@Gargron Firefox imo is still great, provided you choose a fork that removes the things you don't want or need. Librewolf's been my daily driver for years and it works great.

LibreWolf Browser

A custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom.

(librewolf.net)

@Gargron I keep it even simpler than this. I use the browser that uBlock devs recommend. And it's been Firefox every time.

@teohhanhui @Gargron The last straw for me was when Mozilla started building in infrastructure into Firefox to allow them to serve us users their ads rather than Google's et al.

Now we hear that Firefox is going to be a modern AI browser.

Some of Vivaldi must be open source but even if none of it is at least they have stated clearly that Vivaldi development does not include adding AI features.

Closed source + no AI vs FOSS + AI.

We all have to make our own choices in the end.

@Gargron I cannot really compare as I use Vivaldi as my primary browser with lots of tabs left open.

I use LibreWolf differently normally in private browsing mode for searches, route planning or reading the news.

Especially where a website makes you choose between accepting tracking or logging in.

I have other browsers installed for single uses - Chromium for Wire IM and nothing else.

I have noticed that the Helium browser (not using Helium services) feels much faster than Chromium.

@Gargron Huh. I open a bunch of tabs first thing each morning (like 90+ in one window and some fewer in another) and Vivaldi is MUCH faster than FF ever was.

@the_wub @Gargron The ads in Firefox can be turned off. The AI features can also be turned off. Yes, it's annoying that they're focused on such things that do not benefit the user whatsoever, but Firefox is still the best way to help fight the Chromium / Blink monopoly.

@Gargron I can't daily drive a Chromium browser; it feels weird. I have custom user.js and policies files for Firefox. When I place both in the right directories, I don't need to change a thing in the settings.

dotfiles/browser/firefox at main · fahim-ahmed05/dotfiles

My personal config files. Contribute to fahim-ahmed05/dotfiles development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub (github.com)

@transicorn @Gargron You can use vanilla Firefox. You just need to put in some time to make a user.js with your settings. After that, you can just use that user.js and won't need to tinker with Firefox settings.

@teohhanhui @the_wub @Gargron yes, the AI stuff in Firefox basically does not exist in forks like LibreWolf.

@fahim_ahmed @Gargron Or, use a fork if you're like most users and don't either have the time or want to put it in to do something already done ootb that continues to update accordingly as Mozilla adds more things you don't want... unlike your user.js.

If you want more control over your config... there's certainly that option as well.

LibreWolf Browser

A custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom.

(librewolf.net)

@teohhanhui @Gargron If there was a single button to permanently* disable the ad infrastructure then I would use it.

If there was a single button to permanently* disable all AI features I would use it.

And so on for other "features".

Using about:config to change the state of a list of switches to ensure that all AI is turned off, switches that may, at some point in the future be removed from about:config is not going to make me want to be a FireFox user again.

*as in disabled for evermore.

@transicorn @Gargron From my experience, Mozilla doesn't change that much from update to update. I haven't messed with the user.js file to disable anything major other than the AI stuff. I sometimes edit it to enable a new feature that is disabled by default.

Librewolf's default config is too aggressive, and I need to change too many things to make it usable for normal web browsing. It's not worth the hassle for me, and there's a delay in updates.

@transicorn @Gargron I think Waterfox is in a sweet spot between vanilla Firefox and Librewolf.

Having a customized user.js ensures that when you reinstall Firefox, you don't need to touch the settings page.

@Gargron such a shame Firefox stopped being a real alternative. It has a better core, but they are just afraid doing it differently than Chrome for some reason

@Gargron it’s Firefox’s lack of modern standard support and worse dev tools that keep me away

@chemicalheadset You can't be for real, Firefox dev tools are far more extensive than what Chrome offers.

@Gargron chromium ones have nice integration with vscode and a set of matching keyboard shortcuts. Plus I really like the profiler, but this is all just preference I suppose.

@Gargron Although Brave is based on Chrome, it is a completely different browser. By default, it blocks ads and much more, and it doesn't lag even with 100 tabs open. You just have to try it. And in addition, there is the Duckduckgo.com search engine.

@HerrUncle Brave being founded and lead by a massive homophobe is a deal breaker for me.

@tachan @Gargron you can also EASILY change that setting globally, so your point seems VERY misinformed, Eugen.