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Inside Mozilla:Firefox fights back against Google Chrome

making browsers great again  

292 members have voted

  1. 1. What is the browser you use for your PC/Mac the most?

    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Microsoft Edge (PC only)
    • Safari (Mac only)
    • Opera
    • Chromium
    • Vivaldi
    • Internet Explorer (PC only)
    • Tor browser (based on Firefox)
      0
    • Others (eg. AOL explorer, Netscape Navigator, IE for Mac, etc)
  2. 2. What is the primary browser you use the most for your smartphone?

    • Safari (iPhone only)
    • Google Chrorme
    • Microsoft Edge (Windows 10 Mobile only)
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Opera/Opera Mini/Opera Coast
    • Internet Explorer (Windows Mobile 6.5 up to Windows Phone 8.1)
    • Firefox Focus (privacy oriented browser with built in tracking protection and ad blocking, iPhone and Android only)
    • Others
  3. 3. Would you consider trying Firefox 57?

    • Yes, definitely
    • No, I'm happy with what I'm using


Is it time to make browsers great again? Mozilla says yes.

 

Source: CNET, Medium

 

 

 

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Hundreds of Mozilla employees met a very different version of the Firefox mascot this June as they packed into a Hilton conference room in San Francisco for an all-hands meeting.

Gone was the blazing-orange fox snuggling a blue globe, the image that’s represented Mozilla’s scrappy browser since 2003. Instead, Firefox Senior Vice President Mark Mayo opened the event with a drawing of a fox in menacing mecha armor, named Mark 57 — the same way ever-improving Iron Man suits are named.

The message isn’t subtle: Firefox 57, a massive overhaul due November 14, is ready for battle. Its main rival is Google’s Chrome, which accounts for 54 percent of browser usage today as measured by webpage visits using PCs, tablets and phones. Apple’s Safari has 14 percent, while Firefox has 6 percent, according to analytics firm StatCounter. Chrome lured tens of thousands of us away from Firefox after it debuted in 2008.

But Firefox 57 could be the version that gets you thinking about returning — and maybe about saving the web, too. Mozilla began testing Firefox 57 on Wednesday, the culmination of more than a year of engineering work.

34764166973_61afa24e94_z.jpg.49835b73759e0938a49736d44c3e343c.jpg34764165063_1d96270bb9_z.jpg.47e6640113be9755a8a395c24940179d.jpg35408330102_46a7c7ea1c_z.jpg.c004a27fa5104951d8572be469b970b1.jpg

 

I don't know about you but browser wars never really made me excited. Remember back in 2010 when Microsoft was forced to respond to the reality that IE users are ditching it in favor of other browsers so they introduced Internet Explorer 9 which Microsoft claims the first browser to do GPU-accelerated browsing to make it fast.

But the problem is that, IE 9's rendering engine Trident falls short when it comes to HTML5 compatibility.

ie9.PNG.b6d291ed953132654cad2aac77cd13f3.PNG

 

Now, Google Chrome is the most HTML5 compliant browser

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Quote

“It’s going to add up to be a big bang,” Mozilla Chief Executive Chris Beard promises, speaking at the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters. “We’re going to win back a lot of people.” 

 

Improvements within a project called Quantum are responsible for much of the difference. One part, Stylo, accelerates formatting operations. Quantum Flow squashes dozens of small slowdown bugs. Quantum Compositor speeds website display. And Firefox 57 also will lay the groundwork for WebRender, which uses a computing device’s graphics chip to draw webpages on the screen faster.

“You can do user interface and animation and interactive content that you simply can’t do in any other browser,” says Firefox chief Mayo, speaking from his office in Toronto — over video chat technology Firefox helped make possible.
 
 
It all adds up to a very different engine at the core of Firefox. That kind of speedup can really excite web developers — an influential community key to Firefox’s success in taking on IE back in 2004.

Project Quantum is basically what Microsoft did with Internet Explorer 9 up to Edge.

Quote

Project Quantum is about developing a next-generation engine that will meet the demands of tomorrow’s web by taking full advantage of all the processing power in your modern devices. Quantum starts from Gecko, and replaces major engine components that will benefit most from parallelization, or from offloading to the GPU. One key part of our strategy is to incorporate groundbreaking components of Servo, an independent, community-based web engine sponsored by Mozilla. Initially, Quantum will share a couple of components with Servo, but as the projects evolve we will experiment with adopting even more.

 

A number of the Quantum components are written in Rust. If you’re not familiar with Rust, it’s a systems programming language that runs blazing fast, while simplifying development of parallel programs by guaranteeing thread and memory safety. In most cases, Rust code won’t even compile unless it is safe...

 

Quantum is an ambitious project, but users won’t have to wait long to start seeing improvements roll out. We’re going to ship major improvements next year, and we’ll iterate from there. A first version of our new engine will ship on Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Someday we hope to offer this new engine for iOS, too. We’re confident Quantum will deliver significantly improved performance. If you’re a developer and you’d like to get involved, you can learn more about Quantum on the the Mozilla wiki, and explore ways that you can contribute. We hope you’ll take the Quantum leap with us.

Would Firefox 57 really shake up browsers again? From what they're saying, it's JIT compiling and GPU acceleration although anyone can correct me on this. 

Quote

There are plenty of interface changes. The title bar across the top of the browser will become dark. Gone are Firefox-only features like a special box just for launching internet searches or the menu with a grid of little icons. You’ll be able to zero in on particular settings with a preferences search tool. Firefox will switch to a touch-friendly mode as soon as you tap your PC screen. A new “page action” menu in the address bar handles tasks like bookmarking pages, sharing website addresses or saving pages to Mozilla’s Pocket service. And brace yourself — Photon ditches Firefox’s curvy tab shape in favor of the rectangular style in Microsoft’s Edge browser.

What? Why? Hopefully performance and stability is better on Firefox 57.

Quote

But another change in Firefox 57 will break a venerable part of Firefox — the extensions technology that lets you customize the browser. For example, with extensions you can block ads, protect your privacy, download YouTube videos, translate websites and manage passwords. Extensions were a key advantage back when Mozilla first took on IE in 2004, but Mozilla is switching to Web Extensions, a variation of Chrome’s customization technology.

 

I encourage everyone to read the CNET article. But from the looks of it, Firefox is playing catch up with Chrome. Firefox 57 is also the update which will introduce multi-threaded processes just like Edge and Chrome. Hopefully they'll add sandboxing too. IE 7 I think was the first browser to do sandboxing by leveraging low privileges to the browser. Google Chrome implemented it better by sandboxing every tab opened so that if one tab crashes, the rest of the other tabs will remain unaffected and they even sandboxed Adobe Flash and other browser plugins. 

 

"Mozilla didn’t just survive. It’s gotten to a better place,” Beard says. “We’re back and we’re ready for the fight.”

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*Looking at this picture, I think Mozilla ripped off Daredevil's mask.

 

 

 

Edited by hey_yo_

There is more that meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside

 

 

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i got tired half way trough..

 

how about they make me want to use firefox by adding functionality and/or boosting performance, instead of "fighting the chrome overlords" that i only tolerate because their browser "just frikking works" for me.

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I have been a fan of Firefox for a long time. I don't use Google Chrome, and Edge kinds of sucks when it comes to complaining sometimes.

 

I hope Mozilla can do more on the security front. Give me options that I don't need an extension for. Built in functionality would be much more secure.

 

Improved performance would definitely be nice. Gotta have responsiveness with all my tabs open.

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14 minutes ago, manikyath said:

i got tired half way trough..

 

how about they make me want to use firefox by adding functionality and/or boosting performance, instead of "fighting the chrome overlords" that i only tolerate because their browser "just frikking works" for me.

That's actually what they are doing. They go into more details in the second half of the post.

Firefox will become faster, less memory intense, get a new look, new addon structure, and a bunch of other stuff.

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I liked the separate search bar, keeping search terms and websites separate helps me from accidentally entering something the browser interprets as a website, like chrome does sometimes (this is incredibly annoying), tab design I really don't care about as long as it keeps the scrolling tabs thing so I can fit a lot of tabs without needing like 20 windows to keep track of things.

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3 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

get a new look, new addon structure

makes me wonder tho.. will they manage to make me dislike the look even more, and will they brick all current addons?

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2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

makes me wonder tho.. will they manage to make me dislike the look even more, and will they brick all current addons?

But hey, at least Firefox will now implement multi threaded processes. Something that Chrome 1 has been doing since 2008. 

There is more that meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside

 

 

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7 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

But hey, at least Firefox will now implement multi threaded processes. Something that Chrome 1 has been doing since 2008. 

if they do it better than chrome (performance wise) i might switch, might even do some testing on my media center, a celeron J1900 really shows when multithreading is done right :P

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Is this the year of comebacks? AMD coming back into CPUs and finally Firefox might be relevant again.

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I will use Firefox for stuff other than surveys when I start seeing at LEAST similar performance to Chrome on my PC. 

 

Unfortunately that day has not happened for years.

 

I've always respected Firefox (and Chrome), although I respect them slightly less that I see they disable their comment sections. 

Previously Trogdor8freebird

5800x | Asus x570 Pro Wifi (barely enough for 64GB apparently given it's 2133 and still crashes sometimes) | 64GB DDR4 | 3070 Ti 8GB | Love that whole weeb shit

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2 hours ago, MaroonLance said:

Is this the year of comebacks? AMD coming back into CPUs and finally Firefox might be relevant again.

They promised to "MAKE BROWSERS GREAT AGAIN", FIREFOX 57 as your default browser in 2017". ?

Edited by hey_yo_

There is more that meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside

 

 

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2 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

They promised to "MAKE BROWSERS GREAT AGAIN", FIREFOX 57 for 2017". ?

They are going to be a great ad filter, the best ad filter, the biggest ad filter to protect us from all those ads that rape your senses.

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Meh... I quite like my mouse gesture and side panel in Vivaldi.

I could "emulate" those using extensions before on Firefox, but it's just not the same as native support, which is why I switched to Vivaldi the moment it became "good enough".

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3700x / GPU: Asus Radeon RX 6750XT OC 12GB / RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3200
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I started using firefox in 2003 and remained a trusty user until 2012 when I finally made the switch to Chrome. Recently I tried firefox 55 and quickly deemed it unworthy to me by daily browser. I'm looking forward to try out firefox 57 to see if it can replace chrome.

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Does anyone know if it's possible to sync your Google acc. with firefox on PC and android, so it can just pull your bookmarks and settings like Chrome does? If they do that I'm all for switching to Firefox (they also need to fix the slight scroll delay on phones).

 

I dig the Firefox Voltron.

The ability to google properly is a skill of its own. 

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While I voted Firefox (on Smartphones), I also use Opera on it. It has a way better layout, with the tabs/menu being on the bottom, allowing for one-handed use. I only recently switched to FF because the account sync was too useful, as well as a few other options.

“I like being alone. I have control over my own shit. Therefore, in order to win me over, your presence has to feel better than my solitude. You're not competing with another person, you are competing with my comfort zones.”  - portfolio - twitter - instagram - youtube

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14 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to sync your Google acc. with firefox on PC and android, so it can just pull your bookmarks and settings like Chrome does? If they do that I'm all for switching to Firefox (they also need to fix the slight scroll delay on phones).

 

I did the Firefox Voltron.

You can import all your bookmarks from Chrome into Firefox, and then sync that across devices using a Firefox account. You can swap links between devices and all that other functionality Chrome also has.

“I like being alone. I have control over my own shit. Therefore, in order to win me over, your presence has to feel better than my solitude. You're not competing with another person, you are competing with my comfort zones.”  - portfolio - twitter - instagram - youtube

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2 minutes ago, ElfenSky said:

You can import all your bookmarks from Chrome into Firefox, and then sync that across devices using a Firefox account. You can swap links between devices and all that other functionality Chrome also has.

That is true, however I was thinking more like directly pulling it directly from Google acc? I will still have to use both so don't feel like importing it every time.

The ability to google properly is a skill of its own. 

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17 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

 

I did the Firefox Voltron

Are you a Mozilla engineer?

34764168363_79a15f1499_k.thumb.jpg.6ec61a4a069283eee0d58b8d60a857b8.jpg

There is more that meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside

 

 

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4 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

Are you a Mozilla engineer?

34764168363_79a15f1499_k.thumb.jpg.6ec61a4a069283eee0d58b8d60a857b8.jpg

Meant to write dig. :D

The ability to google properly is a skill of its own. 

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Just now, Bouzoo said:

Meant to write dig. :D

Are you the one who draw it?

There is more that meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside

 

 

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1 minute ago, hey_yo_ said:

Are you the one who draw it?

I wish. It only means I like it a lot. 

The ability to google properly is a skill of its own. 

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I use firefox on my PC. and some browser based on firefox on my linux phone (i use Sailfish OS which is kind of linux distro for smartphones)

I hate apple, MS and Google. They spy on us and only god know what are their software doing on our own hardware.

Well windows 10 is great example of spyware. They send data to MS servers, they have keyloger, it records video feed and audio feed through mic and videocamera on notebooks or usb cameras. Everytime windows starts it's doing wierd things that everything feezes. No matter you are on SSD or HDD. This does not happen on linux. It's under my control. Windows and macOS are not under your control. You do not own your own PC/laptop.

Google is way worse. they are everywhere. that is why i do not want to use androidit's full of googles things.

I try to use as much free and open source software as i can.

Computer users fall into two groups:
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

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My main thought is: "and where was this focus for the last 8ish years while Chrome got faster and Firefox got noticeably slower?". 

 

Also, why are they hyping a new release coming in November, now? The articles are clearly paid-media of some form, so even their marketing is off-point in timing. Make the Tech good, THEN do the Ad Campaign. But, well, missing the point is something Mozilla has gotten really good at.

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Not much love for Opera, it seems.  Not that it hasn't been the case for pretty much as long as Opera has existed.

1 hour ago, wowsers said:

I liked the separate search bar, keeping search terms and websites separate helps me from accidentally entering something the browser interprets as a website, like chrome does sometimes (this is incredibly annoying), tab design I really don't care about as long as it keeps the scrolling tabs thing so I can fit a lot of tabs without needing like 20 windows to keep track of things.

Even though current Opera is based off the Blink engine (from the Chrome source), it has the option to make a separate search bar in the address bar, though I've never used it.

1 hour ago, TetraSky said:

Meh... I quite like my mouse gesture and side panel in Vivaldi.

I could "emulate" those using extensions before on Firefox, but it's just not the same as native support, which is why I switched to Vivaldi the moment it became "good enough".

Vivaldi is being made for former Opera devs.  I've considered switching, but their features just haven't been good enough yet to justify it.  I need to check them out again.  I was really disappointed when Opera became a Chrome-clone, though it has got better.

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