[elcritch]

> So core userbase for these products becomes hostile towards the product growth by definition. In this environment, either the product stops growing and simply becomes a niche product for those set of users or it dies.

Except FF market percentage has been decreasing not growing. The technical foundation has gotten better, but it’s like Mozilla execs are completely out of sync with the market share they could have. They want a “shiny” app that in theory people should want, not the app people actually want.

I just hope some group of geeks decides to fork it and change it up.

[paulryanrogers]

> The technical foundation has gotten better, but it’s like Mozilla execs are completely out of sync with the market share they could have.

Execs may have less to do with the decline than a changing market. Google poured resources and new ideas into a mostly greenfield effort, and leveraged its market position to push its browser. Edge and Safari also benefit from their makers' platforms and marketing.

It's a hostile world for an independent browser. And IMO Firefox is still the least worst option.

[CRConrad]

> It's a hostile world for an independent browser.

Sure, bit it would have been a little less hostile if they hadn't brought quite a lot of that on themselves with their long history of hostile-to-tech-savvy-users decisions.

[notpushkin]

https://waterfox.net/ is what you're looking for, I believe.

[paulryanrogers]

FWIW, Waterfox is now owned by System1, an ad company.

[notpushkin]

It does bother me a bit, too, but the Waterfox founder, Alex Kontos, was fairly transparent about the acquisition [1] and how it would affect the project. Still, that's a fair point.

[1]: https://www.waterfox.net/blog/waterfox-has-joined-system1/