Right, will everyone stop whining about FF performance and memory issues?
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I've got it on my machine. It starts faster than any other GUI app that is or has ever been on this computer. It uses far, far less memory than IE or Opera. And as long as it continues to render webpages faster than I can read them I couldn't care less.
However, the computers at work have Firefox too. On those systems (which are substantially faster and more memory-rich than my system) it takes a long time to load and to load pages. Why the difference? I don't know. I suspect it's because the network at work uses Domain-based security and logins, so user configuration info is stored on a central server (and on Windows, that's slow), but with all the complaints other people have about it that seems unlikely to be the problem.
It could possibly be the amount of junk people seem to install on Firefox (Adblock is the only necessary extension and the only one I've ever installed on my machine) but the systems at work have the exact same configuration as my own system.
So, the only conclusion I can come to is this: Firefox runs slowly on some computers. I don't know why. It just does. On others it runs fine.
So quit saying Opera's faster/more efficient than Firefox. On some computers, maybe, but I know from experience that it isn't on all computers.
I've tried Opera. I didn't like it because of the amount of junk it comes with by default (which I would have to spend time disabling twice a year, when I clean out/upgrade my system). I don't want a combined email client, web browser, IRC client, newsreader and shoe-polisher. I want a GODSDAMNED WEB BROWSER AND NOTHING MORE.
Opera is an example of what's wrong with application software today: feature creep. They've always got to add one more function.
Do one thing, and do it well.
And if Firefox doesn't work well on your machine, fine. No one's forcing you to use it. Just don't assume that your computer is The One True Computer.
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