Firefox is fine. The people running it are not

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Alternatives and User Choices

  • Many commenters have abandoned Firefox for forks (LibreWolf, Waterfox, Zen) or other browsers (Brave, Chrome, Arc, Orion, Safari), often keeping Firefox as a secondary tool.
  • Motivations include: distrust of Mozilla’s leadership, frustration with UI churn and “bloat”, perceived privacy regressions, and site compatibility issues.
  • Some still strongly prefer Firefox because of profiles, container tabs, temporary containers, vertical/Tree-style tabs, and extension ecosystem (especially uBlock Origin).

Politics, Censorship, and Mission

  • Mozilla leadership is criticized for political statements around deplatforming and “amplifying factual voices,” which some see as explicit political censorship and mission drift away from browser work.
  • Others argue these positions are attempts to curb abuse of free speech and promote transparency, not censorship.
  • There’s disagreement on whether such activism is appropriate for a browser-focused organization.

Management, Funding, and Strategy

  • Strong anger at executive pay and a perception of a “parasitical management class” looting Google search money while market share collapses.
  • Disagreement over goals: diversify revenue vs. not monetizing Firefox; focus only on Firefox vs. pursuing research/side projects; run like a serious business vs. salary caps and “passion project” ethos.
  • Some argue these demands are inherently contradictory and that Mozilla is punished whichever way it moves.

Features, UX, and Dev Tools

  • Complaints about feature bloat (vertical tabs, UI toggles, Pocket, VPN promos, sponsored tiles, notifications) versus calls from others who specifically wanted those features.
  • One article suggestion—removing dev tools from mainstream Firefox—is widely derided as suicidal; many rely on F12 tools even for support workflows.
  • Heavy tab users debate sidebars vs. classic tab bars, with workflows ranging from strict minimalism to thousands of concurrent tabs.

Performance, Compatibility, and Security

  • Users report poor performance on Google properties (YouTube, Meet, Docs, Calendar) and attribute it variously to Google sabotage, tech debt, or Mozilla’s responsibility to optimize for top sites.
  • Some recount memory leaks and GPU issues; others say Firefox has improved substantially.
  • Technical critics claim Gecko’s age, threading model, and weaker sandboxing make Firefox less secure than Chromium; others note both are huge C++ attack surfaces.

Side Projects, Rust/Servo, and Monetization

  • Many see axing Rust and Servo, and later shutting down Pocket, as emblematic mismanagement and destruction of Mozilla’s most successful innovations.
  • Others respond that you don’t need a new language/engine to build a browser and that unprofitable side projects had to be cut.
  • Mozilla’s VPN and ad-tech acquisition are contentious: some view them as necessary non‑Google revenue; others as enshittifying Firefox and betraying its user-advocacy role.

Meta: Critique of the Criticism and Future Hopes

  • Several point out that anti-Mozilla arguments are often vague, contradictory, or ignore Chrome’s far worse behavior, suggesting double standards and “motivated reasoning.”
  • There are calls for an EU- or state-backed fork, but also skepticism that governments would be good stewards.
  • A visible contingent has “given up” on Mozilla and pins hopes on new engines like Ladybird, or on a future, leaner, engineer‑led browser project.