Why choose Firefox?

[ooneybird27]

Why choose Firefox is a rhetorical question, as Firefox is basically a sub-contractor of Google, who I was trying to escape from. I've had the download for about a week, and I realized that one of the searchbars on the engine is Google. With very little investigation on my part, I found that Google pays Moxzilla around $400 million a year, or 2/3's of Firefox's operating budget. There goes privacy and welcome to another data mine. Firefox is simply Chrome with a new skin. But ALL 3rd party search engines are Chrome with a new skin. At this point, Google IS the internet.

[Nexl404]

This actually got me curious. Do you have any sources or more information on this? Especially the Mozilla-Google relationship and why you think that makes Firefox “Chrome with a new skin.” I’d genuinely like to read more about it.

[ooneybird27]

The thing that got me going down this rabbit hole was shortly after I had downloaded Firefox and started using it, I noticed at the top of the search page "Google." I had deleted Edge, and never had Chrome on my laptop. So I opened a new tab and looked at the searchbar. There's a drop-down on the left side of the searchbar that lets you select which search engine you prefer to use - Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc. I thought that Firefox was its own thing. This YouTube short started me looking into it: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Y9Zk_jlwZxw?feature=share

Then I found this short: 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sb3SBSlfzpE?feature=share

After that, I began extensively researching articles online. There are a plethora of them, and not just about Firefox. For instance, a search of, "Give me a list of independent web browsers that use Google as the primary search engine" will give you Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, Epic, Iridium, Falkon, Tor, Librewolf, and WaterFox (Linux version of Firefox). Each of these browsers get a significant portion of the royalties derived from search queries. It seems that it's too complex and too expensive to create & maintain a brand new search engine that's as accurate as Chrome or Bing. DuckDuckGo originally used the Chrome framework, but now relies on a hybrid Bing search engine. Google is responsible for 88% of all internet queries, so many of the independent browsers are built on a Chrome framework.  As the one short said, changes to Firefox's terms & conditions give them a broad leeway over what they can do with our personal information moving forward. I hope this reply was at least a partial answer to your question. My best advice, and the advice I always follow, is to always research and verify claims for yourself. Then, you can make up your own mind about what to do and what to choose moving forward. Thanks for the reply and best wishes.