Category: Mozilla

I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions for good email footers that are 2-3 lines long that can be used for plugging Firefox. One that I came up with is:

Tired of popups, spyware and viruses?
Download Firefox 1.0 today: http://getfirefox.com/

Can others think of something better? My rationale for not advertising new features is that people are more likely to be annoyed by current problems than enticed by new features that are merely buzzwords to them.

Firefox 1.0 has been released! What are you waiting for? Go forth and download…

For more information about this milestone release, read the Mozilla Foundation’s press release, or check out MozillaNews, the best place to read about and discuss Mozilla related happenings (along with Planet Mozilla)! See also posts by Ben Goodger, the lead developer of Firefox, Mitchell Baker, the Chief Lizard Wrangler at the Foundation, and Blake Ross, one of the developers who started the Firefox project. The BBC is also reporting on the release, and has written an article that is not only comprehensive, but (mostly) factually correct. Reuters has a story on it too, though it doesn’t really contain any meat (but is nevertheless sure to be carried by news outlets worldwide). CNN has also reported on the release, their article is a slightly souped up version of the aforementioned Reuters piece. Al Jazeera is also covering the release with a reasonable article of their own.

Also deserving very special mention is the new Google-based start page that Firefox 1.0 ships with. Very very cool, though if you’re located outside the US and/or don’t have your Google cookie set to show Google.com in English, it might display oddly, or in the language if your country. You can also see what it looks like below:

According to Ben Goodger, Firefox’s lead developer, Firefox 1.0 is on track for a November 9 launch. At this point, only serious crash and dataloss issues will be considered blockers for 1.0, so please don’t nominate bugs as blocking-aviary1.0 unless they fall into one of these categories. Please do nominate new regressions that fall into these categories.

The Firefox 1.0 release notes are also being prepared, and Ben is asking for nominations of bugs that you think should be included in the release notes.

According to the Thunderbird project roadmap (version 1.20), Thunderbird 1.0 is due middle of this month. But with all the hoopla surrounding the Firefox 1.0 release, you’d never have known. I found out simply by dumb luck, not because I was pointed there or because Mozilla.org had announced it anywhere. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if Thunderbird is always going to be Firefox’s forgotten little brother. I hope not, because Thunderbird rocks just as much as Firefox. I really hope that once Firefox is out the door, serious attention will be paid to marketing Thunderbird as well.

According to this post by Chris Hofmann, Firefox 1.0 for MacOS X will ship with the Windows and Linux releases on November 9th! He says:

Ben, Asa and I met to review a plan for synchronizing the Mac 1.0 with the Windows and Linux releases on 11/9. We looked at feedback and satisfaction data from version tracker and other sources, recent Mac specific bugs fixed and decided to move forward with a plan to ship Mac Firefox 1.0 on 11/9. The hard and anecdotal data shows the satisfaction rating of Mac Firefox to be very close to Safari, and we see many users choosing Firefox over Safari which is a clear sign that we should be calling it 1.0.

For more details on how the MacOS X specific issues are going to be handled in the short time prior to release, read the post.

Wow! I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to the SpreadFirefox New York Times advertising campaign via my blog or personal prodding. When I first set out to refer people, I never expected this kind of response!

As well as my blog entry, I spoke to a lot of people via AIM, as well as emailed a lot of my friends, and also a University of Chicago email list, where this would be considered on-topic discussion. The response I got from people was amazing. I even posted in the pair.community newsgroup hosted by pair Networks, my web hosting provider. People were actually excited to open up their wallets and contribute to the campaign. A lot of people who were marginally interested became interested when I mentioned that their name would be included in the ad. This is one marketing campaign that Mozilla has got dead right.

I got one email from a friend at UChicago, who had the following to say:

Ali,
I swear- I have already gotten four emails about this same thing, all originating from you. Just wanted you to know that word is getting around.

Another thing that amazed me was the sheer number of people who were using Firefox, had heard of Firefox, or had friends or family using Firefox. I spoke to a lot of people, and only one didn’t know what Firefox was. More on this will follow in a later blog post.

If you haven’t already donated, then donate today! Get your name in the first Mozilla community funded advertisement.

An important reminder. When emailing friends, be sure that they are your friends, and not random people whose email you’ve email you’ve harvested. When emailing lists, make sure that sending an email about the NYT campaign would not be considered off-topic or inappropriate for that list. It’s great to let people know about Firefox and the NYT ad campaign, but don’t spam in the process!

UPDATE: Looks like I’ve become a Community Champion. Thanks again for your support!

UPDATE 2: The goal of 10,000 names has been reached! Signups have ended. If you try, you’ll get an error.

Head over to SpreadFirefox.com and read about their latest campaign to print a community-funded advertisment in the New York Times for the release of Firefox 1.0. Those who donate will have their name printed in the advertisment as a donor. I think it’s an excellent idea, and encourage you to donate to them too. If you decide to sign up, please do so via my link, as I’ll get some points. Students can sign up for only $10, and others for a little more.

As an aside, I wasn’t logged in when I made my donation (at the time there was no notice that you would get sfx points for donating). If it’s not too much hassle, if anyone can help me to get the points credited to my account, that would be really great. If it helps any, my Donation ID is 109, and my sfx username is aebrahim.

UPDATE: The campaign has ended, and if you try to sign up, you’ll receive an error. So please don’t try anymore. 🙂 I’ve killed the donate link so that nobody tries to sign up and wonders why it’s not working.

A lot of people have been wondering what the Firefox Guidebook contains. Blake Ross, the author, has posted a Table of Contents on his site. So if you want to know what you’re getting, now at least you have a little bit of information. Still, a sample chapter would be great too. I’m probably going to pick one of these up for posterity sake along with a Firefox 1.0 / Thunderbird 1.0 CD when their final versions are released.