Firefox problems and a weak Mozilla response

Following these two stories:

Firefox 1.5 Stability Problems? Readers and Mozilla Respond

The Trouble with Firefox

Scott Finnie of Scots Newsletter - January 9, 2006 writes:

...more here

 

A bit disquieting that Mozilla are taking so long to address what seems to be a big issue for many users.

I have to agree ... and that would be a real shame. It might take a few years for the diehards to let go but let go they would.

 

I far prefer using Firefox, but...

I often find that my system is running slow. When I investigate I find that Firefox is using 95-100% of the CPU time (even though I may not be actively browsing). If I close down Firefox all clears up.

 

IE is equally guilty, in both previous and current versions, of having inexplicable bugs: Browser Crash Test, IMDB IE Crash, and the statistics I provided before that show IE with at least 3x more bugs. When these instances happen in IE it seems people are indifferent—browsing as usual. Yet when these instances happen in FF it is breaking news and indicates doom for the browser. This is like cars and planes: car crashes are more frequent and statistically more fatal, but because plane crashes always make headline news there is an innate fear of flying.

I'm not going to pretend the issues described don't exist; I have experienced the CPU usage issue myself a couple times, but IE didn't have a perfect history either when I was still using it. So the questions are which browser crashes/hangs the most, which browser is insecure the most, and which browser has fewer rendering bugs. From my own experience I would say they are about equal for question one, and FF being superior for questions two and three. And of my own personal preferences, I find FF's options menu more intuitive and the extensions extremely useful, particular the Web developer tools.

 

That's because when you get into a car crash, the first person on the scene says "Was anybody hurt? Is everyone OK?". But in a plane crash, the first person on the scene says "Is anybody RECOGNIZABLE?".

 

I had a minor problem with Firefox 1.5 on my old machine with there being a large bar at the bottom of the window... It turned out it was an invalid extension and once I exported my Bookmarks and then uninstalled 1.5 and then searched for anything Mozilla or Firefox related and deleted it, then installed again it has worked perfectly ever since..

My new machine I installed, Imported my Bookmarks, got all the themes and extensions I wanted and It's runs perfectly...

 

Missing the point again, FLAN, and in the process proving the point made by Scot Finnie in his articles: Reacting to reports of a problem by saying either "what problem?" or "well IE is just as bad" shouldn't be reassuring to anyone.

 

I never denied the existence of a problem.

The "well IE is just as bad" comments were never used to justify problems in FF; they were used to show the illegitimacy of such claims as "Firefox not ready for prime time."

 

I don't think the debate is FF v's IE. That's one of personal preference. Speaking for myself, I like Firefox but my confidence in that browser was severely dented when I lost my bookmarks for no apparent reason whilst using a previous version. At the time the problem wasn't really recognised and there was little advice available.

The current issue with Firefox eating up massive amounts of CPU time should be addressed by Mozilla with some zeal before more people like myself decide to ditch the browser as their primary one like I did when my bookmarks vanished and I switched to Opera.

 

Exactly, mcfox. The author of the articles in the thread starter states very clearly that he is a biased Firefox fan - if people like him are getting discouraged, how long do you think their much vaunted market share is going to last? Especially since a lot of current Firefox users are users because they heard from someone that Firefox was a "safe browser".

 

I am a Firefox fan. I like using the browser and find it invaluable when doing various tasks but to be honest, that's the only time I use it. To perform specific tasks, not for general surfing. That all stems back to the loss of those bookmarks (several times I might add).

It's all about confidence in the browser. Like you say, Minstrel, if people begin to feel that Firefox is unsafe, unreliable or defective, they will revert to what they know. Perhaps not the webmaster community but definitely the general internet user, which is precisely the target audience that Firefox is trying to make inroads with.