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Mozilla Firebird gets .8 Release, and New Name
Yage writes "Firebird, the lightweight version of Mozilla gets release 0.8 and changes its name again (remember Phoenix?) to avoid confusion with another OSS project. The new name is Firefox. There's a press release out about the name change and new version. And, as usual, download it from
mozilla.org." Worth noting that ThunderBird .5 has been released as well. Update: 02/09 14:55 GMT by H : Thanks to Steve Garrity for pointing out the name change FAQ.
Stop playing name games. That's the sort of thing that can really hurt adoption.
TODO: Something witty here...
You know, I wish they would stop changing their name. I use Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox as my sole browser and absolutely enjoy it. The problem is, I am trying to get my family to use it as well, but trying to keep them straight on what it is called is getting a little ridiculous.
Conversation with family: "You know that browser I gave you a link on...No, not Mozilla. Yeah, it was Firebird. No now its called Firefox. I don't know why, just use it"
Sig it.
I just downloaded the Liniux version, and I am typing from it now. It now is quite fast, and unlike epiphany (the Gnome web browser) it supports Bookmark folders, and the really useful feature called "open as tabs". That is open a folder of bookmarks and they all appear as tabs.
Another Good browser that was recently released is Konqueror 3.2, included with KDE 3.2 of course. The Apple patches really make it fast. Grab that if your a KDE user. But Firefox is definatley the best non kde browser, and the best if you are in stuck in Windows jail.
found here
Why can't they figure out these names are all dumb and poor for brand recognition.
Is Mozilla Lite just too obvious for them?! How about Mozilla Jr. and then you could make yet another cute dinosaur! You could even make a family photo out of the whole suite..
....it really is. If every OSS would work as well, be as easy to use and look as good we wouldn't have a single Windows installation in the World.
That said, I hope they *finally* fixed the bug with going back a page and finding yourself at the top of the page. That one hasn't been around in Mozilla for a while.
And, they should f'n register a trademark...
Is with Java applications. The sun java setup uses more resources than the one integrated into IE. If you are on a slightly older setup (like my mom) and you want to play yahoo games (as so many do) then it's faster in IE. Hate to say it but that is one place IE has a one up on the others.
Evolution or ID?
Think about it:
:(
Phoenix, Chimera, and Minotaur
are now
Firefox, Camino, and Thunderbird
Finally a name no one else is using! Wait, Firefox.
Picking a name for a product, especially an extremely valuable internationally famous product such as this one, is far more difficult than it appears. Those who have never had any experience writing advertising often don't realize how difficult.
Also, consider the connotations of the name. Where is the burning that would cause the product to be named "fire"? Where is the cleverness that would cause the product to be called "fox"? Maybe the name FireFox is not right for a standard household product meant to be used by the entire family as a way to communicate with the world. Yes, writing the product required an enormous amount of cleverness, but using it doesn't. Also, the name FireFox is made of English words, and most of the world does not speak English.
The name is IMPORTANT. A good name will ease acceptance. A name that people find difficult can kill acceptance. There is a huge amount of importance in this one word.
Maybe a made-up word is better. Drug companies use made-up words like Claritin or Cialis to name just two. That has the benefit that the domain name is not taken.
While I have trouble telling the difference between mozilla, thunderbird, firefox and phoenix, what chance does the proverbial Mom & Pop user stand?
Microsoft thanks you for helping continue the IE dominance.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
What they need is to include a check for an existing Mozilla installation and offer to run a migration tool, with some interactivity in case some options need user-triage. This goes for thunderbird as well.
.torrent and no matter what the OK button is disabled.) that I just moved back to mozilla 1.6. What a BREEZE that was!
I had no end of trouble trying to migrate to Thunderbird and Firebird^C^C^C^Cfox, and when I did get there, the migration left so many little flaws and fuckups in the programs (like I download a
So, in summary, if they're going to replace the suite with a pair of seperate programs, they need to:
a) offer a "suite package" that includes both programs and
b) make sure that all 3 installers (which both apps need, especially on windows) include a proper migration tool. I will not leave the Moz suite until this is done.
Because some people (like myself) run multiple copies of the different browsers for testing purposes. and I wouldn't want my bookmarks overwritten every time I installed a new copy. and it sould have to ask which mozilla profile to copy as well.
not that it shouldn't be an option, but it shouldn't be the default.
... and the major reason to why it was picked:
They had no conflicts with existing software trademarks. I noticed the About dialog showed a TM sign too, so I have a feeling they now actually got a registration through.
Who cares if a game controller is called Firefox or a movie with Clint Eastwood is? The thing that can cause confusion to the point it becomes a problem is if there already is a software called Firefox.
Also, what we're all discussing now is only a code name for a software being a technology preview, that will likely disappear in the future anyway.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Yes, but given that there is another Open Source project that has been around longer with the name Firebird, why did they change the name to that from Phoenix?
You couldn't make up this kinda of confusion (from FTP directory)..
chimera 06/01/2002 12:00:00 AM
camino 03/06/2003 12:00:00 AM
thunderbird 02/08/2004 06:38:00 AM
phoenix 09/23/2002 12:00:00 AM
firebird 05/16/2003 12:00:00 AM
firefox 02/09/2004 05:58:00 AM
grendel 08/07/1999 12:00:00 AM
minimo 08/28/2003 08:21:00 PM
mozilla 10/21/2003 01:01:00 PM
I love the Firebird/Firefox lines of browsers under Linux and Windows. I would also love to use Firefox on my new G5 under OS X, but there are three really annoying problems:
1. Scrolling with the mouse scroll wheel goes WAY too fast, making it almost unusable
2. Middle-clicking on a link does not open a new tab (or do anything for that matter)
3. Middle-clicking to scroll (autoscroll) also does not work.
Do other people see this same behavior? Are there any fixes?
There are several things that I have found that I love about it that mozilla didnt have:
i wish they would still distribute it as a zip file. with the installer, i can't take it around on a pen drive and install on the computer labs at school.
With something this small, I don't see how BitTorrent could possibly do any good. I pulled down Firebird from one of the mirrors in about 15 seconds. I understand supporting an open source cause, but isn't there a point where it just becomes useless?
.torrent running for over 2min now and I still don't have even 1%. Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose? Torrent just isn't suited to small downloads, so why even bother?
Were I to use BT, it would take 5seconds to check the torrent, another 20 to start running and to find seeds and peers. Hell, I've had the
-Julius X
remove "-whatkindofspamdoyoutakemefor-" from email to send
If the conventional download sites are so crushed under the load that you can't get the file at all then bittorrent makes perfect sense, even for just a small download.
If you find a working mirror, then of course just use that. I tried a mirror and it was overloaded. Then I tried bittorrent and it worked. Simple.
Homme petit d'homme petit, s'attend, n'avale
Yeah, but some Mac users generally refer to it as "Mail dot app" or "Mail-app", because it's good to have a distinction.
"Do you use Mail?" "Yeah, I get mail all the time." "No no, do you use Mail?" "Well, if I get it, then I must use it, right?" "No, I mean do you use Apple's-OS-X-Mail-Application?" "Oh! Well, yeah." -- I've had this type of conversation more than once over the years.
Sometimes I wish Apple had come up with some different name for their client -- after all, they came up with the colorful name "Safari" for their web browser...
> Wait for it...
>
>Internet Navigator
Seriously, since at this point the whole naming scheme is fscked anyway, I wonder why they couldn't go back to the old netscape naming conventions:
Mozilla Navigator (browser only)
Mozilla Communicator (including Mozilla Mail, etc.)
Heck, even my family and/or co-workers would be able to know what is going on then, as this would build upon what we finally got them trained on years ago.
I would have thought that calling the browser "Mozilla Firebird" solved any name-clash issues.
The new name makes no sense at all. "Firebird" at least reminded one of "Phoenix", ie: a browser rising from the ashes. But Firefox? What's that? Other than a bunch of potential trademark infringements as another poster has pointed out.
They should definitely keep "Mozilla" in the name, for non-/. general public recognition. And before they changed "Firebird" to "Firefox", they had a nice symmetry with "FireBIRD" and "ThunderBIRD". I vote they change the name back to "Mozilla Firebird" and "Mozilla Thunderbird".
It's getting better all the time. The only thing I miss from Opera and IE in Firefox is the ability so smoothly scroll while pressing my mousewheel.
Anybody know why they insist on scrolling at least one line at a time?
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
Both mozilla and firebird (now firefox) are developer tools. Firefox is actually an early beta of a developer tool.
If you want a stable platform with seamless upgrades and well-tested istallers, you should use the Netscape suite, and expect to be behind in development. Otherwise, expect everything to break every release, because you're on the bleeding edge. The focuses of the two groups are very different.
Yes, but who was going to confuse a database with a web browser?
Google is changing the way we live.
Well, it started earlier than Google. I remember trying to search for pages with AltaVista. AltaVista didn't (at some point in its development) like single letters, like "C", so searching for pages about the "C Programming Language" was difficult. AltaVista used the prefix "+" operator to mean "require this word", so AltaVista was especially annoyed at searches for "C++"
The point is, even though you and I know that a database and a web browser are two different things, Google doesn't. Indeed, because you and "just know" that a Firebird is a browser or a database or a Pontiac, we don't tend to qualify any of them as such: we don't say "Firebird the browser" or "Firebird (database)" or "Pontiac Firebird", because we know that other humans will infer the correct Firebird from nearby words like "site", "select" or "gear shift". But Google won't, and we can't pile every possible nearby word into our queries.
And since we rely more and more on Google to find anything (hell, we even use it to verify spellings when perfectly good dictionaries are just as handy), people with an interest in Firebird the database are legitimately annoyed when an 800 pound gorilla of a browser invades their namespace. They don't want to have to trouble to weed out references to the browser every time they do the search.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Junior implies younger, and less mature, neither of which are good connotations for a webbrowser really
I still don't remember reading a good explanation of why Firebird-the-database was any reason not to have a Firebird-the-browser. Browser. Database. Database. Browser. I'm not the least bit confused myself.
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
people with an interest in Firebird the database are legitimately annoyed when an 800 pound gorilla of a browser invades their namespace. They don't want to have to trouble to weed out references to the browser every time they do the search.
Too bad..
A person should not EXPECT a search engine to magically know what they are looking for. If you only enter a single word in a search engine, you are going to get a wide range of results. That is not a fault or limit of the search engine but a limit of the person searching. Have you ever looked for a headlight for your car? Would any reasonable person simply grab the first thing they saw and hoped it worked? I assume they would break it down to headlight, low beam, 1995 Ford Mustang. Searching the internet is no different.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
It's possible that instead of going belly up or losing thier backbone, they were instead trying to be considerate.
Is consideration for others really such a strange concept?
But Netscape 4 leaks memory worse than my grandmother, so that might change after some hours of use. YMMV and all that.
Yes, it's standards compliant, but the new Opera7 is a huge memory hog and the UI is slow and glitchy. I liked version 6 a lot, but after getting fed up with 7, I switched to Mozilla and am much happier. Plus, Fire(bird/fox) has a much better extension architecture that allows you to do almost anything in terms of look and behavior.
--
Promoting critical thinking since 1994.
You know the one thing that bothers me about this name change?.. Why is it that two name changes later the profile directory is still created as ~/.phoenix. I mean I can understand the whole "backwards compatability" thing, but AFAIK it's always been recommended to wipe your profile and start over with a new milestone of phoenix/firebird/firefox anyway, and even barring that how hard would be to if ( dir_exists( ~/.firefox ) ) { // Use ~/.firefox
}
elseif ( dir_exists( ~/.phoenix) )
{ // Migrate ~/.phoenix to ~/.firefox
}
else
{ // Create a new profile directory in ~/.firefox
}
To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer
I remember working at a community computer centre back a few years ago when netscape and internet explorer were roughly equivalent (if anything netscape was better then). So I had both browsers installed on all the computers with icons on the desktop for each of them side by side.
Every single new user used IE. Why? "because I wanted to go on the internet so I clicked on internet".
Now think about how microsoft names its products. Office, Word, Windows, etc. Now think about how popular their products are.
So now when I install phoenix/firebird/fox on people's computers I make a shortcut on the desktop that simply says "Internet Browser" (then sometimes remove the IE icon). You know what? People use it.
The best name for software indicates what the software is for right in the name.
Actually, your example is a little weak. Before I attack that, however, I'd like to state that, while I'm not especially familiar with Japanese phonology, I rather doubt that /l/ and /r/ are in fact in complementary distribution; my assumption has always been that the Japanese /r/ shares qualities with the two English phonemes, but in fact is articulated as a single phone. I could be mistaken, and would welcome a correction here.
However, pronouncing a voiced phone immediate after a voiceless one, especially when the voiced one is a sibilant (which are very prone to assimilation), is more than just awkard, it's downright impossible; not just in English, either! Almost every language that allows for such consonant clusters has an assimilation rule wherein either the sibilant is devoiced or the stop is voiced (almost always the former, for what it's worth). This is universal grammar talking. Alternation between allophones by way of a phonological rule is definitely not something that is so strong as something that seems almost certainly to be part of UG.
We might know the difference, but there are enough people who don't to make a difference.
sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)