Wikipedia on Mozilla Firefox
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>> Mozilla Firefox
from Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia)
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Mozilla Firefox (formerly known as Phoenix and later Mozilla Firebird) is a web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and hundreds of other volunteers.
With Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation aims to develop a small, fast, simple, and highly-extensible web browser (separate from the larger Mozilla suite). Firefox has become the main focus of Mozilla development and will become the official browser release of the Mozilla Foundation - and part of the Mozilla suite (along with the Mozilla Thunderbird email client) - when deemed ready.
The Firefox project started as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser project. A group of developers perceived the Mozilla browser project as overly compromised by the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship, and also developer-driven feature creep. The project was started by Dave Hyatt; the current lead developer is Ben Goodger.
Development
Mozilla Firefox retains the cross-platform nature of the original Mozilla browser, using the XUL user interface language. Use of XUL makes it possible to extend the browser's capabilities through the use of themes (skins) and extensions. However, the development and installation processes of these add-ons raised security concerns and with the release of Firefox 0.9, the Mozilla Foundation opened a Mozilla Update website containing "approved" themes and extensions.
Use of XUL sets Firefox apart from other projects based on Mozilla's Gecko layout engine, such as Galeon, Epiphany, K-Meleon, and Camino, and most other browsers, which use interfaces native to their respective platforms. The Mozilla Foundation takes pride in Gecko's support for standards.
Future releases of Mozilla are envisaged as consisting of Mozilla Firefox coupled with Mozilla Thunderbird, a standalone e-mail client built on similar principles to Firefox: to replace the current all-in-one application suite known simply as "Mozilla" (previously codenamed SeaMonkey). Eventually all official Mozilla Foundation work will center on the standalone browser and mail client, but the Foundation anticipates that volunteers and corporate users will continue to maintain the SeaMonkey application suite. Mozilla Firefox stripped out several features and much of the interface from the SeaMonkey suite, labeling them as "software bloat."
On February 5, 2004 the business and IT consulting company AMS categorized Mozilla Firefox (then Firebird) as a "Tier 1" (meaning "Best of Breed") open source product (Keating, 2004). This means that AMS considered Firebird virtually risk-free and technically strong.
The project is currently developed by Ben Goodger, Blake Ross and others at the Mozilla Foundation.
History
The Name: The project which became Firefox started as an experimental branch of the Mozilla suite called "mozilla/browser". The project founders, Blake Ross and Dave Hyatt originally intended to create the best possible browser for Microsoft Windows. When sufficiently developed, binaries for public testing appeared in September 2002 under the name "Phoenix".
The "Phoenix" name was retained until April 14, 2003 when it was changed due to trademark issues with the BIOS manafacturer Phoenix Technologies. The new name - "Firebird" - was met with mixed reaction. In late April the Mozilla Foundation issued a statement which stated that the browser should be referred to as "Mozilla Firebird" in order to avoid confusion with the Firebird database server. However, continuing pressure from the Open Source community forced another change, and on February 9, 2004 Mozilla Firebird was renamed "Mozilla Firefox".
They chose the name "Firefox" for its similarity to "Firebird" but also for its uniqueness in the computing industry. To ensure that no further name changes would be necessary, the Mozilla Foundation began the process of registering Firefox as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in December 2003.
Release History
[Use link above for the release history table].
Market Adoption
The adoption of Firefox has been rapid, given the previously accepted dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the browser market. According to a September 2004 report in Tom's Hardware Guide¹, analysts Websidestory reported that 5.2 percent of web users were using the Firefox or Netscape browsers as of late September 2004, a rise of 1.7 percent since June, and that Internet Explorer had lost 1.8 percent of market share in the same period, down to 93.7 percent [the most significant drops in usage in more than eight years].
¹ tomshardware.com
According to Mozilla's marketing site, more than 3 million people downloaded Firefox 1.0PR in the first 19 days of its release.
Much of the Firefox's rapid adoption results from the recent spate of reports of security vulnerabilities in Explorer, as users look for a safer alternative. The count of pro-Firefox security reports and press articles took a notable upswing after the Download.ject attack of June 23, 2004.
This rapid adoption seems to be accelerated by an active and rather unusual campaign dubbed "Spread Firefox" ( spreadfirefox.com ). The campaign encourages its users to add "Get Firefox" links to their website/e-mails. They are given "referer points" as an incentive. The top 250 referers are listed on the site. There are also blogs and forums to discuss marketing techniques. <<
- Eric - |
