Slashdot Mirror
Firefox Extension Lets You Pick the Name
Rovaedne writes "Mozilla
Firefox , the web browser
formerly known as Firebird,
formerly known as Phoenix, has a new extension which allows you to change the name to something palatable. The extension called
Firesomething lets users change the name seen in the browser titlebar, Help menu, and About dialog, thus erradicating all traces of "Firefox" in
Firefox (currently version 0.8). There is a
name change FAQ, but it currently does not mention this extension. This extension should hopefully help curb some of the criticism that Mozilla has received from its most recent
choice of name."
Probably because they are well aware of Trademark law, and realize that they would lose the case since cars are in an entirely different market from webbrowsers and email clients?
LetterRip
Unfortunately, it will not do wonders for Firefox's name recognition if most of its users decide on proprietary appellations. Let's try to increase mindshare by sticking to its official name, and as an added benefit we'll always know to which browser we're referring! Just MHO.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
Yeah, OpenSourceBrowser isn't very 'sexy', neither is OpenOffice.org, but that seems to work for them...
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
I'm not a very big fan of Mozilla at all--not since Phonix/Firebird/Firefox came out. Mozilla renders quickly, but it just feels clunky and slow to get started.
I like Firefox because it's trimmed down and has a smaller footprint. If I want to use mail I just start up Thunderbird. The calendar plugin works from both Thunderbird and Firefox.
I suppose if I regularly needed all the features in Mozilla I'd feel differently. No disrespect to Mozilla, but I really prefer using Firefox and Thunderbird.
What is so 'unpalatable' about Firefox? I personally like that name. And the animal it is named after, the Red Panda is pretty neat as well. I just switched my mom over to firefox on windows, and she loves it! No more popups! She certainly didn't complain about the 'unpalatable' name.
Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
Banking on the Web should be IE only? Imagine the parking lot at the local bank will only allow Fords. What do you do with your BMW then? It runs better, smoother, faster, looks nicer, doesn't include clunky features, and follows the same 4 wheels/brake pedal/steering wheel/etc. standards needed for road use...
I'd like to hear any good reasons why a website should function in IE on Windows only. Anyone who replies "ActiveX" should be modded +1 Funny.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
That's a nice theory, and it is true the human brain can adjust for misspellings, but spelling errors distract the reader from the message and make one look uneducated. Every time (and it is pretty dratted often) I read some idiot using "loose" for "lose" I immediately think just that: "Idiot." Almost certainly unfair, but it's still my reaction.
No, it's anal morons like you who distract the reader, not the spelling. I honestly hadn't noticed the misspelling until you pointed it out (and I have better then average spelling abilities). What you need to remember is that most people posting to Slashdot aren't English majors. We're usually people posting a thought fairly quickly. Even if we know the correct spelling, it's easy to make a typo when you're typing quickly. Sure, you should catch the error when you preview, but not everyone will.
What you need to learn is that spelling & grammar != intelligence. I know several people who are smarter then me, but who can't spell worth crap. At least one is dyslexic, the others may just have actual important things on there minds.
Good spelling important in many contexts. Fortunately for us, slashdot isn't one of them. If you're that bothered by the problem, I suggest that you go elsewhere since the problem is fairly pervasive here.
This post is off-topic as is the parent.
No, it's anal reactionaries like you who dilute the English language to the point of nonsense. Things have gotten so bad, college students commonly submit resumes riddled with typos, newspaper letters to the editor are incomprehensible, and business proposals look wholly unprofessional. And it all stems from slack usage of English in casual settings such as Slashdot.
It's embarrassing that you think that only English majors should have a solid command of the language. It just shows what a failure today's educational institutions are. When a person makes a typo, he should immediately realize it and correct it. If a person is unsure if the word is "consistent" or "consistant," then he should make the ten-second effort to find out and commit the fact to memory. This is what educated people do.
What is unacceptable is people that furiously type their thoughts and then do not even look over what they wrote to see if any of it makes sense.
Oh, cut it out with the holier than thou bull. If a person cannot effectively communicate his intelligence, then that intelligence is worthless. Smart people cannot get far in modern times without being able to write. And smart people won't be heard if they treat the English language like a redheaded stepchild.
By the way, have you ever considered readers not fluent in English? When they encounter a misspelled word, they have no way of initially telling if the word is misspelled or if it is a word they just haven't encountered before. How about having some consideration for foreign readers?
By the way, have you ever considered blind readers who use screen-reading software? When you misspell words, you make your writing inaccessible to the blind. How about having some consideration for the blind?
People used to have pride in the things they wrote. Now instead of people sucking up their egos and admitting their mistakes, we have people that now argue that making mistakes doesn't matter.
There is a difference between making an honest mistake and continually choosing not to care. You encourage this recklessness. And now we have college graduates who think spell checking is what word processors do, and not what humans do. Even after running a spell check, students submit papers full of flagrant violations of the language. Because people continually abuse English in places such as Slashdot, they believe college papers and business proposals shouldn't be scoured of all errors.
Good spelling is important in all contexts.