The only reason that I suggested Chromium is that it is *already* in the
Debian repository. For those concerned about security and maintenance,
that means that it is no worse than the rest of the software in Debian.

The reasons I have less respect for Firefox than I used to are really
simple.

1. Mozilla has consistently slipped release schedules for major updates.

Mozilla has been talking about Electrolysis since at least 2009. After 6
years, it's still not complete. I'd imagine that it will be another
four years before they get anywhere near the kind of ability that
Chromium already has. A decade re-architect a single browser is just a
bit extreme for my taste.

2. Their rapid release schedule has decreased the reliability of the
browser, and forced them to create the ESR line.

3. What they are really interested in these days is mobile, and they
have put everything else on the back burner as far as I can tell. They
all but shelved Thunderbird. They seem to be working mainly on Rust and
FirefoxOS.

4. Mozilla has backpedalled on their principles. The most recent: video
DRM a couple of years ago, because they have fallen so far behind that
they no longer have the influence that they once had over Web
standards. Personally, I'd rather deal with Google (the devil you know)
than Mozilla (the devil you don't).

5. They refuse to support PPAPI or NaCL in Firefox even though doing so
would greatly be to their users' benefit. NPAPI plugins have long since
fallen out of favour. Pretty much the only ones left are few on Linux
distributions, which you can live without. There is Adobe Flash for
Windows - which we do not care about. The Linux NPAPI plugin is
basically worthless. Not only is it still dependent on HAL (which is
obsolete), it doesn't stream video reliably in a number of cases,
particularly Amazon.


t.j.