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Phoenix and Minotaur Get New Names

blazerw11 writes "Phoenix and Minotaur have been officially renamed to Firebird for the browser and Thunderbird for the mail client. Interestingly, they're both named after cars I often see in my neighbors' lawns. At least these cars were pretty fast before they were put up on cinder blocks. Personally, I like the names and the browser is great. I'm writing this with one of the last Phoenix Nightlies."

86 of 485 comments (clear)

  1. wOOt! by DwarfGoanna · · Score: 4, Funny

    So the 'Phear This!' and 'Calvin pissing on IE' skins will be forthcoming, right? =)

    --

    "You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo

  2. in related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In related news, Internet Explorer is being renamed "Pinto," reflecting its tendency to blow up.

    1. Re:in related news... by Mipmap · · Score: 5, Funny

      I moderated you to flamebait - because, well, Pintos are flamebait (and so is IE)

    2. Re:in related news... by gabec · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of course, since you posted on this topic as yourself, your moderation points were removed from his post. So good job. ;)

    3. Re:in related news... by qazxsw · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pinto? I heard IE was being renamed Yugo!

    4. Re:in related news... by Surak · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What is it with browsers and e-mail clients being named after cars anyway?

      Netscape Navigator -> Lincoln Navigator
      Internet Explorer -> Ford Explorer
      Lynx -> Mercury Lynx
      Mozilla Firebird -> Pontiac Firebird
      Mozilla Thunderbird -> Ford Thunderbird

      Hmmmm...all Ford products with the exception of Firebird. Maybe they should've picked 'Mustang'. ;)

    5. Re:in related news... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Of course, nobody outside the US has a bloody clue what you're talking about :-)

      Oh, wait - Triumph made a motorbike called a Thunderbird back in the sixties. I seem to remember calling it the thunderbox, though - it really wasn't up to the standard of many of their other bikes.

    6. Re:in related news... by Monkey+Angst · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Netscape Navigator -> Lincoln Navigator
      Those are all pretty funny, except that Netscape's Navigator predates Lincoln's. Both suffer from bloat, though.
      --
      stripShow - Where WordPress meets webcomics
    7. Re:in related news... by schon · · Score: 2, Funny

      AMC cars had something of a reputation of having problems compared with other makes, but they looked nice.

      Don't tell me, let me guess:

      You bought every color of Imac ever made, right? :o)

  3. a great compact browser by eenglish_ca · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pheonix is a great browser for me cause I am stuck using P2 233 with winnt in my comp sci class with no ie installed. The only issue is that I have to store pheonix on my personal drive which is a max of 48 megs. The pheonix I use is 12 megs which is 1/4 of the space. Conclusion: Pheonix is a great light browser performance wise but it has to be more compressed in terms of size still.

    --
    Checking out my form of escapism.
    1. Re:a great compact browser by Effugas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Have you tried runtime-compressing the Phoenix binary with UPX? Let me know how it goes.

      --Dan
      www.doxpara.com

  4. Request. by numbski · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love the Mozilla herd, but please do me a favor...

    Quit renaming all the browsers! Every time I recommend them to a friend or coworker, the name changes and they get confused. :(

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:Request. by Fnkmaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Okay, howzabout you ask everybody with a vaguely related product to stop threatening the Mozilla project with lawsuits, then they'll stop renaming their browsers.

    2. Re:Request. by Planesdragon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Quit renaming all the browsers! Every time I recommend them to a friend or coworker, the name changes and they get confused. :(

      You don't recommend them very much, do you?

      Netscape was "re-named" to Mozilla--which, in a way, is just publicizing the name it always had.

      "Gecko" has always been the Mozilla render engine.

      "Phoenix" stared out as "Phoenix" as "micro-Mozilla", and we've known for, oh, six months or so that it had to be re-named.

      Minotaur is almost brand'spankin' new--and every mention I've seen of it had "to be re-named to thunderbird" stamped on it.

    3. Re:Request. by henben · · Score: 3, Interesting
      "Chimera" was also just renamed to Camino.

      I think there's a need for a "naming software projects HOWTO", covering:

      1. How to choose a name that won't be taken off you within a year
      2. How to choose a name that won't hinder acceptance by some users (I'm looking at you, BitchX).
      3. How to choose a name that's Googleable (and not something like, say, There).
    4. Re:Request. by LetterJ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Here are the beginnings of such a HOWTO

      If the name you're thinking of is directly pulled from a scifi or fantasy source, don't bother. These sources are WAY overrepresented as naming sources in software. Not only are your chances of coming up with something original pretty small, most of the names of characters and places in scifi are trademarked and you run the risk of being sued.

      If the name you're thinking of comes straight from Greek, Roman or Norse mythology, try again. We've got more than enough mail related software called variations of "Mercury".

      Run your proposed name through Google. The fewer results you get the better. If you get down to no results, you're there.

      Don't try to get a unique name by just slightly misspelling something. Calling your new Windows filesystem program Phat32 is just going to end up with users getting frustrated looking at the results of "fat32" in a search engine.

      If your name couldn't be said on TV in the 50s or 60s, you're probably on the wrong track. This is particularly true if you would like anyone to use your product in a work environment. No one is going to recommend a product to their co-workers if they can get sued for sexual harassment just for uttering its name.

      If your product name can't be pronounced at all, you'll get no word of mouth benefit at all. Similarly, if no one knows how to pronounce it, they will not be very likely to try to say it out loud to ask questions about it, etc. How do YOU say MySQL? PostgreSQL? GNU? Almost all spoken languages on Earth are based on consonant/vowel syllables of some sort. Alternating between consonants and vowels is a pretty good way to ensure that someone can pronounce it.

      The shorter the better.

      See if the .com domain is available. If it's not, it's a pretty good indicator that someone has already thought of it and is using it or closer to using it than you are. Do this even if you don't intend to use the domain.

      Don't build inherent limitations on your product into the name. Calling your product LinProduct or WinProduct precludes you from ever releasing any sort of cross-platform edition.

      Don't use your own name for open source products. If the project lives on beyond your involvement, the project will either have to be renames or your name may be used in ways you didn't intend.

      I'll put this up at phpgeek.com to build it up more.

  5. Bloody Codenames! by mungeh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why do software (and hardware) developers feel they need to change the names of their products when they finish them? Just to confuse us? Please there must be someone who can clarify this! I see it time and time again, paticularly with CPUs: Clawhammer, Sledgehammer, Northwood... Not to mention Longhorn, *insert some other codenamed thingy here*

    1. Re:Bloody Codenames! by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 3, Informative

      because there was some copyright problem with Pheonix (taken by someone else, don't remember whom though).

      What your talking about though is codenames. Those are supposed to change once the product is released. Excuse me if i'm wrong, but Pheonix wasn't a code name, It was a product name.

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    2. Re:Bloody Codenames! by uhmmmm · · Score: 5, Informative

      Phoenix was renamed to avoid potential legal problems from Phoenix BIOS.

    3. Re:Bloody Codenames! by Art+Tatum · · Score: 2, Informative
      The problems with Phoenix are Trademark related. The BIOS manufacturer called 'Phoenix' is releasing a web-browser built in to their BIOSes (though their browser is *not* called Phoenix) and got all huffy because there was an open source browser called Phoenix already. So they threatened to sue/torture/beat the shit out of the Phoenix team unless they changed the name.

      Something similar happened with the Chimera browser too, I think.

    4. Re:Bloody Codenames! by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Northwood... Not to mention Longhorn

      These names are getting cruder and cruder... Pretty soon we will see the new "Largenuts" northbridge and the "Bigcock" processor to go with it.

      Maybe it's just me that's getting cruder? ... Nah.

      --
      I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
    5. Re:Bloody Codenames! by Moonshadow · · Score: 2, Informative

      Speaking of Borland, what about the OSS fork of the Interbase database? It's named Firebird. I could see this becoming a bit of a problem. At least there wasn't any desktop-level software already called Phoenix, particularly OSS software.

      We use both Firebird and Phoenix at the office. Now, we're gonna have to start calling them "Open Interbase" and "Mozilla Junior" or something.

  6. What about... by kruetz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Firenerd and Thundernerd? Seems kinda fitting, don't you think?

    And we can call the IRC client ChunderWord, because that's basically the point of IRC chat.

    (to "chunder" is to vomit)

    --

    This sig intentionally left bla... dammit!
    Who's got the whiteout?
    1. Re:What about... by zCyl · · Score: 4, Funny

      Firenerd and Thundernerd?

      Do you really think we need more subliminal suggestions of "Firenerd" in this economy?

  7. Unity in the product line by El+Cubano · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think this is good. It will give user a theme they can identify with (especially if all the mozilla derivatives follow the convention).

    But I guess they already had a theme going with fantasy creatures to begin with. I wonder where it will go.

  8. "Phoenix" joins the Browser Relocation Program by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    After numerous attempts on it's life by the Microsoft mafia family, Phoenix is being given a new name and identity an an undisclosed website in the hopes of protecting it.

  9. Chimera renamed to Camino by krisp · · Score: 5, Informative

    You'll also notice that the Mozilla team's MacOS X browser has been renamed Camino. Cars are definatly in style for them.

    1. Re:Chimera renamed to Camino by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Obligatory bad "That 70's Show" reference.

      Kelso:
      But it's an El Camino! Thats Spanish for "The Camino!"

  10. "Firebird" is also taken by Frater+219 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Firebird is also taken as an open-source project name. It is an SQL DBMS (database system) founded on Borland InterBase. It's actually supposed to be a fast and reliable DBMS -- possibly even more so than PostgreSQL.

    These folks must not have looked very hard if they thought "Firebird" was a name with no conflicts in the open-source world. Firebird SQL is on SourceForge, a pretty obvious place to look.

    1. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Naming conflicts in the open-source world was not the issue that forced the Phoenix -> Firebird change: Phoenix technologies,who also produced a browser product, owned the trademark on 'phoenix'.

      As for a quasi-obscure DB? I think that a server side app and a web browser are easily differentiable. You can't download a database to view web pages and you can't do SELECTs on a web browser. And afaik they don't own the trademark. So I really don't think that it's that significant of a change.

    2. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by Fnkmaster · · Score: 2, Informative

      They knew perfectly well about other products that use the name Firebird, it's just that they aren't relevant to the domain of web browsing software. Trademark law only grants protection over a certain domain - and Mozilla/Netscape had their lawyers spend several weeks giving the new names a thorough checking-out prior to announcing them.

    3. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by Scaba · · Score: 5, Funny
      You can't download a database to view web pages and you can't do SELECTs on a web browser.

      Speak for yourself.

    4. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by asa · · Score: 5, Informative

      These folks must not have looked very hard if they thought "Firebird" was a name with no conflicts

      Mozilla's Firebird browser isn't going to be confused with a relational database. Trademark onflicts only arise when there is customer confusion.

      --Asa

    5. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by QuantumET · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because that's not the problem.
      There's a company that makes a web-browser called Phoenix, I believe for embedded systems.

    6. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by GroovBird · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's right, and get this:

      The company that primarily exists to support and improve Firebird and which employs many ex-Borland people (including the inventor of Interbase) is called IBPhoenix.

      Dave

    7. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by Narcissus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's true, it won't be, but who is really treading on whose toes in this whole Phoenix issue? Phoenix make a BIOS, and along comes a browser named Phoenix. Let's face it, there's a better chance of accidentally installing a relational database instead of the intended browser than installing a BIOS instead of the browser.

      Now along comes Phoenix, and decide they're going to write a browser, and so get shitty that the name is already used. It was out of their domain, a different domain, and now that they're going into this new domain, they should have to deal with what's already there.

      Compare this to the whole Apple music thing that's going on. Isn't this really like Apple (the software company) moving into the music domain and forcing Apple (the music company) to change their name?

    8. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by gilesjuk · · Score: 2, Informative

      It was also the name of an 8-bit game company.

      I might knock up a Firebird software theme :)

    9. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by RPoet · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, it seems the only remaining free names are "testsicles" and "popplers".

      --
      "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
    10. Re:"Firebird" is also taken by nelsonal · · Score: 2, Funny

      However both features will be included in the next release of Emacs.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
  11. In other news... by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Evolution(tm) Mail client will be renamed "Camaro", while the Abiword is skipping the subtle but amusing titles and jumping right into it with their latest release, codenamed "WhiteTrash"

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  12. Re:Umm... by smcpeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One issue I see right away is this "Firebird" is not the same as the one found in http://firebird.sourceforge.net/ which could be confusing to people looking for this Firebird (or confusing to the people looking for the other Firebird...)

  13. Why... by numbski · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why oh why did the Macs get stuck with the sawed-off station wagon anyway? :P

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  14. Why not Volvo XC90 or something? by netdemonboberb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Volvos are more classy than Thunderbirds and Firebirds.

    --

    Volunteer Mozilla developer, RPI Student.
    1. Re:Why not Volvo XC90 or something? by zurab · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Volvos are more classy than Thunderbirds

      Maybe, in the past, but new Thunderbird looks very nice, and is very classy. I'd take that over most Volvos.

  15. Compress it with UPX by Phantasmo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Use UPX to compress phoenix.exe. I'm running one of the nightlies and I got it to go from 6.6MB to 2.7MB. It's not a lot of space, but it helps, and there's no decrease in speed.

    --

    The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
  16. Screenshots by teslatug · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here are a couple of screenshots:

    Firebird
    Thunderbird

  17. Why not.... by frodo+from+middle+ea · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why not rename phoenix to "Internet Explorer", just to fuck with M$.
    After all "Internet Explorer" shouldn't be allowed to be a trademark in Internet industry, the same argument as Windows being a trademark ?
    Plus that way they can get totally clueless joe six-packs to download thinking they are upgrading their IE,
    Wow imagine the user base generated by that ?

    --
    for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
  18. More open source confusion by origin2k · · Score: 2

    Why would they name it the same as the open source relational database firebird project?

    Originally open sourced by Borland (commercial name interbase).

  19. ghostzilla by SHEENmaster · · Score: 2, Informative

    for in-class use you might wanna try ghostzilla. We switched to it in my high school computer programming class (a joke, I wanted to vomit when I saw the teachers code formatting.) and not a single person was ever caught using it.

    It will do cool things like open inside existing windows in greyscale with images only shown on mouseover, and it will disappear when you mouse leaves its area on to come back with a flick of the wrist. If you don't need precautions that serious, it has lesser settings of paranoia.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
  20. In other news... by EricHsu · · Score: 5, Funny
    Composer was renamed El Dorado Convertible, Chatzilla was renamed Dart Swinger and Camino, of course, remained unchanged.

    In another surprise sequence of events, GCC was renamed GNU Caprice Classic and Emacs was renamed Pontiac Catalina.

    Apparently as part of an prior agreement, the Chevy Tahoe was immediately renamed the GNU/Chevy Tahoe.

    - Eric

  21. Firebird, as in... by frostman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...the Database?

    Honestly, as much as I admire the work these folks do, I have to wonder how one medium-to-high-profile open-source project can decide to use the name of another.

    It's not like there aren't other good poetic variations on the Phoenix theme.

    --

    This Like That - fun with words!

    1. Re:Firebird, as in... by asa · · Score: 4, Informative

      Honestly, as much as I admire the work these folks do, I have to wonder how one medium-to-high-profile open-source project can decide to use the name of another.

      Mozilla's Firebird browser is not going to be confused with a relational database. Without customer confusion, there isn't a trademark problem.

      --Asa

    2. Re:Firebird, as in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Mozilla's Firebird browser is not going to be confused with a relational database. Without customer confusion, there isn't a trademark problem.

      Ok, what's with you boneheads who keep bringing up trademarks??? Did the original poster mention anything about trademarks? What about a modicum of respect? What about when (Linux or BSD) distributions have to choose a unique package name for installed software? Who gets "firebird"?

      Seriously, what would you think if MySQL renamed itself to Mozilla? Huh? Would you just shrug it off and say "well, no trademark is violated, so no big deal"? Or would you feel a little bit insulted?

    3. Re:Firebird, as in... by Micah · · Score: 2

      Sorry, I'd have to agree with grandparent. Two reasonably well known open source products should NOT have the same name. Lame, lame, lame.

      I'll still use it though! :)

  22. Wasn't AMD naming their chips after cars too? by Mustang+Matt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Didn't AMD use Mustang and Thunderbird originally for their chips before they were released?

    --
    The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:Wasn't AMD naming their chips after cars too? by intermodal · · Score: 2, Informative

      actually, AMD was naming them after breeds of horses for the most part, hence Morgan, Palomino, Mustang (which i have not heard of from AMD but i dont know everything), thoroughbred, and so on. I think thunderbird may also be horse related. I think they should just cut the crap and make the Clydesdale core since thats what all these overclockers who buy and fry the latest and greatest chip want you to think they are hung like anyhow.

      --
      In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  23. Thunderbird Ghetto Wine by Ramuh · · Score: 2, Funny

    From their old radio campaign: What's the word? Thunderbird! What's the jive? Bird's alive! What's the price? Thirty twice! Ah... enjoy the savory citrus flavor

    --
    //radiotakeover.
    .for indep
  24. Car Names. by SpamJunkie · · Score: 5, Funny

    First is was [El] Camino, now Firebird and Thunderbird? Damn. Mozilla people need to get out more. I can see my mother right now "I can't read my email in Firebird" and I'll say "Thunderbird" to which she'll respond "Whatever"

    Joy.

  25. What about Composer? by babymac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What I'd really like to know is...has the old (Netscape) Composer been spun off into its own, stand-alone program? It sounds silly, but I really liked Composer. Simple and straightforward HTML creation. I'd love to see it offered as a stand-alone!

    --
    "War makes me sad." - Me
    1. Re:What about Composer? by netdemonboberb · · Score: 5, Informative

      Composer is available in Mozilla, too. Making it stand-alone is going to happen. According to the New Roadmap, the GRE/toolkit will be the basis for all the stand-alone applications such as the browser, mail client, composer, and any other application created using the GRE/toolkit (which could be anything -- as long as it adheres to the MPL). This has been in the works for a long time. I remember hearing about breaking apart the applications way back in early 2002. The GRE was created not soon after, and now we have it being employed to finally create the stand-alone applications that were once fully integrated into the Mozilla process.

      --

      Volunteer Mozilla developer, RPI Student.
  26. Question is by einhverfr · · Score: 4, Funny

    How many people will accidently install the Firebird RDBMS thinking it is the web browser....

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    1. Re:Question is by freeweed · · Score: 4, Funny

      Isn't a DBMS part of the latest Mozilla build?

      (laugh, it's a joke :)

      --
      Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  27. Does this mean.... by G.I.+Suck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everytime Firebird/Thunderbird crashes, I'll have to report it to my insurance company instead of bugzilla? I hope a tow truck can manage applications!

  28. Re:Umm... by Monkey-Man2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, what's up with that. Did they not do a google search in their investigations? Or are they not concerned about conflicting names with another OS project? It even beats out the car on a search.

    --
    This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
  29. New graphics needed by netdemonboberb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now we need someone to design some really cool graphics.
    http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cg i?id=202059

    --

    Volunteer Mozilla developer, RPI Student.
  30. I should shut my pie hole. by teamhasnoi · · Score: 3, Informative
    I just nabbed the last nightliesinstaller that someone was so kind to make. It (20030411) seems to work so far, except you can't drag links to the bookmark toolbar from the location bar.

    And to further prove I'm a retread, here is the page for whiny bitch windows users like me to install a choice of nightlies.

    I'll go stand in the corner.

  31. Phoenix had to be renamed? by telstar · · Score: 3, Funny

    So MacGyver and the Phoenix Foundation finally staked their claim to their name, huh? I would've thought you could've settled it all for some duct tape, a pencil, three acorns and some sodium benzoate.

  32. moto? by diesel_jackass · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's too bad they didn't name [Phoenix] after a motorcycle. It would've made much more sense. Motorcycles are faster, lighter, more compact, more efficient, and way more fun than crappy cars.

    1. Re:moto? by Coelacanth · · Score: 2, Insightful


      Not a good idea. You're much more likely to have a "fatal exception" on a motorcycle.

  33. while looking around phoenix by lingqi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay not completely on-topic, but:

    I have noticed that RadialContext, which is probably the best thing that happened to browsers since the mouse, is now available for Phoenix, or Thunderbird, or whatever.

    A little note on that is you can change all the skins to pngs (do a global replace on the sript files) and lower the opacity to like 70% or so. suddenly you've got transparenty menus! Looks sweet as all heck.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  34. G(r)eeks by TheCubic · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, story writer, but _I_ live next to a Minatour and a Phoenix. I live in Knossos and have a summer home in Heliopolis.

    I guess in reality I 'live next' to two Tan Olds Cutlass Cieras, right close to the bar in the movie Fargo. Guess which city I live in!

  35. Firebird and Thunderbird? by Bewray · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Frankly I liked Phoenix and Minotaur much better.

    But if they were going to change their names to the new "old car" motif, why oh why a Firebird and a Thunderbird? If they called one of them Stingray, I wouldn't be bitching. Not that a 'vette was a great car, but because the name is so much cooler. I know Stingray is probably taken, but so is Firebird, so :P thbbbt.

    Even then, why name them after middle of the hill production cars. If the apps are supposed to be bitchen, use the names of bitchen super/muscle cars. The obvious: Superbird, Cobra, F1 (as in McLaren). Or, the not so obvious: Pantera, Barchetta, and Silver Shadow. Or you could even mix the two and go with the likes of Tuscan, Cerbera, or Tamora.

    --
    My spoon is too big!
  36. Dinosaurs evolutioned to birds? by MrJones · · Score: 2, Funny

    Seems that Mozilla is evolutioning to birds, like in real world evolution :-)

    --
    Get my e-mail after a captcha test in: http://tinymailt
  37. In other news... by Ozan · · Score: 4, Funny

    German Software maker SAP is renaming their R/3 software to 750iL.

    *rimshot*

  38. (It would help with branding + IE war) Re:Request by otisg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, I agree.
    Not only would your friends know what you are talking about, but so would mine and everyone elses. When you say Internet Explorer, everyone knows what you are talking about, right?
    I think people behind Mozilla should learn and adopt this simple 'trick' from Microsoft if they want Mozilla/Phoenix/Firebird to become more popular.

    I would love to see the percentage of visitors using Mozilla go up in my access_log, and the percentage of IE go down. Both Mozilla and Pheonix deserve it.

    --
    Simpy
  39. Under threat of legal action by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mozilla's Thunderbird and Firebird components will undergo a name change as these are apparently trademarked by the Ford Motor Company and Pontiac, a division of General Motors Corporation.

    In response the team will rename the Mozilla-based browser and email clients in the next release. In following with their current Greek theme, the team has been throwing around the names Muse for the browser and Pegasus for Email.

    Team members have a good "gut feeling" these names will not be confused with existing commercial products or trademarks.

  40. Given windows market share... by raehl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Shouldn't customer confusion be assumed?

  41. Idiots using duplicate names by mattr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Dumb. They will find that firebird.sourceforge.net has been taken already, Firebird is Interbase, the open source version of borland db which is run by real professionals who run a real db consulting business. And the next version is being built. They really don't need a raft of people making mistakes about their name. Pick your own!

  42. And Mozilla itself will be renamed Marauder by wowbagger · · Score: 2, Funny

    And Mozilla itself shall be renamed "Mercury Marauder" - it is big, heavy, powerful, and not quite as expensive as the competition.

    Meanwhile, rumors from Redmond indicate they have begun on a project codenamed "Ricer" - no additional data found.

  43. A plea for (phoenix|firebird)-i586 binaries by Boiotos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Phoenix is a lightweight and fast browser, so it's ideal for boxes built around the last generation of processors, like K2s, Pentium Pros, etc. (Or is that the generation before last?)

    The bummer is that both milestone and daily builds are -i686 binaries. Someone else filed a bugzilla ticket on this in December. I guess we can just vote for it and hope that the mozilla.org folks find the time to do a -i586 build, too.

    1. Re:A plea for (phoenix|firebird)-i586 binaries by Greg+W. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To hell with builds! I want a document that tells a Mozilla newbie like me how to compile this monstrosity myself! Because I'm sitting here on an HP-UX 10.20 system, and last time I saw a pig, its aerodynamics left a bit to be desired.

      Come on, people, just one little 800 byte HTML file?

      cvs -d :pserver:foo@bar/junk login
      password is "foobar"
      cvs -z3 -d :pserver:foo@bar/junk co phoenix
      cd phoenix
      CC=/where/I/put/gcc-3.2 ./configure --disable-gronkler-engine
      make

      If you can't build this thing in 10 steps or less, how the hell do you ever expect it to be useful? Or is it supposed to be a "rite of passage" build system, like nethack's? And if I can't build it with gcc, then fuck it. I am not going to track down version 3.78.123-a-9q of proprietary HP C++ compiler #74 which requires a codeword to install.

      (Sorry if I sound more bitter than usual. But the mozilla developers are truly on a different planet from the rest of us. Even filing a bug is a major chore, which has a serious impact on their QA. They should take a hint from Debian: apt-get install reportbug; reportbug.)

  44. Firebird, Thunderbird, and Camino? by mbbac · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is the new company look at Netscape a mullet?

    --

    mbbac

  45. In other (redundant) news... by nob · · Score: 2, Funny

    The new "AOL for Broadband" has renamed it's browser Corvair - unsafe at any speed.

    --
    daed si luap
  46. Thanks for the NEW Naming Confusion by syntap · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One thing open-source projects should NEVER do is rename their product to the name of ANOTHER open-source project.

    In this case, they've given it the same name as Interbase's open-source flavor.

    I mean, it's plainly there on SourceForge... not like it couldn't have been researched.

    http://firebird.sourceforge.net/
    http://www.ibp hoenix.com/

  47. Firebird already taken by g8oz · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The name is already taken by an open source database project.

    See http://firebird.sourceforge.net. Geez, how rude.

  48. Shades of Harry Potter by swordgeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know where this bizarre name-changing ideology comes from?

    The first Harry Potter book was the Philosopher's stone everywhere except the US, where it was the Sorcerer's stone. Phoenix, a mythical bird that consumed itself with fire, has been replaced with...firebird. Minotaur, a half man/half bull has been replaced with...thunderbird???

    Seems like most of these name changes involve a dumbing down of the name. There are other examples around too. The question then, is WHY???

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban