Containers are useful, but it's like having a few similar terminal windows open. Eventually you'll type something on the wrong window... at least I found myself searching for personal stuff on my work Google container.
With profiles I can have different bookmarks, extensions, and even a different theme so I'm aware I'm on my personal profile, not on a work profile. Since switching profiles on Firefox + macOS is a pain in the butt, I use 2 different Firefox channels (stable + dev).
Anyway, containers are nice, but they're not a replacement for profiles.
> Anyway, containers are nice, but they're not a replacement for profiles.
This, so much. Anytime I've brought up profiles on Firefox, I'm told about this alternative that isn't a replacement for the feature.
Safari is (finally) bringing this, so maybe the folks at FF will begin to see this as a feature worth investing in. First-class profiles support is one of the main reasons I stick to Chrome, despite trying to switch.
And then to use them you have to start firefox e.g. :
firefox -P <profile-name>
Very few casual users (nor even most technical users) start Firefox from a command line, and setting up shortcuts for these is also a step that most users won't do.
The support for profiles is there, it's just hard to use in the context of a GUI desktop.
That's part of the "problem" with Firefox's support of profiles. It feels more like an afterthought and less like a primary use case the product wants to surface. To approximate the functionality Chrome has, I had to bookmark "about:profiles" and make it my home page.
Chrome also added this nifty feature that lets you open links as a Profile, making it easy to switch.
These may seem like small issues, but the end up mattering.
Firefox is also missing a don't allow any website to play audio unless explicitly enabled setting (mute tabs by default, except on allowed sites), as far as I can tell.
That's not the same thing. Chrome's setting can force audio to be muted regardless of user interactions or manually started playback, until the website settings are changed to allow sound.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, but this is a big deal IMO. We're here because Chrome has been the better product for a long time. Firefox not doing things people want well enough will hurt its adoption, which will impact its capacity to influence the Web.
Add to Mozilla's perceived not-very-good management and you have a death spiral on your hands, and more power to Google and Apple to shape the Web towards their interests.
Mozilla in the past ignored the criticism users had regarding UI/UX changes and went with deploying this bulky mobile-oriented interface for desktops. And here we are.
This itself is one issue; there are also all sorts of adventures they decide to go for little to not at all related to the browser development, and which are conducted to convince people all around the world that they're a good humane corporation that cares. Igh.
The last time I checked, multiple profiles support is somehow half-baked.