this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Because at the time I started using it, it was still Mozilla and the other alternative was Internet Explorer, the browser from Microsoft - the Evil Empire of that time - which was riddled with security holes (the whole ActiveX stuff, especially, was a complete total mess).

Later Chrome became more fashionable but to me it was already obvious that Google's "Do No Evil" slogal was complete total bollocks (plus it came out in the Snowden revelations how Google was used for civil society surveillance, plus by then they had become mainly an Ad Company with a search engine, hence anti-privacy) and I wasn't about to trust what already back then looked like the up and coming New Evil Empire with access to my computer and browsing habits.

Mind you, I did use Chrome on my Android devices, but that was because I expected the OS itself to be rigged like crazy for privacy intrusion and worse so avoiding Chrome there did very little to reduce my privacy exposure in there, though eventually I moved to Firefox there too.

[–] shrugal@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Many reasons, but the main one is being able to self-host the sync server. It's just crazy that the entire browsing history of most people on the internet is stored on Google servers, with no e2e encryption!

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[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago

It's the right balance between privacy and usability. Chrome or Edge is a no-go. Librewolf sound nice, but out of the box it's a little too private (refuses to save any state between sessions) making it too inconvenient.

[–] bouh@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

It is the only one that can hold my hundreds of tabs. It's also ooensource, but that's a bonus. Recently addblocker is a very good feature too.

I like the old icon, and Google shot itself in the foot with the anti-adblock stuff.

It has a cool logo

It’s the default browser on my computer, and it doesn’t suck, so I’m not motivated to seek an alternative.

Who's asking?

[–] LeylaLove@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

Best non-chromium browser. More customisable.

[–] PixelOfLife@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Primarily because I've been using it for much longer than Chrome has been a thing so I'm used to it. But Google's shenanigans are also a factor.

[–] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not Chromium, Extremely customizable and configurable, and add-on support on mobile, to name a few reasons.

[–] Anamana@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's a good compromise of everything I care about regarding a digital product.

[–] Maoo@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

It's the only viable browser engine that isn't chromium-based. And it's open source and very functional.

[–] god@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Containers addon. And it has bookmarks decades old. Remove both and I wouldn't care much. I'm also more familiar with it. It feels more natural due to this. I feel more comfortable on it. More at home, less scared.

[–] RalphFurley@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I like Lynx

[–] naitro@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I've been using FF for years now, probably since the quantum update. Tbh, the thing that prevented me to switch to any other browser since is the ctrl+tab functionality. I HATE cycling through tabs in any other order than by most recent tab. I didn't find a setting to change it on chrome when I was forced to use it for work, but in FF it's easily found in the settings and probably was on by default at some point as I don't recall ever changing it.

In recent years the privacy aspect and the fact that it isn't made by google have also played a role in why I've stuck with firefox. Also extension support on android, although the browser is still a bit slower than chrome on mobile.

[–] Rootiest@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I use WaterFox.

It has less tracking and more built-in privacy features than Firefox but is built on the same base

I use Fennec on mobile.

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Because the only thing it doesn't have that I miss from edge is the vertical tabs, otherwise its just better in every way that matter to me.

And before someone mentions it, I am aware there are vertical tab options, but none of them are the close enough.

[–] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I use it to protest Google's bullshit, but I still acknowledge all problems Firefox has and that all in all, Chromium is superior in many ways

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[–] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

Because I like it the best

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

against google/chromium monopoly.

[–] monobot@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

There are no other options.

I hope ladybird will become usable in few years.

[–] FanonFan@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

it's either that or something chromium-based

i mostly degoogled years ago

firefox just works most of the time. still have chromium installed for edge cases

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

I use Firefox because Internet Explorer 4 kind of sucks, and I haven't re-assessed my browser choice since then.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

To be honest, because it was pre-installed in Linux Mint. I got a first laptop, and I didn't know differences between Windows and GNU+Linux. Hell, I was searching for "pure Linux". I didn't know that's just kernel, neither what kernel is anyway. And I just decided for Mint. At the time, I considered Windows "just another distribution or whatever".

I did get to briefly use school computers before that. There I preferred internet explorer over both Chrome and Firefox. Yeah. Chrome kept crashing, Firefox didn't load many pages (it was probably well outdated) but IE just worked, much faster than Chrome, somehow.

[–] Mio@feddit.nu 4 points 1 year ago

I dont like Chrome have so big market share. Also it is making less dumb desions for me, you can actually disable stuff I dont like.

The developer tools are top notch. Chrome is slower and sucks.

[–] shym3q@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure if using Librewolf on desktop or Mull on mobile counts but they are pretty good hardened forks of Firefox.

Firefox is great but the downside is that it isn't as private as browsers I've mentioned by default. Still, it is solid choice from privacy perspective.

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[–] thequickben@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I switched to chrome for a few years but went back to Firefox about 3 years ago. Google can piss off as far as I’m concerned.

[–] Arfman@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago

I was a big Netscape fan and when Firefox came out, I adopted it pretty soon. Never left it as I never quite get the hang of Chrome.

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