Return to Firefox

Posted by Julio Angel Ortiz in Linux, Windows on Mar 21st, 2009 | View Comments

In the constant see-saw of technology, I found myself using Google Chrome as my primary web browser after having used Firefox for a couple of years (and previous to that, the venerable Internet Explorer). In using Chrome, I loved the speed and the simplicity, but after a few months of usage, I found there were a few issues that were starting to get in the way of the experience. First off, there were a few basic things, such as the lack of form autofill. This is one glaring oversight, and one that perfectly exhibits Google rushing to put out a “1.0” product (considering Chrome was in beta for like 3 seconds).

Even beyond the basics, there were sites that were not compatible with Chrome. The biggest impact initially was in the way of rich text editors on sites being disabled by default or having quirky behavior. This I could live with. Later on, I ran into my biggest issue, which was in the form of NetFlix and sites such as Fox.com.

Over the past several weeks, I have taken to watching more and more video content on my PC or notebook. In particular, NetFlix (now that I have an unlimited streaming package), as well as sites such as Fox.com or ABC.com (for catching missed TV episodes). I love this option, but none of these work with Google Chrome. And I don’t like switching between browsers for specific purposes; I put up with that during the early days of Firefox and I don’t care for it.

After some research and thought, I decided to go back to Firefox, but this time using the latest beta build (at the time, it was 3.1 Beta 2). The new beta includes a Javascript engine that is supposed to rival Chrome’s. In short, it is supposed to be very fast for web page rendering. I installed the beta but uninstalled the add-ons. While I like extensions, I found I didn’t miss them as much with Chrome, and I figured that having less extensions installed would translate into better performance. I went back and installed Firefox 3.1 beta 2, and decided to live with it.

And, as of now, I’m back to using Firefox regularly.

I have to admit, I’m impressed with the quality of the betas (I’m now on beta 3). They have been running smoothly, with no crashes and fast performance. This is far cry from the betas of versions 2.0 and 3.0. I am running a few extensions- the ones that happen to give me the missing functionality from Chrome (but that’s a topic for a future post). There are benchmarks out there that will state Chrome is still faster than Firefox 3.1, but from what I’ve seen, the margin is small, and I don’t notice it on my dual-core machines. To boot, I have the ability to easily view videos on sites that I could not previously.

Chrome will undoubtedly improve, but Google is taking their time with the beta for version 2, and companies are taking their time in making sites Chrome compatible. Considering the web browser is one of the key, central components of computing today, I prefer to have a seamless experience, something Chrome was able to do for the most part. But the areas it lacked wound up being deal breakers. So, for now at least, I am back in the Firefox fold.

Perhaps I’ll try Opera next, though I doubt it.