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http://www.macnn.com/articles/03/05/19/firebird.0.6:/

Firebird 0.6: new browser from Mozilla.org

updated 08:15 am EDT, Mon May 19, 2003

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Mozilla.org has released ]

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05/19, 08:21am | report spam | close Reply |
Oooohhhhh

All it is is mozilla with a skin. I mean, its not like they're talking about redoing the core, which is the slow part of the software.

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05/19, 08:31am | report spam | close Reply |
Slow part?

I hardly consider the Mozilla engine slow. I think they are on the right track to *start* to try to slim things down.

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05/19, 08:40am | report spam | close Reply |
Speed Comparison

"I hardly consider the Mozilla engine slow."

OK. What's your evaluation of molasses on a frozen morning?

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05/19, 09:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Huh?

Well, I thought we were talking about browsers... not molasses.

I find that Mozilla is just as fast as Safari, which basicaly blows away IE on the Mac. Its is also my findings that Mozilla and Safari are roughly equivalent to that of IE on windows for paired hardware. So, while you may think that Mozilla is slow, it is about as fast as they come. Read around the 'net, you'll find many speed comparions demonstrating this.

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05/19, 09:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Slim?

You think they're slimming things down with a 30MB+ file for JUST A BROWSER?

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05/19, 09:35am | report spam | close Reply |
re: Slim?

I guess you can't read... did you see the part where I said "*start*"?. You're quick to open your trap, why don't you read a little more first.

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05/19, 09:36am | report spam | close Reply |
Just a browser?

Doesn't it come with web composer, email, and other stuff that IE and Safari doesn't come with?

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05/19, 09:39am | report spam | close Reply |
A lot of work...

Well, I've tried it and is IS very fast. Also, from the Phoenix FAQ:

"9. Mozilla Firebird is just Mozilla with a couple UI tweaks.

The 40,000+ lines of code already added or changed from Mozilla beg to differ. People who claim this are generally unknowledgeable about Mozilla Firebird."

So much for your "mozilla with a skin" comment.

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05/19, 09:55am | report spam | close Reply |
Go AWAY

Geeze why wont Mozilla just DIE already.

Who needs you after all this time and especially now that Apple FINALLY made their own web browser that doesn't take 56 megs of space and is actually FAST.

Whatever.

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05/19, 09:57am | report spam | close Reply |
I love extensions

Now if only it can tap into OSX bult in spell checker and have the option of using AQUA widget as opposed to skins I might use it over Safari. Might.

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05/19, 10:00am | report spam | close Reply |
re: Just a browser

Firebird *is* just a browser. This is the new direction that the Mozilla project is going down. Its about the same size as Camino and seems to be about as fast, if not a little quicker.

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05/19, 10:01am | report spam | close Reply |
Mozilla is plenty fast

Using Moz on both an OSX and OS9 system, it's much better than anything else I've worked with (haven't tried Safari cuz it wants 10.2) IE, iCab, Opera, Netscape -- they're all just wanna bes. Besides it's good that there are alternatives.

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05/19, 10:18am | report spam | close Reply |
Why complain?

Its good there is another browser for the mac. You don't have to use it. And the gui on mozilla makes it slow, not the engine. Look at Camino. Competition is good so I'm glad we have this browser... I use the peecee version at work (typing in it right now) and its great.

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05/19, 12:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
Go away?

Why do (some) people want Mozilla to go away? The more browsers the merrier. The more browsers the more standards compliant the http world hopefully gets. I like Safari. I also like Mozilla (but only use the browser part). Heck, even Explorer can stay for my part because something has to be the slowest. :-)

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05/19, 12:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
Go away?

Why do (some) people want Mozilla to go away? The more browsers the merrier. The more browsers the more standards compliant the http world hopefully gets. I like Safari. I also like Mozilla (but only use the browser part). Heck, even Explorer can stay for my part because something has to be the slowest. :-)

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05/19, 01:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
slow?

sorry, there is nothing slow about Mozilla.

Now MSIE is a slow a** piece of c*** OTOH...

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05/19, 03:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
the more the merrier

Right -- The more browsers, the merrier.
And, although the KHTML rendering code in Safari
may be open source, the full application code
does not seem to be open. I couldn't find it.
At lease Mozilla Firebird and Camino are fully open
and hence can be modified by end users if desired.

For example, it looks like the Netscape team
but in some rather annoying "talkback" panel
that pops up in Mozilla Firebird rather
persistently, with the cancel button disabled.
This is the case with the Linux release, at least.
Has anyone seen this with Firebird on OS X?
Since source code is available and free,
annoyances like this (and more serious ones)
can be eliminated. Speaking of source code,
I wonder what tools are needed to compile Firebird
on OS X -- just the "standard" developer tools?

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05/19, 04:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
wheeee!

Oh goody! Another Mozilla beta to play with.

Whatever...

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05/19, 04:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: the more the merrier

Yeah, right, how many people out of all users are technically adept enough to (a) get the source, (b) install it correctly, (c) find the code that does this talkback business you're talking about (and good for you for wanting to turn it off, no sense trying to send crash logs back to the mozilla team so they can actually fix the problems that are causing the talkback windows to appear in the first place!), (d) update the code to turn off the stuff, (e) figure out how to recompile Mozilla for OS X (or Linux or whatever you're on), (f) recompile it, and (g) install new version on top of old version?

And then, before doing all that, being able to read the freakin' Mozilla license to find out what you can and can't do to the code, and what, if anything, you need to do with your changes (check them in, keep them to yourself, distribute them someplace, tell someone you changed it, etc).

And having another browser is only good if the underlying engine is the same that underlies Mozilla. If not, then its just another engine that web site creators have to whine about trying to be compatible with, and users have to complain about not working with some obscure site they visit (but which they act like if the browser doesn't support that site, its a POS because that's the best site to appear since the invention of the web itself).

Oh, and Safari isn't open source (like most of OS X). The underlying engine is the only part taken from Konqueror, and the only part apple is using.

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05/19, 06:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sheesh, Calm Down...

Boy, people get worked up for no reason.

The Mozilla Project is finally getting the right idea.

Gecko, the rendering engine all Mozilla-based browsers (Netscape, Moz, Chimera, and now Firebird) use, is actually a very good renderer--it does about as good a job at standards compliance as anything (definitely better than Safari's KHTML engine at this point, and almost certainly better than Windows IE 6), is fast (that's why Chimera is speedy), and runs on any platform.

The problem up till now with the Mozilla browser was that it tried to do too much--the integrated e-mail, chat, etc, and preferences out the wazoo, slowed the whole beast down and made it very large. The Gecko engine, at the core, was still good, but you had to get a whole bunch extra to actually use it.

Chimera fixed that problem--it took the good core, and wrapped a very simple interface around it. Hence a good, fast, standards-friendly browser.

Safari did the exact same thing with the KHTML engine--took a good engine (much less mature than Gecko until Apple had at it), wrapped it in a very nice, clean interface, and bingo--good browser.

Now, at long last, the main branch of the Mozilla project has decided to go that route--make a *browser* rather than a catch-all internet tool that did all things but not as well as a set of dedicated tools.

So this is a very good thing. Not really necessary for us MacOSX users, who already had basically what Firebird is in Camino, but a welcome change nonetheless.

And, as of 0.6, Firebird isn't all that bad. It's definitely fast, the interface doesn't look bad, and although theme support is a bit funky (espeically with native widgets), the ability to theme at all will be welcome to people who enjoy that sort of thing. This may portend the first worthwhile browser out of netscape since Navigator 4.

And I'm using it to post this, by the way.

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05/19, 11:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
oh by the way...

Did I mention that I need to wash my hair tonight?

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05/20, 09:28am | report spam | close Reply |
This is NOT Netscape!

Netscape unleashed the beast some years ago, so that they wouldn't have to keep themselves busy coding the new browser. Instead, they made the development open source. Netscape is a commercial company, and thus far from open source. It is, however, Mozilla's biggest client. Netscape licenses the source to build their own stuff around it.

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05/20, 10:13am | report spam | close Reply |
TalkBack before crash

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I should have made it clear that the TalkBack system
has been popping up a panel on my system even before
Firebird had a problem. Maybe it is for TalkBack
initialization or something like that, but I was
annoyed that the dialog text said I could press
"cancel" yet the cancel button was disabled.
So, I used "ps ux" and "kill -9 " to get rid
of it. But, the source code modification solution
would be best, and I do plan to do that, for fun.
It's great that I have that option.

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Firebird 0.6: new browser from Mozilla.org

updated 08:15 am EDT, Mon May 19, 2003

Oooohhhhh

Slow part?

Speed Comparison

Huh?

Slim?

re: Slim?

Just a browser?

A lot of work...

Go AWAY

I love extensions

re: Just a browser

Mozilla is plenty fast

Why complain?

Go away?

Go away?

slow?

the more the merrier

wheeee!

Re: the more the merrier

Sheesh, Calm Down...

oh by the way...

This is NOT Netscape!

TalkBack before crash

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Firebird 0.6: new browser from Mozilla.org

updated 08:15 am EDT, Mon May 19, 2003

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Recent Articles

Oooohhhhh

Slow part?

Speed Comparison

Huh?

Slim?

re: Slim?

Just a browser?

A lot of work...

Go AWAY

I love extensions

re: Just a browser

Mozilla is plenty fast

Why complain?

Go away?

Go away?

slow?

the more the merrier

wheeee!

Re: the more the merrier

Sheesh, Calm Down...

oh by the way...

This is NOT Netscape!

TalkBack before crash

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

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Subscribe

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Most Read

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