IMS_Blog

I haven’t blogged it because it it’s all over the place but it’s been a couple of days so here goes. Mozilla Firebird, the development next generation from the Mozilla foundation, has changed name to Mozilla Firefox. It’s still a wonderfull, lean, mean and above all fast browser but FireFox. In the space of five minutes reading the MozillaZine Forums I’d seen at least half a dozen better names. It’s accepted that for various reasons FireBird had to go, but why FireFox? What does that mean. It’s just cringe worthy. It’s a reference to a name which only those in the know would appreciate when it’s supposed to be a name to attract new users. If you must change the name ditch the old one completly if you like but don’t come up with a terrible compromise.
And then there are the problems. Extensions failing to be compatable, the browser failing to start, installer problems. The code was held back for ages because of the name change, why weren’t the problems sorted then. Because of the complete lack of transparent communication. Apparently, according to Ben Goodger, FireFox isn’t a community project. Someone should tell the community of users (and for users one might read beta testers) who feed back to the project. Why did no one ask them for name suggestions, even if the final decision for obvious reasons would have been with the exclusive clique of developers who were in the know? Did the fact that the name was going to change have to be kept that secret? At least his MozillaZine posting shows he at least realises what’s important for FireFox (the ability to easily switch and a lack of future upgrade problems). If only he’d talk to those testers (or users if you prefer) more.