1y ago

Nice try Google

AssholeDesign @lemmy.world

Nice try Google

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So I've heard good and bad things about Firefox in this thread. The bad things being mainly the performance, and some sites just don't load...
So my question to you is, If I'm comfortably browsing on Brave with uBlock on, is it really worth the switch right now?
- You're posting on Lemmy and you joined seven days ago, so it's a safe bet that you have some opinions about Reddit. So I'll put it this way: if you have a problem with the way Reddit concentrates power in the hands of u/Spez and want to support alternatives because of that, then you should also have a similar problem with how Chromium-based browsers concentrate power in the hands of Google and reject Brave in favor of Firefox.
  
  That makes a lot of sense. However, what if I said that Brave hasn't done anything to piss me off?
- Firefox had some issues like a decade ago on their old engine. In the past few years, they seriously stepped up their game.
  If you're a normal user, you probably won't even notice the difference between Firefox and Chomium-based browsers. Sometimes I come across a weird website that doesn't want to load properly, so I'll open a Chrome tab for a few minutes to access it, but that's increasingly rare.
  For web development, I generally prefer Chome's debug tools, but do all my normal browsing with Firefox.
  
  Yeah, I am a normal user, I don't do web development or anything like that so I'll probably hold off on a decision until the new manifest. Thanks for your input. :)
- To me, the answer will always be "containers". Firefox containers were a game changer and I can never go back.
  
  Brave does something similar to containers. It let's you sort tabs into what are essentially folders. I really like it actually.
- The founder of Brave had previously been fired from Mozilla due to his homophobia. Firefox is the more ethical choice.
  But it's also perfectly fine for most web browsing, and is the only web browser I've seen with extensions like ublock available on mobile.
  
  The founder of Brave had previously been fired from Mozilla due to his homophobia. Firefox is the more ethical choice.
  He also inflicted Javascript upon the world, which is... well, I almost want to say "even worse" but I don't want to make light of homophobia, so I guess I'll go with "also absolutely reprehensible."
  
  I get that something like that might sway some people, and more power to you if you don't want to in any way support people like that. But It isn't going to affect me personally. I'm the type to separate the art from the artist, ya know? Plus there's more people making Brave than just that one person, so like. I dunno, this doesn't really affect my decision in the long run. I guess I'll just wait and see when the new manifest happens, thanks for your input though!
- Performance wise widely depends on the site used. Some sites (notably Google ones) are notorious for implementing anti-competitive behavior, where if their website is visited other than a chromium based browser, it slows down or a functionality stops working.
  I mean its the whole reason why Microsoft switch from Edge Edge HTML to Edge Chromium/Blink.
  The only good reason right now if you want to stick with Chromium based browsers such as Brave is you're heavily into browser based games as currently Chromium (and it's older brother, webkit) are the ones that have the best webgl performance, Firefox can do it but not as fast as Chromium and performance impact is very noticeable
  
  Sometimes, simply changing the user agent string to that of Chrome is enough to make a site work again. For example Street View lags on Firefox, except when identifying as Chrome.
  
  Some sites (notably Google ones) are notorious for implementing anti-competitive behavior, where if their website is visited other than a chromium based browser, it slows down or a functionality stops working.
  I assume you're referring to Google meet (and the screen blur functionally), this is an open issue in Firefox for years, Google is using open standards to implement that, it's an issue in Firefox with how deadlocks work which is an extremely low level part of the browser. So it's not an easy solve.
  There's a lot to complain about with Google, but this one isn't their fault. They use non-proprietary implementations and it's not their fault that Firefox will crash if they allowed Firefox users to use screen blur, the issue isn't a high priority for Mozilla.
  
  Nah, what I am referring to is Youtube. See here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/mozilla-exec-says-google-slowed-youtube-down-on-non-chrome-browsers/
  This isnt the only one too, there is this: https://www.ghacks.net/2019/05/28/googles-blocking-new-microsoft-edge-from-accessing-new-design/ or this one https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/19/18148736/google-youtube-microsoft-edge-intern-claims
- Yes. Brave is based on Chromium, which has some limitations on things which can be filtered. If you truly care about your privacy, use Firefox, or a further-privacy focused Firefox variant such as LibreWolf. The so called performance issues of Firefox are greatly exaggerated, realistically you won't be able to notice any difference.
  
  Thanks for letting me know, I'll check it out. Though, I do get kinda skeptical when companies announce that their privacy focused, there's usually some sort of ulterior motive at work.
  
  Brave constantly shoves crypto crap in your face and tries to monetize your web browsing experience. It's awful.
  Other than Firefox, you have Vivaldi and also other Chrome alternatives like Chromium too. Firefox preforms plenty fast so don't let rumor or hearsay stop you from trying it either.
  
  Vivaldi is nice. They're a little aggressive in pushing their new features, but their hearts seem to be in the right place. It's run by ex-Opera people, and has a similar kind of feel to how Opera used to be when it was the #3 browser. It does still use the Chromium engine though.
- The performance bit is a lottery. Some people won't notice any significant difference from chrome. A few will have severe issues. For most the slowdown will be circumstantial or won't even notice.
  Sites that don't load properly are few and far between. Mostly poor web developers who are doing something undocumented or applying outdated practices. Often is just targeting some behavior that works on Chrome but is not standard. Firing up Brave to open the odd page once in a blue moon is not too extreme to ask. Specially since it's the result of Google's influence on the W3C standards and forcing their way upon others.
  Brave iscool and all. But everytime I open it I fear it's going to backdoor a cryptominer into my machine. It just gives that vibe.
  
  But everytime I open it I fear it's going to backdoor a cryptominer into my machine. It just gives that vibe.
  I know right?? I know my data's going to get stolen one way or another, but Brave made me feel like I could potentially lose more than that.
  Been trying out Edge and I got to say I'm pretty spoiled by having Bing chat on the sidebar as my coding assistance, except it's becoming more temperamental lately, refusing to answer simple questions and flipping me off by saying things like "I don't want to talk about this anymore" before terminating the chat.
  
  Hmm, I see what you're saying but in my experience I have never had anything like that happen. But I get it, it's hard to trust big corporations like the one running Brave, and chromium as a platform.
- I've been using Firefox for years now and the only issue I've had is that at work I can't download particularly large files from John Deere operations centre so I use another browser just for that. Everything else, which is literally everything as far as I'm concerned, has been a better experience for me than Chrome ever was. Also Brave uses chromium which is cringe.
  I'd say it's worth the switch as if you care about privacy, Firefox just has more tools available to this end
  
  Yeah, I'll definitely think about it web privacy is something I think about when I'm browsing so this is a big factor in my decision making. Though I've used Brave thus far, so may as well stick with it till chromium kills extensions.
  On a side note, is setting up Firefox for privacy focused browsing difficult? I've seen in the past that you have to edit user.js files and stuff. If something like that is a one time thing then I'll probably think about switching, but if it's something I have to keep up with then I dunno.

191 comments