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Sunday, August 28, 2005

Firefox's History 

History

Main article: History of Mozilla Firefox
The Firefox Logo (source)
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The Firefox Logo (source)

Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross began working on the Firefox project as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project. They believed that the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser. To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a pared-down browser (then known as Phoenix, today known as Firefox), with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. Ben Goodger currently works as the lead developer of Firefox. Logo for Firefox Browser, intended tor use to reference the name of the browser and thus this use is fair. ... Logo for Firefox Browser, intended tor use to reference the name of the browser and thus this use is fair. ... A logotype, commonly known as a logo, is the graphic element of a trademark or brand, which is set in a special typeface/font, or arranged in a particular, but legible, way. ... Netscape Communications Corporation was the publisher of the Netscape Navigator web browser as well as many other internet and intranet client and server software products. ... Creeping featurism, or creeping featuritis, is a phrase used (usually within the sphere of software and information technology) to describe the (often erroneous) idea that more features make a thing or product better than the previous version. ... Software bloat is a derogatory term used to describe the tendency of newer computer programs to use larger amounts of system resources (mass storage space, processing power and/or RAM) than older programs. ... Ben Goodger (born in London, England) is a former employee of Netscape Communications Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation and lead developer of the Firefox web browser. ...

Features

Main article: Features of Mozilla Firefox

The developers of Firefox aim to produce a browser that "just works" for most casual users. Those interested can add (as extensions and plugins) many features not packaged with Firefox. Mozilla Firefox has some features that distinguish it from other browsers like Internet Explorer. ...

Usability and accessibility

Screenshot of performing "Find as you type". The user typed "ency" and the browser highlighted the first matched text found with green.
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Screenshot of performing "Find as you type". The user typed "ency" and the browser highlighted the first matched text found with green.

Developers put in a large amount of work towards simplifying Firefox's user interface. As a result, the interface appears less cluttered than that of many other internet suites. The design of Firefox's option panels leaves many of the infrequently used options found in the Mozilla Suite not visible in Firefox. This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Look up Green in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Green is a color seen commonly in nature. ... Internet suite - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Firefox supports tabbed browsing, which allows users to open multiple web pages in the same browser window. This feature originated in the Mozilla Suite, which in turn had borrowed the feature from the popular MultiZilla extension for Mozilla. Firefox also belongs in the group of browsers which early on adopted customizable pop-up blocking. An example of tabbed document interface, illustrated with Opera In the area of graphical user interfaces, a tabbed document interface (TDI) is one that relies on tabbed panes to hold child windows. ...

The browser has a number of features which help users find information. First, Firefox has an incremental find feature known as "find as you type". With this feature enabled, a user can simply begin typing a word while viewing a web page, and Firefox automatically searches for it and highlights the first instance found. As the user types more of the word, Firefox refines its search.

Firefox also sports a built-in search toolbar with an extensible search engine listing. By default, Firefox allows users to search Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Creative Commons, Dictionary.com, and eBay. Users may download more search plugins (including one for Wikipedia) from the Mycroft project or remove any unwanted ones. ... Amazon. ... Version 2 of Some Rights Reserved logo Some Rights reserved logo No Rights reserved logo The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others to legally build upon and share. ... Dictionary. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... A search plug-in provides the ability to access a search engine from a web browser, without having to go to the engines page first. ... The open source Mycroft project created Mycroft, which provides a collection of search plugins for Mozilla-based web browsers. ...

Additionally, Firefox supports the "custom keyword" feature introduced by the Mozilla Suite. This feature allows users to access their bookmarks from the location bar using keywords (and an optional query parameter). For example, using a custom keyword, a user can type "google apple" into the address bar and be redirected to the results of a Google search for "apple". When a user enters words into Firefox's address bar without a search keyword (or with the "goto" keyword), Firefox automatically redirects the user to the first result yielded by a Google search for the words. 1) A bookmark is a thin marker, commonly made from paper or leather, used to keep ones place in a printed work and so be able to return to it with ease at some time in the future. ... Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), is a U.S. public corporation, initially established as a privately-held corporation in 1998, that designed and manages the Internet Google search engine. ...

Naming

The project which became Firefox started as an experimental branch of the Mozilla Suite called m/b (or mozilla/browser). When sufficiently developed, binaries for public testing appeared in September 2002 under the name Phoenix. The phoenix from the Aberdeen Bestiary. ...

The Phoenix name survived until April 14, 2003, when it changed due to trademark issues with the BIOS manufacturer, Phoenix Technologies (who produce a BIOS-based browser). The new name, Firebird, provoked mixed reactions, particularly since the free database software Firebird uses the same name. In late April, following an apparent name change to Firebird browser for a few hours, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird in order to avoid confusion with the Firebird database server. However, continuing pressure from the FLOSS community forced another change, and on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox (or Firefox for short). April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Trademark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... BIOS, in computing, stands for basic input/output system. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... It has been suggested that Free Software Replacements be merged into this article or section. ... Firebird (sometimes called FirebirdSQL) is a relational database management system offering many ANSI SQL-99 and SQL-2003 features. ... Firebird (sometimes called FirebirdSQL) is a relational database management system offering many ANSI SQL-99 and SQL-2003 features. ... The phrase Free/Libre/Open-Source Software (FLOSS; see also the similarly derived FOSS) refers to both Free Software and Open Source Software. ... February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Mozilla Foundation chose the name "Firefox" for its similarity to "Firebird", but also for its uniqueness in the computing industry. To avoid any potential further name changes, the Mozilla Foundation began the process of registering Firefox as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in December 2003 [5]. As "Firefox" already existed as a registered trademark in the United Kingdom, the Mozilla Foundation licensed the name from the trademark's owner. Firefox may refer to: Mozilla Firefox, a web browser. ... Computer industry is a collective term used to describe the whole range of businesses involved in developing computer software, designing computer hardware, the manufacture of computer components and the provision of information technology services. ... Trademark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Branding and visual identity

Various logos used during the development of Firefox

The adoption of a new visual identity marks one of Firefox's most visible enhancements from its previous versions. Some people have noted that free software frequently suffers from poor icon and user interface design and from a lack of a strong visual identity. Such opinion held that the early releases of Firefox sported "reasonable" visual designs, but did not regard them as of a standard equivalent to many "professionally" released software packages. The release of Firefox 0.8 in February 2004 saw the introduction of new branding efforts, including new icons. Jon Hicks designed the icon for Firefox 0.8 and up. Mascots at the Mascot Olympics in Orlando, FL. A mascot is something, typically an animal or human character used to represent a group with a common identity, such as a school, professional sports team, or corporation. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → // February 29, 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of Haiti and flees the country for the Central African Republic. ...

The logo depicts a stylized Red Panda (according to the Mozilla FAQ), an animal which is sometimes called "fire fox" (the Red Fox is another such creature). The specific logo won selection because it makes an impression, while still not "shouting" with overdone artwork. Binomial name Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), the most familiar of the foxes, has the widest range of any terrestrial carnivore. ...

The Firefox icon functions as a trademark used to designate the official Mozilla build of the Firefox software. Although Firefox uses open source core software, free licensing does not extend to the artwork. For this reason, software distributors who distribute patched or modified versions of Firefox may not use the icon.

Customizability

A typical XPInstall confirmation dialog
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A typical XPInstall confirmation dialog

The design of Firefox aims at high extensibility. Through extensions (installed via XPInstall modules), users may activate new features, such as mouse gestures, advertisement blocking, proxy server switching, and debugging tools. Wikipedia editors using Firefox can even download a customised toolbar. Many features formerly part of the Mozilla Suite, such as the ChatZilla IRC client and a calendar, have become Firefox extensions. This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... A typical XPInstall confirmation dialog XPInstall (Cross-Platform Install) is a technology used by Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and other XUL-based applications for installing Mozilla extensions that add functionalities. ... A spiral mouse gesture in the computer game Black and White. ... A debugger is a computer program that is used to debug (and sometimes test or optimize) other programs. ... An early toolbar on a Xerox Alto Computer In a graphical user interface on a computer monitor a toolbar is a row, column, or block of onscreen buttons or icons that, when clicked, activate certain functions of the program. ... ChatZilla is an IRC client for Mozilla web browsers written in XUL and JavaScript. ... Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. ...

One can view the extension system as a ground for experimentation, where one can test new functionalities. Occasionally, an extension becomes part the official product (for example MultiZilla, an extension which added tabbed browsing to Mozilla, eventually became part of standard Mozilla).

Firefox with Noia eXtreme theme
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Firefox with Noia eXtreme theme

Firefox also supports a variety of themes/skins, which change its appearance. Themes consist of packages of CSS and image files. The Mozilla Update web site offers many themes for downloading. Beyond adding a new theme, users can customize Firefox's interface by moving and manipulating its various buttons, fields, and menus, and likewise by adding and deleting entire toolbars. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1023x734, 232 KB)Mozilla Firefox with Noia eXtreme [1] theme. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1023x734, 232 KB)Mozilla Firefox with Noia eXtreme [1] theme. ... In computing, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. ...

A Firefox installation can keep all extensions and themes available on the Mozilla Update site up-to-date through Firefox's interface, which periodically checks for updates to installed themes and extensions.

Additionally, Firefox stores many hidden preferences that users can access by typing about:config in the address bar. This mechanism enables features such as single-window mode and error pages, or speeding up page rendering by various tweaks. Experimental features like HTTP pipelining often lurk hidden in the about:config menu. The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... HTTP pipelining appeared in HTTP/1. ...

Cross-platform support

Firefox, running under the Linux operating system
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Firefox, running under the Linux operating system

Mozilla Firefox runs on a wide variety of platforms. Releases available on the primary distribution site support the following operating systems [15]: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (947x701, 87 KB)Firefox running under the Linux OS. I, the author release this under the GPL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (947x701, 87 KB)Firefox running under the Linux OS. I, the author release this under the GPL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Firefox does not officially support Windows 95, but reportedly functions properly after the application of a few tweaks [16]. // Microsoft Windows is a range of operating environments for personal computers and servers. ... Windows 98 (codename Memphis) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft. ... Windows Millennium Edition (originally codenamed Millennium and Georgia), also known as Windows Me, is a 32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft. ... Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, and was succeeded by Windows 2000 (still based on Windows NT). ... Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K, W2K or Windows NT 5. ... As of 2005, Windows XP is the current desktop version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. ... Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 logo The successor to Windows 2000 Server, Microsofts Windows Server 2003 (codename Whistler Server, also known as Windows NT 5. ... Mac OS X is the latest version of the Mac OS, the operating system software for Macintosh computers. ... WWDC 2005, at Moscone Center The Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is an annual trade show for Apple developers. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) (founded 1968) is a U.S.-based multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Tux, a cartoon penguin frequently featured sitting, is the official Linux mascot. ... The XOrg Foundation Open Source Public Implementation of X11 (the XOrg Server) is the official reference implementation of the X Window System. ... XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System. ... Windows 95 (codename Chicago) is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on August 24, 1995 by the Microsoft Corporation. ...

Since the Mozilla Foundation makes the Firefox source code available, users can also compile and run Firefox on a variety of other architectures and operating systems. Operating systems not supported by Firefox, but known to run the browser include:



Mozilla Firefox retains the cross-platform nature of the original Mozilla browser by using the XUL user interface markup language. Through Firefox's support of XUL, users may extend their browser's capabilities by applying themes and extensions. Initially, these add-ons raised security concerns, so with the release of Firefox 0.9, the Mozilla Foundation opened Mozilla Update, a website containing themes and extensions "approved" as not harmful. XUL (XML User Interface Language) is a user interface markup language developed to support Mozilla applications like Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. ... In computing, skins and themes are custom graphical appearances (GUIs) that can be applied to certain software and websites in order to suit the different tastes of different users. ... Mozilla Firefox showing several extensions and a custom theme Extensions are software add-ons designed for the Mozilla Firefox or Mozilla web browsers. ... The main page of Mozilla Update Mozilla Update is a website to get add-ons for the Mozilla Foundations flagship products: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite. ...

The Mozilla Foundation had intended to make the Mozilla Suite obsolete and to replace it with Firefox. On March 10, 2005, the Foundation announced that official releases of Mozilla would cease with the 1.7.x series. The Foundation continues to maintain the 1.7.x branch because of its continued use by many corporate users, and because makers of other software still often bundle the product. The Mozilla community (as opposed to the Foundation) will release the next version. These community releases will be called SeaMonkey, and will start out at version 1.0 to avoid any possible confusion for organizations or people still wanting to use the original Mozilla Suite. The Mozilla Foundation will continue giving support (such as CVS hosting) for the Mozilla community developers. March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... SeaMonkey is the name of a computer software product that is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite. ... The Concurrent Versions System (CVS), also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, implements a version control system: it keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, typically the implementation of a software project, and allows several (potentially widely separated) developers to collaborate. ...

Future development

The next planned release of Firefox was supposed to be version 1.1, but has been renamed to 1.5, and has a target release by the end of summer (Northern Hemisphere). Firefox 1.5 will resync the code-base of the release builds (as opposed to nightly builds) with the core "trunk" which contains additional features not available in 1.0, as it branched from the trunk around the 0.9 release. As such, a backlog of bug fixes between 0.9 and the release of 1.0 will become available in 1.5. Version 1.5 will also implement a new Mac-like option interface, much criticized by some Windows and Linux users, with a "Sanitize" action to allow a person to clear their privacy related information without manually clicking the "Clear All" button. Users will have the option of clearing all privacy-related settings simply by exiting the browser or by using a keyboard shortcut, depending on their settings. [7] Moreover, the Software Update System will improve with binary patches becoming possible [8]. Users can also expect improvements in the Extension management system [9] and partial SVG support, as shown in Mozilla's Bugzilla database and the latest nightlies [10]. This unheralded movement has happened due to the release on April 19, 2005, of Opera 8.0, which supports SVG Tiny. The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planets surface (or celestial sphere) that is north of the equator. ... Bugzilla is a general-purpose computer bug-tracking tool developed and used by the Mozilla Foundation. ... April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Opera is a cross-platform internet suite consisting of: Web browser Email and news client News aggregator Address book IRC client Download manager Opera is in active development by Opera Software of Oslo, Norway and its core layout engine (Presto) is licensed by business partners such as Adobe and is...

On June 23, 2005, Mozilla Foundation announced that Firefox 1.5 (and other new Mozilla products) will no longer support Mac OS X v10.1. This is intended to improve the quality of Firefox releases on Mac OS X v10.2 and above. Users of 10.1 may still use Firefox version 1.0.x. June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Mac OS X version 10. ... A screenshot of Mac OS X v10. ...

According to the roadmap, future Firefox development will feature three milestones: version 1.5, version 2.0 and version 3.0. Development for these releases will take place on the Mozilla trunk, with a release coming off a branch [11].

Likely goals for Firefox include [12]:

  • New "Places" interface for Bookmark and History
  • Tabbed Browsing improvements
  • Specific options per site
  • Extension system enhancements
  • Find Toolbar, Software Update, Search enhancements
  • Accessibility compliance
  • Download resuming, detection of signed executables

Builds for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition also exist [19]. The Solaris Operating Environment is a computer operating system, based on the open-source UNIX SunOS developed by Sun Microsystems. ... Version 2. ... Advanced Interactive eXecutive (AIX) is the brand name of IBMs proprietary UNIX operating system. ... A rendering of the BSD daemon by Poul-Henning Kamp FreeBSD is a free, open source, Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) branch through 386BSD and 4. ... PC-BSD is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and easy- and ready-to-use immediately by providing KDE as the default, pre-installed graphical user interface. ... NetBSD was the first of the freely redistributable, open source versions of the BSD Unix-like operating systems to produce a formal release, with NetBSD 0. ... RISC OS (Reduced Instruction Set Computing Operating System) is a British GUI operating system for ARM-processor based computers or similar devices. ... ARM may stand for: Most likely: ARM Ltd (originally Advanced RISC Machines) ARM architecture CPU design or one of its derivatives developed by ARM Ltd (originally called The Acorn RISC Machine) Adjustable rate mortgage Annotated Reference Manual (C++) Artificial rupture of membranes (see amniotic sac) the ISO 3166-1 3... Windows XP Professional 64-bit Edition released on April 25, 2005 by Microsoft is a variation of the typical 32-bit Windows XP operating system. ...

As of June 2005, known projects exist to port to BeOS and to RISC OS. 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BeOS was an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Incorporated in 1991. ... RISC OS (Reduced Instruction Set Computing Operating System) is a British GUI operating system for ARM-processor based computers or similar devices. ...

Firefox uses the same format to store users' profiles (which contain their personal browser settings) even on different operating systems, so a profile may be used on multiple platforms, so long as all of the platforms can access the profile (e.g., the profile is stored on a FAT32 partition accessible from both Windows and Linux). This functionality is useful for users who dual-boot their machines. However, it may occasionally cause problems, especially with extensions. File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system that was developed for MS-DOS and is the primary file system for consumer versions of Microsoft Windows up to and including Windows Me. ...

Internationalization and localization

Contributors throughout the world have collaborated in translating the Firefox browser into many frequently used languages/locales, including some of the least often supported locales, such as Chichewa, but excluding Latvian, Malay, Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi and Persian. Because of the use of DTD and property files for storing the string literals displayed to users, even users without a programming background can easily complete part of the internationalization and localization process, requiring only a simple text editor. Chichewa (Chicheŵa in Malawian English) is one of the two official national languages of the Republic of Malawi, the other being English. ... The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who are native to the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ... Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken in most states in northern and central India. ... Persian (Ù�ارسی / پارسی), (local name in Iran (Persia), Afghanistan and Tajikistan: ‘Fârsi’), ‘Pârsi’ (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran (Persia), Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, western Pakistan, Bahrain, and... In computer programming and some branches of mathematics, strings are sequences of various simple objects. ... It has been suggested that Locale be merged into this article or section. ... Editor has four major senses: Print media There are various levels of editorial positions in publishing. ...

Web development tools

DOM Inspector inspecting Wikipedia's main page
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DOM Inspector inspecting Wikipedia's main page

Like the Mozilla Suite, Firefox comes with two web-development tools: a DOM Inspector and a JavaScript Console. Firefox aficionados claim that no other browser includes the DOM Inspector, and that Firefox's JavaScript Console surpasses the consoles available in other browsers. While not installed by default, the tools become available via a "custom" install. Download high resolution version (860x684, 50 KB)DOM Inspector of Mozilla Firefox, inspecting Wikipedias main page. ... DOM Inspector inspecting Wikipedias main page DOM Inspector is one of the web developer tools included in Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox. ...

Other features

Powered by RSS or Atom feeds, "Live Bookmarks", another feature of Firefox, allow users to dynamically monitor changes to their favorite news sources. When this feature was first introduced in version 1.0 PR, some users worried that Firefox was beginning to include non-essential features, and succumb to bloat, much like the Mozilla Suite. However, these worries have largely abated. RSS, pronounced arr-ess-ess, is a web syndication protocol primarily used by news websites and weblogs. ... Atom is an XML-based document format and HTTP-based protocol designed for the syndication of Web content such as weblogs and news headlines to Web sites as well as directly to user agents. ...

Firefox also includes a customizable download manager. Users can configure the browser to either open downloaded files automatically or save them directly to the disk. By default, Firefox downloads all files to a user's desktop on Windows or to the user's home directory on Linux, but users can easily configure it to prompt for a specific download location. A download manager is a computer program designed to download files from the Internet, unlike a web browser, which is mainly intended to browse webpages on the World Wide Web (with file downloading being of secondary importance). ...

Security

Firefox was designed with security in mind. Some of its key features include the use of the sandbox security model, same origin policy and external protocol whitelisting [20]. For the Wikipedia sandbox for editing experiments see Wikipedia:Sandbox This article is about the computer security model. ... In computing, the same origin policy is an important security measure for client-side scripting (mostly JavaScript). ...

One important characteristic of Firefox security lies in the fact that everyone can see its source code. At least one other person reviews proposed software changes, and typically yet another person caries out a "super-review". Once placed in the software, changes become visible for anyone else to consider, protest against, or improve [21].

In addition, the Mozilla Foundation operates a "bug bounty" scheme: people who report a valid critical security bug receive a US$500 cash reward (for each report) and a Mozilla T-shirt [22]. According to the Mozilla Foundation, this "bug bounty" system aims to "encourage more people to find and report security bugs in our products, so that we can make our products even more secure than they already are" [23]. Note that anyone in the world can report a bug. Also, all users can have access to the source code of Mozilla Firefox, to the internal design documentation, to forum discussions, and to other materials that can help in finding bugs.

The Mozilla Foundation has implemented a policy on security bugs in order to help contributors to deal with security vulnerabilities [24]. The policy restricts access to a security-related bug report to members of the security team until after Mozilla has shipped a fix for the problem. This approach aims to minimize the exploitation of publicly known vulnerabilities and to give the developers time to issue a patch. While similar to other "responsible disclosure" policies operated by software vendors such as Microsoft, this policy falls short of the full disclosure principle favored by some security researchers. Full disclosure in computer security means to disclose all the details of a security problem which are known. ...

As of July 2005, Secunia has reported 3 unpatched vulnerabilities in Firefox (with the most serious one marked "less critical"), versus 20 for Internet Explorer (with the most serious one marked "highly critical"), and 0 for Opera. 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Secunia is a computer security service provider best known for tracking vulnerabilities in more than 4500 pieces of software and operating systems. ...

Another security source, SecurityFocus, reports 0 unpatched vulnerabilities in Firefox 1.0.5, versus 45 unpatched vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 6 on Microsoft Windows XP SP2.

No publicly known exploits of the Firefox browser have emerged since its launch.

Criticisms

Main article: Criticisms of Mozilla Firefox

Firefox has sometimes attracted criticism for lacking features found in other browsers. Many users observe that the developers have not implemented frequently requested features. (The developers state in response that they intend Firefox as fairly minimal browser in order to reduce "bloatware" and bugs, while retaining a high degree of extensibility.) Most of these features and many others exist as installable Firefox extensions, but not all users wish to install extensions for the features they want, preferring to have all the features they desire available within the official software package. Alongside its widespread use and popularity, criticisms of Mozilla Firefox have arisen. ...

Some note that Firefox takes longer to launch than other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Opera. The non-platform-native XUL implementation of the user interface may cause this perceived delay. Other Gecko-based browsers such as K-Meleon which use platform-native user interface implementations generally run faster than Firefox. Another common criticism involves Firefox using much more memory than other browsers. K-Meleon is a web browser based on Gecko, the layout engine written by the Mozilla Foundation. ...

Users switching from Internet Explorer sometimes experience that some websites do not render as expected in Firefox. Almost always the said website causes this perceived problem by producing code that does not comply with standards, code specific to Internet Explorer, or code utilizing ActiveX applets.

Some web server administrators complain that Firefox improperly requests the favicon file with every page view, despite the server's response that the file does not exist. This bug has now been fixed.

Spread Firefox campaigns


Main article: Spread Firefox

The rapid adoption of Firefox apparently accelerated in part due to a series of aggressive community-marketing campaigns since 2004. For example, Blake Ross and Asa Dotzler organized a series of events dubbed "marketing week". Spread Firefox, often abbreviated as SFX, is a community of thousands of Mozilla Firefox enthusiasts whose goal is to spread Firefox as far and wide as possible. ... Blake Ross became a minor celebrity in early 2005 as the press became interested in the personalities behind Firefox following the success of its 1. ... Asa Dotzler (IPA: ), born in Tennessee on June 5, 1974, is best known for his work on Mozilla. ...

On September 14, 2004, a community-marketing portal dubbed "Spread Firefox" (SFX) debuted along with the Firefox Preview Release, creating a centralized space for the discussion of various marketing techniques. The portal enhanced the "Get Firefox" button program, giving users "referrer points" as an incentive. The site lists the top 250 referrers. From time to time, the SFX team or SFX members launch marketing events organized at the Spread Firefox website. September 14 is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Organization adoption

During the FOSDEM 2005 conference, Tristan Nitot, the president of Mozilla Europe, said that he knew "a few companies" that had deployed the Firefox browser or the Thunderbird mail client across a million seats. Those companies remained reluctant to publicize the migration, due to in-house concerns that this might damage their relationship with Microsoft [28]. Jimbo Wales speaking at FOSDEM 2005 Since 2001, the Free and Open source Software Developers European Meeting (commonly known as FOSDEM) is an annual 2-day event hosting talks, tutorials, and stalls for the free software/open source community. ... See: relational model personal relationship mathematical relationship, including: inverse relationship direct relationship relation (mathematics). ...

According to a CNET article published on May 12, 2005, about 30,000 of IBM's staff (about 10% of the total) already use Firefox. IBM encourages its employees to use Firefox as the company's standard web browser, with support from the company's help desk staff. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) (NYSE: IBM) (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, NY, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ... Help Desk is a webcomic by Christopher B. Wright which debuted on March 31, 1996, making it one of the older webcomics on the Internet. ...

Starting in quarter 3 of 2005, the Networking Services and Information Technology department of the University of Chicago will include both Firefox and Thunderbird in its connectivity package for all incoming students. The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Industry adoption

Since the pre-1.0 stages, a number of well-known websites and web applications—including Gmail—have supported (and in some cases, required) the use of Firefox. Since March 30, 2005, the Google search engine has utilized the link prefetching feature of Firefox for faster searching. (Link prefetching involves a standards-compliant optimization technique that utilizes the browser's idle time to download or prefetch documents that the user might visit in the near future.) Google, Inc. also recommends Firefox as the browser for its Blogger weblog service. On May 18, 2005, eBay announced support for Firefox for its eBay Picture Manager. In software engineering, a web application is an application delivered to users from a web server over a network such as the World Wide Web or an intranet. ... Gmail is a free webmail service, currently in beta testing, offered by Google, Inc. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in Leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Googles main pages unusually spartan design, uncluttered appearance and quick loading time have contributed greatly to the sites mass appeal. ... Link prefetching is a standards compliant mechanism used by web browsers, which utilizes browser idle time to download or prefetch documents that the user might visit in the near future. ... Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), is a U.S. public corporation, initially established as a privately-held corporation in 1998, that designed and manages the Internet Google search engine. ... Blogger logo Blogger is a service created by Pyra Labs that provides Web-based tools used by individuals to publish to the Web. ... The first use of the term weblog. ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

Search engine companies including Google, Yahoo! and A9 now also offer Firefox extensions for accessing their services, in addition to their original Internet-Explorer add-ons. The success of the Google search engine was mainly due to its powerful PageRank algorithm and its simple, easy-to-use interface. ... Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), is a U.S. public corporation, initially established as a privately-held corporation in 1998, that designed and manages the Internet Google search engine. ... ... A9 can refer to: The search engine at a9. ...

A number of commercialized versions of the Firefox browser have developed outside the not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation. The current version of Netscape, known as Netscape Browser or Netscape 8, combines the functionalities of Firefox and Internet Explorer. And a start-up, Round Two (formerly Mozsource and more formerly E-Flo), plans to build enhancements for Firefox [29]. Netscape Browser is the name of a proprietary Windows web browser published by AOL, but developed by Mercurial Communications. ... A startup company is a company recently formed, usually until IPO or acquisition. ...

Portable Firefox

John Haller has developed Portable Firefox as a major offspring of the Firefox project. He designed it to run on USB flash drives, CD-RW drives (in packet mode), Zip drives, external hard drives or some digital audio players. It retains nearly all of Firefox's features. Extensions that work in Firefox also work with Portable Firefox. It uses compression to reduce overall footprint. As a result of this compression, Portable Firefox loads quickly from a USB device. Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ... A flash drive is a solid state read and write device that attaches to a computer and is usable as a standard hard drive. ... In computing and data storage, Compact Disc Rewritable, or CD-RW, is a rewritable version of CD-ROM. Whereas standard prerecorded compact discs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer, CD-RW discs have a phase-change recording layer made of silver, indium, antimony and tellurium, and... Later (USB, left) and earlier (parallel, right) Zip drives (media in foreground). ... 4th Generation Grayscale Apple iPod Creative Zen Micro A digital audio player (DAP) is a device that stores, organizes and plays digital music files. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ...

John Haller has started development work on Portable Firefox Live, which aims to run on CD-R or other read-only media. A CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) is a thin (1. ... Rom is also the name of a toy and comic book character Rom (Spaceknight). ...

Footnotes


  1. ^ Mozilla contributors list, Mozilla.org

  2. ^ Forbes, September 29, 2004.

  3. ^ Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2004. Walter Mossberg wrote : "I suggest dumping Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, which has a history of security breaches. I recommend instead Mozilla Firefox, which is free at www.mozilla.org. It's not only more secure but also more modern and advanced, with tabbed browsing, which allows multiple pages to be open on one screen, and a better pop-up ad blocker than the belated one Microsoft recently added to IE."

  4. ^ Stross, New York Times. December 19, 2004. The article states that "With Firefox, open-source software moves from back-office obscurity to your home, and to your parents', too. (Your children in college are already using it.)"

  5. ^ Firefox trademark, USPTO

  6. ^ Mozilla Firefox Roadmap (see also: Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Roadmap)

  7. ^ From Ben Goodger's weblog:
  8. ^ Ben Goodger discusses the Firefox update system (May 2, 2005).
  9. ^ Changes for Extension Developers (May 2, 2005). Ben Goodger's weblog.
  10. ^ Firefox nightlies now build with SVG (April 26, 2005). Source: Anne van Kesteren's weblog about Markup & Style. SVG Enabled by default (May, 2005).
  11. ^ 1.8 alpha 6 around the corner (December 26, 2004). Source: Asa Dotzler's weblog.
  12. ^ Mozilla Wiki. Firefox:2.0 PRD. A document that describes the product requirements for Firefox 2, and also anticipates an interim milestone marker for Firefox 1.5.
  13. ^ IE7 beta 1 – A few details... (April 22, 2005). Source: Internet Explorer weblog. In the blog entry, Chris Wilson said that Microsoft would soon "[s]upport the alpha channel in PNG images [in Internet Explorer 7]. We’ve actually had this on our radar for a long time, and have had it supported in the code for a while now. We have certainly heard the clear feedback from the web design community that per-pixel alpha is a really important feature."
  14. ^ nightlies now build with SVG enabled by default (May , 2005). Source: Mozilla SVG Project page.
  15. ^ Firefox System Requirements. Mozilla.org.
  16. ^ Run Firefox in Windows 95 (and Windows 98 original release). Source: John Haller's website. Details a procedure to install Firefox on Windows 95 and the original release of Windows 98.
  17. ^ Firefox release notes for the 1.x series. Mozilla.org.
  18. ^ FreshPort entry on Firefox. freshports.org.
  19. ^ Mozilla for the Windows x64 platform.
  20. ^ External Protocol Whitelisting. Neil Turner's weblog.
  21. ^ Hacking Mozilla. Mozilla.org.
  22. ^ Mozilla Security Bug Bounty Program. Mozilla.org.
  23. ^ Mozilla Security Bug Bounty FAQ. Mozilla.org.
  24. ^ Handling Mozilla Security Bugs. Mozilla.org.
  25. ^ firefox 25,000,000. Source: Asa Dotzler's weblog.
  26. ^ Firefox: Blazing a Trail to 50,000,000. Spread Firefox.
  27. ^ Microsoft: Firefox does not threaten IE's market share. ZDNet.
  28. ^ Firefox sneaks into the enterprise. ZDNet UK.
  29. ^ Round Two looks to launch enhanced Firefox. MozillaNews.

September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. ... Ben Goodger (born in London, England) is a former employee of Netscape Communications Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation and lead developer of the Firefox web browser. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lawn gnome A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its small stature and subterranean lifestyle. ... January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... This article is about the month of May. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... This article is about the month of May. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

Books

  • Granneman, Scott. Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox. O'Reilly (2005), ISBN 0-596-00939-9.
  • Hofmann, Chris, Marcia Knous, & John Hedtke. Firefox and Thunderbird Garage. Prentice Hall PTR (2005), ISBN 0131870041.
  • McFarlane, Nigel. Firefox Hacks. O'Reilly (2005), ISBN 0-596-00928-3.
  • Reyes, Mil. Hacking Firefox : More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations. Wiley (2005), ISBN 0-7645-9650-0.
  • Yeow, Cheah Chu. Firefox Secrets: A Need-To-Know Guide. O'Reilly (2005), ISBN 0-9752402-4-2.

References

July 13th is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year (266th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 31 days remaining, as the final day of November. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

Mozilla is a computer term that has had many different uses, though all of them have been related to Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software. ... Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, cross-platform email and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Mozilla Calendar is an open source calendar and personal information manager based on the open iCalendar standard. ... A Personal Information Manager is a software application that keeps track of personal information such as: E-mails Address books Calendars Task lists Task scheduling (invitations etc) Notices There are several software packages that do this. ... Mozilla Calendar is an open source calendar and personal information manager based on the open iCalendar standard. ... The Book of Mozilla, 7:15, displayed in Firefox 1. ... The main page of Mozilla Update Mozilla Update is a website to get add-ons for the Mozilla Foundations flagship products: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite. ... The following designs were inspired by the OS-tan Anime Computer mascots, but were not designed by users of Futaba. ... The following is a list of web browsers. ... This is a list of the origins of computer-related terms (i. ... The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. ...

External links

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Click for other authoritative sources for this topic (summarised

# posted by JimmyO : 2:57 PM
Comments:
Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. Blogger I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on adjustable mortgage one rate year and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across this post but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to adjustable mortgage one rate year. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 6:36 AM
 
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