Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox 0.8
The Firefox project started as a branch from Mozilla when developers perceived that project as being overly compromised by the requirements of Netscape's sponsorship. The aim of Firefox is to develop a smaller, faster, simpler, and highly extensible browser-only application. Firefox has since become the main focus of Mozilla development and will become the official browser release of the Mozilla Foundation when deemed ready.
| Table of contents |
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2 History of the name 3 Release history 4 See also 5 Links and references |
Mozilla Firefox retains the cross-platform nature of the original Mozilla, as it uses the XUL user interface language. This contrasts with some other Mozilla-based projects, such as Galeon, Epiphany, K-Meleon, and Camino, and most other browsers, which use interfaces native to their respective platforms.
Mozilla Firefox also retains the Gecko layout engine, which prides itself in high standards support and is also developed by the Mozilla Foundation. Many, if not all, Mozilla browser spinoffs (and Mozilla itself) use this engine to display HTML and other markup code.
Future releases of Mozilla are intended to consist of Mozilla Firefox coupled with Mozilla Thunderbird, a standalone mail client built on similar principles, to replace the current all-in-one application suite (codenamed SeaMonkey).
All official Mozilla Foundation work will be centered on the standalone browser and mail client, but volunteers and corporate users are expected to continue to maintain the SeaMonkey application suite.
On 5 February 2004, Mozilla Firefox (then Firebird) was categorized by AMS, a business and IT consulting company (Keating (2004)), as a "Tier 1" (meaning "Best of Breed") open source product. This means AMS considers it to be virtually risk-free and technically strong.
Mozilla Firefox was known as "Phoenix" until April 14, 2003, when a name change was made, because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies, a BIOS manufacturer. The new name—initially just "Firebird" without "Mozilla" prepended—was met with a mixed reaction. Users and developers of the Firebird database server claimed that a Firebird web browser causes confusion. In late April 2003, the Mozilla Organization published a document stating that the browser should be referred to as "Mozilla Firebird" and not just "Firebird."
On 9 February 2004, Mozilla Firebird was renamed as Mozilla Firefox due to strong pressure from the Open Source community to rename the browser to resolve the name conflict with Firebird database server. The name "Firefox" was chosen for its similarity to "Firebird" but also for its uniqueness in the computing industry. As an aside, "Firefox" is another name for the Red Panda, which is a red, racoon-like animal. On the same day, Mozilla Firefox 0.8 was released, including a new download manager and an installer program for Microsoft Windows. In December 2003, the Mozilla Foundation began the process of registering Firefox as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Due to some people's dissatisfaction with the new name, and also to parody the process of multiple renamings, an extension was written called Firesomething. This generates a random name for the browser each time it is run, picking one element from each of three customisable lists: a vendor, a type and an animal name - creating results such as Mozilla Moonhorse or Mozilla Webbadger.Development
History of the name
| Version | Codename | Release date | Most important changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix 0.1 | Pescadero | September 23, 2002 | First release. Customizable toolbar, Quicksearch. |
| Phoenix 0.2 | Santa Cruz | October 1, 2002 | Sidebar, Extension Management. |
| Phoenix 0.3 | Lucia | October 14, 2002 | Image blocking, Pop-up Blocking Whitelist, Tabbed Browsing Improvements |
| Phoenix 0.4 | Oceano | October 19, 2002 | Themes, Improvements to Pop-up Blocking, Toolbar Customization and Tabbled Browsing |
| Phoenix 0.5 | Naples | December 7, 2002 | Multiple Homepages, Improvements to Sidebar, History and Accessibility |
| Firebird 0.6 | Glendale | May 17, 2003 | New Default Theme, Improvements to Bookmarks and Privacy Options, Smooth Scrolling, Auto Image Resizing. |
| Firebird 0.6.1 | Glendale | July 28, 2003 | Some bug-fixes. |
| Firebird 0.7 | Indio | October 15, 2003 | Autoscroll, Password Manager, Improvements to Preferences Panel. |
| Firebird 0.7.1 | Three Kings | October 26, 2003 | MacOS X bug-fixes. |
| Firefox 0.8 | Royal Oak | February 9, 2004 | Windows Installer, Offline Working, Improvements to Bookmarks and Download Manager. |
| NEXT EXPECTED RELEASE DATES | |||
| Firefox 0.9 | One Tree Hill | Late May, 2004 | Linux Installer, Mail Integration, SmartUpdate, Migration Engine. |
| Firefox 1.0 beta | Greenlane | Late June, 2004 | Security UI Review, Privacy Options UI Review, Bundled Extension Review, Critical bugs, GNOME Integration. |
| Firefox 1.0 | Phoenix | July/August, 2004 | Ultra Critical Bugs. |
See also
Links and references
References
Mozilla.org links
Other external links