Firefox linux & FireFox windows observation
 

I've just noticed that FireFox-1.5 for Linux is 8.1MB while the Windows version is 5.1MB

That makes me really wonder.

The Linux one seems to have weird bugs that aren't in the Windows one.
(The bugs might be because of distro though)

So can anyone explain this to me?

Or does anyone have something to add?

Maybe you have something to add... Like telling us what bugs there is in Linux that there's not in Windows ;)

My guess for the size difference between the Linux binaries and Windows binaries is because, I think, Linux version comes with some dependencies as well, so the user does not have to take care of them.

Still, I don't use Firefox anymore (I can hear peoples already lighting their torches and coming into my direction for what I'm going to say). It's quite clear for me that Firefox is made for Windows users that are used to Internet Explorer: The interface, the buttons, the way it interacts with Outlook in Windows, etc. The way I saw Firefox when it came out, was to provide a light Mozilla without all the junk. Today I see it trying to hard to be the better Internet Explorer (which it is) copying the Interface of IE like hell. And why does it have billions of plugins :rolleyes:

I think Linux users should stick with something else, like Opera (way more feature rich then Firefox and now free as well) or the good old Mozilla. And why not Konqueror, Epiphany, Netscape, Galeon... seriously, we are better without FF...

The two files are different in nature. The one for Linux is an archive that has firefox binaries ready to be used. All that you have to do is to untar and run Firefox. While the one for Windows is a binary file that you have to run for Firefox to get installed.

I'm to tired to argue but insert some valid point here why Firefox is uber.

I haven't noticed Firefox copying IE but I haven't used IE for a while so I'm not up-to-date. Who cares if it has a billion plugins and who cares what the interface looks like? Last time I had this arguement it seemed the consensus was that choice is a good thing and to have the freedom to choose the software that suits us better is why most of us use linux. If Firefox doesn't suit you that is no reason for Linux users to "stick with something else" and comments like "we are better without FF" certainly aren't justified.

Not everybody thinks like you, remember that for next time and maybe even be a little thankful that is the case.

The very same is applied here. Not everybody thinks like you either (not me anyway) so your points are not more valid then mine. It all comes down to opinions and that won't make your or me right or wrong. You like Firefox, I don't, so I recommend something I prefer (Opera) while you recommended something you did (Firefox).

And I do care about the interface and most of the plugins are useless for me.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention how unstable Firefox is. It's in fact, the only current browser that can close for no apparent reason and bring me back to the desktop or terminal without a single message telling what went wrong.

Interesting behavior, but not something I've ever experienced. Although, there was one occurence of something similar, but the program had crashed (read: hung and became a zombie process) but I was screwing with extensions without closing and reopening the browser (like an idiot) first. Honestly, I very much like FF as it does exactly what I need to do. I have Opera installed, but find it much more bloated than FF (opinion) with only 128MB RAM.

@scuzzman

Thanks for the reply. You are right though, Opera is a little more bloated then FF, but remember that it comes also with inbuild e-mail system and IRC program ;). I've noticed, however, two things:

1 - Opera opens way faster in Windows than it does with Linux. I guess it's because of some qt libraries in Linux and I found qt to be really slow (opinion), when compared to gtk (opinion again).

2 - Opera seems to render pages much faster then FF, but FF seems to be more compatible with most of the hard-coded sites out there.

There's one thing I've to say very positively about FF: I hope it keeps growing, because FF has problems rendering pages with invalid html code (whereas IE renders it, most likely because those pages where made with Frontpage, ghehe). This will force webmasters to create more clean-coded pages, which in turn will result in a better Internet experience overall. I'd still stick with Opera though :)

Naturally you do, lots of people care how an interface looks, myself included. Just because you don't like something though doesn't mean you should go sprouting about it all over the place because generally people don't care. You use what you prefer and I think that's great but I don't need your life story when somebody asks why the file size differs between versions.

I haven't had any stability issues with Firefox and I've been running the 1.5 builds for quite a while now and I'm onto the 1.6 builds at the moment with no hassle, I suggest you take a look at your clearly problematic system setup before pointing the finger at software that works fine for most other people. I'm not recommending Firefox to anybody for the same reason I think it's been quite a while since I've recommended a distro to somebody around here. It isn't worth it and people should make up their own minds about stuff like that or they'll never be happy.

I wish I wasn't so tired, I wouldn't have bothered replying to rubbish like this normally...

There's nothing wrong with my computers. Don't go pointing your finger at my computers and saying that it's my fault, since you don't know how they are setup.

Are you saying that what I wrote was rubbish?. The only thing you did, so far, was to look like a Firefox fanboy and say that my systems has problems. Firefox is just a browser (a buggy one) for crying out loud.

You know what I started to notice? Open-Source community is getting into some twists lately. I will generalize a little bit, just for the sake of it:

1 - Linux = Microsoft haters
2 - BSD = Unix lovers, they usually know more about Linux then Linux users does. Have nothing against Microsoft
3 - Solaris users like Unix, like BSD and don't truly care about Linux
4 - Firefox users believe FF it's a God, not a web-browser. It has tabbed feature, but that's it. Opera, on the other hand, has mouse-gestures, mail-client and IRC chat, renders pages way faster and it's quite stable. You can get those features using one of the billions useless plugins it has, but then you can kiss stability and mem usage goodbye (which was not that good to start with).

Say that out loud and FF users will come with crosses and holy water protecting their "God" :rolleyes:

Anyway back to "Firefox linux & FireFox windows observation"
 

To answer your first question Mega Man X. The bugs I had were:

• Sometimes clicking in a textbox wouldn't work.
• Some pages wouldn't load at all saying 'server not found' unless I cleaned out my Cache, Cookies, and History.

But what are they?

For the first one, what do you have running at the time and does it happen to other apps? I have had that problem before but it didn't just effect Firefox, it was effecting all apps I had open at the time. A Java program I had running was hogging focus, stupid Mercury Messenger :p

Megaman: You have still yet to understand a word that I've posted... I couldn't care less whether you're raving about Opera vs Firefox, KDE vs GNOME or Linux vs Windows, you're stating your points as if they're fact when they certainly are not. You may have problems with Firefox while millions of users out there don't, that's the software's fault? I don't use KDE because I have problems with that software while millions of people don't but you don't see me ragging on KDE all over the place. If you had said "I have problems with Firefox displaying weird behaviour" rather than "Almost forgot to mention how unstable Firefox is" then I would have skipped over this thread as it didn't really interest me. Firefox is not unstable at all for me and a ton of other people so doesn't that suggest a problem on your system? Same as KDE feels very slow and unstable on my system but I'm willing to bet it could be fixed because they wouldn't have a userbase the size that they do by releasing average software.

And the obligatory prayer to Firefox:
OMFG F1REF0X IS TEH BESTEST!!!111one

I think that IE is starting to be like FF, not the other way around. FF is only slow to me on my Pentium 100. FF sometimes crashes on me, but it is always because I am abusing it.

I run Firefox on both linux (home) and windows 2000 (work). For some reason, the linux version does that disappearing act sometimes when I log out of my router, or when surfing graphics-intensive websites. No such crashes at all on the windows version.. go figure :confused: I am still running 1.0.7 and cannot wait to try 1.5. I hear it is as zippy as Opera ;) I also love Opera BTW, it just takes a little tweaking to get the tabs in the "right" place, and the default skin is a little bit winXP-sy.

OK cs-cam, sorry I've been giving ya a hard time, I will try to post in a more constructive, detailed way, especially when stating an opinion. However, I hope that you, don't believe that userbase/fanbase == quality, because it's not.

Which cars sells the most? Cheap crappy ones or sport, bad ass looking ones?. Which is the most used Operating System around? Is that the best one? The fact that Firefox has a bigger userbase then Opera not truly makes it better.

Same goes to KDE. If it makes you feel any happy, KDE crashes on me a lot too. Still, it's so easy to use and feels so familiar to Windows users, that maybe the user feels its alright to have a crash once in a while(same as windows).

And I liked your prayer to Firefox :). Strange you're not using as a sig, ghehe. I've found a cool gif of Opera where it stands "Opera is fastOr, BettOr", where "O" was the symbol of Opera, but can't find it anymore :\. Would definitely go into my site :)

Regards!

Firefox was the only app open.
It also happened to Galeon.
It's probably a GTK, or X problem.

I still have to ask:

If Firefox linux is bigger because of included dependencies, what are the dependencies?

Also, why is it suffering these horrible bugs?