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559 comments

  • Pleading ignorance here and genuine questions. Is anyone, within the context of browsers able to define privacy and what it is that FF does that is superior to other say, Chromium based browsers? And what the real world effects are of not using FF for the purpose of privacy? Either reply or point to sources on the Web would be much appreciated.

    • Chrome is run by an ad company with a vested interest in your data and has been outspoken about banning adblockers in the past.

      Firefox is a completely open source project run by a non-profit organisation who accepts donations to cover costs.

      Other Chromium-based browsers can generally be fine but the overuse of chromium reinforces web standards that are hard to reproduce. A web browser is a fairly complex beast these days even for the best programmers. Just see XMPP for an example of where things could lead to.

      While it's true that Firefox receives some of those donations from Google for being the default search engine, they have no influence over decisions made by the Firefox team whatsoever. That's the short version of it.

    • As I understand it, you can make a Chromium browser just as privacy friendly as Firefox. I use Vivaldi on my home PC and mobile which is strongly privacy focused and has a ton of small QoL features neither Chrome nor Firefox has (I use both at work, prefer FF over Chrome). (Going off the tangent here) for example, it's incredibly easy to re-open recently closed tabs in Vivaldi with just two clicks—a feature I use all the time—as the recently closed tabs list is very obvious and easy to access in the tab bar itself without the need to futz around in the menus to find browsing history. The customizable speed dial, sidebar menu for things like bookmarks and downloads are really nice and the download manager in Vivaldi is IMO better than FF, too.

      The bigger problem is Google having defacto monopoly over browser market and thus having too much influence over how web standards work and how the user can browse the web (I'm old enough to remember "This web page is best viewed on Internet Explorer" messages on websites). The move to manifest v3 to curb content blockers is one such example.

      • Thanks for your reply. I am a Vivaldi user myself currently after trying numerous browsers over the years. I was trying to reconcile in my mind what am I giving up in terms of privacy for my choice. I do tend to lean on and learn from other more knowledgeable myself. I do have a few privacy related extensions installed. But you touch on something there that extends further than personal privacy but Googles influence on web standards, good one.

    • I'm sure you can just Google what the benefit of using Firefox is. When "privacy" is talked about in terms of web browsers and apps, it's mainly about blocking trackers. Ad companies inject trackers into websites and apps, which collect your data. Google has their own ad company, and by using Chrome, you're supplying them with personal information without them even having to pay. Firefox doesn't sell your information. They also have many extensions available that will block any data collecting attempts from websites.

      Duck Duck Go is even more secure. The whole point of their browser is for user privacy. Their app even blocks other apps from tracking you. You'd be amazed by the data collected by apps. My fucking shopping list app has trackers from multiple companies.

      • Yeah I could google it but sometimes I also like to converse and ask questions. Hence why we're here. Thanks for explaining, I have prior understanding of what most you mentioned, Im just hazy how it relates to browser choice since you can block with extensions on most if not all browsers. So if someone is using any chromium based browser, you info is still going to google or is that exclusive to Chrome?

      • Our of curiosity I checked out the Threads app and after about 20 minutes I had 35 companies try to track me over 600 times. DDG blocked it. Hell I used my webcam app and it tried to track me as well. It's ridiculous.

  • I've used "Firefox" since Mozilla 1995 0.x release. It's great software, but it has issues. I use Brave as primary these days, because the entire internet is QA'd with Chromium, and FIrefox just hits too many issues, even on the most recent versions. I use Firefox as secondary every day though too. I need multiple browsers to separate o365 AD creds.

  • I switch back and forth between Chrome and Firefox but always end up sticking with Chrome for longer:

    • screensharing via Firefox freezes the entire computer
    • FF sync is too slow between devices
    • FF does not allow VOD streaming above 720p (except YT obviously; Chrome works up to 4k!)
    • both are memory hogs but at least you get responsiveness in Chrome
    • FF on Android does not support tablet layout
    • FF on Android keeps refreshing pages when changing tabs
    • FF password manager on Android does not work when needed outside the browser in 99% of cases

    I wish I could switch to Firefox

    • I never use a password manager and a tablet so I can't comment on those, but for everything else, what kind of devices do you have to run into those problems? Even my shitty laptop from 2016 that is on live support can run Firefox without issues. Are yours from the last century or something?

      And "FF on Android keeps refreshing pages when changing tabs"? Dude, that's called resource management, even Brave and Chrome do that if you have 20 tabs opened, you expect a damn phone to be as powerful as a normal average freaking PC?

      • Even my shitty laptop from 2016 that is on live support can run Firefox without issues. Are yours from the last century or something?

        2018 i7 Zenbook with 24GB of ram. Of course it "runs" Firefox all fine, but it's just these little things that force me to switch back to Chrome because I encounter small, but key issues which make me unable to continue working in it

        And "FF on Android keeps refreshing pages when changing tabs"? Dude, that's called resource management, even Brave and Chrome do that if you have 20 tabs opened, you expect a damn phone to be as powerful as a normal average freaking PC?

        I have 8 gigs of ram on my phone so I wouldn't expect this to happen with just 2 tabs open especially since Chrome does not do that, at least not every time I switch between tabs, even within seconds.

        Don't get me wrong, I understand how shitty it is for Google to monopolise the internet and web market and I would love to be able to permanently switch to Firefox, but let's stop acting like Firefox is perfect, because it just isn't. Sure, neither is Chrome, it has its issues beside privacy as well, but all in all performance- and usability-wise Firefox is just inferior.

559 comments