Mozilla.org Shifts Focus to Phoenix, Minotaur

Today's big Mozilla news is that mozilla.org has announced a new development roadmap. The major changes:

MozillaZine has all the details. The main reason for the change is to "address criticisms that the monolithic Mozilla suite is too bloated" and that "Phoenix is simply smaller, faster, and better". I think this is great news. I haven't used Mozilla as my default browser since Phoenix 0.1, and I haven't been using Mozilla at all since the Minotaur build was released. Setting the future 1.4 milestone as the stable branch should also give all the stability and performance fixes made since 1.0 to those users/companies who prefer upgrading only for stable milestones. Each app sharing a common GRE should also make each app even faster. The changes in CVS module ownership and such should mean that bug fixes and newer features get added faster.

I wonder what Netscape/AOL thinks of all this?

» posted by pinder on April 02, 2003 at 01:15 PM

Comments

Quite a shakeup. Sounds like great news...until not-yet-renamed-Phoenix becomes as bloated as Mozilla is today.

# posted by Jonathan

Ah, but you see, Jonathan, that is considerably less likely to happen with Phoenix. Because unlike Mozilla, Phoenix has module owners who aren’t afraid to say no.

In other news, Blogzilla is still using a too-small font for everything. Agh. I’m going to dunk myself in an eye bath now.

# posted by mpt

I'm the same way, I've had Px as my default since 0.1 & ever since minotaur was available i've been using that as my Mail/News. No need for mozilla now....although i do still love it like an old pet, that you just can't put down.

# posted by flatrabbit

To you're first comment: I've only recently gotten into this community, so I'm not tuned in to many inner-workings. Mostly I click around Mozilla.org (anticipating the newest release of both Phoenix and Thunderbird) and check out Asa's blog. I will say though that I'm glad to hear that Phoenix is setup in such a way as you say.

To your 'In other news' paragraph, I have to say that the font size seems to make this site very crisp (IMHO). I do agree that it is a wee-bit small, though, and for this I offer a temporary solution: Ctrl +.

# posted by Jonathan

Sure, I can hit Command +, or bonk the “Larger” button on the toolbar (something which Mozilla still doesn’t have, and — to make this tangentially on-topic — neither did Phoenix, last time I checked). But I shouldn’t have to. Even Slashdot gets that right.

If I wanted crispness rather than readability, I’d stick my fingers into a power outlet.

# posted by mpt

for the record, i was planning for a blogzilla redesign soon which would address the font size issues raised here, also changing it from px to em.

# posted by pinder

Thankyou!!

# posted by mpt

"I wonder what Netscape/AOL thinks of all this?"

Considering they're still the major sponsor, I'd be amazed if their opinion hadn't been a major consideration.

# posted by David Gerard

I wonder if this news is prompted by a shift in browser usage? Are more people interested in Phoenix than Mozilla now, or is it just that the folks in charge of the project like Phoenix better (I know I do!)

# posted by Owen

to stay mostly on-topic, there is an extension that provides a button equivalent of Ctrl-+ : trivial, available from http://cdn.mozdev.org

# posted by Chris Neale

What's with the font size? Font size here is just ok. What kind of resolution are you guys running to find it to be to small?

# posted by localhost

Owen, the shift is being made because Mozilla has become bloatware (in my opinion). Many features have been added to the suite that often only serve the purposes of a select few. Whereas Firebird is trimmed down but at the same time is easily extendible. Firebird offers more options (even for those nit-pickety features we individually want) by allowing users to install plugins at their preference.

# posted by Jonathan

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