Why do you use firefox?

Vitaly@feddit.uk to Free and Open Source Software@beehaw.org – 42 points –
29

Because it's privacy focused. Also because it's not based on Chromium. It's the only one keeping us from having a Google browser monopoly

I've been using it for years, first out of disdain for Internet Explorer, now out of disdain for Google Chrome. I just do not trust the corpos at all, and Firefox has always been solid(outside of a few years in the '10s).

Because it’s one of the last few browsers that’s usable and not based on Chrome/Chromium

Becuase the other browsers suck.

This was my excuse until recently. Now I enjoy Vivaldi. Turns out I need less extensions to enjoy this one! I'm so happy 😊

Vivaldi is chromium based and not fully open source. It doesn't deserve any more trust than chrome/edge/safari/etc.

Oh, you're right the UI code is closed source. Hate to admit it, but it kind of makes sense given it looks so nice 🙈

good balance of functionality and privacy. keeps my tabs synced between mobile and desktop. that's...that's about it.

  • Open source
  • Reasonably privacy respecting (could be better OOB)
  • Extensions that further enhance privacy and remove unwanted annoyances from pages
  • Cool logo

Because it's not actively trying to make ad-blockers not work like Chrome.

It's a great OSS browser. There should be at least one alternative rendering engine to Googles Chromium.

Because I like it, it ain't Google and it looks great on my gnome desktop.

Because it's extensions have so much more access to the software. Privacy is easy. The biggest of all is Temporary containers. That extension is a godsend for developers. Also, chromium is shit.

To stay away from the influence of google’s business practices and their influence on chromium.

Chrome did something that annoyed me a couple of years ago. I can't even remember what it did. I just remember going "you have annoyed me for the final time! I'm replacing you with Firefox!" I wish I could say it was because Google is evil, but it may well have been something far more petty.

I dislike Mozilla less than I dislike Google, but not much! Besides that, Firefox has more functionality.

Cuz the cute fox rolled up in a ball around the world. Oh and also because I would like to fuck Google with a bat.

[Meta] I don't think there's a need to cross-post this within Beehaw. Beehaw is low-activity as it is (in terms of new posts) so most people here would be just browsing new/local so they'd be seeing this post in their feed twice.

Even if you're not browsing by local, most people in this community would likely also be subscribed to the Technology community as well, so again, there's a double-up.

It's just.... always been my main browser.

@Vitaly Because it's the best browser. Plus it does not use the engine controlled by Google or Apple. I don't see any reason to switch to a different browser. If any, it would be a fork of Firefox.

As of August 2023, Google Chrome accounted for 66.41 percent of the global desktop internet browser market share. I'd rather not contribute to Google's influence over the internet. They already have too much power, and profit off of harvesting and selling our data.

And a second point here: how much of the remaining 33,59% belongs to Chromium-based browsers? Those still contribute to Google's monopoly over the web, so the final numbers are even worse.

Its respects user freedoms and doesnt give any company power over internet

Because I've been using it! I just keep on rolling with it. No reason to change. 15 years maybe.

I would love to switch, and I tried to the other day, but I discovered that Firefox still doesn’t support integrated WebAuthn tokens (I.E. using Touch ID in lieu of YubiKeys). That is (unfortunately) a non-starter for me, as I use that technology everywhere, and I’m not intentionally weakening my security posture to switch. I’m honestly really surprised to find this feature disparity, as this feature has been generally available elsewhere for years. I’m a developer, so maybe I’ll take a crack at implementing it myself sometime, but it’s a big enough deal that I genuinely can’t switch yet :(