Farewell to Firefox
Dear Firefox,
It’s hard for me to write this, but I have to be honest.
It’s time to say goodbye.
We’ve been so close for so long. I’ve had you on all my machines. We’ve worked together and played together. You’ve always been there for me when I wanted to browse. So reliable. I’ve loved your open-source nature, your flexibility … all of your innovations.
I mean, tabbed browsing? That was brilliant. I’ll always remember that you gave me that.
And you were the IE killer. I loved that you did that.
But lately, things haven’t been the same. Maybe it started with you pushing all these new versions on me. I can see once or twice a year, but every week?
Then it was like our relationship ground to a halt. Everything slowed down – my email, my apps – I couldn’t even type without a lag. I hate to be harsh, but I checked my activity monitor, and you were using 106% of my CPU.
I can’t work that way anymore.
Firefox, I’m sorry, but I’ve switched to Chrome. I hate to admit it, but I’ve been like three times more productive since. And I can’t go back.
Firefox, I’ve loved you for so long. Please believe that I’ll never forget you.
Good luck,
Ian
While I agree with the sentiment, I have a few counterpoints for you…
First, I just checked, and in 2011 Firefox has gone from version 3.6 to version 9. That’s 6 major version changes, which is incredible until you realize that Google Chrome has gone from version 8 to version 17 in the same time period (1/1/2011 to present). Thats 9 major version changes. That’s more than Firefox. The difference is that unlike Firefox which will ask you if you want the upgrade or not and then do it if you decide you do, Chrome just upgrades itself. No questions. In many ways this no questions approach mirrors another of your favorite products, Apple, so I can see why you’d like it. Personally, I like choices. I like deciding what’s best for me right now. But I can understand why some folks prefer to have choices made for them.
I definately understand the lag issue, but I frequently have to use someone else’s machine, and they only have Internet Explorer for one reason or another. And IE positively CRAWLS as opposed to Firefox. So when I go to Firefox, it’s a breath of fresh air for me. Chrome flies too, often faster than Firefox. My only reason for sticking with Firefox has been the extensions, but I just checked and it appears that Chrome may have caught up. All my extensions are now available there. So I’m going to give it a try.
I’m not sure if the CPU usage issue you’re having is an Apple thing or not. I just checked and I have 2 downloads going and about 10 tabs open. From a processor usage perspective, Firefox is using 3% of my CPU. It’s using 4% of my available memory. And I’ve had it open all day. So I’m guessing it’s either an Apple problem or an Ian problem.
Historically speaking Firefox has been better for debugging my own code as I write it. Its debugger has even taught me a few things along the way, so I code cleaner. Chrome likely has the same or better tools. I’ll find out soon enough.
Overall, I agree. Firefox has gotten bloated. But I’m not convinced it’s a bad product. Yet.