at least around here when it comes to technology.
In a world where Internet Explorer was king, I always found that I moved over to Netscape as a browser. Then, it moved to Firefox.
For the longest time, my world featured Firefox as my browser of choice. Excellent addons, it had the greatest of compatibility features when browsing, it seemed to be just perfect.
Then, it seemed to get slow and sluggish. In hindsight though, I wonder if it really did get slow. Perhaps it was that the other browsers that I had at my disposal got faster. The other browsers pretty much settled in to be Google Chrome and Opera. I felt someone loyal to Firefox and kept it around but, quite frankly, it seemed to just feel old.
Then, I read about the new Firefox, named Quantum.
From curiosity, and because it’s what I do, I downloaded and started to play with the Beta versions. It immediately felt more modern. It claimed new features and new speed. I don’t know if I was just a sucker for the advertising but it really did seem to have speed. I became a sucker for news stories like this – Firefox Quantum vs Chrome: Which is Faster?
There was, however, one thing that kept me from switching. I do have a collection of addons that make any browser mine. Firefox had changed the rules for the creation of addons and there was no support for legacy code. Things like this happen when a technology embraces new standards. It leaves you holding the bag and you have to decide what to do. I tracked down the addons that I regularly use and noted that they were going to be updated. This is good so I kept Quantum on my radar.
Then, it was release day and I upgraded my Beta to Release code. Happily, a couple of the last addons that weren’t available now were!
The performance is indeed fast. I supposed I could run the benchmarks and prove it to myself but I’m not feeling the need to. In reality, it’s the user experience that drives the use and I’ll tell you this user is liking what he sees.
So, Firefox Quantum has taken over my computer and I’m pretty happy. As they say, the ball is now in Chrome and Opera’s court.
When increased performance comes along, typically developers up their game to get back the interest in a particular product. Ultimately, we will all be winners.
In the meantime, I’m now a sucker for articles like this – How to tweak the new Firefox 57 Quantum browser to suit your preferences