Which browser should you use?

In the beginning

I was an Internet Explorer user. Like the rest of us, the blue E was the internet. You open it up, go to Yahoo and enter something for your school research project, or search for news or the latest games. Some days you installed software and got an Ask Jeeves toolbar you didn't ask for, some days you didn't. This was life...and it was simple.

Firefox and Google

Then out of nowhere, Firefox! A cool icon, and a much faster browsing experience. I became an unofficial ambassador. I got everyone I knew onto it. "It's faster!" I would say. "Eh, I'll try," they'd reply. No one seemed fussed — most were fine with Internet Explorer. Fast forward a few years into university. Google had become my search engine of choice, Google had won me over with Gmail and its 1GB email storage (and counting). And they're offering a browser that promises to be faster than the others. "No, no, Google, Firefox pulled that trick years ago, surely you can't get faster than Firefox." But I installed it and tested it, and sure enough, the speed of this browser made Firefox feel like Internet Explorer. It was like déjà vu.

Before you know it I was the unofficial ambassador, begging everyone to ditch Firefox and try Chrome. It's faster!" I would say. "Eh, I'll try," they'd reply. It really seems no one is as enthused as I am with browsers. But that would foster my love for Google and all things they made. I would follow with eagerness. Google Talk? Lemme get my friends on that! Google Plus? Facebook be damned! Oh how I wish they'd release a Google OS that I could use instead of Windows.

Firefox,  Chrome, Edge and DuckDuckGo

Fast forward about seven years. Google isn't the same as it was — I don't know what it is, but it no longer feels like the fresh and innovative startup trying to give people simple products built right. Maybe it started when they canned Google Reader, a product I used daily for my news feeds. Or when they updated Google Talk to Hangouts (great), but then bloated it with stickers (ugh) and never released a desktop client (a browser extension doesn't count). And that's before we delve into the lurking beast in the dark of data mining and forced location tracking. Suddenly I wanted out — but it's hard when your digital life exists on a single integrated and (frustratingly) useful platform. Life is too good, what's the catch?

So I need to start somewhere, let's start with the browser. Firefox was good, right? Surely the speed difference from 10 years ago wasn't that bad. I’ll install it again. I’d tried a few times, but just couldn't do it. It was that bad. I'd browse two sites in tabs and it would crash. But then Firefox Quantum came out and, hey, almost there — good enough. I think I can live with this...and have to this day. Quantum is great. Sure there are a few rough spots — I have a Surface Pro, and pinch zoom is very poorly implemented in Firefox, with no 'swipe left to right to go back' — but look, I'll hold out on those. Just for giggles I tried Edge when it was released. No surprise that the touch features on that are really good.

So Firefox on desktop instead of Chrome. Done. Next, mobile. I use Android, and well, this is where things start to fall apart. See, Firefox on Android is...how to say...less than optimal. It's really slow and feels awkward to scroll, and I swear my battery burns hotter and dies quicker when I have it open. Firefox Focus, the perpetual privacy mode firefox running Webkit under the hood, feels like what I want, but I want it to sync my preferences and remember my cookies. Oh how I wish Firefox would just webkit me and give me my sync on Android and I'd be happy. But alas.

Speaking of Edge, Microsoft released Edge beta on Android and it is basically exactly what I want. Webkit with account sync — but to Microsoft — which I don't mind (still a Windows user — but that's another waning relationship), but I just want to support open source more. Firefox aligns with my beliefs and I want it to succeed.

So in trying to break free of Chrome, I've tangled myself into a multi-browser world. As it stands I still use Chrome for work, Firefox on my home computers, DuckDuckGo browser on my Android (a blog for another time - I love DuckDuckGo), and occasionally Edge on my Surface. I should probably feel frustrated that what was once so simple (Google everywhere) has become a tangled love triangle with no single account sync, no unified browsing experience. I should feel frustrated, but I don't. Variety is the spice of life.