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?
- 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)
- It’s just not as fast as Chrome or Brave. I can’t deny this, but despite of this, I find it’s worthy.
- It’s not the default.
- Many features which are Google specific aren’t supported.
- 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
UI is worse, performance is mostly a bit slower, the morals seem cloudy sometimes.
and… the biggest one: PEOPLE ARE APATHETICI’ve never experienced any slowness with Firefox, so I don’t know what people are talking about. But Chrome is still the default browser on Android and I guess it’s the major reason why people are installing Chrome on their computer.
Because not only do you (the end user) have to go out of your way to get it, but you get spammed by Microsoft/Edge and Google/Chrome to install a “faster” and “more secure” browser. Additionally, on the mobile side, Apple is preventing all iPhone/iPad users from picking a real alternative browser that isn’t just webkit re-skinned, putting half the population at a disadvantage and to their own corporate interests.
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.
I’m curious, what is missing from Firefox compared to Vivaldi according to you?
Note that since I don’t use Firefox some of these may actually be available, but I don’t know about them.
- Mouse gestures.
- A status bar that stays on screen.
- The ability to select part of a link’s text.
- Tab stacking.
- Tab tiling.
- Opening a link in either a foreground or background tab. This is available as a toggle in the settings only.
- Ad block.
- Spatial navigation.
- Customisable keyboard shortcuts for pretty much everything.
These are the ones that matter to me, there are more that I don’t personally use.
Chrome is default on Android, and everybody finds the Google integration with Chrome handy, since almost everyone is a slave to Google account and cloud storage.
I think that’s a factor, but I think it’s more about Chromes “mind share”. Everyone knows Chrome. Not everyone knows Firefox. So, if every user brings two other in to use their browser, Chrome will always be ahead and the rift will grow. And if you’re using something nonstandard, you’re more likely to switch to what everyone else is using. That what I think it’s about. Shame, because Firefox is great.
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.
