7 ms·

Stop using Chrome

by sjaak 4y ago

Stop using Chrome

monlockandkey 4y ago
The entire internet discourse is filled with "Chrome evil, use Firefox". Go to any browser discussion on the internet and 99% of the thread is "just use Firefox or Firefox is the best". You would think that everyone uses Firefox. The internet is a bubble. Reality is Firefox usage is pathetic. 32 MILLION people have *STOPPED* using Firefox in the past 4 years. The browser only has a 3.16% market share. https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share Chrome is a good browser. Can be considered objectively better than Firefox given its superior performance, equivalent if not slightly better resource usage, web compatibility and integration with the Google ecosystem (which the vast majority of internet population use (excluding niche tech circles)). I have no vendetta against Firefox. At the end of the day, it is just a browser and that is a personal preference. But people act like it is some sort of saviour that will bring them to the light. There is such an aggressive tribal mentality with browsers. It makes no sense as all browsers look the same, feel the same and have the same functionality. Just a matter of preference given your needs, and for 70% of the population, Chromium delivers.
- sjaak 4y ago
  I know that everything you say here is true. The niche tech circle you speak of /is/ the audience here on HN. If we can’t be bothered to stop using Chrome then all is lost.
  - monlockandkey 4y ago
    All is indeed lost! Browsers are incredibly expensive technologies to produce. If Microsoft of all companies could not find success with Edge classic, a browser that they wrote from scratch. Added with the ability to advertise and bundle with the worlds most popular OS, then Firefox has no chance to be the bastion against Chromium. One part of me is curious what a realistic web landscape would look like if it was all Chromium (including Firefox). I guess at first it would be great to see cool new browser APIs, but then something will be added would cause an uproar.
    - pacerier 4y ago
      Microsoft...? Like, did you see their OS? I don't even. In any case the type of people joining Firefox is very different from that of other companies.
- recursive 4y ago
  Internet explorer used to be the objectively best browser in the same way. The problems start happening after one browser so thoroughly beats all the others that sites start getting locked into proprietary stuff. I was around the last time. And I remember saying similar glowing things about IE at the time.
- dzikimarian 4y ago
  It was exactly the same 20 years ago with IE. It was ok, delivered for 70% of the population. There were even browsers built on IE engine, which were awesome at the time (Maxthon had add-ons, ad blocker, tabs). All was fine until Microsoft didn't start to add their own standards, without any regard for everyone else. If they succeeded, web today would be mess of ActiveX controls and other propertiary extensions. Web is simply way too important to allow it to become walled garden controlled by single corporation. This is about a lot more than tribalism.
sp332 4y ago
Firefox has ads too. At least you can turn them off, until they add another category and you have to go figure out how to turn off the new ones.
- contravariant 4y ago
  It's times like these that I'm glad I use about:blank as my new tab page.
  - LoganDark 4y ago
    Glad I'm not alone in this.
- darkwater 4y ago
  Having an Amazon and Nike sponsored links in the new tab page is having ads strictly speaking but they are nor intrusive nor targeting you specifically, so they can be "tolerable". To be honest my mind just skip them. The day they change this for worse, then I'll complain as well.
- sensanaty 4y ago
  I don't think I've ever seen a single ad on Firefox (including on any website thanks to uBlock working better on FF than anywhere else), what ads are you talking about?
  - b112 4y ago
    There are ads in the urlbar, ads on the newtab page, ads, ads, ads! This is on desktop.
  - sp332 4y ago
    I was mainly thinking of the ones on the new tab page. Years ago they had "tiles" or something and I turned those off, then they added "suggestions" and they're not different but the old setting doesn't apply to them.
  - LoganDark 4y ago

Stop using Chrome

by sjaak 4y ago

Stop using Chrome

The entire internet discourse is filled with "Chrome evil, use Firefox". Go to any browser discussion on the internet and 99% of the thread is "just use Firefox or Firefox is the best". You would think that everyone uses Firefox. The internet is a bubble. Reality is Firefox usage is pathetic. 32 MILLION people have *STOPPED* using Firefox in the past 4 years. The browser only has a 3.16% market share. https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share Chrome is a good browser. Can be considered objectively better than Firefox given its superior performance, equivalent if not slightly better resource usage, web compatibility and integration with the Google ecosystem (which the vast majority of internet population use (excluding niche tech circles)). I have no vendetta against Firefox. At the end of the day, it is just a browser and that is a personal preference. But people act like it is some sort of saviour that will bring them to the light. There is such an aggressive tribal mentality with browsers. It makes no sense as all browsers look the same, feel the same and have the same functionality. Just a matter of preference given your needs, and for 70% of the population, Chromium delivers.

sjaak 4y ago
I know that everything you say here is true. The niche tech circle you speak of /is/ the audience here on HN. If we can’t be bothered to stop using Chrome then all is lost.
- monlockandkey 4y ago
  All is indeed lost! Browsers are incredibly expensive technologies to produce. If Microsoft of all companies could not find success with Edge classic, a browser that they wrote from scratch. Added with the ability to advertise and bundle with the worlds most popular OS, then Firefox has no chance to be the bastion against Chromium. One part of me is curious what a realistic web landscape would look like if it was all Chromium (including Firefox). I guess at first it would be great to see cool new browser APIs, but then something will be added would cause an uproar.
  - pacerier 4y ago
    Microsoft...? Like, did you see their OS? I don't even. In any case the type of people joining Firefox is very different from that of other companies.
recursive 4y ago
Internet explorer used to be the objectively best browser in the same way. The problems start happening after one browser so thoroughly beats all the others that sites start getting locked into proprietary stuff. I was around the last time. And I remember saying similar glowing things about IE at the time.
dzikimarian 4y ago
It was exactly the same 20 years ago with IE. It was ok, delivered for 70% of the population. There were even browsers built on IE engine, which were awesome at the time (Maxthon had add-ons, ad blocker, tabs). All was fine until Microsoft didn't start to add their own standards, without any regard for everyone else. If they succeeded, web today would be mess of ActiveX controls and other propertiary extensions. Web is simply way too important to allow it to become walled garden controlled by single corporation. This is about a lot more than tribalism.

sp332 4y ago

Firefox has ads too. At least you can turn them off, until they add another category and you have to go figure out how to turn off the new ones.

contravariant 4y ago
It's times like these that I'm glad I use about:blank as my new tab page.
- LoganDark 4y ago
  Glad I'm not alone in this.
darkwater 4y ago
Having an Amazon and Nike sponsored links in the new tab page is having ads strictly speaking but they are nor intrusive nor targeting you specifically, so they can be "tolerable". To be honest my mind just skip them. The day they change this for worse, then I'll complain as well.
sensanaty 4y ago
I don't think I've ever seen a single ad on Firefox (including on any website thanks to uBlock working better on FF than anywhere else), what ads are you talking about?
- b112 4y ago
  There are ads in the urlbar, ads on the newtab page, ads, ads, ads! This is on desktop.
- sp332 4y ago
  I was mainly thinking of the ones on the new tab page. Years ago they had "tiles" or something and I turned those off, then they added "suggestions" and they're not different but the old setting doesn't apply to them.
- LoganDark 4y ago