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Slashdot Asks: Have You Switched To Firefox 57?

Posted by BeauHD on from the flip-of-a-switch dept.

Yesterday, Mozilla launched Firefox 57 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. It brings massive performance improvements as it incorporates the company's next-generation browser engine called Project Quantum; it also features a visual redesign and support for extensions built using the WebExtension API. Have you used Firefox's new browser? Does it offer enough to make you switch from your tried-and-true browser of choice? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

7 of 589 comments (clear)

  1. Nope by plover · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not until I can block everything that leaks out, like I do with NoScript today. I don't know when that might be, but if it isn't soon, I'll have to switch to Pale Moon.

    Privacy and script blocking are far more important to me than speed or stability.

    --
    John
  2. Re:Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    uBlock Origin, Duck Duck Go Plus, Privacy Badger, HTTPS Everywhere, No Coin, Decentraleyes, Smart Referer, Link Cleaner. NoScript coming back Very Soon Now(TM). What else do you need?

  3. Re:Yes by Barny · · Score: 5, Informative

    Exactly.

    Further:
    DownThemAll
    PasslFox - the big showstopper for me
    NoScript - "but it will be out later today!" only works for so long
    Custom Tab Width
    (there are others, but those amount to what has already been mentioned)

    Until I can avoid productivity loss due to "yet another UI redesign syndrome" that Mozilla seems completely focused on imposing every other release, I will stay on FF 56.02

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
  4. Re:Nope, switched to chrome by theweatherelectric · · Score: 5, Informative

    give in and switch to the path of least resistance

    Which is.. to keep using Firefox? Firefox's WebExtensions API offers more than Chrome's does (see the browser comparison tables). The claims that Firefox is a "Chrome clone" are silly.

    uBlock Origin works better in Firefox 57 than possible in Chrome (gorhill is the developer of uBlock Origin). Firefox's webRequest API was extended for NoScript's use (and it will use it when it gets released in a couple of days).

  5. Re:Loaded question by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Luddites had very good reasons to hate the industrialization that threatened their culture, economy, and way of life. Their opponents were brutal and made inferior textiles with a high human cost. The Luddite rebellion failed, and the horrible treatment of textile workers has continued pretty much unabated to this very day. It's a silly thing to trot out when "progress" has more steps back than forward.

    Firefox 57 fixed problems I didn't have and took away things I've used for years. 56 worked well on everything from my i7 gaming rig to my ancient Pentium laptop that shipped with vista and 2 gigs of ram. I kind of wonder if this "57 is fast" stuff is a bunch of benchmark fluff, but it could be I'm just insensitive to browser latency. Stability, now that has been a very real problem in the past. Stability was also flawless on all my machines in 56.

    If 57 is delightful for you, cool. Me, I lost extensions that've been part of my daily life, I gained nothing, and I think that's a perfectly damn fine reason to be annoyed with it. Not to mention all the extension developers who got shafted. Feh, Luddite indeed.

    In Firefox's favor though, Fakespot on Chrome costs 2 dollars a month for a glorified link opener. What the frak?

  6. Re:Yes by PixetaledPikachu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Below someone complained about the placement of the reload button.

    What button do you use on the UI that doesn't have a keyboard shortcut to do the same thing faster?

    I took everything out of the toolbar, turned on menus and now you can get to anything from the keyboard.

    Even so, all he have to is just open customize mode and drag the reload button to wherever he wants it to be, which is what I actually did, because I like it to be on the right side of the address bar

  7. READ FIREFOX'S PRIVACY POLICY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mark Davis, before you make an asinine claim about Firefox like:

    3) Contains no Googleisms and Google tracking

    you should read Firefox's privacy policy!

    That way you'd see that it contains stuff like (emphasis added):

    Location data to Google's geolocation service: Firefox always asks before determining and sharing your location with a requesting website (for example, if a map website needs your location to provide directions). To determine location, Firefox may use your operating system’s geolocation features, Wi-fi networks, cell phone towers, or IP address, and may send this data to Google's geolocation service, which has its own privacy policy.

    and

    Webpage and technical data to Google’s SafeBrowsing service: To help protect you from malicious downloads, Firefox sends basic information about unrecognized downloads to Google's SafeBrowsing Service, including the filename and the URL it was downloaded from.

    and

    On iOS and Android: Firefox by default sends mobile campaign data to Adjust, our analytics vendor, which has its own privacy policy. Mobile campaign data includes a Google advertising ID, ...

    So don't give us this bullshit about Firefox not containing "Googleisms and Google tracking". Firefox very clearly does use at least two Google services, and using these services involves sending data to Google. And this "Google advertising ID" is clearly an example of a "Googleism" that has found its way into Firefox.

    Anyone who claims that Firefox cares about its users' privacy is full of bullshit.

    Given how Firefox uses services provided by Google, I don't consider it any better than Chrome. In fact, it may be worse, because clearly some people like you have been fooled into wrongly thinking that Firefox is free from "Googleisms and Google tracking".