Mozilla Dev on How to Convert Chrome User to Firefox
A Firefox developer discusses the hurdles Firefox faces.
To survive the battle with IE and Chrome, Mozilla will have to find more compelling reasons for people to use Firefox - or reasons to draw people back to Firefox. Nicholas Nethercote, who works on memory improvements in Firefox, described why getting users back from Chrome may nearly be impossible, and the reason why casual users may steer clear of Firefox.
Nethercote stressed that Firefox does not offer the importing of bookmarks from Chrome. As long as there are just a handful of bookmarks, users may be willing to accept a manual install of bookmarks in Firefox, but if the transfer of bookmarks includes potentially hundreds of bookmarks, the lack of bookmark import may actually kill the deal for Mozilla. Nethercote stated that Mozilla needs such a feature badly.
He also stumbled over "awful" third-party add-ons in the Windows version of Firefox, which resembles the experience of crapware. On the positive side, he noticed that Mozilla's position as a non-profit organization resonates well and AdBlock Plus is a tool Mozilla needs to promote much more [Ed. note: Hopefully the target is people who don't know that similar software exists for Chrome]. Somewhat surprisingly, none of the features that Mozilla promoted in the recent past appear to have been convincing reasons for a switch. The problems may be that simple and basic issues that have been overlooked: Nethercote found that it took the experience of an expert user to install and configure Firefox. For casual users, Firefox may be too difficult to set up.
Read about his full process here.
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Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.
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egmccann ... too difficult to set up?Reply
I seem to recall my experience being "Download. Install. Next, next, next, done." Perhaps they need to drop a "Next" from it? Honestly, I don't see most (average) users going from Chrome -> Firefox. It's still mostly IE they're moving from.
Frankly, I think Mozilla's biggest problem is getting people to pronounce their name correctly. I talk to people all day who mention they're running Mozarella, Foxfire, Flamefox and other interesting variations. -
de5_Roy reduce memory leaks, better sync, introduce tab isolation or sandboxing or virtualization, lose the !@#$ing numbering and get the old version numbering back, better enterprise support.Reply
chrome users might not start using ff but there are always ie users to take away. :) -
southernshark I very rarely have crashes with Firefox. Does it ever happen? Sure, but no more than any other program.Reply -
LORD_ORION They should pick the best plugins and offer a ready to go package for the best web browsing experience.Reply -
LORD_ORION de5_royreduce memory leaks, better sync, introduce tab isolation or sandboxing or virtualization, lose the !@#$ing numbering and get the old version numbering back, better enterprise support. chrome users might not start using ff but there are always ie users to take away.Reply
It is painful to watch an average person try and install the flash plugin on firefox. -
LORD_ORION Oh FFS I hate tom's post system, that quote was meant for egmccann and his "easy to click next next next" post.Reply -
bigdragon Firefox still uses too much memory. This is why I use Chrome all the time now. Mozilla still doesn't get it. I'm no longer coding pages with the annoying moz- CSS commands either.Reply -
icepick314 greghomeHow to do it?Make Firefox less heavy on any system and bring out the 64 bit version if you can't kill the memory addiction of FirefoxReply
this is it...
push for 64bit version and fix the memory leak when using Flash...
as long as most of online videos including Youtube, Netflix, and Amazon use flash as their video codec, then the memory leak is definitely a negative... -
jivdis1x I get the pesty, can't open firefox; another instance is already running error. Had to ctrl-alt-delete and end progress on firefox.exe. It still does it for the newest version of FF.Reply
I have stop recommending FF to my friends.