this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Chromium has better features, but with google announcing its plan to 'drm the internet' I 'm not sure if it'd be a good idea.

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[–] simple@lemm.ee 161 points 1 year ago (15 children)

What better features? Firefox has pretty much everything nowadays, and is as fast as Chrome.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 93 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

From the comments I'm noticing a trend

  • Google Chromecast issues
  • Not allowed to do background effects in Google meet

and from personal experience:

  • issues using the store to update add-ons on Google docs
  • can't authenticate desktop Google drive

I use a lot of Google products, but avoid Chrome because of nonsense like this. Firefox works fine for everything else EXCEPT certain Google products. Feels intentional

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 83 points 1 year ago (1 children)

100% intentional. If you spoof your browser signature most work just fine

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Same with Edge and Microsoft with their Bing bullshit. Big anticonsumer bullies and they wonder why their online share is stuck.

[–] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Google Meet background effects actually work in Firefox if you spoof Firefox user agent to Chrome, I kid you not.

[–] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

It should work soon without it. Google is just being google and takes its time to fix the problem they created in the first place.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1703668#c66

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[–] metaStatic@kbin.social 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is exactly why companies spend money on marketing, people remember these ideas and internalize them as their justification long after it stops being true. And Chrome being fast hasn't been true for a long time.

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[–] quantum_mechanic@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It doesn't have translations. I use it anyway, but it's a minor inconvenience as I live in a foreign country.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Translations might be coming soon

https://9to5linux.com/firefox-118-enters-beta-testing-with-the-built-in-translation-feature-for-websites

Done locally on the device, so no risk of personal info going to some company

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[–] lonke@feddit.nu 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Native procedural dark mode, Developer CSS Overview, browser extension file access.

I use Firefox exclusively except for when the second one is useful. I really wish Firefox had those three though.

[–] GeekFTW@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Chromium browsers have only 1 feature I need: access to the Chromecast API. I have 3, Firefox can't connect to them and the last 2-3 times I tried the listed 3rd party methods (fx bridge, etc), I could never get it to work.

Were it not for that, I'd be back on Firefox.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago (5 children)

That's part of why I avoided getting new Chromecast devices 😄

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[–] sab@lemmy.world 96 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I'll give you one reason where Firefox blows chrome out of the water: multi account containers:

Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple accounts

That way you can seamlessly have multiple accounts for a specific site open side by side (for example, your work and your personal mail with the same mail provider). Especially amazing if you're an IT contractor who works for multiple clients.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah it is also good for a bit more privacy on the internet. I have separate containers for Amazon websites, Google, banking etc. Even more powerful tool if you pair it up with a VPN - can have different VPN locations on each container so break up attempts at tracking and profiling you across the web.

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[–] pretzelise@mlem.me 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is one feature I literally can't do my job without. Used to have 3 separate browsers installed + opened at the same time for all my various Azure accounts till FF saved the day!

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[–] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 10 points 1 year ago

Hi fellow IT contractor, thanks for sharing! That is awesome. Just installed and works like a charm. I was using Chrome profiles for this, but having all in one window is much easier.

[–] TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

As an employee of an MSP, Firefox containers are a lifesaver. No more incognito mode every time I need to check another client's Office 365!

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[–] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 60 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 year ago

All day every day

[–] haywire7@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (14 children)

I've been using Firefox at home for as long as I can remember. I've not found anything I can't do with it yet.

If something doesn't work you can always try it in edge of something either way.

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[–] Gerula@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago

Firefox! This is the way!

[–] TrivialBetaState@sopuli.xyz 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing. But since you are tech-savy enough to be in the fediverse, I'd recommend firefox without a second thought.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I generally install chrome to people who have no idea what they are doing.

Why? It's not like Firefox is more complicated for the end user than Chrome.

[–] TrivialBetaState@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

True. However, when something goes wrong with an ignorant person's machine, they are quick to blame it on the "unconventional" choice someone else made.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 points 1 year ago

Fair. I might do the same now, because that is such a good point.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Good point. No one knows what a Mozilla is, but if you say it's Google’s problem everyone shuts up.

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[–] Veraxus@kbin.social 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Do not use any Chromium based browser. Full stop.

  • If you are on Mac, I recommend Orion (Webkit based, but Mac only ATM).
  • For every other platform, including Linux, Firefox.

Honestly, Google has gotten so aggressively evil I'd strongly recommend cutting yourself off from all their products entirely. Consider Kagi instead of Google search and Proton instead of GMail. Other offerings also have alternatives that won't spy on you, steal your information, or treat you like both a criminal and a product instead of a customer.

[–] AVengefulAxolotl@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At first i was hesitant with kagi, like: Why would i pay for a search engine? Then i realized, on the others i am the product anyway, so privacy vs little bit of money. So i am a kagi user now! At the same time, kagi will keep getting better and better (just checked their blogs how much they upgraded in a year.)

TL;DR: Anone who sees this, give kagi search a try!

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[–] yoz@aussie.zone 23 points 1 year ago
[–] teranex@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago
[–] takeda@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago

If you want to have choice in the future you should go with Firefox. Google is close to (or maybe already did) make Chrome equivalent of the Internet Explorer.

The better thing to what was with IE is that majority of websites still work fine in Firefox and people who stick to Chrome just do due to mostly ignorance.

[–] Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Firefox with containers for day to day use. Chrome for google docs. Safari for sites where I don't want to have to go through the login process every time I open a page.

[–] owiseedoubleyou@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Firefox if you take the time to harden it. You can also use librewolf which is hardened OOTB.

I only find Chromium useful for very browser-intensive things like browser games

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[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I went to Firefox as soon as manifest v3 got announced, rather do it sooner rather than later.

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Firefox is a much better choice than most other browsers

[–] RobbieGM@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago

If you need to use a chromium based browser, I recommend Eloston's ungoogled-chromium

[–] Aatube@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Unless you really like things like CSS Overview and Sleeping Tabs and the intuitive extension bar you should switch to Firefox. It has container tabs and is a lot more resource efficient.

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[–] Srootus@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Honestly, its personal preference, there's different forks of each, base Firefox is good, if you want a more private fork try Fennec or Mull. With chromium the only two ive heard good privacy things about is Brave and Cromite (a fork of Bromite, a project that looks like it got discontinued as there hasn't been an update since last December). Honestly try both and see which you prefer.

Sorry, I just assumed you were asking about android specific apps. For Apple, Safari is decently private, Apples strong suit is that everyone knows Apple hate sharing things, so while you can't be sure about how much apple collects, you know they're not giving data to 3rd parties. For computer I'd say base Firefox, (or Librewolf if your okay with the lack of auto updating) or Brave.

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