18
ADIGEN
4y

I've got a rant-type question:

Why would you EVER use Google Chrome?

There are a million browsers in the world, you could've used Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, Bad Wolf, Qute, st, Epiphany etc, but you chose to uss Google Chrome.

What would be the reason you would ever choose Google Chrome over any of the million browsers, out of which many of them get the job done much better than Chrome? Okay, I get it why you might use IE or Edge, cause you might be too lazy to install any other browser or you just want the performance benefits you get with Edge which totally, most definatelly, a very big plus point for Edge.

*"Chrome has a balanced-bloat out of all browsers"*
But how tf does that matter? That doesn't even help performance wise anyways.

I can't get over the fact that I have to see/hear about 'Chrome hogging RAM' EVERYWHERE. Like, why do you even care about the god damn browser? Why is it a standard over the million other browsers that exist? Why can't the general public be educated that browsers have choices (just like phones) and you don't have to spit crap over people who don't use Chrome.

It just drives me crazy of how many people hate Chrome, and still it's a 'default' browser.

I would quote Vivaldi (the company/browser):
'A browser should adapt to you, not the other way around.'

(Disclaimer: Rant of a former Firefox, qute, st, Opera, OperaGX, Edge, and ofcourse, Chrome user. Currently in deep love with Vivaldi.)

I'm done ranting. Have a nice day!

(My first post here, if I did something wrong, let me know! I'll make sure I don't do it again!)

Comments
  • 1
    I only use chrome for youtube tv purposes, if my pc wasn't a potato, I'd go full fox.

    And everything is gonna cost ram at a point if you want propsal implementations first and have 'sandboxed tabs'.
  • 0
    @melezorus34 but why exactly Chrome? I'm really curious why would someone exactly choose Chrome over anything else.

    EDIT: Btw, did you try Brave? You could get really good performance with Brave, that too a Chromium based browser!
  • 3
    @ADIGEN chrome extension store.
  • 0
    @F1973 Well, that's a point I would agree to. I understand that the user experience Chrome offers is much cleaner than others, but are other browsers really not as intuitive as Chrome? I don't have much knowledge regarding UX, and I think many people would appreciate the productivity benefits offered by other browsers by just taking some time to get used to it.
  • 1
    Stopped using chrome long ago, now a lover of TOR and OperaGX
  • 2
    @melezorus34 Haha extensions can be very helpful, that's why I prefer Chromium based browsers. There might be other Chromium browsers offering better performance than Brave, although I haven't tried them out yet.
  • 0
    @F1973 I'm really sorry if I've been vague here, I'll make sure I don't do so in the future! Thanks for letting me know!
  • 0
    @theKarlisK Not exactly sure about the Linux support, I had switched to Vivaldi just cause Opera (for me) sucked on Linux. Whenever I tried installing the main Vivaldi package on a Linux distro, it automatically installs the wide vine plugin. So far on the distros I've tried it, no issues.
  • 0
    @F1973 I didn't really mean to emphasize performance only, nor I mean to ask the surroundings to change to me. I apologise if that's what I the rant had conveyed.

    Yes, I do understand exactly why now, thanks a lot for the excellent explanation!

    Sorry if I missed considering about the business side of things here. I just wanted to know about why would someone use Chrome instead of anything else. I don't mean to force any idea/browser here :D
  • 0
    @F1973 I was being genuine haha

    Anyways, have a nice day!
  • 1
    Because everyone uses it and I’m a frontend developer so I need to see what I make exactly as all the other people will see it. Also I like how it looks, ff is ugly and I don’t care that iTs hAcKaBlE
  • 1
    @uyouthe That's understandable. I also have to test many of my HTML5 games on Chrome (that's why you might see me rant mostly about performance). Lol I had gotten off Firefox just by it's looks too. Try Vivaldi, might take some time to get it the way you want, but totally worth it!
  • 1
    @ADIGEN I don’t like how it looks too
  • 1
    @ADIGEN In terms of looks I prefer safari but web standards just aren’t there and websites I use turn into shit when I open them in safari
  • 1
    Yup just Chrome's market share as a first target for any CSS stuff and I don't dislike the debugging tools. Also, habit and profound lack of professional interest. At least here I can be honest about me absolutely not giving a shit about anything else then the pay. My dreams melted into a profound internet anhedonia decades ago PLZ HELP
  • 0
    @uyouthe Exactly! Safari has a really nice minimal look but the standards....

    Imo, you could replicate the look of almost any browser in Vivaldi. That's why it's my browser of choice for any ricing (customizing) stuff.
  • 1
    @ADIGEN I never customize anything. It makes me free of management all my custom configuration and also It feels like home whatever I use
  • 2
    The second rule of the internet is all browsers are terrible, especially yours.

    Brave is sketchy af. Chromium is always an option for testing, but also sucks. Firefox sucks, anything by Microsoft sucks. The internet itself is a text-driven sewer with occasional gold nuggets that float by.

    Lynx master race.
  • 1
    > I can't get over the fact that I have to see/hear about 'Chrome hogging RAM' EVERYWHERE. Like, why do you even care about the god damn browser? Why is it a standard over the million other browsers that exist?

    It's a standard because almost all of those "million" other browsers are just derivatives (well, of Chromium technically). Chrome is a slow, memory hogging shitshow and by extension those other browsers are as well. I do use Vivaldi due to the better UI. However, in the end it's just lipstick on a pig.

    Firefox could've been a great alternative with an actually independent code base. But they're busy becoming a clean room reimplementation of Chrome including all of its faults. Because... reasons.

    I agree with the people who are salty about the sorry state of browsers right now.
  • 0
    I'm in love with Brave. Super fast. Super Secure
  • 1
    Honestly I've defaulted to chrome because it damn works...I've tried a lot of browsers..both for dev or just on my pc. I've stuck with chrome in the end because it's the only 1 that never really crashed on me. With the other browsers I kept getting in weird crashes (video not playing, sound not playing, content overlap, invisible buttons, blocking fukin stack-overflow for "potentially dangerous malware code"...etc etc). So yeah I'm using chrome because it doesn't give me random headaches
  • 1
    - Because I have plenty of RAM & I don't really care too much about its RAM usage
    - Because it's what I'm used to
    - Because I have a buttload of extensions, not all of which I can find on other browsers
    - Because you can pretty much guarantee any website will work in it
  • 0
    Tangent to the initial rant:

    From what I understand, chrome only uses a lot of RAM if that RAM is available to use. Otherwise, if more is needed by other programs, chrome will use less as needed. The idea is that it would be wasteful to just leave RAM unused, so why not take it if it's free.
  • 2
    I started using chrome in its infancy - the first number was a 0 in the version kind of infancy.

    it was a breath of fresh air from IE and FF and up until around V40 it was fast and performant, after that it became the hog we all "love" today.

    The chrome extensions and devTools alone serve my purposes for it, I've had no reason to jump to another browser when the alternatives are just as slow and resource hungry these days.
  • 1
    Also, the chrome extensions that i use are very beneficial and i love them, so i would never switch
  • 0
    Ohh, and you dont have to apologize. Youre free to speak your mind here
  • 2
    Using Edge chromium based (Canary was it ?) and pretty happy with it.

    BUT, it has troubles with youtube 4k / 8k content. CPU still handles it, but at 80% or more usage.

    this problems didn't exist when I was using chrome. But I kind of think it is delibirate from youtube team
  • 5
    I use Chromium (the free version of Chrome) and get it freshly compiled by my package manager on my Gentoo every time i update.
    As i am able to configure a browser, i go straight for the best - wich sadly is Chrom(e/ium).
    If the Mozilla Foundation wouldn't have wasted its Google money on more management and marketing crap instead of actually getting the Rust engine running, i would probably use Firefox instead...

    The security model and bug handling of Chrom(e/ium) still is the main reason to use it. Google has and uses the neccessary manpower to maintain this priority-target software.
    Also i like having fully-functional uMatrix and uBlock Origin with uBlock Origin Extra (for extra protection against Youtube ads) - wich also counts as security and anti-annoyance.

    The RAM usage isn't an issue for me because i know the difference between virtual address space and RAM actually in use by the application.
  • 0
    @SortOfTested It would be really nice if you could mention what you feel 'terrible' in all browsers :D

    I wouldn't agree that all browsers suck. I've been exposed to even more browsers when I started using Linux, and I might've agreed that browsers suck on Windows. But still, there are much better options for Windows itself.

    (by 'suck' I mean bad in terms of performance, features/bloat and stability)

    And no, I don't use Brave if that's what you were thinking.
  • 0
    chrome ??? Hell No :P I choose firefox. I just don't like chrome. Firefox is way better for development
  • 0
    and people just choose it cause they only know chrome in pc :P
  • 0
    @VaderNT At least the other browsers are a useful 'memory hogging shitshow'.
  • 0
    @Sandel3008 I can finally agree to simple usability of Chrome (cause you've been specific). Well, till date, I've only gotten random crashes on Chrome and Opera. No other browser has really crashed with my very heavy usage on it. So I really wasn't aware of the 'usability' you've just mentioned.

    It's sad to see that you had to face all that glitches/errors/problems. I think you could remove that potentially dangerous thingy by just using the simple checkbox in the browser's settings.
  • 0
    @brocklee Ah yes, using the unused RAM would be beneficial, but I don't really think that Chrome would use less RAM if more is needed by other programs.
  • 1
    @C0D4 @SavvyArbitrary (I might be wrong) You get the exact same devTools and can get any chrome extension on any chromium browser.

    Am I wrong? I've seen everyone mention the Chrome extensions not be available on other Chromium based browsers.
  • 1
    @SavvyArbitrary Well, I guess it is. I've been able to install extensions from the Chrome WebStore on Vivaldi and Opera. My friend has been able to do that on Brave too. So I think it is possible on any Chromium based browser.
  • 0
    @NoToJavaScript If it was deliberate from the YouTube team, that would be very very interesting!
  • 1
    @ADIGEN it's the same extension store, but that doesn't give me a reason to move.

    I'm not really gaining anything from changing browser and setting it up too beyond "non google"
  • 1
    To add to that, if I was heavy on the front-end development then I would consider https://blisk.io/ as a daily browser as it's devTools are awesome.
  • 0
    @C0D4 Ooooh a new browser! How on earth I never came across Blisk? I think it's time to go browser hopping again! (totally a real term)

    Their latest release was done more than an year ago, not sure whether that's how their releases work.
  • 2
    @ADIGEN they seem to have gone dormant since 2019.

    Not sure if that's a bad sign or not, updates used to be every couple of months inline with major chrome releases.
  • 1
    @C0D4
    It became a bit redundant. Many of the features are in the chrome dev tools by default, and the profile support integration in selenium handles it on the automation end. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped dev on it altogether.
  • 0
    @AkshayTolwani Yes, usability is a smooth ride on Chrome, but I would prefer the approach Vivaldi and Opera have taken over Chrome.

    Firstly, Chrome's from Google, self explanatory.

    I really appreciate the 'My Flow' (increases my productivity by a huge margin) and the news feed on Opera. It doesn't track your interests (as of what I know), but you can choose the topics you would wish to see.

    Vivaldi has a syncing option too, but it isn't as feature rich as Opera.

    (I have heard about Opera doing fishy businesses with your data, but I am not absolutely sure whether that is true.)

    It would be really nice if you could mention an extension which only works on Chrome, and doesn't work on any other Chromium browser. I'm very curious to see what Chrome has as an advantage :D
  • 0
    it used to be least resource-hungry from The Mainstream Trio, since about three or four years ago. And after that I used it for a year longer purely out of inertia.

    That was my reason.
    Then I discovered Opera GX with its resource limiters.
  • 0
    @brocklee
    > From what I understand, chrome only uses a lot of RAM if that RAM is available to use

    Managing memory is the operating system's job, not the one of a random program. Considering Chrome doesn't have all info about memory (as it shouldn't), it can only do a worse job than the OS.

    > The idea is that it would be wasteful to just leave RAM unused, so why not take it if it's free.

    A better idea is to use as much as needed, as little as possible, and leave the rest to other programs. It's sheer arrogance of Chrome to assume to be the MOST IMPORTANT(tm) program running.

    And it's not even working. Whatever grabbing all available RAM is supposed to do, all Chromium-based browsers crap out for me once they take beyond 2.5-3GB (of my 32GB).
  • 0
    @AkshayTolwani Thanks a lot for clarifying the advantages of the news feed on Chrome! I can agree that Google has much more data and can be able to provide a more and focused news for oneself. I have almost all major browsers I could think of on my phone, and yes I agree the news on Chrome is much more accurate than the competitors. Sorry if I couldn't really figure out the news feed thing as I don't Chrome on my phone as a main browser.
  • 0
    @Oktokolo
    > The RAM usage isn't an issue for me because i know the difference between virtual address space and RAM actually in use by the application

    Who cares if it's virtual address space or RAM or watermelons, when using too much of it leads to problems.

    @ADIGEN
    > At least the other browsers are a useful 'memory hogging shitshow'

    Chrome itself is useful alright if you ask me. 🙂
  • 0
    @VaderNT You had mentioned the in-built extensions making other browsers a 'memory hogging shitshow' right? I meant at least those extensions are useful. If you're getting those features for almost the same RAM/performance as Chrome, it would be much beneficial to use other browsers right? (not saying that you have to use it)
  • 0
    @SortOfTested I get that, but I prefer to check the UI (design wise) myself then worry about automation, being able to check several media types and sizes makes that easy, chromes responsive tool is pretty limited in that sense.

    Selenium I use to automate the front end ( navigation / interaction ) for business usage processes.
  • 1
    @ADIGEN What I meant is this: Chrome itself is the shit show. Many other browsers are derived from it (Vivaldi, Opera, ...). They use a shit show as base. Therefore they inherit its shit.

    That's what I meant with the expression "by extension". Most built-in extensions of Vivaldi are worth it nevertheless, and that's a topic on its own.
  • 1
    Google Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave and Edge are all Chromium based. Just different skins on top. They're all the same...
  • 2
    @ADIGEN

    They already did it once : Added a hidden overlay so other browsers couldn’t use hardware rendering. Ofc they told it was a “mistake”.

    Here the link

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item/...
  • 1
    @NoToJavaScript Wow. I didn't know that Google was so desperate that the had to do such a thing. This makes my respect for Google even worse.

    "On the whole, they only made the web slower", I felt that.
  • 0
    Because Google slows down their services for other browsers. I will go get my tinfoil hat now.
  • 0
    I wouldn't, not for the life of me. For one because it's developed by Google and for two because I want to support browser monopoly as little as possible.

    I use Firefox 80 percent of the time and Chromium 20.
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