The Firemonger Project
IZ Reloaded writes "The Firemonger Project is an attempt to create a multilingual easy-to-use compilation CD with Firefox, Thunderbird and an excellent selection of plugins (Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave and Sun Java), extensions (Adblock, Googlebar, Hotmail tabs, SessionSaver,
ScrapBook and more), Firefox and Thunderbird themes, related programs (Firetune and Backupfox) and a comprehensive beginner's guide. Everything you need to start up with and get the most out of Firefox and Thunderbird. There's also a lite version for download."
no linux distribution on earth includes those plugins, how are they getting away with it?
why don't the linux distro makers adopt their strategy?
You mean to tell me that this has never been covered before on Slashdot? Are you kidding?
Or am I just being naive? I guess the slogan is true - Slashdot. The News 24 Hours After Everyone Else Or Your Money Back!
As an aside - why not mention Portable Firefox or FFDeploy? They fit the same category of spreading firefox.
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex, qwantz.com
they should already have internet connection, in which case there should be no reason for making this on a CD unless I am missing something.
The idea behind this is to encourage more people to use Firefox. Giving a CD with everything needed is preferable to sending a link to certain friends/family because a CD sitting on your desk is a constant reminder to install Firefox. Also, some people don't think software is real unless they're given real media to install it with. Why does AOL go to all the expense to send out their CDs? Because it's more effective to get people to install it than many other techniques (giving out a phone number or link for instance).
I'm a big tall mofo.
I's rather give friends / family / coworkers a CD, than giving them a list of URLs and installation instructions. Not to mention the convinience of having all this software on an easy to share CD
Although Firefox is meant to be liteweight, there are some people on this planet that don't use it because it is too lightweight. Enter my grandparents. Old Chinese folk with no knowledge of computers. They don't know how to download extentions, definitely don't know how to download and install Thunderbird. Suites like this make their life easier. My life will be eased as well because I won't have to tell them how to download everything over the phone.
This is a great piece of software.
Sure they have an internet connection, but this CD offers a few more advantages:
1. Some ppl just don't find the things that they're looking for - that's not a problem anymore
2. You definetely won't have any problems with the copatibility of the extensions and themes
3. Some ppl who never used Firefox or Thunderbird before may try them out now, since they have everything they want on the CD
I think this is a great Idea. It's especially easier for ppl who were unable to find all needed extensions on the Mozilla-homepage or just had stress with incompatibilities.
There is still a lot of features lacking in Thunderbird, partly because I do not see many people incorporating other GPL software into it (are there still licensing issues, or is it fully GPL/LGPL now?).
Things that Thunderbird lacks is:
*Any type of attachment based filters (if it has an attachment, size, etc.). For fuck sakes, even outlook *express* has attachment based filters.
*Auto compacting of folders. When you delete something it really isn't deleted and your folders can grow to huge sizes unless it is 'compacted'.
*Auto expirary of mail. Kmail has it (http://kmail.kde.org/features.html) why not Thunderbird?
*A lot more, just look at some features that have been requested over the past few *years*.
A little less self congradulations, especially with regards to Thunderbird, is in order I think.
But why would anyone want flash pre-installed, unless it were to come with Adblock also installed and defaulted flash blocked. I'd be interested if people's experiences are similar my own, but my "primary" browser does not have flash installed on it, and I've been VERY happy with that. I have an "alternate" browser on my windows boxes, so that if I have to see something Flashy, I can hit the KVM, and get there in IE.
I just think that people are divided enough on Flash that a distro with Flash in it is alienating too many of the Mozilla evangelists who are responsible for the rapid spread.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
Actually, I have the flash plugin installed on all of my browsers.
The thing I install directly after the flash plugin is FlashBlock.
See my blog for my free opinions.
Modem connections? They're still around, and it's a pain in the derriere to download Firefox, plus extensions, plus thunderbird.
All on one CD, chuck it in the drive and go. Much better solution.
What I see is that a number of project releases based on Firefox in some way, have "Fire" in their name. Are these going way of KDE which have "K" emphasized in their name?
They spend too much time in the company of people who think this is cool. They're kind of like a group of small town guys disco guys who tell each other how hip they all are, but never talk to enough girls to find out the truth.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
AdBlock represents a possible problem as it hasn't been updated in quite a while and in its current iteration doesn't work with Firefox 1.5.
There is a spin-off project called AdBlockPlus which would make a more logical choice.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
you will find that the Mozilla installer immediately exist so no Firefox or Thunderbird for you!
6 1
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1623
Use-a zee Prefeeoo Boottun! Check thuse-a URLs! Bork Bork Bork!
There should also be a lite CD. Or at least make sure the installer for the CD lets people know the extra stuff is optional. The physical media helps with people who aren't comfortable with downloading software. If you put all this stuff on it and make people think they NEED it, then it gets overwhelming. "Geeze... I need to install all of this extra stuff just to use Firefox? I don't have to install *anything* to use IE."
m0nstr42.blogspot.com
Thunderbird supports auto-compacting of folders and has for several releases now. It's an option, unticked by default, in the Options panel.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
No, the reason is that if you get the Firemonger CD and you don't install FF or TB, it'll catch fire.
In your computer.
computerdude33's stuff: My blog of wonder.
Once long ago there was Phoenix, this turned into FireBird and later to FireFox. People had become used to these name changes and felt disappointet about the longevity of the latest change. Thus some bright soul created FireSomething, that gave you a new Fire* every day.
The FireMonger name is propably a part of this meme.
- These characters were randomly selected.
All the automated translation efforts "yo mamma, sup, homey, you mammo dogface to the bananapathch?" need to be based on local lingo.
I speak fairly good French, but translating this to something that could be understood by a second-language French learner is quite the challenge.
But that's OK, because the language is always devolving and marketing is our friend.
Now, if it could only be released in a "Portable" version. While I certainly love the current concept, to me, having an option of installing these apps as "portable" versions simply rocks. Yes, many users want Firefox and Thunderbird to be installed so that they become the "default" apps, but having it available in a completely transportable format has been invaluable to me.
Specific to Firefox, one thing I would love to see developed is some sort of "web-syncable profile". I simply love the current implementation of the Bookmark Synchronizer extension, and I would like to see a similar concept developed that would let me sync my profile (less the cache) with an FTP site. Build this concept into the Firefox core (that would securely sync, manage, and clean up after itself), and you would have a reasonably secure, truely portable "Web Workspace" wherever you are. I have several PC's located at both work and home, and synchronizing everything is often a pain. I end up just moving around with a Portable Firefox installation. having an online profile sync would be wonderful!
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
My laptop was overheating (cpu 80+).
Finally tracked down the problem.
I had Slashdot and The Register open constantly and the Macromedia adverts from both pages were making the cpu spin a lot.
Uninstall macromedia, cpu 50-60.
Problem solved.
Dude, I don't care how bloated a flash ad is, if it's making your CPU run 30 degrees hotter, I think you have other more serious problems on your hands than a plugin.
Must be Windows then. I don't know of any Linux Shockwave plugin.
I wodner why they didn't include any games. I got my mother to start using FireFox by showing her Blockfall (Tetris clone). If they had included a few game extenstions, it would take up very little space and would show off the power and flexibility of FireFox.
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
Yup. Next up is tthe "Fireman Project", which is just like this onse, only optimized for pr0n-viewing (i.e. without the adblock).
sudo ergo sum
I don't know of any free software operating system that includes only software licensed under the GNU GPL. Which free software operating system does this? Not even the GNU Project advocates for distributing only GPL-covered software. Part of GNU is made up of software licensed under the MIT X11, new BSD, and other free software licenses.
Digital Citizen
Firemonger is an amazing community project and it's good to see them getting more widespread coverage. Firemonger is and will continue to be a key driver of Firefox adoption. Congratulations to the whole team!
- A
Hey this is Daniel, one of the origional helpers in the Firemonger project. If you would like to see some stats on hits.....heres a link!p hp?project_id=444253&guest=1
http://my.statcounter.com/project/standard/stats.
*cough*
m l
http://mboverload.no-ip.org/tech/mboverloadpak.ht
Honestly, if they're going to put together a compilation of Firefox extensions, they might want to choose good ones that don't add bloat.
Tabbrowser Extensions is NOT recommended by the MozDev team. I've used it, and I've actually noticed that it slowed down my browser. This isn't a thing where I got a timer and timed it. This is a thing where I sat there thinking "wow, am I really on cable?"
Next thing you know, people are going to install this package and come to the Firefox team complaining how slow Firefox is.
The alternative: Tab Mix Plus
I personally prefer FFDeploy (http://home.comcast.net/~ifrit/FFDeploy.html), even though it hasn't been updated in months, I believe it still works. It allows you to pick your own extensions and settings, and it's easy enough to burn them to a CD.
This message will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3...
This is exactly not the way to help their cause. Selling a browser as "See fewer ads" sends a nasty message to content providers. They already aren't enthused enough about the ease of blocking ad content, but making this part of a default distro would put an even worse taste in their mouth.
Come on, you gotta include that.....
It's too fucking hard to build that behemoth??
Look, I love TBird, been using it for over 2 years, but I tried to fix an issue once, and it was such a PAIN IN THE ASS to even build, let alone actually understand the code...
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
I hate too feed the troll, but if I use Adblock, and if I like the site, and I visit regularly I'll ctrl-shift-b, hit refersh, and click on the ads now and then. If and when a whitelist is added I'll use it. However the rest of the time I don't like Ads stoping me from enjoying the web.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
OK, so they went to all that work to take apart the browser from the mailer and from the extensions, and now they're going to put it all back together? Why not just go back to work on the mozilla project?
Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all. -- Thomas J. Kopp
The name Firemonger means "a dealer of fire." The name is appropriate for the project because we try to deal, or spread, firefox to the masses.
The current features for entering search terms in the address bar work just fine for me, and I'm concerned about the privacy implications of any deeper connection to Google or Yahoo or other search engines.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
All of the extensions included are not automaitcally installed, the user decides which extensions to install.