Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ubuntu Developers Revisit Replacing Firefox With Chromium

Posted by Unknown on from the but-firefox-has-a-cooler-logo dept.

Via Phoronix comes news that Ubuntu is revisiting replacing Firefox with Chromium as the default browser. Reasons include that Chromium is the basis of Ubuntu Touch and their new web apps platform, and using a single browser for all versions of Ubuntu would simplify maintenance. From the article: "Expressed shortcomings of switching to Google's Chromium open-source web-browser is that data migration from Firefox isn't too obvious, extensions don't migrate between browsers, Chromium isn't supported on all architectures (e.g. PowerPC), the browser doesn't work with the Orca screen reader and doesn't integrate well for accessibility reasons, there is no native PDF plug-in, and Chromium is said to have worse performance under memory pressure. There were also some concerns expressed about differences with WebApps in Chromium. ... It looks like the switch to Chromium will happen in the name of a better user experience for the desktop with Chrome/Chromium now arguably surpassing Firefox in its features and performance while pushing Chromium as the default leads to a more consistent experience across Ubuntu form factors from phones/tablets to the desktop." The Ubuntu community will have their input solicited as the next step. The Ubuntu Developer Summit session has notes and a full video of today's discussion.

9 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Fine by me by geek · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Firefox is on the decline. I really do hope they switch gears and get Firefox up-to-par again. I would really hate to see Chrome dominating the web like IE once did. Mozilla just seems more interested in Rust and FirefoxOS these days. I know they are capable of doing more than one thing at a time but Firefox needs some serious love, I'd like it to be the focus again.

    1. Re:Fine by me by interval1066 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Its still my go-to browser for now but yeah, all the weird version nonsense and the updates every few hours make it more of a pain in the ass than the useful thing it once was. But chrome or chromium? blah. I don't get why people use it as much as they do, chrome aint all that in my opinion.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    2. Re:Fine by me by ChronoReverse · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And so we replace it with Chrome who updates even more quickly?

  2. Well... this is going to be awkward... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... I just switched back to Firefox after years with Chrome. The ol' girl has just gotten so good in these last few version; it's dev tools are damn near up to snuff with Chrome's-- and something, I can't quite put my finger on, is "nicer" about it. The way it handles animations just seems smoother to me. Plus I'm fearful of a Webkit/Blink only world. When there are monopolies standards go out the window, I'm looking at you Micro$oft.

    I wonder if others are doing the same (switching back to FF), and they'll be reverting their decision here in a couple years... Hard to say, the browser wars are long from over...

    1. Re:Well... this is going to be awkward... by gentlemen_loser · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ... I just switched back to Firefox after years with Chrome. The ol' girl has just gotten so good in these last few version; ...

      Interestingly enough, I have just recently done the same. Don't get me wrong - Chrome is a great browser by all means. From a technical standpoint, I view them both as equals. However, given two equals, I will choose the browser that does not nag me to log into a Google account that I do not otherwise need "for a better experience".

  3. What's the big attraction of suicide while ahead? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Whenever the free software guys have a good thing going, they feel the need to look at Microsoft and commit suicide.

    What with GNOME abolishing choice and imitating the registry, a central place not usefully manageable by the user? What with "one-click install" of binaries with bundled libraries, total security hell? What with "one OS to rule them all" across devices?

    Windows 8 is the greatest failure from Redmond so far, so everybody rush and copy it.

    Oops, something works really well. Let's change it.

  4. Re:"there is no native PDF plug-in" by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe they can bundle Firefox's pdf.js ...

  5. this doesn't add up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How does one get from:

            shortcomings of switching to Chromium
                    data migration from Firefox isn't too obvious,
                    extensions don't migrate between browsers,
                    Chromium isn't supported on all architectures (e.g. PowerPC),
                    the browser doesn't work with the Orca screen reader
                    and doesn't integrate well for accessibility reasons,
                    there is no native PDF plug-in,
                    and worse performance under memory pressure.

    to:

            the switch to Chromium will happen in the name of a better user experience

    (oh that's right, Ubuntu are the people who thought Unity was a better user experience ;-)

  6. Chrome is a trojan horrse.. by recoiledsnake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Chrome is a trojan horse to weaken Mozilla which is becoming less powerful because Google uses its ad dollars to bundle Chrome with Flash, Acrobat and Java updates by default thereby reducing Firefox's share and has the nice side effect of reducing Google's payments to Mozilla for searches.

    And Web DRM? Of course it's going to be a HTML standard very soon because IE, Safari and... ding! Chrome are going to be supporting it fully with 80% marketshare and people will blame Firefox if Netflix doesn't work in it and recommend you switch to Chrome to see movies! iOS, Android and Windows Phone, BBOS will add support for 100% tablet and phone support for the DRM.

    Chrome on Chromebook already has the EME DRM module. Firefox and Opera are powerless to stop it. We have already seen this play out with the h.264 HTML5 video support in Chrome fiasco when Google promised it would drop H.264 from Chrome to push WebM but did not and Mozilla was left holding the bag with WebM and had to recently had to eat crow and add support for patent encumbered H264. The web is owned by the corporates, not individuals anymore, there was some hope when Firefox was at 40%, not anymore. And we all willingly gave them the power by believing in "open" and "do no evil" and switching in droves.

    --
    This space for rent.