Here are the reasons why I continue to bet on this browser.

In 2008, the browser segment, not to mention the Internet segment, was very different from today. Yes, Internet Explorer dominated the scene, but Firefox managed to convince almost every third user. And then, in September of that year, Google unexpectedly introduced Chrome.

This browser had a lot of important new features, and Google was smart enough to talk about them in an original way: in a comic. Scott McCloud was the artist responsible for bringing the Google team’s words into this format, and the result was an unforgettable production.

The proposal was surprising in its concept. Minimalism, speed and new ideas such as isolated tabs in a separate sandbox (if one of them fails, the entire browser will not crash, and also avoid security risks) were a breath of fresh air for the market, and gradually their acceptance was growing .

I was one of the converts. After years of using Firefox as my browser, I started using Chrome and loving it every day. And then, years later, I hated it. When the summer of 2017 ended, I decided that Google’s development no longer convinced me and returned to Firefox, which has been my default browser ever since.

Why did I do this? First, to test Firefox 57 (“Firefox Quantum”), an important version that launched a new rendering engine and fixed issues that had always plagued it, such as memory consumption.

What you probably imagine also influenced: be able to minimize invasion of privacy which, for example, in Chrome is permanent. Google’s browser collection of data is remarkable – it does this even in incognito mode, which is amazing – and I wanted to try to put an end to this practice.

Supporting the open source philosophy also appealed to me when it came to making changes: if Mozilla has been different over the years, it’s been trying to bet on that model as well as open standards.

This development became the only champion of an alternative rendering engine along with Safari, which has not been available on Windows for many years. Everyone else uses Chromium as a base: Edge does it, Opera does it, and there are a few others that are also following this trend.

Another reason was to try rebel against this imperial rule of Chrome, which is a fantastic browser in many ways, but thanks to its market share, it allows Google to try to influence – like Apple – the evolution of the Internet, just as Internet Explorer did in its day. There are many examples, but you may remember the criticism that Google AMP eventually received.

My farewell to Chrome was actually part of an attempt to gradually wean myself off my addiction to this giant. I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my default search engine in Firefox since 2020, although I use Google from time to time if the results aren’t what I expected. However, there are still many steps to be taken: I’m still using Gmail at the moment, but at least I got rid of Google Photos, which scared me back in 2017.

Thus, the weight of ideological reasons is significant, but there are also practical reasons: at the moment I’m already very comfortable working with Firefox, with its shortcuts and extensions that I know inside out and that allow me to customize the browser the way I want.

In fact, the ability to customize it, like the address bar, is another of its strong points. In the performance section, there are opinions to suit all tastes: the people in charge at Mozilla themselves maintain an updated and detailed graph of Firefox vs Chrome performance, and it all looks pretty good (and not particularly fast anyway).

Meanwhile in memory consumption Again, the scenarios are very different, and both – although Chrome tends to be penalized more here – have been criticized for their high memory consumption, although it doesn’t help that in general all web pages get heavier over time. time.

Is Firefox a better browser than Chrome? I couldn’t say it, but it’s clear to me that this is the case at the moment. best browser for me. Luckily, there are other alternatives that may also allow me to escape the yoke of Chrome – I have a few installed on my Mac mini, but I only use them occasionally – but for now, Firefox fits the bill and remains the alternative I’m most comfortable with . And I hope it stays that way for many more years.

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