I feel like I've seen this cycle a few times now. Around the 2010-2013 time Firefox was pretty popular and the browser wars had cooled down a bit, various standards had progressed to the point where the web was mostly the same for Firefox users and Chrome users.
Then Google Docs, Drive, Voice and a few other apps with the addition of Chromebooks started to appear and all of the sudden a few key features stopped working for Firefox. Probably the most important teachable moment was just how few features it takes to flip users.
Maybe we'll see Firefox regain browser share are users dump Chrome. Edge even has a shot at this point - a strange irony bringing us full circle.
I guess the real question is how long until we iterate on this loop again? What will compel users to jump back into the embrace of <insert not yet but eventually evil company> versus the relatively consistent arms of Mozilla.
Also, FWIW, Mozilla isn't innocent either. Despite being very much _less scummy_ they have still upped their scum factor a bit over the years. Let's not forget they are quite happy to trade millions of dollars to make Google the homepage for their users. While nowhere near as egregious they have some tracking happening ("experiments"), they aggressively push their Firefox Accounts stuff, appear to be selling spots on the homepage tabs, etc.
Then Google Docs, Drive, Voice and a few other apps with the addition of Chromebooks started to appear and all of the sudden a few key features stopped working for Firefox. Probably the most important teachable moment was just how few features it takes to flip users.
Maybe we'll see Firefox regain browser share are users dump Chrome. Edge even has a shot at this point - a strange irony bringing us full circle.
I guess the real question is how long until we iterate on this loop again? What will compel users to jump back into the embrace of <insert not yet but eventually evil company> versus the relatively consistent arms of Mozilla.
Also, FWIW, Mozilla isn't innocent either. Despite being very much _less scummy_ they have still upped their scum factor a bit over the years. Let's not forget they are quite happy to trade millions of dollars to make Google the homepage for their users. While nowhere near as egregious they have some tracking happening ("experiments"), they aggressively push their Firefox Accounts stuff, appear to be selling spots on the homepage tabs, etc.