I have been using many browsers during my time on the INTERNET: 1. Netscape Navigator 1.1 (Windows 3.11) 2. Opera 3 (Windows 3.11) Trial 3. Opera 5 (Windows 98 SE) (Purchased) 4. Firefox 1.18 (Windows 98 SE) 5. Opera 12.02 (Windows XP) 6. Firefox 30 (Windows XP) 7. Iron 31 (windows XP) 8. Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 7) 9. Opera 31 (Windows 7) Many others and versions of the above my favorite had been Opera because you could tweak almost anything. Netscape Navigator 1.1 was purchased to get the dial-up stack and Shiva_PPP.(Windows 3.11 did not have dialup networking) updated to Netscape 3.1 before leaving Windows 3.11. Opera 3 was on the Dial up ISP setup disk gave it a try. Bought Opera 5 then they turned it free, made me upset but still liked the browser. They went Google after version 12 don't like at all now. Firefox has committed suicide with it's insane update frequency. Had an update almost update an update before it finished. (40, within minutes 40.01, 40.02) With the recent announcement of going with the Google style extensions, another nail in the coffin. Iron 31 was the last version of Iron that worked OK all I have tried since had serious BUGGS. Quit even trying after version 39. Used IE 11 on Windows 7 was pretty usable all my other favorite browsers had shot themselves in the foot by this time. Opera 31 just stinks for someone who has used Opera 3 through 12.17. Looks like it's going to be a form of Google / Chromium or Microsoft for Windows for the future. Join the BORG ? Right now I would be willing to PAY for an updated OPERA 12 !! Thanks For being patient and reading my rant. rrrh1(arch1)
Vivaldi will be an excellent browser, albeit still slow even with the latest tech preview and the chrome engine. Heavily reminds me of Opera, with the amount of customisations possible, ie side bar, top bar, soon to be integrated email, note taking abilities and native extensions. Thumbs up for the developer. Still needs another year or so IMO based on the rate of development. Otherwise Chromium or Chrome is your best bet IMO given your fed up with Firefox. However MS edge is a quick browser and with its soon to be extension compatibility, its future looks promising. Disregarding MS privacy concerns as of late of course.
For those of us trying to "just get on with our lives" the Browser has become a nightmare. I was therefore delighted when a Web Search for "Browser Rant" led me to this thread. A year or two back, one could more or less choose freely between (what I regarded as) the front runners - to whit Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer Around that time, I elected to make Chrome my default browser, mainly because IE was both buggy and not compatible with more and more (modern) web sites. Chrome seemed the best choice. But now many of these browsers have difficulties preventing me doing my daily tasks which include: Administrating legacy LAN switches around our customer base. Many of those ideally require Java, and even more require SSL2: Chrome has absolutely blocked both of these. Whilst Firefox gives some solace, even that seems to be getting more bolted down with every release Administrating Panasonic CCTV cameras. These require ActiveX controls and thus the only practical choice is Internet Explorer. Administrating Axis CCTV cameras. Again, Java is required for setting up motion detection zones. I have to use Firefox for this, and every single IP I need to work with has to be individually added to the "allow Java..." list in the control panel applet Administering a Distributed Antenna system. Requires SSL2 which is quite hard to achieve nowadays. Chrome will not allow Java (at all) so far as I can see. This comes on top of its forced deprecation of SSH2. These two together make it now almost useless for configuring embedded devices more than a couple of years olc. Both these changes are well-meaning in that they are there to protect "unwise" users from themselves. Many commentators just say "well, your vendor should upgrade their firmware" - but vendors understandably have no interest in putting effort into a product that is 3, 5 or even 10 years old. And clients don't want to throw away perfectly serviceable hardware if it is still reliable (and it would not still be in use if it was not). And as a (Software) Engineer I still need to be able to control the aforementioned devices. It should be my choice - to be able to select backward compatability - I know the risks, and they are very small in this case. Another important application (for me, outside of my work) is the Concord Bible Study Package. That runs as a little web server on one's laptop, and plays quite nicely under Firefox - until FF 45 came along - that broke it. Its release notes are peppered with "feature xxx does not quite work properly in Chrome". So all the above is starting to drive me back to Internet Explorer - except I bet that will "catch up" with the other two and become obstructive, too. Now don't get me wrong - the recent and ongoing improvements to HTML5 bring huge benefits, Indeed, many of the things which historically required Java (or other plugins) can now be done without them. I'm not ranting against the fantastic progress being made here there are now some stunningly efficient solutions around for people writing functional web sites today. But it is sad that with this progress has come a combination of arrogance ("you should get your vendor to re-write..."), and a callous regard for those of us trying to get a job done with older technology. There definitely needs to be more recognition that browsers should be there to server their users - not the other way around. Enough, I think.
I can't believe that you actually paid for a browser, but I know how you feel. The death of Opera 12 was a huge blow, and you're right, I would probably also be willing to pay for a new Opera Presto version, because it was simply superior. Firefox isn't good enough, Chrome isn't either and the new Opera is a joke. Edge seems to be just as bad as IE when it comes to usability. So my best bet at the moment is Vivaldi.
CF is pretty good.... no errors unlike Mozilla which is an exercise in frustration. Hey Mozilla, if you going to build a browser let it connect to websites and if you shut the user from going there, people are gonna dump you! No one has the time or patience to fix your stupid bugs.
Let me add 1 rant: Why are there no vertical tree-style tabs by the side as a built-in option in major browsers? I used to use Firefox with Tree-Style Tab extension and it is the biggest thing I missed when I switched to Chrome.
