Dumb question: who’s Firefox target user?<p>Chrome is able to capture the mass consumer market, due to Google’s dark pattern to nag you to install Chrome anytime you’re on a Google property.<p>Edge target enterprise Fortune 500 user, who is required to use Microsoft/Office 365 at work (and its deep security permission ties to SharePoint).<p>Safari has Mac/iOS audience via being the default on those platform.<p>Brave (based on Chromium), and LibreWolf (based on Firefox) has even carved out those user who value privacy.<p>What’s Firefox target user?<p>Long ago, Firefox was the better IE, and it had great plugins for web developers. But that was before Chrome existed and Google capturing the mass market. And the developers needed to follow its users.<p>So what target user is left for a Firefox?<p>Note: not trolling. I loved Firefox. I just don’t genuine understand who it’s for anymore.
I used to be a die-hard Firefox user, but over the last 15 years software quality has improved, expectations have been raised, and I haven't felt that Firefox has kept up. It still <i>feels</i> like it's a re-skinned 2005 era piece of software. Placing it next to Safari, Chrome, or more recent competitors like Arc, it feels dated.<p>There are technical reasons for this, there are process/political/human reasons why it has stayed this way, and for many people it's not a big enough issue to switch, or other things take priority, but for me it just comes down to <i>jankiness</i>. Alternative browsers all have their own issues, none are perfect, but most feel less janky at their core.
Regarding the Ad Tech section, I found value in the August 6th episode of Security Now titled "How Revoking!" where he's talking about 3rd-party cookies handling in Firefox.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZx-W5qC_dc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZx-W5qC_dc</a><p>Generally speaking, I'm sure it's difficult to find a general balance between privacy and usability, and I tend to want a purist viewpoint on blocking all 3rd-party cookies if I set Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict. The above episodes explains why it's not 100% doing what we expect, which was troubling to hear!
I use Firefox on both Mac and Android and it works well. I'd just wish it was proper open source project with BDFL and public team of developers and not some corporate failure.
I already love Firefox. Its Mozilla what I dont like. Fire the board and especially CEO, transfer assets to Firefox, dissolve foundation and never come back to software sector.
Is there any chance this relates to the recent anti-trust case against google?<p>I.e. making a attempt to appeal to user wants more since the majority of the money they make is at risk
> "We’re finding that our messages are particularly sticking with younger generations"<p>Sure. Those are the people who don't know what a decent browser is. They never saw a browser with customizable UI, never saw Opera 12's notepad, never saw IE 5 Web Accessories (Links list, Image list), etc. etc.
I don’t know if Firefox can be saved. I say that using Firefox for iOS right now.<p>I use Firefox because it’s not chrome, not because it’s good. Mozilla’s reputation is trash, Firefox is riddled with ancient bugs, and the bleeding hasn’t stopped.<p>I’d like to be wrong but I don’t see how.
The Meta data collection is no surprise. Mozilla had been pimping out Firefox to Google for quite some time.<p>Given their strong FOSS, they wouldn’t be doing shady deals like this if their future looked vital.
Back in the day, I was one of those who installed firefox on every computer. I used to love firefox. But then they took up california politics and activism. This decision has survived multiple ceos.<p>Mozilla has done it to themselves. New interim ceo wont be different. I can't fathom mozilla has any chance of selecting someone who could dig them out of their activist hole.
<p><pre><code> "Deep in the browser’s privacy settings, Firefox introduced an experimental “privacy-preserving ad measurement” toggle, enabling it by default without explanation or disclosure."
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This isn't even the first time Firefox has collaborated with an ad or marketing company, rolled out a feature behind a checkbox that users didn't know about, turned it on by default. See the case of the 'Alternate Reality Game' ad campaign for Mr Robot a few years ago: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144</a><p>I stopped hearing when Mozilla talks about privacy or caring about users. Most companies that treat their users like Mozilla just do it, but it actually adds insult to injury that Mozilla tells you they care, tells you you're important while they do the same things. It's gaslighting or manipulation or lying or something but I'm not going to listen to them any more.
I liked Firefox a whole lot better back before Mozilla effectively became a UN NGO with a few developers working on a web browser in a God-forsaken basement somewhere, Milton Waddams style.<p>If they want me to love Firefox, <i>they</i> need to love Firefox. And show that love in the form of vision, resources, and better open-source, open-internet style governance. No execs saying "deplatforming is nice and all, but we really need to go even further beyond". As soon as a browser company makes it a mission to decide what people see online, they cease to be trustworthy as a browser company. So I <i>may as well</i> just use chromium (or ungoogled-chromium).
Mozilla wastes all its money on its CEO and bullshit DEI programs, while neglecting to develop Firefox, their flagship product. When they spend some money on the browser, they use it to implement user-hostile garbage like Facebook's client-side tracking bullshit.<p>Here's a cute graph of CEO pay vs Firefox market share: <a href="https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg" rel="nofollow">https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg</a><p>Mozilla is completely fucked. I just hope the company goes bankrupt so its niche of an open source browser can be filled by an organisation that actually cares about its product, and is not just a sham for execs to get millions of dollars from Google for being faux-competition, while fucking over their users.
Dump gecko and spider monkey and build a UI over webkit. A "firefox safari" that properly integrates system password management/account management and is convenient to use.<p>Firefox tech is dead and not modular. It has no use to anyone else and is a major waste of resources.
Is there something fundamental to the design of firefox that makes it use tons of memory and be prone to letting web pages peg a core at 100%? Every time I try to use firefox I have to quit because sometimes it runs like a 90s java applet.