Identity Crisis
The latest release (0.8) of Mozilla Firebird is now available, but it isn’t Mozilla Firebird. The browser has be (re-) re-named Mozilla Firefox. This change comes hot on the heels of the last renaming, from Phoenix to Firebird, and leaves the associated mail client project, Thunderbird, without a good reason for being named for a cheap brand of wine.
The name change (redux) is not without reason, as explained briefly by the Firefox Brand name FAQ and at more length by Mozilla Firebirdfox lead engineer Ben Goodger. The short version: the first renaming was due to trademark issues around the name Phoenix; the second renaming was due to a name collision with another open source project that may not have been a trademark issue. I won’t go into an IP rant, others do a better job. I will say that while this was probably the right thing to do, and the time it took was unavoidable (read Ben’s account above), its unfortunate that all of the name recognition already built by Firebird has to be tossed.
Along with the new release comes a new focus on marketing, beginning with a Button Campain. Snide remarks about how well web-word-of-mouth worked for Howard Dean aside, I think it’s a good idea to get a unified branding effort out in front of the public. I am a little perturbed about this text from the bottom of the buttons page:
Mozilla Firefox™ and the Firefox logo are trademarks of The Mozilla Foundation. The Firefox logo is not licensed under MPL and may not be used without the prior consent of The Mozilla Foundation.
Does this mean I cannot create my own badge, or modify existing badges? I might consider using the little one, but the colors do not fit my layout (I use white text on a gray background). It looks like I don’t have the right to make a new button, only to use those provided. Update – see end of post
Lastly, if you look over the provided buttons, you’ll see a confusion of message: there are three different taglines/slogans. These are:
- The browser, reloaded
- Web browsing, redefined
- Take back the web
I think the project should select one and can the others. The last thing this project needs is another identity crisis. It’s time to send a single, unified message.
Update: Ben was kind enough to leave a comment. He said that the marketing message is still being refined, which is great. Even better, he provided clarification on the use of Firefox iconography. In a nutshell, the logo can only be used in conjunction with the official Mozilla.org project (as opposed to 3rd party custom builds, etc.) This means that I can create a variation of a Firefox button, as long as it is used to reference the Mozilla Firefox project. When you put it that way, it makes plenty of sense. I’ll try to get a color-adapted version up on the site tonight or tommorow.
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We’re still working out the marketing message.
The iconography message is still being finalized too. I will post to mozillazine firefox forums as soon as they come back up. Basically we don’t want to prevent people from using the artwork to link to Mozilla or advertise our products, so if you want to create your own buttons based on this art that is fine. We just want to prevent people from creating sites or custom builds/distributions that purport to be official Mozilla trademarked releases. I should probably update the wording on the button page to reflect this.
Great news
Thanks for the update, Ben. The fact that there is a marketing message is fantastic. I’ll be continuing to expound upon the virtues here as well. Firefox is a fantastic browser, as I often evangelize to my friends and on this site. I’m looking forward to seeing more people become aware of it. I’ll also be doing an alternate color version of the button, hopefully tonight; and I encourage folks to steal mine or use one of the provided.
i have been fully addicted to Firebird for 5 releases now, and am trying to make the transition to Firefox. But when i downloaded and installed it yesterday it came up sans scroll bars. So i moved back to Firebird. I didn’t have time to search the forums or buglists to see if there was an easy fix or install piece i missed. So i have hold out until the weekend. I am leaving this comment because i feel guilty i guess not moving along with the new branding. But also to troll whether or not i am the only one who had this problem.
What platform did you have problems on, Pwylla? I’m running FF on Win2K (my work box) with no problems. I haven’t put it on the Powerbook yet, because there’s a known issue between the new OS X default theme (pinstripe) and the “tabbrowser extensions” plugin which I don’t think I could live without. I plan to try and make it work when I’ve got an hour or three to kill, which wasn’t yesterday.
And of course, don’t forget to try creating a new profile… It’s like rebooting a windows box; it’s prescribed for everything.
I’m running on XP – and i am also using the “tabbrowser extension”, plugin which i can’t live without either. Good advice re the profile. I will likewise play with it this weekend when i can more methodically implement and troubleshoot it.
One way or the other, i vow to the world: you can only take my Fire(bird)fox browser(s) away from me when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Mozilla Firebird/Firefox
Firefox