Geek Browser War - Firefox vs Chrome - August 2014

I've used Chrome as my main browser for years. I switched to Opera for a while in January 2014 because it seemed that a new version of Chrome chewed up more CPU.

But Chrome does a lot of little things well that I missed in Opera, so I switched back to Chrome.

For a long time, it seemed that Firefox was too slow and clunky compared to Chrome. But I've noticed in 2014, that Firefox seems snappier. I also like Firefox's newer look.

But I still use Chrome first. I use Firefox to surf the entire web with JavaScript disabled, which makes for a much nicer experience.

Too many content-heavy sites are bogging down the world with gobs of JavaScript crap. If it serves an actual purpose that improves the user experience, then fine. But it seems that many applications of client-side JavaScript are simply done because it can be done. It looks cool. It's a horrible experience. My old laptop's CPU gets bogged down with these bloated websites.

Anyway, back to the geek war.

Choose Firefox Now, Or Later You Won't Get A Choice

That's pretty dramatic. Sounds like fear-mongering. If Firefox is truly a better browser, and I can operate as quickly and smoothly as I can with Chrome, then fine, I'll switch. I guess that I should give FF another test run.

But I'm not switching just because Firefox is open source and Chrome is not. And Firefox must be better than Opera on my laptop.

On the iPhone, I use mainly Safari, and I occasionally use Chrome. Currently, I like Safari better.

Hacker News discussion about the above article:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8185461

Some of the comments in that thread that support Firefox read like promotional ads. And somewhat silly too.

For me firefox performance is much better. I currently have 413 tabs open, use a 3 year old lenovo laptop, everything works flawless and is responsive, unlike chrome.

413 tabs open? No reason given why. I wonder if it's work-related, and if so, how is that helpful? How is that an existence?

#web - #browser - #opensource - #business