CNET posted a review of Firefox 1.0, and of particular interest is this breakdown of their rating:
Setup and interface 8
Features 9
Service and support 7[Source: CNET @ 11/10/2004 9:20 AM EST ]
I want to draw attention to “Service and Support”. That’s where open source still lacks.
Firefox destroyed in marketing thus far when people said open source doesn’t advertise. I think we need a community driven solution for support to. Something better than a forum, IRC or a newsgroup (the last two, most of our target end users never have used, nor want to learn). We need an easy way to provide quality free support for basic issues. That is going to be critical if Firefox wants to be viewed as a 10/10 product rather than an 8/10. 8/10 is good. 10/10 is Firefox Good. SpreadFirefox.com shows a community can replace an entire company division. Now we need to spin it to do tech support.
Perhaps feeding a form of tickets into a forum like solution, let various users post answers, and a moderator after a designated period (4hrs or 10 replies) selects the best answer. That gets sent to the end user. User gets fun points, just like spreadfirefox.com. A point for every valid submission. 10 points for every nominated submission.
Well, now we get the info we need on the elusive “Googlefox”.
The second area of Mozilla intends to explore with new versions of Firefox is integration with desktop search.
Companies like Google, Vivisimo and Copernic make search applications that comb through all the information on a personal computer. The way it is now, a browser’s bookmarks, cache, history and e-mail reader present the desktop search application with a wide array of APIs (application programming interfaces) to negotiate.
Mozilla said it is in discussions with desktop search providers to simplify and standardize those tools to make them more easily searchable by search programs.
[Source: CNET News.com @ 11/10/2004 12:00 AM EST ]
I think that’s about the most information disclosed about the Mozilla < --> Google relationship thus far.
Not to mention this.
I think that says a lot.
Even better than the other day. This is a very high profile position to be. And at 11:30 AM EST. The beginning of the workday for the west coast, and right before lunch on the east coast… right when many people browse the web for news.
Just FYI Bit Torrent
May help ease the burden on those crying servers.
For once hurting a server is a good thing 😀
Firefox 1.0… literally right around the corner.
And you thought I would miss it? I think not. I’m going to get some sleep while some stay up and have fun. Here’s to a good night, an awesome day, and an awesome new age of web browsing.
I’ll be in and out most of tomorrow, but I’ll try to keep in touch on #firefox, #spreadfirefox, #mozillazine, and #developers as usual.
Lets rock the web!
Quick status update on the migration to WordPress:
I’m still tweaking, but the site is coming back. Lots of the rendering quirks should be gone at this time. XHTML validation should work for most pages.
Kitten’s Spaminator royally kicks butt. Very good spam protection.
Seems to be quite a few useful plugins. Mobile support seems to be functioning correctly. Those with a cell phone or pda capable of viewing non-wap mobile browsing (HTML), shouldn’t have an issue here 😀
Another great thing is dynamic pages. It would sound more efficient to create static pages, but apparently it isn’t: When a spammer is attacking the comment area, they tend to post in batches of 4 (or more). MovableType then regenerates the page, causing a significant spike is CPU and RAM consumption. WordPress only has to add an entry to the DB. Then it’s done. By using Kitten’s Spaminator, it prevents even that from happening without good reason.
Unless I get slashdotted, I think this is a much better solution. What would be best is if my host would install MMCache. MMCache would also benefit Smarty based applications.
But regardless… as good as MovableType was. WordPress seems to be better.
Following up from a few days ago, the EULA (End User License Agreement) has landed for 1.0. I copied the text here so everyone who hasn’t downloaded a build yet can see what I’m talking about:
FOR TRANSLATIONS OF THIS LICENSE INTO SELECTED LANGUAGES, PLEASE VISIT WWW.MOZILLA.ORG/LICENSING.
MOZILLA FOUNDATION
MOZILLA FIREFOX END-USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
A SOURCE CODE VERSION OF CERTAIN FIREFOX BROWSER FUNCTIONALITY THAT YOU MAY USE, MODIFY AND DISTRIBUTE IS AVAILABLE TO YOU FREE-OF-CHARGE FROM WWW.MOZILLA.ORG UNDER THE MOZILLA PUBLIC LICENSE and other open source software licenses.
The accompanying executable code version of Mozilla Firefox and related documentation (the “Product”) is made available to you under the terms of this MOZILLA FIREFOX END-USER SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (THE “AGREEMENT”). BY CLICKING THE “ACCEPT” BUTTON, OR BY INSTALLING OR USING THE MOZILLA FIREFOX BROWSER, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO BE BOUND BY THE AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT CLICK THE “ACCEPT” BUTTON, AND DO NOT INSTALL OR USE ANY PART OF THE MOZILLA FIREFOX BROWSER.
DURING THE MOZILLA FIREFOX INSTALLATION PROCESS, AND AT LATER TIMES, YOU MAY BE GIVEN THE OPTION OF INSTALLING ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS FROM THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE PROVIDERS. THE INSTALLATION AND USE OF THOSE THIRD-PARTY COMPONENTS MAY BE GOVERNED BY ADDITIONAL LICENSE AGREEMENTS.
1. LICENSE GRANT. The Mozilla Foundation grants you a non-exclusive license to use the executable code version of the Product. This Agreement will also govern any software upgrades provided by Mozilla that replace and/or supplement the original Product, unless such upgrades are accompanied by a separate license, in which case the terms of that license will govern.
2. TERMINATION. If you breach this Agreement your right to use the Product will terminate immediately and without notice, but all provisions of this Agreement except the License Grant (Paragraph 1) will survive termination and continue in effect. Upon termination, you must destroy all copies of the Product.
3. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. Portions of the Product are available in source code form under the terms of the Mozilla Public License and other open source licenses (collectively, “Open Source Licenses”) at http://www.mozilla.org. Nothing in this Agreement will be construed to limit any rights granted under the Open Source Licenses. Subject to the foregoing, Mozilla, for itself and on behalf of its licensors, hereby reserves all intellectual property rights in the Product, except for the rights expressly granted in this Agreement. You may not remove or alter any trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notice in or on the Product. This license does not grant you any right to use the trademarks, service marks or logos of Mozilla or its licensors.
4. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH ALL FAULTS. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MOZILLA AND MOZILLA’S LICENSORS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES THAT THE PRODUCT IS FREE OF DEFECTS, MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGING. YOU BEAR ENTIRE RISK AS TO SELECTING THE PRODUCT FOR YOUR PURPOSES AND AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PRODUCT. THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THIS DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
5. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, MOZILLA AND ITS DIRECTORS, LICENSORS, CONTRIBUTORS AND AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “MOZILLA GROUP”) WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, AND COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE) UPON WHICH SUCH CLAIM IS BASED. THE MOZILLA GROUP’S COLLECTIVE LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $500 (FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS) AND THE FEES PAID BY YOU UNDER THIS LICENSE (IF ANY). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS EXCLUSION AND LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
6. EXPORT CONTROLS. This license is subject to all applicable export restrictions. You must comply with all export and import laws and restrictions and regulations of any United States or foreign agency or authority relating to the Product and its use.
7. U.S. GOVERNMENT END-USERS. The Product is a “commercial item,” as that term is defined in 48 C.F.R. 2.101, consisting of “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. 12.212 (Sept. 1995) and 48 C.F.R. 227.7202 (June 1995). Consistent with 48 C.F.R. 12.212, 48 C.F.R. 27.405(b)(2) (June 1998) and 48 C.F.R. 227.7202, all U.S. Government End Users acquire the Product with only those rights as set forth herein.
8. MISCELLANEOUS. (a) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Mozilla and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and it may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Mozilla. (b) Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement will be governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. (c) This Agreement will not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. (d) If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. (e) A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. (f) Except as required by law, the controlling language of this Agreement is English. (g) You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms; the Mozilla Foundation may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition. (h) This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors and permitted assigns.
I must say: I like it.
I’ve been an advocate of this for a while. Mozilla.org should have a privacy policy. Firefox is strongly backed by those in the media who are about privacy, and security. Firefox doesn’t have a clear privacy policy. That concerns me. Not because I think something is happening with my privacy, but because it leaves an open door for bad press. And there’s no real way around it. There’s no clear statement how information is gathered and used.
We have tools that transmit data back to the Mozilla Foundation. For example Talkback. The first time it runs, it does tell you a little about itself. But it doesn’t say enough. Does it mention talkback-public? Not last I checked. It doesn’t discuss how the information is sanitized etc. Update also “phones home”. We don’t mention that, and what’s transmitted. It should also explicitly say to the user that it’s doing so the first time (and allow you to disable should you be concerned). To the best of my knowledge it does that silently still. There are plans now for a reporter tool. That’s yet another tool that transmits info. Granted it will require user consent and intentionally making multiple clicks.
IMHO it would be best to head-off the bad press by making it clear that the Mozilla Foundation takes privacy very seriously. Otherwise, I think we are bound to get some news outlet who is going to make some waves about how Firefox is a privacy nightmare… when it’s actually not. It just doesn’t explicitly state how privacy is guarded and how info is used.
Just my $0.02.