Firefox… I Want My Browser Back
Firefox… I Want My Browser Back
It’s funny how times change. This time 10 years ago, Firefox was riding on a slow and steady wave set on usurping Internet Explorer from its all-encompassing throne. The defending champion had already been working on pushing popular features from Firefox, such as tabs, in order to try and stem the flow… But it felt like they were trying to fight the inevitable.
10 years on, and now it is Firefox playing catch-up with Chrome’s users.
I am writing this from the perspective of a person who has always keenly supported and used Open Source software; tending to favour Firefox over Chrome because of what Mozilla stood for as a company. A person who is now looking for a preferred browser to take up web/extension design with… A person who has the choice between Chrome’s well established extension system, or yet another new-fangled attempt by Firefox to act more and more like Chrome (only to find out Firefox will likely support Chrome extensions anyway in the next year).
It all started going wrong within the first month of Chrome’s release. Here was a browser that was quick, sexy, and wouldn’t break down regardless of how many extensions you had installed. The turbo-charged sportscar that was Chrome easily outran the struggling old bangers IE and Firefox offered. And not just on paper (like most of todays benchmarks), but actually in use. I started this paragraph saying it all started going wrong, but really I think this was the golden age; within a year, Firefox jumped back into the ring off Chrome’s back, along with Firefox 3. And they were launching a range of new projects (such as the forgotten Prism) to boot.
But, the doomsday clock was set. The elephant in the room was Mozilla’s funding, millions of which largely came from making Google the default search engine. But Google would have little incentive to pay such a premium with their browser already competing with usage share. 2008–2010 marked the best opportunity to stay relevant and keep usage share high.
And unfortunately, to bring us to the present, the battle was lost among the corpses of brilliant dreams. The previously mentioned Prism; Sunbird, Xulrunner (and all its third-party spin-offs/collateral damage… e.g. Instantbird, Songbird), Firefox OS, Web Apps, SDK Add-ons, Tab Groups. Brilliant ideas that went nowhere, such as the Matchstick (remember that? A competitor to Chromecast). Matchstick I single out in particular… Mozilla should have leapt on that before they decided to cancel the project. It was the one thing that I was really hyped to see. Firefox OS on a stick? Even more so.
Here is the thing: I have been a Firefox evangelist all of my adult life. Even when I flirted with the younger, leaner Chrome, I always ended up going back to Firefox. Not only did it have its culture, it made a point of telling you Firefox was your browser, in all senses of the word. You could change any element of it. It was a browser run by a non-profit, indeed a non-profit you could help promote and even contribute to. The code was open source. Chrome may have become a swiss army knife, but Firefox was the binoculars; the rucksack; the lunchbox; even the kitchen sink.
Yet a number of developers I grew up with through the extensions they created for the browser have given up any hope. Mozilla has constantly shifted the goal posts in the belief they need to stay relevant to Chrome users, it seems. Come August, all we will be able to customise is a stripped down subset of interface and APIs.
Well, there is another element. It seems it is becoming increasingly difficult for the developers to keep delivering a bug-free Firefox. Times are changing, yet they are still sticking plasters over code that could be up to two decades old. And, whilst I respect that, they seemed to only be focused on Chrome users and not enough on the users they will lose when WebExtensions are enforced. In my view, new APIs shouldn’t be forced onto extension developers (and by definition users) unless they completely replicate features we are set to lose in previous versions.
This focus on “web safety”, cocooning users… Whilst it’s admirable, it misses the point completely. Now to reverse the supercar metaphor slightly… You don’t buy a Formula 1 car for its usability. You buy it because of how much you can modify it to the needs of a particular race, a particular objective. I can imagine it isn’t particularly road-worthy without constant garage changes, and that it burns through fuel like a forest fire. If we want a Ford or a Prius, that is what we will buy instead.
And although that was a pretty blunt metaphor (Firefox is the fastest and easiest to use it has ever been… Maybe even faster than Chrome), the point still stands that many people see Firefox as the trusty, specialist tool no other browser can deliver. Chrome users are already served by Chrome.
And by alienating its core base, Firefox will end up being the browser no-one wants, along with a massive gap in the market.
I want my browser back.