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As someone who switches browsers about every six months, I feel that Firefox is still quite a bit behind in terms of stability and performance. I mostly blame t

by codeflo 12y ago

As someone who switches browsers about every six months, I feel that Firefox is still quite a bit behind in terms of stability and performance. I mostly blame the single-process model, which makes crashes and hangups way more global than they should be in 2014. On Windows, there's also the 32-bit issue. On machines with 8+ GB of RAM, having all tabs share a 2 GB address space just doesn't cut it. Especially when your addon model, one of the key features that sets Firefox apart from other browsers, eats an additional 4 MB of this limited space per tab (and that's just for one addon).[1] Having said all that, I know that brilliant people are working on fixing this, and there have been huge improvements in the past year. And that's how I hope they'll win back users: by building a better browser, not just by appealing to open-source ideals and fear. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2014/05/14/adblock-pluss-effect-on-firefoxs-memory-usage/ https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2014/05/14/adblock-plus...

zobzu 12y ago
Personally, I use firefox nightly and i get a couple of crashes a year... I also use chrome extensively... and i get crashes about once... a month (im not talking about tab crashes but entiere browser crash) So im not convinced by the whole multi process thing for stability reasons. It seems like a good idea for sandboxing or "webapps" and only so IF you also have separate cookie jars, etc. (and i trust chrome more for security) I'd rather have 2 processes, one for the GUI, one for the tabs ;)
- jasonkostempski 12y ago
  I use Chrome on everything, no plugins. I can't remember a crash in the last year on Windows or Mac but Linux has lately been telling me it did crash but it really didn't. What are you on? Got any plugins?
babby 12y ago
Multi process is coming soon, it will be enabled by default at version 35 in nightly. I feel the same way about Firefox's performance. If it can be overcome, I'd not have a reason to touch Chrome again.
- bostik 12y ago
  > * Multi process is coming soon, it will be enabled by default at version 35 in nightly.* Please let that be true. Do you have links at hand where these near-future roadmap decisions could be tracked?
  - F30 12y ago
    For more information on the multi-processing feature, check out this blog post: http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/12/mozilla-plans-release-electrolysis-multi-process-architecture-firefox-36/ http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/12/mozilla-plans-release-elect... Some general information regarding the features of coming-up versions can be found here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Features/Release_Tracking https://wiki.mozilla.org/Features/Release_Tracking
    - bostik 12y ago
      Thank you. I had read about Electrolysis, probably back in February, but had managed to forget about it. "Didn't work, needs more love" results from back then probably contributed to my ignorance. The second link just went into bookmarks. Even though it didn't mention anything about this particular feature (has content only until R34), it will be helpful for me to know something about the oncoming changes before they happen.
w1ntermute 12y ago
Firefox is definitely behind (on Linux) when it comes to UI fluidity. It also seems like pages load faster in Chrome, but that might also just be one of its UI optimization techniques.
allegory 12y ago
I disagree. I'm having to force quit Chrome about 5 times a day on OSX and it breaks with amazing regularity on my android phone. Not joking but Firefox just works for me. It's annoying because, despite warning to the contrary here, the Google ecosystem just works.
- etherealG 12y ago
  Not sure if you're trolling? You say chrome breaks 5 times day, and then later in the same post say the Google ecosystem just works. Seriously, what are you trying to say?
gorhill 12y ago
> eats an additional 4 MB of this limited space per tab Small technical correction: it's 4 MB per page + 4 MB per embedded frame on that page.

by codeflo 12y ago

zobzu 12y ago

Personally, I use firefox nightly and i get a couple of crashes a year... I also use chrome extensively... and i get crashes about once... a month (im not talking about tab crashes but entiere browser crash) So im not convinced by the whole multi process thing for stability reasons. It seems like a good idea for sandboxing or "webapps" and only so IF you also have separate cookie jars, etc. (and i trust chrome more for security) I'd rather have 2 processes, one for the GUI, one for the tabs ;)

jasonkostempski 12y ago
I use Chrome on everything, no plugins. I can't remember a crash in the last year on Windows or Mac but Linux has lately been telling me it did crash but it really didn't. What are you on? Got any plugins?

babby 12y ago

Multi process is coming soon, it will be enabled by default at version 35 in nightly. I feel the same way about Firefox's performance. If it can be overcome, I'd not have a reason to touch Chrome again.

bostik 12y ago
> * Multi process is coming soon, it will be enabled by default at version 35 in nightly.* Please let that be true. Do you have links at hand where these near-future roadmap decisions could be tracked?
- F30 12y ago
  For more information on the multi-processing feature, check out this blog post: http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/12/mozilla-plans-release-electrolysis-multi-process-architecture-firefox-36/ http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/12/mozilla-plans-release-elect... Some general information regarding the features of coming-up versions can be found here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Features/Release_Tracking https://wiki.mozilla.org/Features/Release_Tracking
  - bostik 12y ago
    Thank you. I had read about Electrolysis, probably back in February, but had managed to forget about it. "Didn't work, needs more love" results from back then probably contributed to my ignorance. The second link just went into bookmarks. Even though it didn't mention anything about this particular feature (has content only until R34), it will be helpful for me to know something about the oncoming changes before they happen.

w1ntermute 12y ago

Firefox is definitely behind (on Linux) when it comes to UI fluidity. It also seems like pages load faster in Chrome, but that might also just be one of its UI optimization techniques.

allegory 12y ago

I disagree. I'm having to force quit Chrome about 5 times a day on OSX and it breaks with amazing regularity on my android phone. Not joking but Firefox just works for me. It's annoying because, despite warning to the contrary here, the Google ecosystem just works.

etherealG 12y ago
Not sure if you're trolling? You say chrome breaks 5 times day, and then later in the same post say the Google ecosystem just works. Seriously, what are you trying to say?

gorhill 12y ago

> eats an additional 4 MB of this limited space per tab Small technical correction: it's 4 MB per page + 4 MB per embedded frame on that page.