5 ms·

But aren't those all features of Chrome? Wouldn't a happy Chrome user want to know about something FF4 does that Chrome doesn't? It's very clear that 4 > 3.6,

But aren't those all features of Chrome? Wouldn't a happy Chrome user want to know about something FF4 does that Chrome doesn't? It's very clear that 4 > 3.6, the features you listed are awesome ... they just aren't very appealing to a current Chrome user.

grayrest 16y ago
The primary reason to use FF is that you like a particular addon, you like FF's expose over Chrome's, or you like how FF does the location bar (which is why I use FF). There's not a ton of differentiation between the two any more.
mbrubeck 16y ago
I was answering the question from above "what are the differences from the current version?" As for the differences from Chrome, those are mostly the same as they've always been: Deeper extensibility, more customization points, and made by a non-profit organization dedicated to openness.
- 51Cards 16y ago
  Most customization points is the big win for me. I REALLY like to alter my browsers to fit my preferred layout and FF has done quite well at maintaining that capability for me. I get into Chrome and I find myself constantly going "Oh, there's no option for that... Oh, there's no option for that... Oh, there's no option for that... " to the point I close it in frustration yet again.
  - technomancy 16y ago
    Absolutely. You would never be able to do something like http://conkeror.org http://conkeror.org in Chrome. At one point I tried to change some key bindings in Chrome, and I had to spend 2 hours recompiling the whole thing; it was an absolute nightmare.
    - zacharypinter 16y ago
      In fairness, isn't Conkeror more of a fork of Firefox than an extension (though I believe it started as an extension)?
      - technomancy 16y ago
        Not quite. Mozilla is a platform with which you can build apps. Firefox is by far the most popular app running on the Mozilla platform, but there are many others, including SongBird, Thunderbird, etc. The bare executable for the Mozilla platform is Xulrunner, and that's what Conkeror uses. Anyway, the one thing that keeps Firefox competitive is that they built a platform in a fast yet very awkward language, then they built an application on top of that using a much more pleasant, flexible language. None of the other browser vendors understand this; Chrome devs parrot the "but Javascript is too slow to build our UI in" even though they have the fastest JS engine in the world. It boggles the mind and cripples them in the long term for anything other than your standard point-n-grunt interfaces.
  - lepht 16y ago
    Exactly my experience so far, except there's _still_ no decent Firefox replacement for Chrome's Google Quick Scroll. I forget I even use that extension in Chrome until I end up constantly Ctrl + F'ing the hell out of search results pages in Firefox.
niels_olson 16y ago
You know what this really makes me? A huge fan of lastpass/xmarks (and 1password, but that's because neither lastpass nor 1password has successfully covered everything I want from a password manager, but they seem to complement each other well enough in my use case).
wvenable 16y ago
Multi-row tabs. It's not built into FF, but it is available with an add-on. After using multi-row tabs for a while, I can't live without them.
bad_user 16y ago
What Firefox has: 1) the Awesomebar, which I love, although some people hate, plus more advanced functionality -- like in Chrome you can't search your history and delete items in the search results, which I think is retarded as your only option is to purge your entire history It also seems pretty clear that Chrome is built to use the Google Search Engine whenever possible. For example if you search for something in the location bar, Firefox can redirect you to the very first result on Google for that search if it has a high degree of certainty. The Awesomebar is also designed such that you'll do less searching on Google. However, the ties of Chrome to Google can be seen by the way the browser makes you search on Google, even in cases where a local search in your history would make much more sense. 2) Firefox plugins can do pretty much anything -- Chrome plugins are basically useless. I.e. Firebug can be a Firefox plugin, while on Chrome this had to be baked in. It means Firefox can have things like proper ad-blocking and Delicious integration on the push of a button 3) a non-profit organization behind it -- when dealing with companies and organizations the concept of "trust" applies heavily, and personally I trust that Mozilla looks after my interests much more than I trust Google
- bretthoerner 16y ago
  > like in Chrome you can't search your history and delete items in the search results, which I think is retarded as your only option is to purge your entire history Sure you can. Control-H or Menu->History. > Firefox plugins can do pretty much anything -- Chrome plugins are basically useless. It's worth noting that Firefox is working on adding Chrome-like 'useless' extensions to their browser. https://jetpack.mozillalabs.com/index.html https://jetpack.mozillalabs.com/index.html > a non-profit organization behind it Sure, but remember that they don't run on rainbows and dreams. Mozilla is basically funded by Google affiliate payments. - I do agree about AwesomeBar (miss it) and extension support (though I don't miss any from FF, myself) though.
  - bad_user 16y ago
    Sure you can. Control-H or Menu->History No you CANNOT. Mozilla is basically funded by Google affiliate payments That doesn't say much or anything at all. Mozilla wasn't founded by Google and could always find other sources of revenue. Also, Mozilla isn't a public company with shareholders, it's also not a company masked as a non-profit to evade taxes, which means Mozilla's interest isn't profit, just survival. It's a totally different ball game. EDIT: also about Jetpack, Chrome-like plugins have been available for Firefox for quite some time, you just need to install a plugin -- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/

grayrest 16y ago

The primary reason to use FF is that you like a particular addon, you like FF's expose over Chrome's, or you like how FF does the location bar (which is why I use FF). There's not a ton of differentiation between the two any more.

mbrubeck 16y ago

I was answering the question from above "what are the differences from the current version?" As for the differences from Chrome, those are mostly the same as they've always been: Deeper extensibility, more customization points, and made by a non-profit organization dedicated to openness.

51Cards 16y ago
Most customization points is the big win for me. I REALLY like to alter my browsers to fit my preferred layout and FF has done quite well at maintaining that capability for me. I get into Chrome and I find myself constantly going "Oh, there's no option for that... Oh, there's no option for that... Oh, there's no option for that... " to the point I close it in frustration yet again.
- technomancy 16y ago
  Absolutely. You would never be able to do something like http://conkeror.org http://conkeror.org in Chrome. At one point I tried to change some key bindings in Chrome, and I had to spend 2 hours recompiling the whole thing; it was an absolute nightmare.
  - zacharypinter 16y ago
    In fairness, isn't Conkeror more of a fork of Firefox than an extension (though I believe it started as an extension)?
    - technomancy 16y ago
      Not quite. Mozilla is a platform with which you can build apps. Firefox is by far the most popular app running on the Mozilla platform, but there are many others, including SongBird, Thunderbird, etc. The bare executable for the Mozilla platform is Xulrunner, and that's what Conkeror uses. Anyway, the one thing that keeps Firefox competitive is that they built a platform in a fast yet very awkward language, then they built an application on top of that using a much more pleasant, flexible language. None of the other browser vendors understand this; Chrome devs parrot the "but Javascript is too slow to build our UI in" even though they have the fastest JS engine in the world. It boggles the mind and cripples them in the long term for anything other than your standard point-n-grunt interfaces.
- lepht 16y ago
  Exactly my experience so far, except there's _still_ no decent Firefox replacement for Chrome's Google Quick Scroll. I forget I even use that extension in Chrome until I end up constantly Ctrl + F'ing the hell out of search results pages in Firefox.

niels_olson 16y ago

You know what this really makes me? A huge fan of lastpass/xmarks (and 1password, but that's because neither lastpass nor 1password has successfully covered everything I want from a password manager, but they seem to complement each other well enough in my use case).

wvenable 16y ago

Multi-row tabs. It's not built into FF, but it is available with an add-on. After using multi-row tabs for a while, I can't live without them.

bad_user 16y ago

What Firefox has: 1) the Awesomebar, which I love, although some people hate, plus more advanced functionality -- like in Chrome you can't search your history and delete items in the search results, which I think is retarded as your only option is to purge your entire history It also seems pretty clear that Chrome is built to use the Google Search Engine whenever possible. For example if you search for something in the location bar, Firefox can redirect you to the very first result on Google for that search if it has a high degree of certainty. The Awesomebar is also designed such that you'll do less searching on Google. However, the ties of Chrome to Google can be seen by the way the browser makes you search on Google, even in cases where a local search in your history would make much more sense. 2) Firefox plugins can do pretty much anything -- Chrome plugins are basically useless. I.e. Firebug can be a Firefox plugin, while on Chrome this had to be baked in. It means Firefox can have things like proper ad-blocking and Delicious integration on the push of a button 3) a non-profit organization behind it -- when dealing with companies and organizations the concept of "trust" applies heavily, and personally I trust that Mozilla looks after my interests much more than I trust Google

bretthoerner 16y ago
> like in Chrome you can't search your history and delete items in the search results, which I think is retarded as your only option is to purge your entire history Sure you can. Control-H or Menu->History. > Firefox plugins can do pretty much anything -- Chrome plugins are basically useless. It's worth noting that Firefox is working on adding Chrome-like 'useless' extensions to their browser. https://jetpack.mozillalabs.com/index.html https://jetpack.mozillalabs.com/index.html > a non-profit organization behind it Sure, but remember that they don't run on rainbows and dreams. Mozilla is basically funded by Google affiliate payments. - I do agree about AwesomeBar (miss it) and extension support (though I don't miss any from FF, myself) though.
- bad_user 16y ago
  Sure you can. Control-H or Menu->History No you CANNOT. Mozilla is basically funded by Google affiliate payments That doesn't say much or anything at all. Mozilla wasn't founded by Google and could always find other sources of revenue. Also, Mozilla isn't a public company with shareholders, it's also not a company masked as a non-profit to evade taxes, which means Mozilla's interest isn't profit, just survival. It's a totally different ball game. EDIT: also about Jetpack, Chrome-like plugins have been available for Firefox for quite some time, you just need to install a plugin -- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/