Ever since they forced out Brendan (co-founder and creator of javascript no less) because of their political intolerance, FF has really started to go down hill. Each release you have to go through more about:config settings to turn off all their "helper" apps (ie. spyware partnerships).
> Ever since they forced out Brendan [...] FF has really started to go down hill
I'm sorry you weren't around when Firefox (then called Phoenix) was really good, but most FF problems pre-date 2014. They are actually being addressed just about now.
I used Phoenix (from about 0.6 IIRC) and for the most part had FF as my main browser - trialing alternatives occasionally (Opera, Flock, Chrome, etc.) and doing web testing with others (Links, IEx, android browser, Maxthon, etc.).
When Eich was ousted it seemed like things took a sea change and we started getting "commercial" stuff shoved in our faces (alright, stuck on our toolbars). Firefox doesn't appear to be a high moral FOSS project trying to release us from the grip of commercial enterprise taking over the web -- as it did to me before. They went from being very user-centric to being a bit more like Microsoft (of old, at least): "we added a non-removable addon to /our/ browser", rather than "would you like to add this addon to your browser".
Now I've no idea if the removal of Eich's influence on "business philosophy" was behind that; could be a coincidence. But, either way FF seems to have changed for the worse IMO.
Mind, I'm still mourning the demise of Opera Unite -- with their browser as a server concept -- which seemed to be on track to change the focus of the web and give us the distributed peering that has always seemed to be the proper focus for the web+internet.
Nah, the tension was already there, since forever. It’s just that, after the failure of the misguided FFOS white elephant, they have gone back to the realization that their main source of funding will remain the browser for the foreseeable future, and that inspired (and inspires) some poor choices here and there. Eich’s departure was coincidental, imho. Quantum (which is very good) came way after he left, for example.
