Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 is now available for download. Information about the release available from Asa Dotzler's weblog:
This [release] fixes the autocomplete crash, a few security bugs and picks up lots of great core Gecko fixes from the Mozilla trunk. Firebird 0.6.1 is currently available for Windows and Linux and we're working on getting Mac builds completed. Enjoy.
My favorite feature of the release? The client's new icon.
For all those awaiting a Thundebird milestone, your time has now come. From Scott MacGregor of the Mozilla Thunderbird Project:
[T]aken from a stabilized snap shot of the Mozilla 1.5b trunk, Mozilla Thunderbird 0.1 is now available! For more information, see the 0.1 Release Notes for information about this milestone. Many thanks to all of the contributors out there that helped make this possible!
Make sure to delete your old Thunderbird directory — if you have used/are using the mail client — before installation (it's possible that problems might otherwise occur during an overwrite).
Scanning through the extensions at Mozilla Firebird Help, I came upon one that really caught my eye: Msnmsgr. From it's mozdev project page: "The Msnmsgr project was started about June 17th... as a crossplatform (in theory) alternative to MSN Messenger." Interesting.
Here are a couple screenshots and its installer.
The sole developer of Mozilla Thunderbird, Scott MacGregor, has posted a thread to MozillaZine discussing plans for the mail client's immediate future. Noting that Thunderbird is already "far beyond a 0.1 release," it's (excuse my Texan) high-time for a milestone build to be released. Considering, "[m]any folks won't try new products unless it has a 'milestone' stamp on it and we need to get some exposure to help make the product better."
Give the release candidate a test and post your thoughts here. Quoting the Minotaur Man, "Thunderbirds are Go!"
Asa notes on his weblog about the release of Firebird 0.6.1 based on the Mozilla 1.5a branch.
This isn't going to be Firebird 0.7 since we haven't met our goals for features and fixes but we think it's important to get the autocomplete crash fix (and a few other fixes) into the hands of all the people currently using 0.6.
I agree, that autocomplete crash is annoying, but some of the comments on the post warn that new builds aren't ready yet because of some regressions since 0.6, most notably the profile manager one.
However, the new builds are still available for testing: Windows and Linux.
The new music download service BuyMusic.com that launched today for the PC market doesn't work in Mozilla. In this AP article, BuyMusic founder Scott Blum calls Apple CEO Steve Jobs "a visionary, but he's on the wrong platform." Hey Scott, you're on the wrong browser.
One of my favourite things to do is to get non-Mozilla users to switch to Mozilla. It's especially nice when you then see them go off and convert more people. Everyone should make it their mission to go out and convert at least one person.
And if you know Spanish, minid.net has a written a step-by-step tutorial called Usa Mozilla por un día!, asking non-mozilla users to try Mozilla for one day.
I don't know any Spanish, but judging from the screenshots, it looks impressive. Well I lied, "Mucho gusto me llamo Pinder" is the only Spanish I know.
The Mozilla Foundation is a new non-profit organization that will serve as the home for mozilla.org. As before, mozilla.org will coordinate and encourage the development and testing of Mozilla code. The Mozilla Foundation will also promote the distribution and adoption of our flagship applications based on that code. AOL, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, and other companies will continue to support Mozilla through the Foundation.
According to the press release, AOL has pledged $2 million to the new foundation.
MozillaZine: AOL Cuts Remaining Mozilla Hackers
It has been learned through public and private sources that AOL has cut or will cut the remaining team working on Mozilla in a mass firing and are dismantling what was left of Netscape (they've even pulled the logos off the buildings). Some will remain working on Mozilla during the transition, and will move to other jobs within AOL.
To summarize: Mozilla is not dead. Netscape is. Mozilla becomes a non-profit organization, AOL and other companies still contribute.
Found out something new today, as well, which will seem awfully similar to Pinder's previous post. In various flavors of Mozilla, dropping the location bar icon or a link (from say a webpage) onto Home will set your home page to said location.
Short, but sweet. Kind of like this tip. By the way, I found out about this in a thread at MozillaZine.
File this under another Mozilla feature I didn't know about, but everyone else probably did:
You can drag the drop the icon in the location bar and it will create a link to that page along with the page's title.
For example, if you dragged the icon for this site into a text editor, it will create:
http://www.deftone.com/blogzilla/
Blogzilla - a blog about Mozilla
My only issue is that it creates the url first, then page title when the other way around makes more sense. But that's minor. It's still very useful for e-mails and instant messages.
Mozex, Mother of Extension, is here (screenshots). It offers quite a few options for the use of external program actions. Notably (as per it's creator, Tomas Styblo):
The best news I've heard, erm read, is that it's compatible with both the Mozilla Suite and Firebird.
Install it now!
One of the biggest drawbacks to both Firebird and Thunderbird is explaining their installation processes. Although I consider myself capable enough to install either, I am also keenly aware of the differences between alpha, milestone and nightly builds. Such-like has confused — and will most likely continue to do so — others who might be interested in a switch or two.
But what if there were a more familiar route to installation? One that would make Mozilla advocacy a bit easier, while making case arguments for a switch stronger? Now there is, for both the browser and the mail client!
The Firebird installer can be found here, thanks to seb. And (thanks to nth10sd) Thunderbird's installer is located here; with a mirror at Lycos in the case that either location exceeds allocated bandwidth.
Enjoy!
Update: The Geocities Thunderbird installer mirror has been removed. Thanks for filling us in, nth10sd.
Henrik Gemal writes: Build Mozilla Thunderbird in 14 easy steps! I've written a recipe on how to build build Mozilla Thunderbird on Microsoft Windows. No need for any Microsoft Visual C++ stuff. Just plain gcc and mingw.
Sounds like fun!
Also check out some of the other cool Mozilla stuff Henrik has done:
Marc Andreessen says that web browsing innovation is dead. Of course when I was reading the article, I used Type-Ahead-Find to see if he mentioned Mozilla (he didn't). My Block Images from this server setting prevented ads from blinding me. Oh, and it was one of 13 tabs I had open at the time.
But at least he predicted Netscape would die soon. That's news.
Pinder made a subtle request for a working TagZilla extension for Thunderbird just a little while ago. Good news for both him and anyone else interested: it now works in the developing mail project. Download it and find more info here.
David Perry posted a thread over at MozillaZine letting everyone know it's out along with a listing of some key features:
I've finally got it out there! You have my greatest thanks for your patience in awaiting this release.
- One xpi, three platforms: supports Mozilla Suite, Firebird and Thunderbird
- Prefs window works on all three platforms now
- Improved handling of DOS/Windows, Mac, and *nix-flavoured newlines in tagline files
- Small but important bug fixes
- Can be installed to a profile or to the system
- Jar-based installation saves disk space