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Mozilla's Joy Of Naming
An anonymous reader writes "Thought the Firebird naming conflict was over? Think again! (If you thought, "What naming conflict?", go to the back of the class and read Slashdot's, previous coverage.) MozillaZine has got an exclusive interview with Christopher Blizzard, mozilla.org staff member, Red Hat employee and author of the Mozilla branding strategy. It's one the first official statements from mozilla.org (Mitchell Baker published a letter that she sent to the Firebird database project admins a few days ago). As well as the interview, MozillaZine also takes a look at some of the more recent media coverage of the conflict, which is overwealmingly biased in favour of the Firebird database project (who still haven't adequately explained how it was different when they picked the same name as the older Firebird BBS). Compare and contrast with MozillaZine's interview of Ann Harrison of the Firebird database project."
Argh! There are so many links in that submission that my head is about to explo
"Sweet! FREE PUBLICITY!"
:)
I mean, not as popular as mysql, not as advanced as postgresql... they didn't have a whole lot going for them before this came up.
Ok, I'm still proposing "Bob" for the name. And no, I'm not named Bob!
In a shocking turn of events, Blizzard Entertainment, maker of popular game franchises Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, is charging Christoper Blizzard with trademark and DMCA violations. "Mr. Blizzard and his family were not authorized to use that last name" said a Blizzard executive who wished to remain anonymous. "We're suggesting he change his name to Christopher Snow, or Christopher Storm, something that won't confuse people."
Is anyone else reminded of the radical group from "A life of brian", or is it just me?
The Firebird database people should rename their project Phoenix.
And hence it'll be settled (if ever) after a lot of shenanigans.
Great, I'll get my broom!
'Same speed C but faster'
Mozilla should just use 'Firebird Trans Am' instead.
Then we would all think of Burt Reynolds when searching our favorite web pages. And, it would go well next to my Camino.
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\ Use Konqueror!
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Yeah let's talk about something more interesting. Like when is 0.6 coming out?
Random is the New Order.
Count the number of users of each product and let that decide:
Mozilla Firebird: 3,000,000
Firebird SQL: 3
Hmm, 1,000,000 to 1 user ratio.
Dear Namer,
f ide
Here are my suggestions to replace "Firebird":
Trojan
Sheik
LifeStyles
Durex
Kameleon
Con
Contempo
Kimono
Reality
Magnum
Stay protected,
Rupert
I think I will too. :P
"Nomad". You know, a wanderer. No, wait that's taken.
"FetchIt". As in go get it. Damn that's taken too.
"Carnivore". That's never had any bad press. And the icon looks like something out of Jurassic Park anyway.
"Charlie". Everybody knows a guy named Charlie, and they're usually good guys. Oh, wait, that damn conflict a few decades ago. Forget it.
Well for one because you can't buy Mozilla.
Psst. I'll sell you a Mozilla. Email me.
0.6 of Firebird the browser or Firebird the database?!?!?!
Oh my god I'm so confused!!
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
You know, I hate to be the one to point this out, but "Firebird" is a damn stupid name for either a browser or a database, especially considering the implication that both products rose from the ashes of other products that were abandoned by their original developers when they ceased to be competitive.
As a database name, it's especially stupid. What's the phoenix symbolism here? "Hey, try our database! All your data will crash and burn periodically, but you'll be able to recover it." C'mon, even freaking IBM can come up with better marketing themes. At least when you hear the name of their product, DB2, you know it's a database.
The same argument could be applied to the browser, though. Or indeed to most browsers. If you're not already aware of the product, what do names like Firebird, Mozilla, and Opera mean to you? Nothing. Look at MS product names: Internet Explorer, Word, Publisher, Flight Simulator. Bigod, the product name tells you what the product is. (Of course, on the other hand, you have Excel, Access, and Bob.)
Instead of squabbling over an uninformative name that has an uninspiring thudding cadence and making the Open Source world look like a bunch of petty jerks, how about the Firebird people and the other Firebird people go back to their corners and choose new names as if their choice of names actually matters.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
The layout engine was first called Raptor, but they later came up with the Gecko code name to include Raptor (that was later changed to NGLayout) and XPFE. Seamonkey is the code name of the Mozilla Application Suite that includes the NGLayout/Gecko engine and is built using the XPCOM architecture. A new project was later started to streamline the browser component: The code name was Phoenix that was changed to Firebird that was clarified to really be Mozilla Firebird that was later simply changed to be Mozilla Browser. Unless you meant the codename. That's Firedbird. Or perhaps it's Mozilla Firebird. Now, the Mozilla Team also started the Minotaur... Sorry, the Thunderbird project. But that's just its fancy code name, chosen to match Firebird. Both has bird and are cars. Pretty nifty, eh. Oh, and it's really called Mozilla Mail. I mean... The actual product name.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
How many people refer to the current Mozilla suite as "SeaMonkey"?
:p
Few. Certainly less than the number of people who refer to the Netscape 4.x browsers as "A hot, steaming pile of shit" .
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
Feenix?
= No fee, plus phonetically flipping the bird.
pure AI will always Sublime
oh wait, i suppose Al Gore would file suit that they stole the name of his invention. oh well.
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
Why were the developers so keen to name their products after white trash transportation? Do they expect to see browsers standing on bricks in the front yards of Mississippi trailer home lots? Do they expect most users to have mulletts and warrants for unpaid alimony? Is there a new fishin' plugin?
This really is a mind-bogling question that must be answered.
Clearly, they (Firbird database) were thinking that trademark infringement is different when it happens to English speakers than when it happens to Chinese speakers.
Not meaning to troll, but to this observer it looks like hypocrisy, if not racism.