Article seems pretty flawed. Relevance is a vague metric, and the author relies pretty heavily on data related to government site visitation, which seems subject to bias toward certain types of users.

Market share is likely still incredibly low, but Firefox’s relevance should be spiking right now due to Google’s shenanigans with Chromium. The fact that like 90% of revenue for its for-profit wing is from Google is still troubling.

Any alternative views out there?

  • rwhitisissle@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    The day Firefox shutters its doors is the day the internet truly dies. Almost every “alternative” browser is chromium under the hood. Google’s next big plan is basically constructing a walled garden around the internet (at least the HTTP part) via complex DRM. Eventually, if you want to access an actual web page, it’ll have to be via a Chromium browser. Hell, even today a shitload of websites I visit on FF just don’t fucking render correctly and I’ll have to fire up a chromium instance just to access them. That’s only going to get worse with time.

    • Hypx@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      No. This is just a return to the days of the IE-only web. It will be problematic but it won’t be the end of the web.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        10 months ago

        It wasn’t really IE-only. People sort of could use Netscape, and then Mozilla, and then Firefox. And Opera which wasn’t free.

    • Thymos@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Hell, even today a shitload of websites I visit on FF just don’t fucking render correctly and I’ll have to fire up a chromium instance just to access them.

      Can you link to an example? I remember this from years ago, but haven’t encountered it for a long time.

    • azdle@news.idlestate.org
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      10 months ago

      The day Firefox shutters its doors is the day the internet truly dies.

      *the web

      The internet has so far been doing a much better job surviving as a proper decentralized system than the web.

      • erwan@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        Really? What’s left of the Internet beyond the web?

        How many people use Usenet today, rather than forums or social media on the web?

        How many people use IRC, rather than Slack? (Either on the web or in a Chromium-backed desktop app)

        How many people use an email client, rather than webmail?

        • flexibeast@beehaw.org
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          10 months ago

          Some non-HTTP(S) Internet stuff:

          Email is transferred to its destination (where, sure it might be accessed through a Web UI) via SMTP. Even where things like Slack are used internally, email usage between organisations is still extensive, due to effectively being a federated lowest-common-denominator system that’s not completely at the mercy of a single vendor.

          VoIP, which increasingly underlies telephony/mobile networks, uses things like SIP, RTP and RTCP - even if, again, it might be accessed via a Web UI, it doesn’t have to be, and there are dedicated clients.

          SSH is widely used for remote system administration. SFTP, built on top of SSH, is used to transfer sensitive data, e.g. (in the US) medical records covered by HIPAA.

          SNMP is used for network device management, sometimes doing so via the Internet.

          Don’t confuse certain end-user applications with the Internet more generally.

          • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            The original comment, was the claim that the internet is doing a lot better than the web.

            In that context, the fact that literally every single one of those services is primarily accessed and managed through the web, makes that claim that the web hasn’t succeeded look a little ridiculous.

          • anotherandrew@lemmy.mixdown.ca
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            10 months ago

            I know I’m an outlier, but I prefer text mode IRC, then slack, and then all the other shit (telegram, signal, discord, teams, etc) fall way behind. “Everything is a walled-off app” is a horrible way to communicate. I get why these companies do it, and I also even understand the headache over maintaining useful open APIs, but honestly, they drop that ASAP because it doesn’t make them money.

        • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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          10 months ago

          Usenet, IRC, mailing lists. and TUI email clients are fading away because they have horrible UX (and UI in most cases). The internet used to be a nerdy space, but now it’s for everybody: from your youngest to your oldest citizens, from the least technically adept to the most technically adept, and everyone in between. You can mourn the death of technologies and solutions written for another era if you wish, but that doesn’t make you better nor right. It just makes you bitter (or salty if that’s what the kids say nowadays).

          CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            There never has been a better newsreader than pineapple news. That program alone was reason enough to boot up BeOS, fite me irl.

            IRC? Graphical, in particular, hexchat. Also switch the font to proportional you’re not editing text.

            • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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              10 months ago

              IRC has no built-in support for replies, media (audio, video, stickers, reactions, custom emoji, etc.), threads, and encryption. It’s barebones text with a bunch of cryptic slash commands on top of it - everything else is done by the client.

              And pineapple news’ UI is from another era. It’s like looking at papyrus when you have Gutenberg’s print.

              To each their own, but the amount of people willing to use such outdated tech is dwindling.

              CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                10 months ago

                IRC has no built-in support for

                And? It’s a chat room, not a forum and emojis are a scourge upon the internet. And you’re certainly more likely to get an answer than on stackoverflow…

                And pineapple news’ UI is from another era. It’s like looking at papyrus when you have Gutenberg’s print.

                It’s BeOS’ default tk, the point is the UX not lack of subpixel font rendering. Windows looked like this back in the days. And no I don’t use it any more, haven’t visited usenet in almost 20 years.

                • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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                  10 months ago

                  And? It’s a chat room, not a forum and emojis are a scourge upon the internet. And you’re certainly more likely to get an answer than on stackoverflow…

                  Just like not everything that’s new is good, not everything that’s old is good. There’s a time and place for anything. The time and place for IRC is a museum IMO. You may disagree, but I disagree with you probably just as much that “emojis are a scourge upon the internet”.

                  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

        • datavoid@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          I have yet to see a usenet post that was both written by a person and not incredibly batshit insane

    • Poggervania@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      I mean, you can argue that Google actually has a monopoly on web browsers right now. iirc Firefox takes a ton of money from Google, so if the choices are “Google’s proprietary browser” or “a non-Chromium browser backed by Google” (EDIT: unless you’re on Apple hardware and use Safari), then Google comes out on top either way.

      Wish we could get another good browser engine that isn’t Chromium, WebKit, or Quantum.

      • Nate Cox@programming.dev
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        10 months ago

        I’m fighting the good fight by using Safari to browse and Kagi to search. I have effectively eliminated Google from my life and I could not be happier about it.

        Signed, a former Google fan who got tired of being the product for their ever shittier services.

        • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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          10 months ago

          Apple and Google deserve about the same amount of trust. I don’t know that Safari is any better than Chrome other than keeping a large portion of users in a secondary browser. I guess it all depends on whether uBlock Origin is able to be loaded on it along with other useful extensions. I’m a Firefox fan though.

          • emptyfish@beehaw.org
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            10 months ago

            I wouldn’t nominate either one for sainthood, no argument there. I walked away from Google because they are an ad company that makes devices and software - that has become increasingly more apparent in the last several years, I’m sure it was always true but less obvious in the early days.

          • Nate Cox@programming.dev
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            10 months ago

            Apple has their own set of issues for sure, but I don’t think they’re comparable to the spyware advertising conglomerate that is Google.

      • jmp242@sopuli.xyz
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        10 months ago

        I’m still sad about the day the real Opera with the presto rendering engine died. And while Vivaldi is getting many of the features and functionality, it’s still a chromium rebuild. I guess it just takes too much money to build your own rendering engine anymore.

        • clgoh@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          I guess it just takes too much money to build your own rendering engine anymore.

          Even Microsoft couldn’t do it.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Heck even Google couldn’t do it, they used Apple’s WebKit. And even Apple couldn’t do it, they used KDE’s KHTML. Speaking of KHTML: Konqueror is still around, though they’ve already decided to get rid of KHTML completely and move to one of the forks, development pretty much stalled since 2016.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Ehh

        There’s a clear difference between accepting money from an entity and letting it control things and make decisions. Pushing for a full and clear separation from any potential conflict of interest (while noble) is how projects die.

        I’d love for Firefox to be fully funded through small anonymous public donations in an ideal world. As it is, I don’t see an issue from taking Google’s money to do something that most users would want anyways.

        If the default search wasn’t google, I’m certain even more users would bail on Firefox. Anyone who does want an alternative search engine is capable of clicking on it during installation.

          • Zworf@beehaw.org
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            10 months ago

            They don’t even want our money. They just let you donate to Mozilla foundation, which does other projects.

            Firefox is developed by Mozilla corporation which is funded by the google deal.

            I donate to several FOSS projects including monthly to KDE but I won’t donate to Mozilla until I can actually make sure my money goes to firefox. And ideally not their overpaid CEO either, no.

      • Bilb!@lem.monster
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        10 months ago

        I thought Servo was basically dead since the layoffs at Mozilla in 2020, but your comment caused me to look into it and evidently funding was found to resume development on it at the beginning of last year. That’s good news! (to me!)

  • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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    10 months ago

    gives us a running count of the last 90 days of US government website visits. That doesn’t tell us much about global web browser use, but it’s the best information we have about American web browser users today.

    Lmao article itself saying it’s a steaming pile of chrome

  • abbadon420@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Are you just here to spark a browser war? Claims like “firefox is dead” are guaranteed to get a shit ton of comments stating the exact opposite, backed up with annecdotal evidence.

    I feel obliged to do the same though. So let me tell you that I’ve recently switched back to firefox after years of chrome and I haven’t regretted it one single moment.

    • ConstableJelly@beehaw.orgOP
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      10 months ago

      Me? Not at all. I actually posted this out of concern because, as I’ve said elsewhere, I’m a Firefox user, and my layman’s impression was that its reputation has been improving over the past couple years. I assumed its user base was doing the same as people grew increasingly concerned with Google’s intentions.

      Apparently ZDnet has some reputational issues itself I was unaware of.

  • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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    10 months ago

    Firefox has been irrelevant for about a decade now. Most webdevs don’t even test for firefox anymore. Major websides actively ignore it and most users evidently either don’t know and/or use it.

    Yes, firefox is relevant as an alternative to Chromium-based browsers, but that’s about it. Mozilla has done a stellar job at keeping it irrelevant to keep bagging that sweet google money.

    Honestly, I hope firefox and mozilla die, to be reborn again by another entity, but Mitchell Baker probably will do their best to keep getting that sweet, sweet, Google money.

    CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

    • Thann@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      With how google has been gong mask-off, I’d argue that FF has never been more relevant

  • Powderhorn@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    For an article that tries to push a groupthink narrative to work, the people using the “discouraged” product need to believe the “encouraged” one has feature parity with zero downsides.

    I guarantee that no one is accidentally using Firefox because they’re unaware of the alternatives.

  • Mwalimu@baraza.africa
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    10 months ago

    Cold plain metrics can easily hide social complexity.

    Assume 10 investigative journalists use modded privacy-friendly Firefox for year long investigation. Then their report is read by 10 million average news reader on stock browsers like Chrome. Network logics tell us that Firefox browser has asymmetrical value in the ecosystem than plain usage metrics can ever reveal.

    The obsession with numbers (the more the better) is a major blinding effect in societies driven by hierarchical cultures.

    • Chris Remington@beehaw.orgM
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      10 months ago

      The obsession with numbers (the more the better) is a major blinding effect in societies driven by hierarchical cultures.

      So true!

  • Sinfaen@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    I didn’t think that the market share was actually changing much? Like it’s low but it’s still used, especially on Linux workstations with nothing else pre-installed

      • kbal@fedia.io
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        10 months ago

        Indeed, that we tend to write such scary-looking rants and post them all over the Internet is one reason it was perhaps a bad idea for Mozilla to alienate their most geeky users in so many little ways over the years.

        Firefox itself is still the least scary of the available full-featured web browsers, of course.

    • falsem@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Our telemetry shows 80% of users never install any add-ons” i.e. the telemetry that any tech savvy person immediately turns off because they don’t want their browser spying on them and about which we have also complained numerous times.

      Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

      • SuperSpaceFan@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        I have to agree with your sentiment. That statement did not hit me right either. It left me wondering where that piece of data come from. It’s my understanding that for decently savvy users of Firefox, extensions are a must.

        • Pamasich@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          As I understand it, the message here is that any decently savvy user of Firefox turns off telemetry, so mozilla doesn’t know of them using extensions. hence why they say 80% don’t use them, people who do use them don’t give them their usage data.

        • renard_roux@beehaw.org
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          10 months ago

          Side note - I really like how you crossed out your spelling error instead of just fixing it - I always proof-read my comments after I post them (because I always forget to do it), and this might actually, in s tiny way, be useful to someone who’s still learning the language, or just didn’t know a particular working is wrong. I’m going to try and start doing this as well, thanks 😊👍

    • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      “You’re just a tiny minority, most people like the change”

      They did the same shit with their redesign with their idiotic floating tabs. They look ugly and they even take up way more space, while displaying less information, for literally no reason. They argued the need this change for future FF features, which yet, several years later, have yet to appear. Here’s a quote from “Paul”, one of their moderators - almost 3 years ago:

      Hi,

      We bring a modernized and differentiated look to tabs since Firefox 89 in order to create a signature Firefox look and experience. This major redesign will help us enable more use cases and features in the future.

      https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1338169

      I love Firefox and will continue to use it, but its decline is a mixture of Google’s aggressive embrace, extend, and extinguish approach and straight up continued mismanagement of the Mozilla Corporation.

  • Butterbee (She/Her)@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    Market share doesn’t equal irrelevance as others have said. I use Librewolf and without Firefox it wouldn’t exist. It likely wouldn’t exist at the quality it is without Mozilla taking Google Cash either. But it’s super important to have an alternative even if most people don’t use it. It DOES provide a limited check and balance against google doing whatever they want with the web because if the right people make the right noise then people will move over to something that’s easy, convenient, and free of whatever pain in the butt google puts in chrome that sends people over the edge. See Linux desktop and Valve for an example of how a software with very few users comparatively can force a larger company to play ball. Remember in Windows 8 when MS basically banned 3rd party software stores on the OS… or tried? And Valve made the “Steam Machine” and SteamOS? Everyone says the steam machines failed but they 100% did everything Valve wanted them to do. It was enough to have MS go back on their walled garden and allow Steam to keep operating as it had been. And now we have the steam deck on top of it.

    So, it’s ok if Firefox has a small market share as long as it remains a worthy competitor.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    10 months ago

    Is Firefox considered bad? It works well for me and when I use Chrome or edge It feels full of junk features

    • treadful@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      Firefox has been nice to work with on my end. And fast. Even the dev tools are way better than they were a decade ago. Almost all the important extensions work on it.

      I don’t really understand how its market share is so low now.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      It works for me, as well as family members who aren’t as technical / don’t care about why I picked Firefox

    • ConstableJelly@beehaw.orgOP
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      10 months ago

      I don’t think so. The article claims Firefox lost some of its lead developers to Google when it started developing Chrome and then took a long time to regain its footing around 2017. That sounds about right to my recollection. I had admittedly switched to Chrome myself for a while (I’m not terribly tech-savvy, maybe a little more than average) but switched back to Firefox last year. I am still pretty deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem though in other ways.

  • flatbield@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    Firefox is far from irrelevant. Pure stupid click bait. Market share of courses is a sad thing and may lead to irrelevance when most web sites stop supporting. In the late days of Netscape and the early days of Firefox that was the case… lack of website support. I am just starting to see that again.

  • cosmic_slate@dmv.social
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    10 months ago

    I use Firefox as my daily driver, and have for years, but there’s no way Firefox is anything but doomed with Mozilla at the helm.

    The mismanagement of money and ludicrous compensation for those at the top and chasing endless side ventures that all fail doesn’t bode well for them.

    I get it, there’s anger at the article, but anyone who actually thinks Firefox has a chance at returning anywhere close to their old glory is holding onto groundless optimism.