Slashdot Mirror
Speakeasy Embraces Firefox
xdavexxx writes "
Speakeasy, one of
the largest DSL providers in the United States,
recently announced that it will begin offering a specialized version of Mozilla Firefox to its customers. In
doing so, they are one of the first internet companies to offer an official
customized version of Firefox to its customers. This custom version of Firefox will
keep the Firefox
Google home page, but have the Speakeasy logo and feature a Speakeasy
toolbar filled with links recommended by Speakeasy. No money was exchanged
between the Mozilla Foundation
and Speakeasy, as Firefox is open
source and is freely available for use by anyone. Speakeasy's reasoning for this is simple;
to increase the reliability and speed of its internet service." It should be pointed that Slashdot (and OSTG) have a partnership with Speakeasy.
I've posted elsewhere that this idea isn't exactly new. A few years ago, Southwestern Bell was sending branded versions of Netscape Communicator to users who signed up for their service. It was clearly Netscape, however, and not branded to look like some SWBell browser. It just had a couple of modified pictures, including a chance to the splash screen when opening Netscape to indicate it had been distributed by SWBell. The splash screen, however, retained the Netscape logo. I'm assuming this same sort of thing is happening with Firefox.
They do even better. They tell you to download Firefox from Mozilla homepage and then install their XPI.
The latest version now automaticly blocks that popup for any site other than the official one. You have to jump through a few hoops to install an XPI from an untrusted source.
From the download page, it looks like they're just offering a plugin that handles all the customization. Their download page points to here, and their plugin resides here.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
I used to have DSL with them up in Minnesota. pricaes were pretty good and the plans were pretty flexible. Speed was pretty nice too (I lived like 1000 feet from the CO). But I tought their hosting plans were way overpriced.
It's called Mozilla Firefox: Speakeasy Edition.
At least Firefox (by default) blocks sites from installing addons etc. without your permission. Heck, you can't even install a browser addon yourself unless you specifically add the site to your whitelist.
Not to say this will prevent all problems, but it's a hell of a lot better than the way IE used to be (and still is for a lot of people -- install now, ask questions later if at all). This should at least make things harder for spyware/malware writers.
Yes, I actaully followed one of the links. It's a plugin. The FF download it right from mozilla.org
http://www.speakeasy.net/software/firefox/
jeff
sdg
Presumably this is why they aren't offering their own build but a link to the regular firefox download page and an extension. Trademarks don't enter into it as they aren't actually distributing a browser.
Mod parent up!
But Speakeasy isn't your normal ISP: I would say it's a geek's ISP because they offer things that a normal dsl user wouldn't think about like 2 static IP's, one-link service (no need for a dial tone), and most importantaly, no bandwidth caps: the bandwidth you buy is yours! It's great that Speakeasy is endorsing Firefox, but I suspect that their user base has a significant Firefox adoption rate already! Which is great, but I wish a SBC or Earthling would go this route too! Here's to hope! (Disclosure: I do subscribe to speakeasy one-link, and love it. Tell them Mixmastakooz sent you!)
Thanks for disclosing the fact that OSTG has a relationship with the vendor it's promoting.
If you had RTFA, you would see that all Speakeasy has done is created a plugin. You still have to install the regular version of Firefox.
And the Plugin just adds some bookmarks and change an icon or two (at least that is what they tell us).
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
I'm guessing you aren't familiar with speakeasy? These are the people that offer the "SLASHDOT DSL" package. They *target* nerds, geeks, et cetera. Their tech support will walk you through installing bugmenot and adblock.....
http://pctech.invisibill.net.nyud.net:8090/MySpeak easy.xpi/ has a copy of the XPI (http://www.speakeasy.net/software/MySpeakeasy.xpi ), all extracted out. http://pctech.invisibill.net.nyud.net:8090/MySpeak easy.xpi/chrome/speakeasy.jar/content/menu.xul seems to have all the new links, if that's what you want to check out. ThinkGeek, Fark, Snopes, Homestar Runner, AnandTech... Quite a variety.
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=2062 13/
Interestingly enough, some of the sites that made the cut are OSTG, DistroWatch, ThinkGeek, and Newegg. Kinda odd for a plugin they're targeting at average users...
Others include Wikipedia, Babelfish, an entire section of gameing sites, and some shopping sites.
No Slashdot though...
I think coders should be paid for their work.
Fortunately the coders for Firefox disagree with you.