The browser wars have been going on since the early 1990s, and every few years we see a shift in the way that people make use of browsers. For a long time, Internet Explorer was the browser of choice for most people, but Microsoft would eventually be hit with anti-trust lawsuits based on the fact that they were running a monopoly. This was around the time that Netscape, now known as Firefox, would begin to draw more attention, and it quickly became the world’s favourite browser.

Fast forward a few decades and the browser landscape has changed completely. While Firefox does still have a large number of users, it pales in comparison to Google’s Chrome, a browser that’s now used by millions of people on a daily basis. There are calls for more and more internet users to switch back to Firefox – and here are some compelling reasons to do just that.

Manifest V3

Perhaps the biggest reason to consider moving over to Firefox is the latest news about Manifest V3. While the technicalities behind Manifest V3 are extremely complicated, it boils down to the fact that Google wants more control of what extensions can do on Chrome, with special focus on adblocking.

There is speculation that this will virtually kill the kind of adblocking capabilities that we enjoy on Chrome at the moment, with well-known adblockers like uBlock Origin being crippled. This could also mean that it would be that much harder for developers and users alike to control the flow of ads that they will be subject to.

Open Source

The argument between open and closed source software is one that doesn’t really apply to or affect most average users, but it’s still worth considering when making the choice. While the base of Chrome is Chromium, which is open source, Chrome itself is very much closed source, meaning that there’s no way of knowing what’s going on under the hood.

Firefox, on the other hand, is free and open source software that allows anyone to inspect the source code. This keeps data harvesting and other similar issues within the public scope and allows for great overall scrutiny.

Open Web Standards

Linked closely to Manifest V3, the problem is that the more people that use Chrome, the more control Google has over the internet and the standards that it follows. This benefits nobody except Google and the companies that they provide advertisement space for, and could also mean that corporate entities have tighter control over the flow of information across the world.

There are many people out there that believe the internet is a global and public entity that should provide access to uncontrolled and reliable information and tools, whether it’s for news, research, social media, or just playing Canadian real money slots online.

Firefox is a powerful browser with the latest security and excellent privacy controls and offers many of the same features of Google Chrome, but without the constant privacy invasions that come with the latter.