Every once in a while, I feel bad for not using the only remaining truly open-source browser: Firefox.<fn> Opera is my go-to browser, but that's been bought up by the Chinese, right? So far, things haven't changed but who knows what's going on under the hood? Chrome is a decent testing browser, but offers me nothing better than Opera and its memory profile is, for whatever reason, consistently worse. I'm a very happy Opera user. Still, Firefox is, in version 57, supposedly much faster and uses less memory, finally putting it on-par with the other browsers. Cool. Let's check it out. <h>Y U no speak English?</h> <img attachment="y-u-no.jpg" align="left">I start Firefox and it thinks I want to speak German. It's a mistake more than a few applications make. My <i>location</i> is Switzerland, but the <i>language</i> of my operating system is English. Why does Firefox choose German instead of English? It's not alone, but it's a boneheaded mistake---if you're going to make a guess, then guess the <i>language I've chosen for my whole operating system</i>. No problem, though. I'll just go find the setting where I can change the UI language.<fn> <clear><h>Y U no have UI-language setting?</h> <img attachment="y-u-no.jpg" align="left">There's no way of searching preferences. I guess I'll just click through every page of the settings, hoping to find the language settings. Damn, I can't even find the area where I could change the list of preferred languages for web pages. <clear><h>Y U no Upgrade?</h> <img attachment="y-u-no.jpg" align="left">Which version of Firefox am I even using? Wait, how the heck do I figure out which version of Firefox this is? Let me type <c>about:</c>. Oh, that doesn't work anymore. Back to the kind-of confusing menu on the right-hand side. None of those little pictures look right ... maybe if I click "help"? Ah, there it is. Apparently, I have an update pending. I'm surprised that wasn't more prominently displayed. Restart Firefox to apply updates. I have a new start page and new settings! Now I can find the list of preferred languages for web pages, but still nothing about the UI language. <clear><h>Y U no Helping?</h> <img attachment="y-u-no.jpg" align="left">I guess I'll have to give on Firefox helping me and will ask DuckDuckGo. I find the article <a href="http://therebellin.com/library/firefox-in-your-language-heres-the-tutorial/">Firefox in your language? Here’s the tutorial.</a> Apparently, it's possible <i>without re-installation</i>, for which I suppose I should be grateful...but there's a <i>tutorial</i>. Sounds ominous. I have to install an add-on. Whatever. I've already sunk enough time; let's get this done. I jump to the <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/language-tools/">link provided for language packs</a> and the one for English is right at the top. <clear><error>This add-on is not compatible with your version of Firefox.</error> <img src="{att_link}firefox_no_en_us_language_pack_available.png"> <clear><h>Flips Table</h> <img attachment="flip-table-meme.jpg" align="left">How is that even a thing? How is it possible for Firefox to release a version on their stable branch without having the <i>English</i> language pack available? I'm running the <i>latest stable version</i>. It was already a long-enough slog to get here in the first place, but now I find out that it's not even possible to change the language of my browser's UI without re-installing? Or that I get to <iq>Download anyway</iq> and take my chances? Once again, I admit defeat and stop using Firefox. Who cares how fast it is<fn> when the user experience is still so balky? It continues to feel like an unpolished product. <hr> <ft>This isn't hampered by a lack of understanding of German, luckily, because I'm fluent.</ft> <ft>Just this morning, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/29/its-time-to-give-firefox-another-chance/" source="TechCrunch">It's Time to Give Firefox Another Chance</a> showed up in my Reddit feed, exhorting people to try out the latest beta. You have to download and install a separate executable for now. After my experience with the stable channel, I'm not going near the Firefox beta channel. If the <i>English-language add-on</i> isn't available, what the odds that any of the other plugins I use are?</ft> <ft>And the promise of speed is only that it is now on-par with the other modern browsers and tat it no longer wastes memory like it used to.</ft>