Firefox or Chrome (Criteria: Speed, Privacy, functionality)

[a completely inoffensive name]

About two years ago I switched from Firefox which seemed really bloated and slow to Google Chrome, but now with Google becoming more and more "big corporation" every day, especially with Google+ integration on Youtube, I really don't want to support them as much any more by using their browser. The problem is that I do not know if this in itself is a rational decision because I do not know if Firefox is still too bloated and slow vs Chrome or whether I would even have more privacy through firefox than through Chrome.

If you guys could give me some rough comparisons on the three criteria (speed, privacy, functionality) between Chrome and Firefox as of right now that would be great, thanks.

[Beskar]

I switched for the same reason as you. Firefox really did become superbloated and constantly prompting you to download and install updates.

I haven't found a motive to switch back to Firefox yet, admittedly.

[Lemur]

Here's a not-too-old roundup of current browsers, if that's of interest.

But for me, I have signed my soul over to the Google Overlords.

If I make propitious sacrifices, and please them, they may bring me Google Fiber someday.

[Xiahou]

I've never left Firefox. NoScript + AdBlockPlus = no malware. ever.

That's too much win to give up for shiny chrome.

Nothing else matters.

[caravel]

About two years ago I switched from Firefox which seemed really bloated and slow to Google Chrome, but now with Google becoming more and more "big corporation" every day, especially with Google+ integration on Youtube, I really don't want to support them as much any more by using their browser. The problem is that I do not know if this in itself is a rational decision because I do not know if Firefox is still too bloated and slow vs Chrome or whether I would even have more privacy through firefox than through Chrome.

All browsers are crap... it's just a case of rooting through the crap to find the best of a bad lot - which isn't easy.

Firefox is a google sponsored project - so if privacy worries you (and it should) then you should still be concerned. Firefox does have built in google spyware and it is up to you to find out about it and turn it off. Chrome/Chromium however is a google product and is of course infested with google's spyware by design. With google it's best to assume that if data can be harvested and stored, it will be. That's their line of business.

Not wanting to support google is a "rational decision". If you can do without their products/services and want to avoid them for ethical reasons - then you're free to do so.

As for the "bloated" argument - I hardly run state of the art hardware and Firefox runs fine - is it bloated? The answer is a big yes (it's a massive C++ monstrosity in fact that can take about 2 hours to build from source), but so is windows and that doesn't seem to worry you? Is it slow? Not for me it isn't - that's all I can say. Most of that was quite simply propaganda and FUD spread by the tech press and various Chrome fanbois around the time that Firefox decided it would be a good idea to ape Chrome and switch to the "rapid release" (version 4). All software is affected by bloat, this is why many developers just get rid of their old codebase and start from scratch (or almost) every few years - Firefox is probably long overdue for this - but if Mozilla were to start from scratch, it could mean following Opera's example and switching to a chromium or webkit base. This means less diversity and less choice and possibly the establishment of another browser monoculture like we had in the late 90's and early 00's...

[Tellos Athenaios]

Opera.

[Beskar]

Most of that was quite simply propaganda and FUD spread by the tech press and various Chrome fanbois around the time that Firefox decided it would be a good idea to ape Chrome and switch to the "rapid release" (version 4)

Unfortunately was not propaganda at all. I know a lot of people, including myself who switched and I know I never read any reviews. I simply noticed it took 10 seconds to load the .Org for example and every few days it kept freezing up going "BRAND NEW UPDATE MUST DOWNLOAD AND RESTART NOW" constantly with all my addons just getting invalidated and stopped working after each one.

[Husar]

The new Opera uses the same engine as Chrome if I'm not mistaken.

[Montmorency]

Looks like IE is the way of the future. It's only a matter of time.

[caravel]

Unfortunately was not propaganda at all. I know a lot of people, including myself who switched and I know I never read any reviews. I simply noticed it took 10 seconds to load the .Org for example and every few days it kept freezing up going "BRAND NEW UPDATE MUST DOWNLOAD AND RESTART NOW" constantly with all my addons just getting invalidated and stopped working after each one.

I know a lot of people, including myself, who did not switch... I and those other people did not have the same problem as you - nor have I ever seen this message about updates and restarts.

Can't remember the last time I had any problems with add ons either...

The new Opera uses the same engine as Chrome if I'm not mistaken.

Opera 15 is based on the chromium project, which is in itself a webkit based browser - though google have now forked webkit. So it's not just a case of being based on a different layout engine, more so it's based on another browser.

[TinCow]

About two years ago I switched from Firefox which seemed really bloated and slow to Google Chrome, but now with Google becoming more and more "big corporation" every day, especially with Google+ integration on Youtube, I really don't want to support them as much any more by using their browser. The problem is that I do not know if this in itself is a rational decision because I do not know if Firefox is still too bloated and slow vs Chrome or whether I would even have more privacy through firefox than through Chrome.

If you guys could give me some rough comparisons on the three criteria (speed, privacy, functionality) between Chrome and Firefox as of right now that would be great, thanks.

I use both. Chrome is my preference, but I cannot install it at work and so have to make due with Firefox instead. I originally switched away from Firefox due to the bloat, but the version I am using at work now (Firefox 25... LOL at that version number) actually isn't that bad. I don't really notice any speed differences between it and whatever the current version of Chrome is. My current preference for Chrome is only due to UI differences.