5 ms·

Most non-technical users don't give a crap about how fast or slow their browser was: if they did, they would've switched from IE to Firefox the first go 'round.

by girvo 3y ago

Most non-technical users don't give a crap about how fast or slow their browser was: if they did, they would've switched from IE to Firefox the first go 'round. To downplay the fact that google advertised Chrome on google.com is to rewrite history, in my opinion.

prox 3y ago
It’s not rewriting history. Firefox really was a slow browser in that time, especially with lots of tabs open. It was only with the Quantum (?) engine that FF became a lot faster. Webpages loading that bit snappier really was a big deal back then, probably for a lot of developers especially. Google was still riding on the “Do No Evil” vibes till about 2012-2014 I would wager.
- rstuart4133 3y ago
  > It’s not rewriting history. Firefox really was a slow browser in that time, It will be interesting to see what happens next year in that case, because FF+UBO will be much faster than Chrome with a nobbled ad blocker. If your right and speed is what everyone cares about there should be a mass migration back to Firefox. But I doubt it, because we have already have a similar experiment. FF+UBO on Android is blazing fast compared to Chrome on Android. Chrome not supporting extensions on Android means the situation is nothing like desktop where Chrome and Firefox are roughly comparable (and always have been). On an ad laden site FF+UBO is going to load a page several times faster. More to the point to me, ads on desktop are often "out of the way" of the main content, but on mobile that consume roughly 1/3 of an already small screen. Like the ancestor poster, I'm stunned that nobody uses Firefox mobile (I'm defining 0.49% market share as nobody). Performance wise the difference is enormous - yet clearly no one cares. Which also means, you and I and other nerds notwithstanding, it likely no one cared about Firefox's performance versus Chrome when they switched on the desktop. Marketing, bundling, breaking of Firefox on Google's home sites look to fit the facts much better.
- pyrale 3y ago
  > Webpages loading that bit snappier really was a big deal back then No, it wasn't. Quick reminder, the issue with IE was webpages loading broken, or not loading at all. People that used that crap didn't switch because "Chrome was a bit snappier than FF", they switched because all of a sudden every webpage, many sotfware install wizard, and even billboards on the street told them to switch to Chrome. Some "toolbars" installed it without asking. They probably never had heard of FF or Opera before.
  - prox 3y ago
    Now I get where you are coming from, that is a good take. I think amongst developers/techies it was an issue though, I remember the convos around that.
    - girvo 3y ago
      Yeah look, we cared. I know I did, it’s why I switched at the time. Your average person didn’t though, but they still switched!
wkat4242 3y ago
Yeah I've been helping people fixing up old tablets, one user got me to fix an iPad 3rd generation (the first with retina) and besides having an ancient iOS version it was just so frustratingly slow doing anything. Obviously, it was only a dual-core or something and totally bogged down by the high resolution for its day. However she thought it was totally fine as she was used to it :S
idonotknowwhy 3y ago
Agreed, Opera was my far the fastest browser back in the day, and I was the only person I knew who used it lol

by girvo 3y ago

prox 3y ago

It’s not rewriting history. Firefox really was a slow browser in that time, especially with lots of tabs open. It was only with the Quantum (?) engine that FF became a lot faster. Webpages loading that bit snappier really was a big deal back then, probably for a lot of developers especially. Google was still riding on the “Do No Evil” vibes till about 2012-2014 I would wager.

rstuart4133 3y ago
> It’s not rewriting history. Firefox really was a slow browser in that time, It will be interesting to see what happens next year in that case, because FF+UBO will be much faster than Chrome with a nobbled ad blocker. If your right and speed is what everyone cares about there should be a mass migration back to Firefox. But I doubt it, because we have already have a similar experiment. FF+UBO on Android is blazing fast compared to Chrome on Android. Chrome not supporting extensions on Android means the situation is nothing like desktop where Chrome and Firefox are roughly comparable (and always have been). On an ad laden site FF+UBO is going to load a page several times faster. More to the point to me, ads on desktop are often "out of the way" of the main content, but on mobile that consume roughly 1/3 of an already small screen. Like the ancestor poster, I'm stunned that nobody uses Firefox mobile (I'm defining 0.49% market share as nobody). Performance wise the difference is enormous - yet clearly no one cares. Which also means, you and I and other nerds notwithstanding, it likely no one cared about Firefox's performance versus Chrome when they switched on the desktop. Marketing, bundling, breaking of Firefox on Google's home sites look to fit the facts much better.
pyrale 3y ago
> Webpages loading that bit snappier really was a big deal back then No, it wasn't. Quick reminder, the issue with IE was webpages loading broken, or not loading at all. People that used that crap didn't switch because "Chrome was a bit snappier than FF", they switched because all of a sudden every webpage, many sotfware install wizard, and even billboards on the street told them to switch to Chrome. Some "toolbars" installed it without asking. They probably never had heard of FF or Opera before.
- prox 3y ago
  Now I get where you are coming from, that is a good take. I think amongst developers/techies it was an issue though, I remember the convos around that.
  - girvo 3y ago
    Yeah look, we cared. I know I did, it’s why I switched at the time. Your average person didn’t though, but they still switched!

wkat4242 3y ago

Yeah I've been helping people fixing up old tablets, one user got me to fix an iPad 3rd generation (the first with retina) and besides having an ancient iOS version it was just so frustratingly slow doing anything. Obviously, it was only a dual-core or something and totally bogged down by the high resolution for its day. However she thought it was totally fine as she was used to it :S

idonotknowwhy 3y ago

Agreed, Opera was my far the fastest browser back in the day, and I was the only person I knew who used it lol