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Phoenix and Minotaur Get New Names

Posted by timothy on from the but-not-new-icons dept.

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."

35 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 qazxsw · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pinto? I heard IE was being renamed Yugo!

  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.
  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.

  5. "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.

  6. 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!"

  7. "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 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.

    3. 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

  8. 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.
  9. 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...)

  10. 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).

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

    Volvos are more classy than Thunderbirds and Firebirds.

    --

    Volunteer Mozilla developer, RPI Student.
  12. 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
  13. 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

  14. 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
  15. Re:Bloody Codenames! by uhmmmm · · Score: 5, Informative

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

  16. 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.

  17. 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.
  18. 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!

  19. 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).
  20. 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?

  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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

  24. 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.

    --
    THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
  25. In other news... by Ozan · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    *rimshot*

  26. (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
  27. 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.