Firefox Succeeded In Its Goal -- But What's Next?

trawg writes: It's been more than 10 years since Mozilla released version 1.0 of Firefox, one of their first steps in their mission to 'preserve choice and innovation on the Internet'. Firefox was instrumental in shattering the web monoculture, but the last few years of development have left users uninspired. "Their goal was never to create the most popular browser in the world, or the one with the best UX, or the one with the most features, or the one with the best developer mode. ... It would be foolish to say a monoculture will never arise again (Google are making some scary moves with Chrome-only web applications). But at this point in time while Chrome is the ascendant browser (largely at the expense of Firefox), Mozilla’s ability to impact the web in general is greatly reduced." Perhaps it is time to move on to the next challenge — ensuring there is a strong Thunderbird to help preserve a free and open email ecosystem.

Comments

No they did not. They have failed HARD.

[B5_geek]

The original goal of Phoenix(?) or whatever name they chose for the code-split from Navigator; was to build a fast, responsive and resource-minimal web-browser. When it was first released it was a HUGE success because not everybody wanted an all-in-one email/browser/calendar/contact/NNTP client.

Then they added the ability to run 3rd-party scripts, they called those 'extensions' (omg what is this new thing!) and that was super popular.

I like many of the /. readership was there at the birth of what we now call Firefox. We have loved it for what it was, and have tolerated it for what it became.

It is still my primary browser, but if I ever find a minimal-resource browser that offers functionality equal to 'NoScript' and 'Adblock-Edge' I'll switch.

Re:No they did not. They have failed HARD.

[vinn]

Well, presumably that's what we were told at the time, but truly what was going on was Netscape throwing as much open source code out there before being gobbled up by AOL. There was zero promise AOL would continue browser development, they had a deal with IE. Netscape was very much aware that IE might be the only game in town. Much of the email code couldn't be open sourced because I don't think Netscape had full rights to the code.

Next challenge: FirefoxOS phones

[twasserman]

I use Thunderbird, but there's not much to be done there, and Mozilla has already put it on the "back burner". But I think that the challenge of FirefoxOS is much more interesting. I have a Flame phone running a prerelease of FirefoxOS 2.0, and it's pretty nice and very inexpensive compared to some other devices out there. I use it regularly when I travel internationally and need a local SIM chip. The FirefoxOS team is working with carriers around the world, almost entirely in developing countries, where the price of an iPhone or Galaxy S 5 is too high for the mass market. But even in relatively rich countries like the US, there is a sizeable population for whom those phones are too expensive. I think that the FirefoxOS phone is a great starter phone for kids, since it's cheap enough to replace when it gets damaged.

Unlike some other mobile operating systems, FirefoxOS is completely open and uses HTML5 to deliver content. BlackBerry and Windows Phone each have small market shares, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. So we mostly have only two choices of mobile OS. Don't get me wrong: I very much like my Android phone (Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) and my iPad, but I think that it's a worthwhile challenge to contribute to the FirefoxOS platform and/or to build apps for it.

Re:It succeeded alright

[BarbaraHudson]

I switched to Chrome a month ago when Firefox began logging me out on certain subdomains. Then Chrome crapped itself on a silent update as I put my machine to sleep. The error log makes it clear what happened, but after 2 install attempts (one of which worked until I closed the browser), time to try something completely different. So guess who's surprised that the latest IE actually works okay? Never thought I'd see the day.

So now I use a combination of IE and Firefox. And I have Firefox loaded on my phone as well as Chrome.

Why didn't I try Opera instead? I would have, but it failed to install. C'est la vie.

Firefox users: 86% sad, 14% happy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the user feedback about Firefox to see the real picture.

Right now, for the last week, 86% of the 10,000-plus reports are "sad". Only 14% are "happy".

That feedback shows exactly why Firefox's usage is dropping: people hate it, they hate what Mozilla has done to it, and they hate how Mozilla refuses to fix the many problems plaguing Firefox.

A 14% approval rating is shameful, even when it comes to people, companies and products that are generally despised.

A 2% failure rate is deemed unacceptable in most fields. An 86% failure rate is unbelievably terrible, yet that's exactly what Mozilla has "achieved" with Firefox.

Here is what I *HOPE* is next

[markdavis]

>"Firefox Succeeded In Its Goal -- But What's Next?"

Here is what I *HOPE* is next:

1) Stop trying to be and look like Chrome. Just stop.

2) Stop trying to force users to not have tabs on bottom, having a menu bar, having separate buttons, etc. Let users control their user interface how they want.

3) Remove all that developer stuff that 99.99% of users don't use or care about and put it in an addon.

4) Remove all that chat and conferencing stuff that 99% of users don't care about and put that also in an addon.

5) Focus on speed, security, stability, bug-fixing, and documentation. You don't have to be a feature-of-the-month club.

6) Continue to support as many platforms and systems as possible, including old ones.

Oh- and thank you for all the hard work that went into Firefox- the browser of my choice (and that for my users, family, and friends) for the last decade.

Re:Here is what I *HOPE* is next

[markdavis]

>Also, don't crash constantly.

Hmm, Linux Firefox almost never crashes here, and I run it for many weeks at a time with many dozens of tabs and windows open at a time.

Re:Back to FF

[Anonymous Coward]

I too would like to inspire hate for Chrome whilst praising FF.

Praise FF, freedom be thy name.

Re:Firefox Hello, Pidgin

[CronoCloud]

Pidgin desperately needs help, as it hasn't successfully had an easy-to-use voice (let alone video) capability.

And it's never going to....now.

The plan was to add voice/video support to pidgin, but then some console dwelling neckbeards took over development. They freely admitted that they didn't use the graphical client or non-XMPP protocols so those wouldn't get much work done on them. They were the ones whose basic philosophy was: "who needs voice and video? Running finch (text mode pidgin) in screen/emacs is good enough for anyone"

They're the jerks who changed perfectly good UI like the terms login/logout to enable/disable.

To break the monopoly of Chrome

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Chrome does not have a no script equivalent. Just yesterday I was so pissed off by a slashdot story with an autoplaying video. It uses html5 tags, and it is played natively by chrome. It is not a plug in. It is not stopped by typical flash block. etc. Back to Firefox for slashdot now. Pretty soon all advertiser will realize the value of unblockable videos in Chrome. It is just a matter of time the Chrome user experience will be degraded so much, people will flock back to Firefox.

Firefox is our weapon to tame misbehaving behemoths. Be it Microsoft. Be it Google. Be it Apple.