Linux

The lack of Google/Microsoft enshittification is a huge draw.

Not chromium based. I think it's important to have alternatives to chromium-based browsers and Google's monopoly.

If Firefox vanishes, I'll use Epiphany instead.

A lot of false equivocating has been made regarding Mozilla and actual surveillance capitalism firms like Google and Microsoft. Mozilla remains, in my mind, the least of all evils with an organization capable of supporting a modern web browser as well as other projects.

Because it's not controlled by the same company that also controls my smartphone OS, my internet search engine, the videos I watch ...

And it works pretty alright.

Because it's better.

Because it's open source.

Because it's not based on Chromium and competition is good.

And also because TabStash.

I remember when Netscape was abandoned and open-sourced as Mozilla, and it was huge and bloated as slow as hell. And out of that came a project to just pull out the browser part of Mozilla and make it super fast and as portable. I remember a series of early alphas, and even the name went through a few evolutions. First it was called Phoenix, then Firebird, briefly, until they realised Firebird was taken and changed it to Firefox. It had this shiny new Gecko rendering engine and its only rival was IE...5?

When I started my first dev job in 2006, Firefox was far and away the best browser to use because it had an extension that no other browser could match: Firebug. Firebug was the precursor to the standard F12 devtools that every browser now has and it was life-changing if you were a web developer. (Try imagine doing your job without it now.)

Then Chrome arrived and it was shiny and W3C compliant (yay!) and you could pull a tab off into a separate window (wow!) and every tab ran as a separate process (neat!) and Google wouldn't be evil for at least another decade. Back then, FF had memory leak problems and that drove a lot of us away.

And then Chrome pulled this ad surveillance shit and I was fucking out. I'm so glad that FF is still here.

I let myself be fully engulfed by the Google/Chrome/Android continuum and it's only recently that I realised just how much of myself I gave away and, while my personal data has long since been propagated to a million servers, I'd still like to try keep some of myself to myself.

My back hurts.

I use Firefox because I can use the full version of UBlock Origin, and UBlock Origin also works on the mobile browser.

I also make heavy use of the extension Multi-Account Containers for signing in with different accounts for the same service at once.

Lastly, I prefer the UI for Firefox over anything else.

Because I have no other viable option.

It's the only truly free choice for a browser.

I've been using it for 20-ish years and there's never been a major reason to switch, and all the alternatives seem worse.

Also, it's all that stands between Google and the free web at this point.

Because its not chrome and has good extension support (I actually use librewolf)

Because the options are firefox, chrome, or chrome in a moustache and glasses

All of which I use because X thing doesn't work on Y browser

Do any other browsers exist?

Firefox had the best reader view of any browser and looks great in both mobile and desktop.

Also, uBlock

Because it's what my father installed and set as default on all PCs. By the point I had my own and could have made the decision myself, I was just so used to it that I didn't wanna switch.

The ideological conviction came later.

Because IE sucked, Netscape was dead, and I was a contrarian little 20 year old who downloaded this new weird shit called "Firebird" to be different from everyone else which then turned into Firefox and then I just kinda kept using it. But I had tabbed browsing like five years before everyone else thought it was cool.

Cause there is no alternative. Google can take my fiery fox from my cold dead hands.

Cause it’s the only non chromium browser left

1. Because of FoxyGestures, I can't find a good replacement for this on Chromium based browsers.

2. Because of uBlock Origin, Firefox has the full version, on mobile too.

3. Because Google Chrome can scan my files system for “malware” and improving their ad data, in other words their spying goes too far.

4. Because of the customisability of the UI.

5. Because I can tweak every variable (visit about:config)

6. Because if you turn telemetry off, it's actually off, Google lies about that.

7. Because Google's market share is so big, that they have the guts to try and DRM the entire Internet for their browser, no company should have that much power.

Because it's the successor to netscape, and I never felt the need to change browsers. Glad I didn't.

FOSS Not-Chromium based Ublock origin Sane Ctrl+tab

Cause fuck Manifest V3

userChrome.css, vertical tabs, better integration with the host system than Vivaldi or Edge, and support for fling scrolling that's not insanely fast on touchpads.

I've used Chrome since the beginning and moved from Firefox. I've been happy. I'd still be happy but now I'm back on Firefox because of Google's intentions. It's led me to start to move away from Google as a whole. Moved my emails and search to DuckDuckGo.

It's going to be hard to move away from other services. Maps and YouTube for example.

When I realized the trickster fox is somehow more trustworthy than the rest. Also ad blockers.

Edit. Tab based containers has also been pretty cool.

It's a combination of FireFox being the least shit and the most functional option, really. Still kind of shit by default, so I go for Librewolf. Also I've been using it since Firebird.

Overall the browser market is depressing.

Because Netscape Navigator died.

There are two browsers with sync, and one of them syncs with Google.

Because it just works

Because I've been using it since the Windows 7 days and Chrome never gave me a good reason to switch.

Recent events have only solidified my choice.

Supporting open-source digital environment and resist to big corporate's monopoly.

A major reason for me is manifest v3 and other shenanigans designed to neuter ad blockers. Secondary to that is promoting web renderer diversity - as a web dev I don't want to go back to the days where we could only afford to cater to one engine - chromium / blink in this case.

Because it's NOT Google and Firefox not embracing WebBundles or the “Web Integrity API” standard from Google. Google want to INTRODUCE DRM on the web.
And just recently YouTube (==Google) now also have very strict medical policy, so it can only follow the WHO guidelines. Google is evil, look out. Even Dr. Eric Berg is getting censored. Look out people.

because Mozilla is not trying to mold the entire internet into an advertising platform.

I have a Firefox tattoo on my penis and all my friends will think I'm a liar if i use Chrome.

Extensions. AdBlock for Phoenix was a killer feature.

I've been using Firefox since 2002 when it first became available, at that point it was called Mozilla. It's definitely the browser that I've used the most in about 25 years of browsing the Internet from home. Firefox has a great native Linux version and seems to be widely promoted by most distros. Since switching to Linux seven years ago I also started using Chromium (not to be confused with Chrome) and Opera, both of which also have great native Linux versions.

Been using it since forever, no reasons to switch. It works. Got a bit upset at them when they killed xul/pentadactyl though.

I only use it so that I can watch DRM content (Udemy, HBO, etc)

I use it since I know computers and it's better for Adblockimg than Chromium based browsers nowdays.

Many reasons. Many of which is down to how Google as a company is reaching between the proverbial couch cushions to get at the loose change to make a profit. Default opt-in tracking, breaking ad-blockers, and probably more which I forgot about since I abandoned Chrome years ago.

Because Chromium and its derivatives suck. Is it really too much to ask for a traditional menu bar rather than a stupid hamburger menu?

Lack of alternatives...