Goodbye Firefox Quantum, Hello Firefox Browser

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 12, 2019
Firefox
|
78

The Firefox web browser has had a few names since the release of the first experimental build back in 2002. First known as Phoenix, a name Mozilla had to drop because of a trademark dispute with Phoenix Technologies, and then known as Firebird, another name that Mozilla decided to drop because of the database server Firebird, Firefox was the third and final name of the web browser for a long time.

The release of Firefox 57 brought another change to the name; better, an addendum to the name as Mozilla called the browser Firefox Quantum with that release.

firefox quantum 57

The name Quantum was selected because it was an effort to push new technologies in the browser to improve all aspects of Firefox and reverse the downwards trend user-wise.

Firefox users who open the About page of the web browser right now will notice that Firefox Quantum is still used as the name of the browser.

Starting with Firefox 70, another name is displayed when users open the About page. The new name is Firefox Browser. The stable version will just display Firefox Browser whereas development versions will add the channel name underneath it, e.g. Nightly or Developer.

firefox browser nightly name

Firefox Nightly displays the new name of the browser already on the about page. Firefox users may notice that the logo changed as well. Mozilla selected a new logo for the Firefox browser and that new logo will be shown on the about page, on Mozilla's website, and other places.

Why Firefox Browser and not Firefox Quantum or just Firefox? It was clear from the get-go that Firefox Quantum was just a temporary name to highlight the major changes in the new versions of the browser.

Plain Firefox would not make much sense anymore either because of other projects that carry the Firefox brand. Mozilla launched plenty including Firefox Monitor, Firefox Send or Firefox Lockwise in recent years and plans to launch even more, e.g. Firefox Proxy, in the future.

To better distinguish the browser, Mozilla had to add something to the Firefox name; browser is the obvious choice and Mozilla decided to select it for the name.

Mozilla plans to roll out the changes when Firefox Stable hits version 70; Mozilla aims for a October 23, 2019 release according to the release schedule.

Closing Words

Firefox Browser is without doubt a better name than Firefox Quantum as it describes exactly what Firefox is. It does not come as a surprise that Mozilla picked Firefox as the name for all the products that it creates and not Mozilla as the brand awareness is much higher.

Now You: What is your take on the name change and new logo? (via Sören)

Summary
Goodbye Firefox Quantum, Hello Firefox Browser
Article Name
Goodbye Firefox Quantum, Hello Firefox Browser
Description
Mozilla plans to change the name of the Firefox web browser from Firefox Quantum to Firefox Browser when Firefox 70 is released.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. raccoon said on September 28, 2019 at 10:40 am
    Reply

    I’ll be honest. I don’t like the new Firefox wordmark or logo and the browser itself isn’t great.

    Chrome and MS Edge have translation. The omnibox is lovely and memory management is much better than Firefox in my experience. On low-end systems, when Firefox goes out of memory, it’s UI becomes unresponsive and you have to end the process via task manager. It also doesn’t have direct manipulation support after YEARS of requests. Oh and also, it’s just flat out slower than Chromium.

    I don’t have many reasons to use Firefox anymore apart from it’s excellent tab management. It lost its excellent add-ons and customisability and yet I still cannot manage permissions easily.

    Firefox 57 caused many issues for me with no noticeable gain. Chromium was still faster, even then. 57 was when Firefox began using tons of memory.

    Not even session restore has been perfected yet despite Firefox ramping up it’s release cadence

    and btw Alan is just spreading BS. Firefox could be great but Mozilla doesn’t have it’s priorities in check. We don’t even have media key support yet.

  2. Jake Flagg said on August 15, 2019 at 9:10 pm
    Reply

    If one checks browser market share one shall see that FF hasn’t moved much in either direction at always around 10%. FF takes a step forward and three back. Except for Apple’s Safari the rest of the majors are Blink (GOOG) based. For those who don’t know or have not figured out GOOG telegraphed its evil intentions with its thinly disguised, ‘Don’t be evil’ schtick, GOOG is evil, anti-human, anti-constitutional, anti-sovereignty, & fascist from its beginning. Opera 12 was the last and best browser ever; all the add-ons for various browsers just underline what they LACK. O12 had most junks built in. The goofs who got rich selling out to GOOG now push Vivaldi which is Blink based. If O12 were updated and for sale once again, I would buy it, just as I did at its beginning.

  3. FereFerx said on August 15, 2019 at 4:48 pm
    Reply

    I swear they got a dude over there making icons that’s desperate to keep their employment.

    In the meantime, the rest of mozilla too busy drinking their own Kool-Aid.

  4. iwanttodie said on August 15, 2019 at 12:45 am
    Reply

    Notice how the firefox logo has gradaully gotten less details on every update, like how the browser interface has gotten dumb down over the years.

    1. iwanttodie said on August 15, 2019 at 12:47 am
      Reply

      What even the #^%$$^% is the logo supposed to be now, firefox has got no legs or eyes anymore. bastards.

  5. Anonymous said on August 14, 2019 at 9:41 pm
    Reply

    A browser failing to be your brother.

  6. Anonymous said on August 14, 2019 at 3:20 pm
    Reply

    Best browser gets is name back.Since from Netscape Mozilla is the pillars of the internet.today. When they struggled last a few years I did not completely drop them use little bit waterfox is has been good as its glory days.
    Please throw some donation to developers.
    One thing is the chrome they have all the money and monopoly in the world but they will not take our freedom.

  7. AnorKnee Merce said on August 14, 2019 at 10:14 am
    Reply

    Mozilla-Firefox Browser should also revert to 3-monthly updates/upgrades, instead of aping wealthy Google-Chrome’s 6-weekly updates/upgrades. It was foolish of the less-resourceful Mozilla-Firefox to “keep up with the Joneses” by aping Chrome.

    Many users prefer not to upgrade their browser every 6-weeks where a 60MB update file has to be downloaded and installed every time. In a few years’, it will be 100MB every 6-weeks. Why can’t the update/upgrade file be smaller, like delta updates.?
    ……. Similarly, many users prefer not to upgrade their OS every 6-months, ala Win 10 Home.

  8. fouten said on August 13, 2019 at 6:19 pm
    Reply

    People actually use these things to be productive. When you have someone on high changing things without your say, it profoundly frustrating and breeds a lot of distrust. Extensions were critical to my work…now i have to reinvent the wheel because someone in the marketing department wanted to take away control so they could sell me more crap and spy on us for corporate and NSA.

  9. fouten said on August 13, 2019 at 6:15 pm
    Reply

    LOL the marketing department labeled is “firefox browser”, so you can’t google how bad it will be because of the white noise search results. Might as well call it john smith next time.

  10. Yuliya said on August 13, 2019 at 5:01 pm
    Reply

    I think there’s a dog named Dog in The Walking Dead 😅

  11. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 3:32 pm
    Reply

    I don’t have fast internet, my biggest bitch was the constant update me
    nagging.
    Then changing the main layout when i did update.
    Opera did that and i dropped them……..

  12. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 3:24 pm
    Reply

    Kind of like naming your dog “DOG”

  13. Allwynd said on August 13, 2019 at 9:16 am
    Reply

    LOL what a dead browser. xD

    And to think back around 2007 Firefox was THE KING and now it’s a piece of doodoo rolling in the mud… xD

  14. Space2050 said on August 13, 2019 at 6:02 am
    Reply

    This is clearly a misinformed article creator. For quite a while Firefox has had at least 3 different active versions of its browser. Quantum is a version of Firefox usually a couple stable updates ahead of the base Firefox browser. Firefox browser: Nightly, is usually a few updates ahead of Quantum, and includes updates that aren’t considered quite as stable. Despite all he is saying about saying goodbye to Quantum, Quantum is still version 68.0.1. Nightly is just that, it updates nightly if the developers decide to release new updates. Once the developers decide a Nightly version is stable enough, it gets rolled out as Quantum. Once one of those is accepted well enough, it becomes a base Firefox update.

    1. Allen said on August 13, 2019 at 10:25 am
      Reply

      You seem to be confusing the product name with the channel being used.

  15. Yoav said on August 13, 2019 at 4:41 am
    Reply

    Wow, this changes everything! I’ve been waiting for years for a browser with a name I can really connect to, a name I can feel comfortable with when browsing the web. “Chrome” just doesn’t cut it, and “Quantum” was lame. In fact, I stopped browsing for two years since I couldn’t find any browser with a right proper name. Thank God, our national nightmare is over and we can browse again, this time with a browser that has the most original name ever: Firefox BROWSER.
    I have no doubt that this will change everything. Obviously, Chrome is doomed. Google doesn’t stand a chance against such powerful branding, and soon, Mozilla will have 99% market share, and this will be end of the Internet.
    Mozilla, you bastards, what have you done!

  16. Jetsam said on August 13, 2019 at 4:34 am
    Reply

    Sorry for being pedantic, Martin, but Firefox was first known as m/b (mozilla/browser) before being renamed Phoenix.

    On a side note, have you consider blocking Google-owned IP addresses from your site? It may cut down on the number of anti-Mozilla trolls that post here.

    1. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 1:21 pm
      Reply

      > have you consider blocking Google-owned IP addresses from your site? It may cut down on the number of anti-Mozilla trolls that post here.

      There are probably more Google paid trolls supporting Mozilla for their integration/copy of everything Google, than anti-Mozilla Google paid trolls. Think about it.

    2. Allen said on August 13, 2019 at 10:36 am
      Reply

      You say “anti-Mozilla troll” (two words which apparently mean the same thing to you). We say “former Firefox users who stopped using it due to Mozilla’s repeated betrayals of our interests and ignoring of our wishes” (and our disappointment will never diminish).

  17. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 4:32 am
    Reply

    To change browser name, Mozilla has time and resources, but for supporting RSS – nope, no time for that.. too hard!

  18. qq said on August 13, 2019 at 3:59 am
    Reply

    Laughing with all nonsense comment made here about how slow Firefox is.
    Firefox is fast. And customizable, and has built in tracking protection.
    Commenting feom Firefox for Mobile.

  19. ULBoom said on August 13, 2019 at 1:59 am
    Reply

    Never really noticed Quantum was part of the name, more of a version. I mean the font is different, titles use the same font everywhere else in the universe. Still just Firefox to me.

    Sure won’t have any effect on market share, Mozilla drastically overestimates the amount of attention they get, a typical “tech” delusion. If they want to sell privacy and it’s fully possible to make FF way more private than any current chromia, they should release a Firefox Private (same font, both words) with the appropriate hundred or so about: config settings changed and advertise the living hell out of it.

    Otherwise, Mozilla’s preaching to the choir, Chrome’s not going anywhere unless Google’s hit hard with anti-trust legislation.

  20. Peter Aretin said on August 13, 2019 at 1:59 am
    Reply

    People who fret endlessly about minor differences in browsers and obsess about their “privacy” must have a lot of time on their hands. As long as my banking and credit card info isn’t hacked, I don’t give a flock about my “privacy,” but then I don’t spend time on social media informing the world of my personal information.

    1. Anonymous said on August 21, 2019 at 11:52 pm
      Reply

      > I don’t give a flock about my “privacy”

      Would you post here the content of your emails, or the transcript of all your home discussions ? And are you not aware that by surrendering your own human right to privacy, you’re also weakening it for those who crucially need it to fight for your rights ?

  21. Den said on August 13, 2019 at 12:48 am
    Reply

    I think Mozilla should just give up and use Chromium like Microsoft is doing…if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them. Microsoft found out the hard way..They saw Google Chrome was eating IE shares and made the switch…Mozilla should too.

  22. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm
    Reply

    Goodbye mediocrity, hello mediocrity!

    1. Yuliya said on August 12, 2019 at 11:25 pm
      Reply

      Mediocrity?? You must have never tried the Android version of Firefox then. That is the definition of inferiority. You can literally read JavaScript code faster than that browser is able to parse it.

  23. Stan said on August 12, 2019 at 8:06 pm
    Reply

    From all of the posts on this site, too many of you have been drinking the G00gle Koolaid. Don’t fall for it. Firefox may not be perfect, but it remains the most customizable browser, ever.

    I’ve tried Chr0me and don’t really see the speed boost you all claim. I mean C’mon Chrome doesn’t even allow a usable bookmarks sidebar that works the same way as Firefox. As a power user, that feature is a necessity. I’ve tried some of the sidebar extensions for chrome, but none of them work like the simple FF sidebar. You G00gle fanboys can have it, but I’ll stick with firefox

    1. Stan said on August 13, 2019 at 6:50 pm
      Reply

      ^^ New Moz-Drone cult tactic ?

      ‘Steal’ others names and post MozSpeak.!!
      I’m the STAN who’s been posting here for a while .
      I DID NOT write this!

      @If after all this time folks don’t know Firefox is a frakkin’ browser, MozCo are in deep doo doo.

    2. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 3:34 pm
      Reply

      The fact that you can’t even spell Google and Chrome properly makes it very difficult to take you seriously…

  24. Eel River said on August 12, 2019 at 7:27 pm
    Reply

    Don’t worry. All the same old familiar software bugs will remain unchanged. This is all about branding. Some marketing geek in a meeting room got a million-dollar bonus when he said, “Hey! Why don’t we call it ‘Firefox BROWSER’?” And the rest is (yawnable) history. The new logo will contrast with your old browser theme, so start searching for a new one ASAP.

  25. bubbakin said on August 12, 2019 at 7:06 pm
    Reply

    The new Firefox is pretty great. I admit I stuck with them longer than I should have but the new version was worth the wait.

    Sorry, I don’t like Google worming its way into my life. I know I’m in the minority but it’s gotten so bad I use GoDuckGo. I don’t think many privacy, but try to imagine all of the data they have on you already.

  26. Tom Hawack said on August 12, 2019 at 7:04 pm
    Reply

    I think “Firefox, the browser” would sound better, be more appealing than a plain “Firefox Browser”.
    The “the” makes a product sound as THE reference.

    Truth is I’m trying to stir what doesn’t rally shake me, that is names and logos. It’s pure marketing but it does have its importance, especially when it comes to attracting new users, and we all know the importance of marketing nowadays more than in the past perhaps : people like simplicity in the use and the right touch of elaboration in the look to make a product appear elegant when excess renders a flashy perception.

    Remains that once the ephemeral silhouette is bypassed starts the adventure which will last but with true… love, lol. And love requires evidence over time.

    Peace, brothers :=)

  27. Alan said on August 12, 2019 at 6:54 pm
    Reply

    Their social media campaign is quite on-point tbh.

    I see mozilla employees on reddit a lot lately (outside of their company forum), trying to get people to turn on WebRTC (neutering vpn) to help imaginary censored users, spamming about how everyone should hand over the dns data to cloudfare, getting more people on nightly builds, downplaying the telemetry and spying as FUD.

    If you find yourself dragged into an argument because you brought up a simple point about telemetry or mentioned another browser/fork, chances are its a Moz employee, no end user wants telemetry, no end user unaffiliated with the company defends telemetry/spying/data collection/unwated background code downloads. Check their history, just a FYI.

  28. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 6:38 pm
    Reply

    A browser who has no idea what it wants to be.

  29. Iron Heart said on August 12, 2019 at 5:55 pm
    Reply

    IMHO nothing will stop the downward trend of Firefox, name change or not. When Google Chrome was released back in 2008, it featured a much simpler user interface than any other browser back in the day, and it was also much faster. Its developer tools were (and still are) much superior compared to those of Firefox. Thus, many web developers flocked to it instantly, because time is money, and one can’t afford to waste time with clunky dev tools. Chrome also quickly developed an extension ecosystem that had all the important add-ons.

    Firefox’s user interface continued to be clunky in comparison, and its speed was no match for Chrome. It had user interface customizability, but Mozilla killed that off, and most people didn’t care about that anyway (hence why Chrome had such a high user influx). Mozilla claims that Firefox is more privacy-friendly, but considering its current defaults, Firefox doesn’t give a damn about privacy either. Some Chromium-based browsers like Brave and Ungoogled Chromium are more privacy-respecting than Firefox, though their low market share clearly shows that most people don’t care about privacy either. End users want speed and simplicity, web developers want good dev tools. Chrome delivers here, Firefox didn’t when it had the chance to, and nobody will switch back to Firefox now in order to receive a carbon copy of what they already have (Chrome).

    1. John Fenderson said on August 16, 2019 at 7:30 pm
      Reply

      @Iron Heart: “Some Chromium-based browsers like Brave and Ungoogled Chromium are more privacy-respecting than Firefox, though their low market share clearly shows that most people don’t care about privacy either.”

      Maybe. But I care very deeply about security and won’t use Chromium-based browsers as a result of that — they are too connected to Google for me to trust.

      1. Iron Heart said on August 17, 2019 at 8:03 am
        Reply

        @John Fenderson

        Ungoogled Chromium doesn‘t connect to Google servers, their patchset had removed all such connection attempts. You don‘t have to trust my word, you can verify it via Wireshark.

        Fun fact: Firefox in fact does connect to Google servers by default, since it has Google Safebrowsing built in. Also, their add-on site uses Google Analytics.

    2. ULBoom said on August 13, 2019 at 2:10 am
      Reply

      “Some Chromium-based browsers like Brave and Ungoogled Chromium are more privacy-respecting than Firefox, though their low market share clearly shows that most people don’t care about privacy either.”

      Or know those browsers even exist. There’s a decent market for free fake VPN’s with logos that remind users of baby toys. Sad.

    3. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 9:43 pm
      Reply

      Chrome’s default tools might have been better, but Firefox had Firebug– I didn’t start using Chrome regularly until Firefox lost that extension. It was so much better than either of them had available– there are still things to this day that I don’t think either browser can do that Firebug used to. (Don’t ask me to quote them though, it’s been a long while.)

  30. Yuliya said on August 12, 2019 at 5:49 pm
    Reply

    lmao, there was nothing “quantum” about firefox v57. it was slow, buggy, a resource hog, and a massive spyware. people saw mozilla’s bullshit, as reflected by their market share decline, opting for the objectively superior Chromium.
    marketing nonsense, trying to trick the users, nothing more. as expected coming from mozilla though.

    1. Klaas Vaak said on August 12, 2019 at 5:59 pm
      Reply

      @Yuliya: true, “quantum” suggests quantum leap forward and lightening fast.

      1. Flotsam said on August 13, 2019 at 10:42 am
        Reply

        @ Klaas Vaak @Yuliya

        I guess you two don’t know what quantum means. It simply mean an amount. There’s no suggestion about leaping forwards or lightning fast.

        A quantum leap (quantum jump is more correct) means a sudden change, not specifically a large change.

      2. John Fenderson said on August 15, 2019 at 7:33 pm
        Reply

        @Flotsom:

        Thank you! The misuse of the word “quantum” is one of my pet linguistic peeves. It does indeed mean an amount, but with a bit more specificity: it is an indivisible amount.

  31. Klaas Vaak said on August 12, 2019 at 5:07 pm
    Reply

    Trying out Iridium as a compromise between Firefox’s extreme customisability, esp. on privacy, and Chrome’s non-customisabilty. Iridium has stripped out a lot of the privacy skimming functionality of Chrome, although some will undoubtedly remain. But then again, 100% privacy is virtually impossible.

    For the most extreme privacy-oriented chromium-based browser Ungoogled Chromium apparently is best, although I find it unpractical to operate. Hence Iridium, as a test.

    1. Iron Heart said on August 12, 2019 at 5:45 pm
      Reply

      Brave browser has the Ungoogled Chromium patches, as well.

  32. Allen said on August 12, 2019 at 4:53 pm
    Reply

    Mozilla Stupid.

    **** tried to post… first in more than a week… got this….

    “You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”

    huh? ****

  33. DannyJude said on August 12, 2019 at 4:51 pm
    Reply

    Who cares about the name or the logo? Why isn’t Firefox the best browser anymore? Why is is noticeably slower than it used to be while Chrome is faster? Why does it occasionally crash while it never used to? I still like Firefox’s favorites and design. But speed matters most – at least to me.

  34. Dilly Dilly said on August 12, 2019 at 4:28 pm
    Reply

    All hat and no cattle.

  35. Mark Hazard said on August 12, 2019 at 4:18 pm
    Reply

    “What is your take on the name change and new logo?”

    I really don’t give a …. The name change and logo means nothing to me.
    It’s form rather than substance. Give me good performance any day.

  36. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 4:09 pm
    Reply

    The Quantum name was selected to mislead users into thinking that the biggest change in 57 was in performance, whereas it was in fact in destroying thousands of extensions to make it a better Chrome clone aligned with Google’s vision of the web, with the undisclosed long term goal of slowly removing all user control, for the benefit of Mozilla, web businesses and advertisers.

    Classic extensions with the power to keep in check Firefox’s own anti-user features (already removed), remaining powerful APIs used by adblockers (in progress), all extensions in PWAs (already removed), user css to hide Mozilla’s crap (in progress), OpenSearch plugins without tracking (in progress), about:config page to revert Mozilla’s anti-user defaults (already removed in PWAs and embedded Firefox, in progress for mobile then desktop), plugins like Adobe flash that competes with Google’s own proprietary DRM now included in Firefox (in progress)…

  37. JohnIL said on August 12, 2019 at 3:44 pm
    Reply

    I just think Mozilla is completely void of recognizing what’s important to users anymore. Its not about the logo or names its about the browser performance and making it what users want. I am just not sure that Firefox hasn’t already lost that race to Chrome. The whole privacy angle doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction either. Users may indicate a will to maintain more privacy online, but their actions using Chrome seem to counter that. Me personally, I could care less about the privacy stuff. I just want a fast reliable, compliant browser and Firefox doesn’t do it for me. I will use Chrome until something comes along that’s equal or better.

    1. zakius said on August 14, 2019 at 7:02 pm
      Reply

      perceived performance is much more valuable than benchmarks, but they decided to remove features making perceived performance much worse
      I’m sticking to waterfox as long as I have to and if it goes as bad as it looks I’ll move to vivaldi or otter when the time comes as firefox is as unusable as chrome nowadays

    2. zack said on August 13, 2019 at 6:11 pm
      Reply

      My hunch with all the BS, reduced usability, is the same reason skype and Microsoft have gotten so bad…Firefox probably doesn’t need to compete for users if it has support of deep state and tax dollars and assurance to be a monopoly so long as it plays ball for surveillance spooks. Whenever I see it more an more difficult to customize software, have forced “updates”, and making sure they know everything about you and you know so little about what is happening…its time to get out…you being had. -Tinfoil hat

    3. VEG said on August 12, 2019 at 5:31 pm
      Reply

      If Chrome wins, no any new browser will be created ever. End of competition. Just because it is hardly possible to create a new browser engine today. So, if you don’t like an idea of a monopoly, it is a good time to support the last competitor of Chrome/Chromium. Others gave up.

      1. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 6:35 pm
        Reply

        The “competition” of Firefox with Chrome is like Pepsi vs Coca-Cola, selling the same product with a different name.

        Even worse, it is like Pepsi vs Coca-Cola if Coca-Cola was the main revenue source of Pepsi.

      2. Iron Heart said on August 12, 2019 at 6:14 pm
        Reply

        @VEG

        > If Chrome wins, no any new browser will be created ever. End of competition.

        Chromium, the project Chrome is based on, is 100% free and open source. You can use the code as you see fit, that’s why projects like Brave or Vivaldi exist. In case they don’t like Google’s contributions to Chromium, they can fork it or already have. Death of Firefox = death of competition is nonsense. Chromium is free and open source software, new projects can always be created from its code.

        > So, if you don’t like an idea of a monopoly, it is a good time to support the last competitor of Chrome/Chromium.

        You see, people tend to create monopolies, because in many instances, it is inefficient to have several platforms around. Why do you think Windows on the desktop or Android on mobile are de facto monopolies? Because nobody wants to deal with several platforms that are incompatible with one another, and developers can’t afford to waste their time developing the same application for four or five entirely different operating systems. If the world would work this way, we would get much less done in the same time frame. You can lament it, but for efficiency reasons, there is just no room for a very diverse ecosystem of platforms, one platform (usually the one most devs flock to) usually reigns supreme in the end. Also, Chrome doesn’t have a monopoly. As I have just explained, the Chromium project (of which Chrome is just one offshoot, although the most important one) can be used by anyone to create new projects, it is not limited to usage by Google, nor is it owned by Google.

      3. zakius said on August 15, 2019 at 7:36 pm
        Reply

        chromium is so useless it gives next to no benefits as a base for anything

      4. Down_The_Hole said on August 12, 2019 at 7:39 pm
        Reply

        >Death of Firefox = death of competition is nonsense.

        This has to be the most hilariously limited understanding of what is happening I have read for a while. No wonder the web is screwed.

        The fact they think any real browser engine changes are made! The fact they think you can really make much of a fork!

        Opera has a budget of 100m+ per year, and doesn’t have the resources to make a truly different browser engine or even come close. There is no competition, just surface changes to the Chromium project, that is essentially controlled by google. And nobody that will ever have the resources to do anything else. In fact all these “forks” do is trick people like this into thinking everything is ok, while changing nothing.

    4. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 5:15 pm
      Reply

      It is millions of people like you who couldn’t care less about privacy that rich and powerful people like Google can make money out of you. They are rich, powerful and smarter than you, that is because people like you choose to be outsmarted by them. You don’t need to be smart, just need to be alert. Aware of how smart people play their games. I am really not that smart to begin with even I know this.

      Firefox performance is inferior to Chrome? You probably never heard about the news Google sabotaging performance of other browsers for year. I used to use Firefox the classic one, then switched to Chrome for some years as Firefox was much slower, then switched back instantly to Firefox Quantum as it became faster. Even if Chrome might be slightly faster than Firefox Quantum, so what? People like you are the type that always look for the best, never compromise for anything less. The perfectionist mentality. Perfectionists are all fools. The obsession over the best, the perfect, the fastest that make you a fool. All these best, perfect, fastest feed the ego, and you are not alert enough to know that.

      You use the browser that you are comfortable with. Be alert there are always people out there smarter than you that can easily influence you into believing something and make you think in certain direction. A lot of people being collectively brainwashed they don’t know that. People having ideologies this and that inside their tiny little head usually are the type who get brainwashed. They think in certain direction and couldn’t see things clearly and differently. Am I preaching something now?

      1. Iron Heart said on August 12, 2019 at 6:06 pm
        Reply

        > It is millions of people like you who couldn’t care less about privacy that rich and powerful people like Google can make money out of you.

        Firefox’s default settings are also shit for privacy, you need to change a whole lot of them to make Firefox privacy-respecting. I wonder why that is, seeing how Google funds Mozilla. Many people get fooled by Mozilla, thinking they are better off in terms of privacy right after installing Firefox, without having to change its settings (if they are even aware of the settings). This is just not true.

        > Firefox performance is inferior to Chrome? You probably never heard about the news Google sabotaging performance of other browsers for year.

        All Google’s fault, good story. How do you explain inferior performance of Firefox on sites which are not owned by Google?

        > Even if Chrome might be slightly faster than Firefox Quantum, so what?

        For most people there is no reason to switch if Firefox isn’t any faster than Chrome.

        > People like you are the type that always look for the best, never compromise for anything less. The perfectionist mentality.

        Both products are being given away free of charge, so one might as well choose the better one.

        > You use the browser that you are comfortable with. Be alert there are always people out there smarter than you that can easily influence you into believing something and make you think in certain direction.

        With all due respect, do you think you are smart supporting Mozilla, an organization funded by Google, if you are against Google? I’d rather use Brave or Vivaldi. Yes, they are Chromium based, but at least Google doesn’t control them financially, and Gecko is a dying rendering engine anyway.

        > Am I preaching something now?

        Long text, zero arguments in favor of Firefox presented.

      2. zakius said on August 14, 2019 at 7:03 pm
        Reply

        Firefox was much better than chrome, but then came quantum and removed everything that made Firefox relevant

      3. Down_The_Hole said on August 12, 2019 at 7:22 pm
        Reply

        >seeing how Google funds Mozilla

        Ah, conspiracy nonsense with no real arguments. Makes sense.

        >Many people get fooled by Mozilla, thinking they are better off in terms of privacy right after installing Firefox

        Generally users needed to know what was being activated, things can break. Mozilla have been working on making things more seamless though and making changes so less problems will occur, and all new Firefox users have tracking protection on by default. For months. Facts probably aren’t that high of a priority for people like you though.

        >Yes, they are Chromium based, but at least Google doesn’t control them financially

        They don’t need to, they entirely control Chromium and that is everything they need to keep a default monopoly and force what are not standards into being normal. You are completely controlled by google still, although you might be slightly better off privacy wise (with Brave and Vivaldi, probably not by much),

        >How do you explain inferior performance of Firefox on sites which are not owned by Google?

        It is not all google but read above, see if you can figure out how google do still play a part and have done in the past a lot. It is obvious.

        >Both products are being given away free of charge, so one might as well choose the better one.

        Better is more of a qualifier really, not something that can be said without anything else same as worse;
        Chrome is worse for privacy,
        -worse for standards and an open web,
        -worse for competition (they already innovate very little in browser, without anything at all the stagnation would be worse),
        -worse in various performances (it doesn’t actually beat Firefox in all performance),
        -worse for web standards (not inventing custom standards to damage other browsers and control web development for their own financial needs),
        -worse for memory management,
        -worse for extensions api crippling (adblocking is already better on Firefox, and will be even worse in Chrome in the future)

        Chrome is better at being fractionally faster in real use, with most seeing basically no difference.

        >Gecko is a dying rendering engine anyway.

        Wrong. It might be the most actively developed engine there is. Along with geckoview.

      4. Iron Heart said on August 12, 2019 at 9:00 pm
        Reply

        @Down_The_Hole

        First off, you sound like a Firefox fanboy who cries me a river now because I have criticized his toy. As for your nonsense “arguments”:

        > Ah, conspiracy nonsense with no real arguments. Makes sense.

        Ah, so you claim not to know that Google funds Mozilla, claiming that it’s a “conspiracy theory”. Well, I’m afraid not:

        https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/14/mozilla-terminates-its-deal-with-yahoo-and-makes-google-the-default-in-firefox-again/

        > Generally users needed to know what was being activated, things can break.

        Then how come that browsers like Pale Moon deactivate some privacy-hostile Firefox settings by default and work just fine? Please explain.

        > all new Firefox users have tracking protection on by default.

        Ah, so you mean the small anti-tracking list provided by Disconnect. I see where you are coming from… “Tracking protection”, haha.

        > Facts probably aren’t that high of a priority for people like you though.

        Boo-hoo. And yes, they are high on my list, you just choose to ignore them.

        > they entirely control Chromium

        No they don’t. Nobody controls Chromium, it is free and open source software and anyone can modify it. Also, without the outside contributions to Chromium, this project wouldn’t be where it is now, Google’s own development team couldn’t stem it. Seems like you don’t have any idea how many people are actually involved in the development of Chromium.

        > and that is everything they need to keep a default monopoly

        BS, Chrome is the most notable offshoot of Chromium, but that doesn’t mean that Google controls the underlying project. They have control over Chrome, not over Chromium.

        > and force what are not standards into being normal.

        If yo mean things like DRM… Firefox also includes DRM, so its presence didn’t change anything. Mozilla is Google’s sock puppet, nothing else. They include the DRM blackbox in Firefox too, it’s listed under plug-ins in about:addons. And again, Google can’t enforce anything in Chromium, as they don’t control it. They can enforce something in Chrome, but then you are free to use another Chromium-based browser.

        > You are completely controlled by google still,

        Nope. Learn to distinguish your own paranoia from facts, friend.

        > It is not all google but read above, see if you can figure out how google do still play a part and have done in the past a lot. It is obvious.

        Yes, the reason is obvious. Firefox has lost 2/3 of its market share, why should any website admin optimize its site for it. Google Chrome rose to its position because it was tons better than other browsers when it came out, and that hasn’t really changed yet.

        > worse for standards and an open web,

        As if Mozilla defended the “open web”. They kissed Google’s feet when DRM became part of the HTML standard. Also, again, even if you continue to ignore it: Other Chromium browsers don’t have to implement what Google implements.

        > worse for competition (they already innovate very little in browser, without anything at all the stagnation would be worse),

        As if any function in Chrome could be seen as a reaction to a “competitive” function in Firefox, what would that function be exactly?

        > worse in various performances (it doesn’t actually beat Firefox in all performance),

        …nut in most performance categories, it beats Firefox.

        > worse for web standards (not inventing custom standards to damage other browsers and control web development for their own financial needs),

        Mozilla didn’t stand up to Google anyway, their continued presence makes zero difference. They are controlled opposition, a sock puppet. Sad but true.

        > worse for memory management,

        All browsers use lots of memory nowadays, as all browsers are multiprocess-based. Whom do you try to fool here?

        > worse for extensions api crippling (adblocking is already better on Firefox, and will be even worse in Chrome in the future)

        Again, Mozilla followed Google’s lead here when they introduced WebExtensions. Continued compatibility with Chrome’s extension frameworks, including their APIs, is an explicit goal of Mozilla.

        > Wrong. It might be the most actively developed engine there is. Along with geckoview.

        Dying in the sense of nobody using it anymore. Firefox on mobile is totally irrelevant, Firefox on the desktop becomes more and more irrelevant.

        > This has to be the most hilariously limited understanding of what is happening I have read for a while. No wonder the web is screwed.

        Why is the web screwed without Firefox again? Mozilla didn’t stand in Google’s way when they introduced privacy-hostile features like DRM.

        > The fact they think any real browser engine changes are made! The fact they think you can really make much of a fork!

        Microsoft uses Blink too, don’t be silly. Also, Opera has made various changes already, where applicable. Opera is also heavily involved in the development of Chromium, further proof that Google doesn’t “control” Chromium as per the Firefox fear mongering propaganda.

        > Opera has a budget of 100m+ per year, and doesn’t have the resources to make a truly different browser engine or even come close.

        They don’t have to. They put their budget into Chromium development, because again, Google doesn’t control Chromium, they only control Chrome which is a major offshoot of it.

        > There is no competition, just surface changes to the Chromium project, that is essentially controlled by google.

        It doesn’t get any more true by repeating it.

        > In fact all these “forks” do is trick people like this into thinking everything is ok, while changing nothing.

        Again, Firefox’s presence changed nothing for the better in the past, Mozilla kissed Google’s feet whenever possible. They are just a Google-funded sock puppet supposed to give people like you an illusion of competition. I’ll use a Chromium-based browser (apart from Chrome itself) any day, over Google-funded Firefox.

    5. Anonymous said on August 12, 2019 at 4:39 pm
      Reply

      The big majority of browser users do not have an opinion on privacy because they are not even aware of the problem, and will just use the big browser they heard about, or the one that is pre installed on their phone, or the one that installed itself surreptitiously during another software installation, and so on. The war of market share is not decided on how good or private the product is, but on how powerful and unscrupulous the vendor is. The lack of awareness and organization makes users easy preys for browser vendors, not least when they are all big US tech companies that collude against users to set very low default privacy standards.

      1. Harry Vederci said on August 12, 2019 at 9:54 pm
        Reply

        I use a number of extensions on Firefox that I consider essential for privacy and security.

        1. Cookies auto delete. Deletes all cookies on Tab closer or closing browser plus manual delete
        2. Ghostery. I consider this essential because it blocks Trackers which are more insidious than cookies.
        3. HTTPS. This forces a website that uses SSL into the browser. Some sites have both SSL and non-SSL
        4. Ultimate Ad blocker. You can look at the Ads but I don’t want to.

        Chrome has nowhere near the amount of extensions that are available for Firefox. Thanks but I’ll stick w/Firefox that is .1 second slower than Chrome.

      2. owl said on August 15, 2019 at 1:01 am
        Reply

        @Harry Vederci,

        Ultimate ad blocker, ???
        Perhaps things of “AdBlocker Ultimate”?
        If so, it has an article in gHacks. See it.
        Mozilla recommends a Firefox extensions that appears to be a copycat – gHacks Tech News |
        https://www.ghacks.net/2019/07/25/mozilla-recommends-a-firefox-extensions-that-appears-to-be-a-copycat/

        Extension called “HTTPS” does not exist.
        Is it “HTTPS Everywhere” according to the inference from the text?
        Let’s comment with the correct name.

        Search results – Add-ons for Firefox (en-US) | 1,904 extensions found in Privacy & Security
        https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?category=privacy-security&sort=recommended%2Cusers&type=extension

      3. owl said on August 15, 2019 at 1:58 am
        Reply

        Postscript:
        It is convenient to use the following extended functions when providing information by posting.

        >An add-on that allows you to copy and paste the page title and URL with one click:
        CopyTabTitleUrl
        https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copytabtitleurl/

        >Apps that list and extract extensions installed in your browser:
        BrowserAddonsView
        Web browser addons/plugins viewer |
        https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/web_browser_addons_view.html

      4. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 2:44 pm
        Reply

        @Harry Vederci
        Which of those extensions are not available on a Chromium based browser?

      5. owl said on August 14, 2019 at 2:39 pm
        Reply

        >> Which of those extensions are not available on a Chromium based browser?

        In “Firefox-only extension”, my favorite items:
        Bookmarks Organizer:
        With the Bookmarks Organizer it’s easy to put order in your bookmarks. The Bookmarks Organizer finds no longer working bookmarks, redirects, duplicates and more! |
        https://github.com/cadeyrn/bookmarks-organizer
        Chameleon:
        A WebExtension port of Random Agent Spoofer |
        https://github.com/sereneblue/chameleon
        Dark Background and Light Text:
        Firefox addon that turns every page colors into “light text on dark background” |
        https://github.com/m-khvoinitsky/dark-background-light-text-extension
        Enterprise Policy Generator:
        A Firefox WebExtension for generating Enterprise Policies. Shares the idea of CCK2 Wizard, but it’s for Firefox Quantum. |
        https://github.com/cadeyrn/enterprise-policy-generator
        Facebook Container:
        Facebook Container isolates your Facebook activity from the rest of your web activity in order to prevent Facebook from tracking you outside of the Facebook website via third party cookies. |
        https://github.com/mozilla/contain-facebook
        Firefox Lightbeam:
        Web Extension version of the Firefox Lightbeam add-on |
        https://github.com/mozilla/lightbeam-we
        Flagfox:
        A blog for the Flagfox extension and its development | https://flagfox.wordpress.com/https://flagfox.wordpress.com/
        New Tab Override:
        New Tab Override brings back the ability to change the page which is shown when opening a new tab. |
        https://github.com/cadeyrn/newtaboverride
        NoScript:
        JavaScript/Java/Flash blocker for a safer Firefox experience! – what is it? – InformAction |
        https://noscript.net/
        Readability based Reader View:
        https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/readability-based-reader-view/
        Temporary Containers Firefox Add-on:
        Firefox Add-on that lets you open automatically managed disposable containers |
        https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers
        Tree Style Tab:
        Tree Style Tab, Show tabs like a tree. |
        https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab
        UI Themes:
        this page do not only feature color scheme and layout modifications, but also custom visual elements such as icons sets specially created for each theme. |
        http://stefrosselli.com/en/themes

      6. Anonymous said on August 13, 2019 at 1:25 pm
        Reply

        @Harry Vederci

        Ghostery is spyware, read its privacy policy on the Mozilla add-ons site.

  38. right said on August 12, 2019 at 3:29 pm
    Reply

    “Reversing the downwards trend user-wise” is not going to happen any time soon (or ever, if the same kind of product management continues), because karma is a bitch. If you keep parroting the line about how support for anything on a supposed downward trend and dropping below a certain arbitrary percentage must be dropped from your browser, then the same thing is eventually going to happen to your browser itself. Sites will stop supporting it and people will stop using it, because it’s trending down and has by now cut off most user niches that used to be big supporters of Firefox (or for whom it was pretty much the only remaining game in town). Gleefully sawing the branch you’re sitting on and hoping to “reverse the downwards trend” just isn’t reasonable. I don’t like seeing this downward trend, but unfortunately it’s not undeserved at this point.

    1. down_the_hole said on August 12, 2019 at 6:45 pm
      Reply

      Support for what exactly? Just more whining about extensions I assume? The majority of Firefox users both now and before never use a single extension. The loss of users is close to entirely down to Chrome and it taking over as a monopoly on online. I would be surprised if the it was more than 1 percent of everyone who has left that did for anything vaguely related to extensions or “dropped” features.

      Of course all this is really about is trying to convince yourself you are important, stop crying and move on if that is what you want. And no, you are not important or special and had no impact.

      1. John Fenderson said on August 15, 2019 at 7:29 pm
        Reply

        @down_the_hole: “The loss of users is close to entirely down to Chrome”

        On the other hand, most of the long-time Firefox users I personally know have stopped using Firefox after the Quantum release because of the various problems that brought. They haven’t started using Chrome.

        I hadn’t quite given up completely on Firefox (although it’s no longer my daily driver), as I have kept hoping that it would once again meet my needs. But I think the time has come to give up. I doubt it will ever again be what I need in a browser.

      2. Vic said on August 12, 2019 at 10:46 pm
        Reply

        I have no idea whether the other user, “right,” is referencing extensions, but your comment of “the majority of Firefox users both now and before never use a single extension” surprised me, as I had assumed most Firefox browser users use add-ons. I did a search and found:

        08/11/2009: How many Firefox users use add-ons? 33%. (Source: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2009/08/11/how-many-firefox-users-use-add-ons/)

        06/21/2011: How many Firefox users have add-ons installed? 85%! (Source: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2011/06/21/firefox-4-add-on-users/)

        01/06/2016: Surprise? 40% of Firefox users don’t use add-ons (60% of users use it) (Source: https://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/06/surprise-40-of-firefox-users-dont-use-add-ons/)

        So it seems you are correct about at least some point in time, but that was back in 2009. Yes, there are fluctuations, but it seems like for the greater part of Firefox browser’s existence, the majority of their users did use add-ons.

        ———-

        Not that my own data point matters, but here it is: I choose to use Chrome as my primary browser at home, and choose to use Firefox as my primary browser at work.

      3. right said on August 12, 2019 at 9:45 pm
        Reply

        I actually wasn’t talking about extensions for the most part (the word “niche” kinda gave that away, but of course you didn’t get that because you think extensions themselves were completely niche). It was mainly about the way they dropped “unsupported” OS versions that at the time had combined market share roughly equal to what Firefox now has with the browser. Since Chrome had dropped those systems much earlier, these people (low in percentages, but still millions in absolute figures) were a captive market for Firefox. It didn’t take an oracle to predict what would happen after forcing them (minus the few who’ve opted for various unofficial builds) to upgrade so that they could have the option of Chrome.

        As for me personally having an impact or not, I’m sure you’d know best but it could also be that at one point I helped keep tens (potentially even hundreds) of thousands of users on Firefox despite Mozilla’s best efforts to drive them away (in which they eventually succeeded). But you’re right, this isn’t about me.

  39. ShintoPlasm said on August 12, 2019 at 3:07 pm
    Reply

    Hundreds of millions of Chrome users are rushing back to Firefox, exclaiming: “How come you never told us that Firefox was a browser? We never knew!”

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