. Open source for real not just (pretending to be) Open Source 3. More transparent process 4. No business conflicts Support Firefox if you care about the open web

wintermutestwin 6y ago
I use firefox as my primary browser, but I have recently ran into issues with several sites that I need to use. Whenever I contact support, they tell me their site requires Chrome. As it is, I have a Winblows box for gaming only that I put Chrome on, but one day, I am going to be remote and needing Chrome. I don't want google's tentacles on my work laptop, but am starting to worry that I have no choice...
- driverdan 6y ago
  Which sites? Name and shame. If you absolutely must use Chromium you can use Brave instead. It doesn't solve the extensions issue discussed here but at least it cuts out most of the Google garbage.
  - wintermutestwin 6y ago
    I don't remember them all, but coveredca is one. I thought Brave was yet another scammy project that was showing ads (albeit selectively)
    - simcop2387 6y ago
      I haven't tried it with that site, but I generally find that chromium + changed useragent usually gets passed most checks like that.
    - bsder 6y ago
      Definitely shame coveredca since that is a public service website. Put that one out to some local media, social media, etc.
  - g4k 6y ago
    The Shopify admin panel stopped working in Firefox a few weeks ago.
  - dblohm7 6y ago
    > Which sites? Name and shame. Or even better, report them to https://webcompat.com https://webcompat.com
    - michaelmrose 6y ago
      Netflix limits video quality on Firefox although you can trick it with an extension. Then there is the fact that hardware accelerated decoding for Linux/X11 hasn't hit yet. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619523 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619523 Anyway one valid solution is to add one or more app shortcuts that effectively run chrome/chromium --app=url and collectively treat these chrome specific apps as such. Instead of opening a new tab just click the icon on your bar. This doesn't quite handle for example links however one could use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-chrome-browser/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-chrom... to click on links and send them to chrome for known problematic sites. This is still way better than in the early firefox/IE days.
      - Mindwipe 6y ago
        Netflix limits video quality on Netflix and Chrome to 720p in the same way (except for ChromeOS), so I'm not sure that really fits your argument.
  - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
    Not the GP, but here's some: • Slack, for audio/video calls • Microsoft Teams, for audio calls (the video portion technically works if you fake the user agent) • Skype for Web, for audio/video calls (although it occasionally decides to work if you fake the user agent, it usually breaks) Slack is a problem for me. I have to boot up a VM when someone wants to call me on Slack.
    - fouc 6y ago
      If it's a linux VM it could boot up quite fast right?
- johncalvinyoung 6y ago
  Sadly, there's some uber-cool advanced web platform stuff that's only supported or only supported well on Chrome.
  - imhoguy 6y ago
    There is always ungoogled-chromium which runs many of these add-ons, https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-wiki/faq#can-i-install-extensions-or-themes-from-the-chrome-webstore https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-wiki...
  - dblohm7 6y ago
    Web devs should not be using that stuff until it has broader support.
- sixothree 6y ago
  Edge dev uses chrome under the hood and you don't sell your soul to google.... Just to MS.
- aasasd 6y ago
  You can use the Ungoogled Chromium builds, which also remove the remaining creepy misfeatures that Chromium has: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-binaries/ https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-bina... The builds themselves may potentially be insecure, but they're rather popular among the security-conscious target audience, so I hope someone would notice if they go bad.
- int_19h 6y ago
  Ironic. Back in the days when IE was king, we thought that all that's needed for a truly open web is open standards. Now Google has demonstrated how you can have open standards, but still create and maintain a monoculture around them, simply by evolving them so fast that any competition can't keep up.
dingo_bat 6y ago
> 4. No business conflicts Isn't Firefox funded almost entirely by Google?
gowld 6y ago
Does Firefox have the useful extensions that Chrome has? Are they as safe or safer?
- 40four 6y ago
  Of course! I don’t use extensions, but I’m sure most of the big players you’d expect from chrome have a Firefox version as well. Here is uBlock Origin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/?src=featured https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin... Apparently Mozilla vets add-ons with their ‘Recommended Extensions program’, not sure how you get an extension into that program though. Here is Pushbullet for Firefox! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pushbullet/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pushbullet/
- m463 6y ago
  chrome purposefully breaks some privacy oriented extensions.

wintermutestwin 6y ago

I use firefox as my primary browser, but I have recently ran into issues with several sites that I need to use. Whenever I contact support, they tell me their site requires Chrome. As it is, I have a Winblows box for gaming only that I put Chrome on, but one day, I am going to be remote and needing Chrome. I don't want google's tentacles on my work laptop, but am starting to worry that I have no choice...

driverdan 6y ago
Which sites? Name and shame. If you absolutely must use Chromium you can use Brave instead. It doesn't solve the extensions issue discussed here but at least it cuts out most of the Google garbage.
- wintermutestwin 6y ago
  I don't remember them all, but coveredca is one. I thought Brave was yet another scammy project that was showing ads (albeit selectively)
  - simcop2387 6y ago
    I haven't tried it with that site, but I generally find that chromium + changed useragent usually gets passed most checks like that.
  - bsder 6y ago
    Definitely shame coveredca since that is a public service website. Put that one out to some local media, social media, etc.
- g4k 6y ago
  The Shopify admin panel stopped working in Firefox a few weeks ago.
- dblohm7 6y ago
  > Which sites? Name and shame. Or even better, report them to https://webcompat.com https://webcompat.com
  - michaelmrose 6y ago
    Netflix limits video quality on Firefox although you can trick it with an extension. Then there is the fact that hardware accelerated decoding for Linux/X11 hasn't hit yet. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619523 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1619523 Anyway one valid solution is to add one or more app shortcuts that effectively run chrome/chromium --app=url and collectively treat these chrome specific apps as such. Instead of opening a new tab just click the icon on your bar. This doesn't quite handle for example links however one could use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-chrome-browser/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-chrom... to click on links and send them to chrome for known problematic sites. This is still way better than in the early firefox/IE days.
    - Mindwipe 6y ago
      Netflix limits video quality on Netflix and Chrome to 720p in the same way (except for ChromeOS), so I'm not sure that really fits your argument.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  Not the GP, but here's some: • Slack, for audio/video calls • Microsoft Teams, for audio calls (the video portion technically works if you fake the user agent) • Skype for Web, for audio/video calls (although it occasionally decides to work if you fake the user agent, it usually breaks) Slack is a problem for me. I have to boot up a VM when someone wants to call me on Slack.
  - fouc 6y ago
    If it's a linux VM it could boot up quite fast right?
johncalvinyoung 6y ago
Sadly, there's some uber-cool advanced web platform stuff that's only supported or only supported well on Chrome.
- imhoguy 6y ago
  There is always ungoogled-chromium which runs many of these add-ons, https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-wiki/faq#can-i-install-extensions-or-themes-from-the-chrome-webstore https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-wiki...
- dblohm7 6y ago
  Web devs should not be using that stuff until it has broader support.
sixothree 6y ago
Edge dev uses chrome under the hood and you don't sell your soul to google.... Just to MS.
aasasd 6y ago
You can use the Ungoogled Chromium builds, which also remove the remaining creepy misfeatures that Chromium has: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-binaries/ https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-bina... The builds themselves may potentially be insecure, but they're rather popular among the security-conscious target audience, so I hope someone would notice if they go bad.
int_19h 6y ago
Ironic. Back in the days when IE was king, we thought that all that's needed for a truly open web is open standards. Now Google has demonstrated how you can have open standards, but still create and maintain a monoculture around them, simply by evolving them so fast that any competition can't keep up.

dingo_bat 6y ago

> 4. No business conflicts Isn't Firefox funded almost entirely by Google?

gowld 6y ago

Does Firefox have the useful extensions that Chrome has? Are they as safe or safer?

40four 6y ago
Of course! I don’t use extensions, but I’m sure most of the big players you’d expect from chrome have a Firefox version as well. Here is uBlock Origin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/?src=featured https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin... Apparently Mozilla vets add-ons with their ‘Recommended Extensions program’, not sure how you get an extension into that program though. Here is Pushbullet for Firefox! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pushbullet/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pushbullet/
m463 6y ago
chrome purposefully breaks some privacy oriented extensions.