this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Firefox

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edited the heading of the question. I think most of us here are reasoning why more people are not using firefox (because it was the initial question), but none of that explains why it's actively losing marketshare.

I don't agree ideologically with Firefox management and am somewhat of a semi-conservative (and my previous posts might testify to that), I think Firefox browser is absolutely amazing! It's beautiful and it just feels good. It has awesome features like containers. It's better for privacy than any mainstream browser out there (even counting Brave here) and it has great integration between PC and Phone. It's open-source (unlike Chrome) and it supports a good chunk of extensions you would need.

This was about PC, but I believe even for Mobiles it looks great and it allows features like extensions (and I hear desktop extensions are coming to firefox android?), it's just a great ecosystem and it's available everywhere unlike most FOSS softwares.

So why is Firefox's market share dying?

I mean, I have a few ideas why it might be, maybe correct me I guess?

  1. Most people don't know how to use extensions well and how to use Firefox well. (Most of my friends in their 30's still live without ad blockers, so I don't think many are educated here)
  2. It's just not as fast as Chrome or Brave. I can't deny this, but despite of this, I find it's worthy.
  3. It's not the default.
  4. Many features which are Google specific aren't supported.
  5. Many websites are just not supporting firefox anymore (looking at you snapchat), but you would be right in saying this is the effect of Firefox losing it's market share not the cause (at least for now) and you would be right.

But what else?

I might take time (a lot of it) to get back at you, thanks for understanding.

occasionally I’ll find websites that don’t work 100% because they were coded primarily for chromium based browsers. FU Google

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[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Too many bad UX updates. I won’t go back to a browser without vertical tabs.

[–] ahal@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But you could never have vertical tabs without extensions before. And you still can now.

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[–] bitwolf@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

I use Firefox, but it has been becoming a chore.

Specifically on Android, randomly it'll just not load a page or change tabs. It'll also randomly just lose the entire DOM and only render a black screen.

I still put up with it but I'm hoping they can focus on UX quirks a little more.

[–] ZMonster@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I have no doubt that the second that FF gains a sizeable market share they will just turn in to literally every other corporation that has ever existed. They're not special, they're not your friend. They are selling a product to make money. And while they're struggling, they are working their asses off to make a good product that beats the alternatives.

So until FF announced their intention to DC, I'm not telling a fucking soul.

normies i guess but i probably fit into the normie category somewhat

[–] The_Mixer_Dude@lemmus.org 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I install chrome on a computer and log in, I'm immediately connected to my calendar, email, cloud storage, remote desktop, documents, and my login info is synced floor all the other things I do and will auto login for me on a large number of those sites. In short it saves me a crazy amount of time.

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[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

A lot of extensions now seem to be Chrome only (probably because Chrome has so much market share), and from what I looked into there isn't an easy way to use Chrome extensions in FF.

[–] shortly2139@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I saw something over the last week starting Firefox had implemented install chrome extensions. Think there are some caveats

https://m.slashdot.org/story/418304

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years ago (10 children)

"select extensions" I hate this patronizing shit so much. They kill off startpages, they make it impossible to install unsigned extensions. There has to be a better way to protect users from malware than acting like this is not my computer and the software on it isn't mine to do what I want with.

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[–] zerofk@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

Ever since the first release, I've tried Firefox a few times. Each time I was left with a feeling of needing dozens of extensions to get it up to par with the browser I was using at the time (mainly Opera and now Vivaldi). The extensions I found were never customisable enough, and would often break and/or be abandoned after a while.

Don't get me wrong: Chrome, IE, Edge, and Safari are worse - each time I used them I got the urge to throw my computer out the window after just a few minutes. But Firefox is just not customisable enough to my liking, and extension are IMO not the answer.

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