I don't get why everyone has ditched Firefox
Zorin OS just dropped Firefox as its default browser, switching to Brave instead.
I don't really get all the hype behind Brave, or the sudden 180 re: Firefox. For reference, I've been using Firefox since my first personal computer, when my parents let me have our old XP desktop after they bought a new Vista system.1
Though there are hundreds of different browsers nowadays, for many years Firefox was the sole alternative to Internet Explorer (unless you had a Mac and used Safari). Back then, Firefox represented a free, open internet, with a consumer-first, modular interface, though the specifics went over my head at the time.
My opinion remains unchanged. I love Firefox. I haven't used a Microsoft browser since I was probably 10 years old, and the last I regularly used Chrome was in high school.
All of the features that made Firefox stand out in the past exist in other browsers today; some even implement them better. But the one thing Firefox has above most every other browser is that it's not based on Chromium, an internet browser engine maintained by Google—whose CEO attended Trump's inauguration.
Beyond anything else, Firefox is still the only viable browser independently developed and maintained. It runs on the Gecko browser engine, developed in-house by the Mozilla Foundation, which is free and open-source.
I just find it ironic that the FOSS community is ditching a legacy browser for Chromium-based alternatives. People cite concerns over Mozilla's recent privacy/data changes, but it all sounds like a big nothing burger to me. It's 2025. Developers have to stay afloat somehow, and users aren't going to donate to Firefox in droves. Also, if you look at the actual text Mozilla put out, it isn't as nefarious as people would have you believe. Any data they collect is determined by user settings/configurations, and much of the data options can be opted-out. Whatever data they do send/sell off is aggregated and stripped of identifying information.
Additionally, Firefox probably has the most robust add-on/extension ecosystem of any browser. Whatever features you want, you'll be able to find. Even if Firefox out-of-the-box falls behind competitors, after installing add-ons and extensions it rises above all the rest, at least in my opinion.
Here are a few I always use:
If you really care about privacy online the first thing you should do is ditch your smartphone for a dumbphone and abandon all social media sites. Maybe use Tor as a browser, which is, believe it or not, a fork of Firefox.2
We're entering a political era characterized by Big Tech oligarchs and fascists. We have much bigger enemies than Mozilla. At the end of the day, Firefox has a long history of fighting for an open internet, and is the only remaining major non-Chromium browser. It's my ride or die.
Update (03/27/25): I came across this article condemning Brave for several different reasons. I highly suggest giving it a look.
✘ Posted on — 03/27/25
✘ Last modified — 4 months, 4 weeks ago
✘ Link — https://blog.xavierhm.com/i-dont-get-why-everyone-has-ditched-firefox