Slashdot Mirror
Firebird Database Project Admin on Name Clash
CapnKirk writes "Ann Harrison weighs in on the "Firebird--database or browser?" name clash. Her take on things: our users feel threatened. We're responding to their concerns. AOL lawyers said it's ok, so the Mozilla team isn't interested in negotiating, but that's ok because we've gotten a lot of publicity and name recognition. And no, we don't plan on going to court." As always, a small group of users are being real asses about the whole thing. Yay.
Those database people should've never named their program the same thing as the browser.
Ooops - nope - I guess they discontinued that, eh?
Sig-Na-Cher
I would be satisfied if Mozilla's new name was just "Not Internet Explorer".
Methinks even more people would want to use it too.
Using Not Internet Explorer 1.3...
Finders Keepers.
Consider Anne's Responses:
Q: Several sites, including LinuxWorld, News.com, Slashdot and Neowin.net have published articles on the conflict. How do you feel about the media coverage of the dispute?
A: "To be frank, I haven't read any of the articles. I've got a mangled database I'm trying to resurrect and I've been answering e-mails from people who object to my attempt to raise our profile."
and yet, Anne admits:
"And I've spent most of the last week responding to people who read about this on Slashdot and call me a spammer, a terrorist, and a sucker of moose balls."
Glad to see she has her priorities straight. She's been too busy responding to the flames of Slashdot readers to read any of the other articles on the conflict... ;-)
I still think Mozilla should take a clue from the automotive world, and call it what everyone else calls the Pontiac Firebird(the Screaming/Flaming Chicken- remember the giant decal on the hood?), only with the typical Mozilla twist.
"Introducing Screaming Dinosaur 7.0! Now features a Mullet theme(complete with AC/DC soundtrack) and optional CinderBlock technology, which completely disables the browser(but leaves it on your desktop, along with dozens of useless old documents and applications.)"
Please help metamoderate.
While most Slashdot users won't be confused by a Firebird DB & a Firebird browser, many browser end-users might be.
yeah... I can see it...
"Dammit, this stupid firebird browser sucks. I can find any web pages on it.."
tech support: " do you have your proxy set wrong?"
"No, it keeps telling me my query is wrong and I need to select a database first! this this is pure crap!"
I can see that... same as those idiots in sales keep trying to piss in the vending machines because they are the same color as the urinal stalls. And dont get me started what they do because the odor cakes in the urinals look like a favorite food around here!
People are so fricking stupid nowdays you have to be careful because names easily confuse them.
Ok so was a too sarcastic?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Which pair is more similar, a web browser and a database, or a web browser and a BIOS?
It seems to me that this name change had nothing to do with trademark law or avoiding confusion, and everything to do with who has the most lawyers.
Personally, I think that the Firebird database should be renamed the Mozilla database... because, hey, Mozilla's own lawyers (ok, AOL's lawyers, presumably) have obviously decided that nobody will ever be confused between a web browser and a database.
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
Perhaps with all the heated argument over the name, the Mozilla browser should not be called Firebird but rather it should be named Flamethrower.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
E & J Gallo Thunderbird.
Just call the browser "Flamewar".
Phoenix, the lightweight opensource mozilla browser, was renamed to Firebird.
Firebird, the open source database, is supported by a company called IBPhoenix.
Firebird, the database, also happens to be licensed under the IPL, which is based on the Mozilla Public License.
The Mozilla Project's Asa Dotzler has said that "the chances of someone confusing a web browser and a relational database are about as slim as someone confusing a loaf of bread and a bananna". There have now been complaints from Mozilla camp about IBPhoenix inciting their users to contact, en masse, Asa (and others) about this matter... I think that the Mozilla people should really just be glad that the users were only asked to send email, rather than to snail mail packages of mozilla-branded banana bread. Because that would be kind of funny.
In any case, I think that a project who's name and logo comes awfully close to infringing on a certain Japaneese movie franchise really ought to think carefully before stepping on friend's toes regarding name rights.
__
Choose mnemonic identifiers. If you can't remember what mnemonic means, you've got a problem. - Larry Wall
It's just another browser based on gecko. I think all of these offshoots should be named with some string of numbers that is the sum of RAM required + the amount of diskspace in K) + version nbr / the square root of the number of text editors for Linux * the number of failed office suites + 1.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Firebi~2
Any particular reason to stick with the name Firebird for Mozilla other than the fact it's already been publicized?
Aw, geez, but they already made up T-shirts and coffee mugs...
But seriously, maybe I misread something back there, but I believe it is Mozilla's streamlined standalone-browser project, Phoenix, that is going through a namechange to Firebird, not Mozilla itself.
-ks
The angel in the oatmeal.
Few people realize that the Phoenix browser's new name is an acronym:
Firebird: I Renamed Everrbody's Browser Into a Relational Database
The logical step now is for the Firebird project to rename their project to "Mozilla". It's only fair.