Firefox is a great alternative to Google Chrome

  • Azdalen@beehaw.org
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    16 hours ago

    I can name a couple other reasons why FF is better:

    1. I get way more lower-level control via about:config over internals than chrome’s about:flags (i.e., adjust caches, buffers, networking strategies, GC thresholds, etc.)
    2. I can fully disable newer ad delivery mechanisms like Service Workers and WASM at a core level (NOTE: while these were initially touted as ways to speed up the internet, they unfortunately are used mostly as ad-blocking and tracking circumvention measures now; its also easy enough to re-enable them temporarily if a site uses one for legitimate reasons).
    3. Actual, no-kidding, site cannot override, auto-play blocking (via some about:config tweaks).

    With the newer FF versions they landed some very nice speedups, but with some of the tweaks i’ve made, basically FF be zoom’n now 😅

  • umbrella
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    22 hours ago

    what i want to understand beyond just “did you know chrome bad” is why laymen are so insistent on it.

    so we can break it.

      • umbrella
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        17 hours ago

        oh fuck, this one always hurt. simulating chrome through a user agent swap works?

        what stops you from using firefox for everything else?

    • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      17 hours ago

      (primarily firefox user here) the Google account being able to be used as a universal login is sorta convenient (at the expense of privacy) Snapchat web (at least previously) requiring it to work (or at least it’s user agent) and an all in all slightly cleaner (more samey) experience.

      • umbrella
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        10 hours ago

        i mean if you login with google on any google site on firefox, it will also log you in to everything…

        and being cleaner is a matter of habit tbh, they look very similar

  • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 day ago
    1. Browser diversity weakens Google’s grip on web development, and their position as a gatekeeper of the web.
  • perishthethought@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    I hate to say it but they’re preaching to the choir, as we say. The people who need to switch won’t read this great article.

    • limerod@reddthat.com
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      20 hours ago

      Well, you don’t need to switch. But, you can help your friends and family switch by setting up Firefox with Ublock-Origin.

      If they see the benefits. They will stick

    • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      I’m pretty sure the number of Lemmy users who like Chrone is very small. It feels like most people here already use Firefox or some related browser.

  • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago
    1. It’s literally the only other decent option that is not a fork of the it or it’s one competitor.

    Unfortunately, both are funded by google. Yes, officially it’s just payments to keep the home page in firefox set to Google. But… without that Mozilla would collapse. Google’s got them by the low level components.

  • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago

    The privacy bit is just as much absent as using chrome. You’d want a fork for either of the two for that.

    • unknowing8343@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 day ago

      Sorry but your argument is absolutely false. Even if Firefox is not the most private browser ever, it’s waaaay more private than Chrome. And you can even make it better with a couple of toggles.

  • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    1 reason I wont’ use Firefox or any gecko-based fork and I’ll keep using a Chromium fork, instead: I don’t want to support Mozilla.

    Enough.