why is firefox such a CPU hog?

[Scott Balneaves]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 04:57:31PM -0800, john wrote:

> I just got to wondering (in an idle sort of way) why applications like
> openoffice  which is so much bigger than firefox seem to run just fine
> with 24 copies open and firefox doesn't?

Well, I think firefox will too.  Here's a test: get your 24 students to JUST
browse around on a site that doesn't involve any Java, or flash.  Something
like wikipedia.  I *know*, that they'll be able to do it just fine.  Because
wikipedia pages load, and then they just sit there.  Sure, you scroll around,
but all the processing's mainly done: now you're just scrolling around in a
page.

This is exactly the same as openoffice.  Once it's loaded, it's loaded.  You
scroll around in the doc, but you're not doing anything computationally
intense.

> Way back when -- I remember
> folks touting the efficient way that OO used memory, and in fact some
> folks left a version running all the time so that kids would have
> there instance open even faster.

This is still the case, for both FF an OpenOffice.

> A sort of crude pre-linking. The idea
> back then was that another oowriter instance was just another thread
> off the parent, as I remember it. Was that a fundamental
> misunderstanding of the way stuff worked under 4.2 or is Firefox or
> flash written in a much less scalable way than OO? Or something else

Problem is *entirely* flash.  Because it just sits there and keeps chewing up
cycles.  Web animations.  Ads.  Videos.  If there's 4 or five flash apps on a
page (say, 3 flash ads, 1 menu application, and a video), each consuming a
significant % of the cpu's cycles, *one page from one browser* can peg a
machine.  Now multiply this by the other 23 terminals.

> entirely. I guess I am still trying to grok Firefox/flash as the thing
> which makes Linux show its rough edges.

Linux is fine.
Firefox is fine.
Openoffice is fine.

We've surrendered our web viewing experience to a propriatary app that's
inefficient.   And now we're paying for it.

Scott

-- 
Scott L. Balneaves | This is the first age that's paid much attention to the
Systems Department | future, which is a little ironic since we may not have
Legal Aid Manitoba | one.    -- Arthur C. Clarke