It needs to just work
As time goes on, software should get better right? I always thought this to be the case. Enter Firefox v1.5 to prove me wrong.
These are screenshots that were spliced together and show the memory and CPU usage of Firefox when I was downloading a bunch of icon packages that I bought from VirtualLNK this past Friday. VirtualLNK, LLC makes a great product by the way. Their icons are top notch, and when you combine the quality with the price, you’ve definately got a winning combination.
As I was saying, Firefox basically choked on these downloads. It’s certainly a good thing that I bought more ram for my computer several weeks back. Several came across with CRC errors as well, which are not present in the original files on the server. (I checked with VirtualLNK support on that, just to be sure.) So it would seem that Firefox has taken a proverbial step backwards, making their product worse instead of better.
I find this very unfortunate. I’ve been using Firefox for many months now, mainly for the tabbed browsing, but with the past few releases, it seems like things are getting worse, not better. It’s gotten to the point that I only have three options left to me.
1) Suffer through it, hoping they get it right in the next version. This isn’t much of an option. It’s just not tolerable.
2) Downgrade to an earlier release of Firefox. This may not be an option if I can’t find one. I haven’t seen any compelling new features in a while, that downgrading to version 0.9.6 would be a big deal.
3) Ditch Firefox entirely and go back to Internet Explorer.
Throughout the browser wars, I must admit that I’ve been quite the turncoat. I’ve switched sides more times than I care to count, and the change has generally always been pleasant. To date though, I’ve never switched because of bugs in the product. It was generally new innovations that I simply had to have. Eventually, the other product would catch up and I’d change my attention back.
I think this time is different though. If Firefox can’t keep it together, I don’t think I’ll be sticking around much longer, and I might not be back the next time around. I simply don’t have time to waste on something as stupid as a browser. It needs to just work.
