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Mozilla Firefox 0.8 released
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brutal
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Feb 9, 2004, 09:11 AM
 
Mozilla Firebird evolves into the new Firefox 0.8 release.

The Mozilla Foundation today announced the immediate availability of a new preview release of its next generation web browser, Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla Firefox 0.8 represents the bleeding edge of Internet technology and raises the bar for ease of use, performance, robustness and standards compliance.

The new release marks a significant milestone on the development roadmap towards the highly anticipated 1.0 release of the Mozilla project�s next generation web browser. New features in this release include:
  • A powerful new download manager that makes tracking multiple downloads easier;
  • Numerous improvements to bookmarks handling, making it easier than ever to keep track of your favorite sites;
  • Improved handling of extensions - small, easy to download applications that can be installed with a few simple mouse clicks and extend the browser�s functionality. Community members have created more than 200 such extensions, including add-ons that remove ad banners, add spell-checker functionality, and add the ability to search Amazon.com, eBay or other popular sites from the Firefox toolbar;
  • An easy to use installer for Microsoft Windows users;
  • A new default theme for Mac OS X users that integrates seamlessly with the OS X desktop environment.
The new release also marks a name change for the new browser, which was previously known as Mozilla Firebird. �We are pleased to release a new preview version of Mozilla Firefox,� commented Mitchell Baker, President of the Mozilla Foundation. �To avoid overlap with another open source project, we have also decided to changed the name of this product from Mozilla Firebird to Mozilla Firefox.�

Read more and download at Mozilla.org

     
gatorparrots
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Feb 9, 2004, 10:03 AM
 
     
brutal  (op)
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Feb 9, 2004, 10:49 AM
 
hehehe

     
eevyl
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Feb 9, 2004, 10:52 AM
 
Seriously, they need to stop that lets name it different every few months policy. Why not stick with "Mozilla Browser" or if you want a fancy name, do the research before assigning a name officially.

Bit tired of Mozilla firewhatever (the browser previously known as Phoenix)
     
mdc
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Feb 9, 2004, 11:21 AM
 
i downloaded firefox (.8) now. i have not used much of the fire* browsers, so i can not rate this one against the rest.

it seems okay. safari is working for me really niceley, so i don't have any reason not to use it.

personally, one thing that would stop me from using firefox the fact that buttons on a webpage all look like windows buttons, even the drop down boxes work like windows. it's creepy.



.edit. oh yeah, and there is no spellchecker
     
Turias
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Feb 9, 2004, 11:49 AM
 
Firefox? What the hell was wrong with "Firebird"?

I would check to see if they offer an explanation on their webpage, but I can't seem to access it at the moment...
     
Krypton
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Feb 9, 2004, 12:06 PM
 
They needed a name that they were able to trademark as their own: hence Firefox.

I like the new branding a lot - although it still has nothing to do with web browsers
     
dwishbone
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Feb 9, 2004, 12:11 PM
 
i dont use Firebird for the mac. i use Camino if im using a mozilla browser. i use safari mostly.
i do however use Firebird..excuse me...Firefox...pretty much exclusively on windows. Firefox seems to be a little slower than the most recent 0.7 nightlies up until its release. it is still my favorite PC browser. it's fast, renders well, and works with most of the sites out there.
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Cadaver
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Feb 9, 2004, 12:36 PM
 
Firebird/Firefox is a great browser on Windows. I use it nearly exclusively on my Windows machine at work.

On MacOS X, my order of preference is Safari, Firebird/Firefox as a close second, and Camino as a distant third. I find Firebi... er, Firefox a better browser than Camino (faster, more stable, more features). There's a few things about Camino that bug me - not having a drop down menu on the forward/back buttons like virtually every other browser bugs me. I also prefer the Pinstripe theme to the Camino theme.

The three things that prevent me from using Firefox full-time is the non-native widgets, the lack of integration with the MacOS X's spell checker, and the lack of bookmark syncing across multiple machines (like Safari with .Mac). Otherwise, Firefox is really a fantastic browser.
     
gorickey
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Feb 9, 2004, 01:00 PM
 
Having never liked a Mozilla FireXXXX release, I can honestly say I could "potentially" use this latest variation. I like it; however, it's definitely not going to draw me away from say Safari or Camino, but it's a very nice browser thus far...
     
VEGAN
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Feb 9, 2004, 01:37 PM
 
Originally posted by Turias:
Firefox? What the hell was wrong with "Firebird"?

I would check to see if they offer an explanation on their webpage, but I can't seem to access it at the moment...
I didn't like the icon :-P
So, I'm happy with the change
     
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Feb 9, 2004, 01:40 PM
 
Originally posted by Turias:
Firefox? What the hell was wrong with "Firebird"?

I would check to see if they offer an explanation on their webpage, but I can't seem to access it at the moment...
Firebird was taken already.

http://firebird.sourceforge.net/
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bmedina
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Feb 9, 2004, 01:40 PM
 
Originally posted by Cadaver:
There's a few things about Camino that bug me - not having a drop down menu on the forward/back buttons like virtually every other browser bugs me.
Safari doesn't have that either, but it's your favorite browser?
The three things that prevent me from using Firefox full-time is the non-native widgets, the lack of integration with the MacOS X's spell checker, and the lack of bookmark syncing across multiple machines (like Safari with .Mac). Otherwise, Firefox is really a fantastic browser. [/B]
Non-native widgets will always be there for Firefox. Integration with the spell checker could happen, but it would take a lot of work. Roaming profile support is being worked on. Hopefully we'll see it soon.
     
biscuit
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Feb 9, 2004, 02:00 PM
 
Originally posted by bmedina:
Safari doesn't have that either, but it's your favorite browser?
Safari does have that; just click and hold the buttons.

biscuit
     
fizzlemynizzle
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Feb 9, 2004, 02:38 PM
 
Firefox will only respond if you think your commands in Russian.
     
Millennium
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Feb 9, 2004, 03:15 PM
 
Originally posted by Turias:
Firefox? What the hell was wrong with "Firebird"?
Apparently, people are so idiotic that they can't tell the difference between a Web browser and a database.

No, I'm serious. There were debates over whether the Firebird RDBMS and the Firebird browser were "confusingly similar".
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Feb 9, 2004, 03:36 PM
 
Originally posted by Millennium:
Apparently, people are so idiotic that they can't tell the difference between a Web browser and a database.
Would you say the same if Microsoft released a database named "Safari" tomorrow?
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MindFad
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Feb 9, 2004, 04:21 PM
 
I like the name change. And I really like the new icon. Cool metaphor and design.

Seems pretty much the same as Firebird so far.
     
Moonray
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Feb 9, 2004, 04:24 PM
 
Originally posted by Millennium:
Apparently, people are so idiotic that they can't tell the difference between a Web browser and a database.

No, I'm serious. There were debates over whether the Firebird RDBMS and the Firebird browser were "confusingly similar".
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=firebird - The original Firebird got already pushed to rank 5, that's reason enough and has nothing to do with not being able to tell the difference or being idiotic.

-
     
ambush
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Feb 9, 2004, 04:56 PM
 
Originally posted by brutal:
[B]Mozilla Firebird evolves into the new Firefox 0.8 release.
Is this Pokemon, or what?

     
MojoRising022
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Feb 9, 2004, 05:16 PM
 
Does anyone know of a mirror for this? Mozilla's FTP's have been hosed for quite some time now.

Thanks.
     
fulmer
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Feb 9, 2004, 05:38 PM
 
Originally posted by fizzlemynizzle:
Firefox will only respond if you think your commands in Russian.
мне хорошо работает.
     
Dudaev's Corpse
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Feb 9, 2004, 05:40 PM
 
Originally posted by MojoRising022:
Does anyone know of a mirror for this? Mozilla's FTP's have been hosed for quite some time now.

Thanks.
I managed to grab the Mac file about 15 minutes ago, but it has been impossible to get the windows exe.
     
oVeRmInD911
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Feb 9, 2004, 07:01 PM
 
Wow, Firefox feels a lot like Safari.

Just look at the download window.
     
ryaxnb
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Feb 9, 2004, 10:20 PM
 
Originally posted by Turias:
Firefox? What the hell was wrong with "Firebird"?

I would check to see if they offer an explanation on their webpage, but I can't seem to access it at the moment...
It was used by a database project.
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bmedina
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Feb 9, 2004, 11:04 PM
 
Originally posted by biscuit:
Safari does have that; just click and hold the buttons.
Ah, thanks for the tip! Control-click also works (immediately).

A list of mirrors is available here: http://www.mozilla.org/mirrors.html

If that page isn't available, one of the mirrors is here: http://mozilla.isc.org/pub/mozilla.o.../releases/0.8/
     
SteevAK
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Feb 10, 2004, 01:25 AM
 
Why were the favicons taken out of the bookmark toolbar!? I liked it so much better when they were there! Anybody know if there's a way I can get them back besides going back to Firebird?
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Vader�s Pinch of Death
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Feb 10, 2004, 02:39 AM
 
The new Safari is so damn good I can't see any reasons to switch to this or Omniweb other then for some geek thrill.

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Steb Mad
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Feb 10, 2004, 02:40 AM
 
Originally posted by Vader�s Pinch of Death:
The new Safari is so damn good I can't see any reasons to switch to this or Omniweb other then for some geek thrill.
Haha true
     
trash80
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Feb 10, 2004, 05:52 AM
 
a good reason is 10.2.x being on your Mac
     
brutal  (op)
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Feb 10, 2004, 07:37 AM
 
well, I've been trying out Firefox now, and I've decided to stick with Safari. It seems so slooow on my machine, and I hate that it doesn't use native widgets

btw: when you expos� Firefox, a secret little window shows up. What's it for?

     
fulmer
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Feb 10, 2004, 09:03 AM
 
Originally posted by brutal:
well, I've been trying out Firefox now, and I've decided to stick with Safari. It seems so slooow on my machine, and I hate that it doesn't use native widgets

btw: when you expos� Firefox, a secret little window shows up. What's it for?
mozilla does this too. It's just something it does (though I don't know the technical reason behind it).
     
solbo
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Feb 10, 2004, 09:22 AM
 
Originally posted by fulmer:
mozilla does this too. It's just something it does (though I don't know the technical reason behind it).
It is a hack so that Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird won't quit when you close the last window. Inherited cross-platform behavior.
     
mike one
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Feb 10, 2004, 10:21 AM
 
after using firebird, which i thought was really slow, and a little clunky, i updated to firefox yesterday.

i have to say i'm impressed. i was regularly using safari 1.1 which i felt was by far the fastest browser out there, but with the release of firefox i'm rethinking things, seriously.

one feature that i think is invaluable is session saving, which you can add to firefox as an extension. it is great, especially if you are prone to accidentally quittttting apps .
another great extension is the google toolbar.

these two features alone don't warrant dumping safari, rather they just point out that safari, while being really damn good, is still missing things that would be nice.
     
Jowy
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Feb 10, 2004, 12:16 PM
 
I like how I can add more search engines to Firefox that are easily selectable. It makes it much more convienient than actually going to the site to type in the search, not to mention I sort of prefer AllTheWeb as my main search engine instead of Google. I'm not aware that Safari has the ability to change/add search engines to it so for me this makes Firefox just slightly better, though they're both pretty neck and neck anyways IMHO. The un-native widgets don't bother me one bit. I really don't see what the big deal about them is. As long as I can still browse the web, I don't care if they're XUL based or not.
     
Vader�s Pinch of Death
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Feb 10, 2004, 12:55 PM
 
Originally posted by mike one:


i have to say i'm impressed. i was regularly using safari 1.1 which i felt was by far the fastest browser out there, but with the release of firefox i'm rethinking things, seriously.
Can you show us some examples please?

"If it's broke, you choke."
     
itai195
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Feb 10, 2004, 01:14 PM
 
Originally posted by dwishbone:
i dont use Firebird for the mac. i use Camino if im using a mozilla browser. i use safari mostly.
i do however use Firebird..excuse me...Firefox...pretty much exclusively on windows. Firefox seems to be a little slower than the most recent 0.7 nightlies up until its release. it is still my favorite PC browser. it's fast, renders well, and works with most of the sites out there.
I agree. I'll use Firefox on my Windows computer but I think it's slower than the 0.7 builds I've tried on OS X and generally I prefer Safari. Good progress though -- I recommend it to every Windows user I know. I still want to have close buttons on each tab and they could have thought of a better name too, I don't know what the attraction to fire is.
     
Turias
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Feb 10, 2004, 01:16 PM
 
Originally posted by itai195:
they could have thought of a better name too, I don't know what the attraction to fire is.
They have an elemental theme going. Like Thunderbird. I like the name change and the new icon. I think it's slick.
     
mike one
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Feb 10, 2004, 04:20 PM
 
Originally posted by Vader�s Pinch of Death:
Can you show us some examples please?
you want me to show you examples of what?



go download it, play with it, i think it is faster.
     
starman
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Feb 10, 2004, 05:04 PM
 
Originally posted by ambush:
Is this Pokemon, or what?

Safari, I CHOOSE YOU!

Mike

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superfula
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Feb 10, 2004, 10:29 PM
 
Well looks like Safari just became the 3rd best browser for the Mac. Too bad 1.2 was such a bad update. Whatever happened to the quick, simple browser Safari used to be.

Anyway, is there a way one can import safari book marks into Firefox?
     
hyperizer
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Feb 10, 2004, 10:45 PM
 
Originally posted by mdc:
personally, one thing that would stop me from using firefox the fact that buttons on a webpage all look like windows buttons, even the drop down boxes work like windows. it's creepy.
They're just generic so they can be styled with CSS.
     
Cadaver
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Feb 10, 2004, 11:18 PM
 
Originally posted by hyperizer:
They're just generic so they can be styled with CSS.
How or when will someone try to "fix" it then??
     
bmedina
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Feb 10, 2004, 11:45 PM
 
How or when will someone try to "fix" it then??
It's not going to be "fixed." It's like that by design.

Well looks like Safari just became the 3rd best browser for the Mac. Too bad 1.2 was such a bad update. Whatever happened to the quick, simple browser Safari used to be.
I actually think the 1.2 update was the best Safari update so far. It is now neck and neck with Firefox.
     
Cadaver
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Feb 11, 2004, 12:07 AM
 
Originally posted by bmedina:
It's not going to be "fixed." It's like that by design.


I actually think the 1.2 update was the best Safari update so far. It is now neck and neck with Firefox.
What I mean by "fixed" is if the buttons are editable, then I'm surprised no one has designed some restyled (OS X-like) buttons.

Either way, the last couple days have been good software-wise for Cadaver...

First, Firebird (er, Firefox) 0.8 - uses much less CPU resources on my 600MHz iBook and is faster than Safari.
Second, Spell Catcher X 10.1 is released. Works great on 10.3.
Third, I seem to have fixed my kernel panic upon wake problem that seems to have crept up on my iBook. Hurray for DiskWarrior 3.01!
     
MindFad
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Feb 11, 2004, 12:32 AM
 
Originally posted by starman:
Safari, I CHOOSE YOU!

Mike
Oh, so close. I can't bring myself to do it.
     
Vader�s Pinch of Death
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Feb 11, 2004, 01:09 AM
 
Originally posted by mike one:
you want me to show you examples of what?



go download it, play with it, i think it is faster.
Oh you think it is faster... well you sold it on me! How much faster do you think 2.3 to 4.1% faster?

"If it's broke, you choke."
     
mactropolis
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Feb 11, 2004, 03:11 AM
 
Hey, I installed Firefox on a OS X 10.1 machine I had lying around. However, I noticed that the default theme is different from the one show in the screen shots at the top of Pinstripe theme page (http://kmgerich.com/archive/000049.html). Unlike the screen shot pics, my Firefox doesn't have that new smoothe 10.3 Panther look to it. I still see the horizonal lines all over the interface. Is this normal? Is the Firefox/Pinstripe theme supposed to look different depending on the version of OS X it's running on?

Thanks
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Krypton
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Feb 11, 2004, 04:03 AM
 
Originally posted by mactropolis:
Hey, I installed Firefox on a OS X 10.1 machine I had lying around. However, I noticed that the default theme is different from the one show in the screen shots at the top of Pinstripe theme page (http://kmgerich.com/archive/000049.html). Unlike the screen shot pics, my Firefox doesn't have that new smoothe 10.3 Panther look to it. I still see the horizonal lines all over the interface. Is this normal? Is the Firefox/Pinstripe theme supposed to look different depending on the version of OS X it's running on?

Thanks
It uses the system resource for stripes (like any other OS X browser) so they will be more subtle on 10.3, but in your face on 10.1.

The theme is really just the toolbar buttons.
     
superfula
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Feb 11, 2004, 06:20 AM
 
Originally posted by Vader�s Pinch of Death:
Oh you think it is faster... well you sold it on me! How much faster do you think 2.3 to 4.1% faster?
His argument is just as good as yours.

I actually think the 1.2 update was the best Safari update so far. It is now neck and neck with Firefox.
Hardly. Load any page and it's slower. Hell it's slower than Omniweb 5, and that's still a beta. 1.2 is quite a bit more sluggish all around than 1.1.1. Uses quite a bit more system resources too. It's a freakin ram hog
     
 
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