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Comment by btipling | Hacker News Reader

That is interesting, but Mozilla needs to focus on making its browser consume less memory and CPU when idle. These are the things that are killing its marketshare and leading users to switch to alternatives. Every time I see initiatives like the password account manager, iOS apps that use web view, a browser based editor and what not I just scratch my head because Firefox marketshare is plummeting and the old refrain "just wait until the next version" was tired since 3.0. Instead the general response is to get defensive and list new features. Yeah and are those new features stopping the user drain? Nope. Firefox is a sluggish memory sucking heap of software that drains resources even when it isn't being used.

I love and cherish Firefox as a product and a brand, because you have achieved a lot in your past. But now you are failing and it is depressing to see this happen.

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Firefox 13, when not overwhelmed by add-ons is the memory champion right now. Seriously, check it out. Download Firefox 13, create a new profile clean from crapware, load up a couple dozen tabs and surf around for a day. Do the same in IE and Chrome. Firefox wins. Firefox 15, just around the corner, has world-beating memory usage and it uses less RAM than any other browser, even when you've got "leaky extensions" installed because we've prevented extensions from causing Firefox leaks.

I always run the latest Firefox and the only extensions I have are Xmarks, 1password, Firebug and Webdeveloper.

Yeah, Firebug is one of those leaky addons. Give 15 (Aurora) a shot; other Firebug users have said that it's much improved.

Firebug is most likely the culprit [1]. Firefox 15 will have a general fix for the kind of memory leaks such as the one caused by Firebug (affectionately called "Hueyfix" after its inventor Kyle Huey by some) [2].

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=669730 [2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=695480

> Firefox is a sluggish memory sucking heap of software that drains resources even when it isn't being used.

Have you tried Firefox recently? It beats other browsers in terms of memory use, for example it won both memory usage categories in Lifehacker's recent shootout,

http://lifehacker.com/browser-speed-tests/

If you do see a memory problem, it might be a specific problem with the addons or plugins you use, please file a bug if so.

I'm convinced that all the people repeating the mantra about memory and CPU use switched away a year ago and haven't actually tried a recent version. The alternative (to being ignorant) is that they are flat out liars, because anyone who has tried a recent version knows point blank that they are wrong.

Firefox is to Ford what Chrome is to Toyota. Even if Firefox is as reliable and efficient as Chrome these days, some people still see it as being the gas-guzzling unreliable Ford vehicle of yesteryear.

That sentiment is one I've felt basically since I started using Chrome as well. Indeed, at that time, it was true.

Due to a bunch of Chrome bugs in our game I've had to switch to Firefox the last couple of months just to be able to browse other websites. I am amazed at how much they have improved, in terms of memory/speed as well their UI. I've now switched back from Chrome and dare say that I like it better.

As others have said though, the damage was done when so many people tried Chrome. Getting them to even try FF again is going to be very difficult.

I will argue that it does not matter. Of the two there is no 'better' browser. So long as firefox keeps enough users to justify Google's financing all is fine.

Two highly competitive open source browsers is the best scenario the internet has ever had. I just hope we don't screw something up and break the steady state.

I would love to know what version of Firefox (and what platform) you are on. Firefox's total memory usage is in my personal experience better than Chrome right now (OS X 10.7 and Windows 7).

As someone mentioned below, Firefox doesn't get due credit when things improve. With Google's massive marketing muscle Chrome ate up a lot of Mozilla marketshare, but to call Firefox failing is completely unfair. If you love and cherish Firefox, contribute to the project. Contributions can be as minimal as being a test pilot.

tl;dr: Your conventional wisdom is out-of-date.

"Mozilla needs to focus on making its browser consume less memory and CPU when idle"

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Performance/MemShrink https://wiki.mozilla.org/Performance/Snappy

MemShrink has been going for a year. Snappy has been going for seven months. Both projects have made big improvements. You really should try a recent version.

Also, http://gs.statcounter.com/ suggests that Firefox's marketshare drop has flattened out and it's starting to grow again.

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