this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 123 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Amen, fellow Lemming. It feels good to pull away from an enshittified corporate staple and adopt something that isn't trying to consume your soul.

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago

Because it's better.

Because it's open source.

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

And also because TabStash.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago

Not chromium and Mozilla Foundation

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

It's the only other option

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Because I have no other viable option.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Because Chrome is unfiltered corpo shit and Brave is owned and operated by right-wing assholes peddling cryptocurrency.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

This. Also, I don't want to use a chromium-based browser, because it will give google enought control to force bullshit like WEI

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Ad blockers actually work with it and youtube links don't get auto forwarded to the shitty app.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Do any other browsers exist?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago
  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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

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

Also, uBlock

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

FOSS Not-Chromium based Ublock origin Sane Ctrl+tab

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Cause it’s the only non chromium browser left

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Because the fire, and the fox

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Because I can't use Netscape anymore

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (7 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Because Netscape Navigator died.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Because it just works

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Great privacy (especially with addons), no chromium, ublock on mobile

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Cause fuck Manifest V3

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

The logo is cool. Also it is not driven by Google which is a web company and a browser developer at the same, thats dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It's not chrome / chrome-based. We need to have any choice. As Chrome is very, very loved by corporations, and Firefox hated... it means that for personal use it's the best browser available.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Lack of alternatives...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Extensions. AdBlock for Phoenix was a killer feature.

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