I tried this and I see the text box for Google Search perfectly fine (Google.co.jp where I am) so this did not break the internet in any way. The text box even highlights blue still so it is definitely visible. Also, he is not considering the entire 3rd world country market where Firefox tends to dominate precisely because it is so flexible in it's bandwidth friendly options. So perhaps 2% in the world as a sum but it is probably a MUCH larger percentage when looking at specific regions of the world.
> Enable JavaScript
I use noscript on Firefox but have disable Javascript via the browser before (specifically when I use Chrome). I just remember to enable Javascript when I use websites that I know require Javascript (ex: online banking). Again, this is a huge plus in third world countries since it greatly reduces bandwidth consumption (which is also why I use it because my connection is pretty poor).
> Turning off navigation
Agree with this one. Makes no sense. Especially when you can go into full screen mode if you want to maximize screen real estate.
> Turning off SSL & TLS
Agree here but it is listed under the advanced options, which to normal users means, "don't touch this stuff." If you actually change anything here, I would expect the person to know what they are doing. If you want to call for streamlining "Advanced Options", then that is a very different argument that has to be made.
> The entire certificate manager
Again, advanced options.
> Override automatic cache management
Extremely useful. His argument here completely ignores use cases such as:
* Running Firefox as a portable app (USB drives have a write limit so turning this off is crucial).
* Operating systems that run off flash media. Who here owns a Raspberry Pi or any of the numerous embedded PCs?
Firefox might be good at determining how much cache to use on low storage systems, but it is probably not a good judge of when to turn off cache completely to prolong the life of certain hardware.
Also, my experience is anecdotal but I do remember my Firefox cache eating up a huge amount of disk space before which prevented me from installing new programs on my OS (until I went and manually cleared the cache). Why? Because at the time that space was free. Firefox had no way of knowing when I would want to use that free space in the future.
> Load images automatically
I tried this and I see the text box for Google Search perfectly fine (Google.co.jp where I am) so this did not break the internet in any way. The text box even highlights blue still so it is definitely visible. Also, he is not considering the entire 3rd world country market where Firefox tends to dominate precisely because it is so flexible in it's bandwidth friendly options. So perhaps 2% in the world as a sum but it is probably a MUCH larger percentage when looking at specific regions of the world.
> Enable JavaScript
I use noscript on Firefox but have disable Javascript via the browser before (specifically when I use Chrome). I just remember to enable Javascript when I use websites that I know require Javascript (ex: online banking). Again, this is a huge plus in third world countries since it greatly reduces bandwidth consumption (which is also why I use it because my connection is pretty poor).
> Turning off navigation
Agree with this one. Makes no sense. Especially when you can go into full screen mode if you want to maximize screen real estate.
> Turning off SSL & TLS
Agree here but it is listed under the advanced options, which to normal users means, "don't touch this stuff." If you actually change anything here, I would expect the person to know what they are doing. If you want to call for streamlining "Advanced Options", then that is a very different argument that has to be made.
> The entire certificate manager
Again, advanced options.
> Override automatic cache management
Extremely useful. His argument here completely ignores use cases such as:
* Running Firefox as a portable app (USB drives have a write limit so turning this off is crucial). * Operating systems that run off flash media. Who here owns a Raspberry Pi or any of the numerous embedded PCs?
Firefox might be good at determining how much cache to use on low storage systems, but it is probably not a good judge of when to turn off cache completely to prolong the life of certain hardware. Also, my experience is anecdotal but I do remember my Firefox cache eating up a huge amount of disk space before which prevented me from installing new programs on my OS (until I went and manually cleared the cache). Why? Because at the time that space was free. Firefox had no way of knowing when I would want to use that free space in the future.