It's more complicated than how you're presenting it.

The comments on the bug report point out that the new behavior makes Firefox on Linux different from other Linux applications, including some browsers. The devs said they want Firefox to be consistent across platforms, whereas the Linux users want Firefox to be consistent with the rest of their system.

The new behavior is also different from the behavior of text boxes rendered by Firefox.

Their behavior makes Firefox unlike literally every single other program with a text box, except the singular other browser people actually use. Neither browser should be different for the sake of it.

Sorry not sure what you mean? This is exactly how Safari, Chrome, and I guess others I can't immediately test work. Seems good to work as expected from other browsers?

They're saying, I think, that the textbox which is a URL is a special textbox but it shouldn't be. It should be the same as any other textbox in Firefox.

^the same as any text box on any OS since Mac Classic and perhaps before on the Xerox.

> It should be the same as any other textbox in Firefox

Editing strings in `about:config` seems to behave identical to the URL bar, and Ctrl+F behaviour is similar (but other search bars, like in settings, do not highlight all). Possibly more, just did a quick check of the text boxes I remember Firefox's UI having.

Yeah, and that's cool. I get being consistent with other browsers. I also miss being able to invert the choice with an about:config toggle.

I also know that I'm in the minority, and that maybe the size of my cohort is too small to add yet another thing to check during regression testing.

But I'm still mad about it :) Firefox always seemed like the browser for people who want to configure weird things, or extend it in all sorts of crazy ways. More and more it's becoming a me-too browser, and the only reason I'm sticking with it is out of a sense of duty to fight a Chrome monoculture.

Yeah they can't really win - do they try to keep happy a dwindling group who liked Firefox the way it was in the past, or simplify and streamline to innovate more quickly appeal to new users. It's probably impossible to do both. I'm firmly in the anti-customisation camp myself. They obviously aren't ever going to appeal to both of us.

It is possible to do both. The answer is customization, about:config already exists.

> I'm firmly in the anti-customisation camp myself.

> It is possible to do both. The answer is customization

Err well that’s not doing both then is it? That’s having customisation. I don’t want customisation. So that’s not doing both at all that’s just doing it your way and ignoring me.

Exactly ;-)

It doesn't need to be the same for the sake of it either.