I have never used Chrome on my personal computer outside of the occasional dev task or website incompatibility (and automated web scraping). I went straight from Netscape to Firefox, which means I have been using the Mozilla browser for at least twenty years now.
Firefox dropped an ad on Sunday with the title: “It’s time to come back to Firefox. The Internet you loved is still here.”
In May, I wrote a piece entitled “The best is over” lamenting the rise of hyperoptimized “content” and the disappearance of the amateur web. This ad captures that nostalgia pretty well, even opening with the same familiar face: the Numa Numa guy, Gary Brolsma.
The Twitter post is even more bittersweet:
How is the internet less private than in 2006, when the whole family shared one computer? Back then, the internet was weird, personal, and all of ours. So, we got your favorite meme legends back together to say it louder: What happened to the internet?
Here’s what happened: big tech tracking you everywhere, ads that follow you around, and AI you didn’t ask for.
While the internet got worse. Firefox got better. We’re built to protect, not track you, with AI on your terms, and ad blocker support.
It’s time to come back to Firefox.
I never left.