Firebird Database Project Admin on Name Clash 563
CapnKirk writes "Ann Harrison weighs in on the "Firebird--database or browser?" name clash. Her take on things: our users feel threatened. We're responding to their concerns. AOL lawyers said it's ok, so the Mozilla team isn't interested in negotiating, but that's ok because we've gotten a lot of publicity and name recognition. And no, we don't plan on going to court." As always, a small group of users are being real asses about the whole thing. Yay.
"Firebird" is a dumb name for a browser... (Score:5, Interesting)
In keeping with the fire and lizard themes, how about "Salamander" for the browser?
I think we need a /. poll on this issue - let the Slashdot croud weigh in! Here's my suggestion:
Should Mozilla change Firebird's name?
Yay? (Score:5, Interesting)
If they want to maintain clarity, all of the established firebird developers now have the wonderful repsonsibility of qualifying their projects as firebird-db or somesuch nonsense because the phoenix team picked a name for their software that was already taken.
I can't understand if this naming issue is just some publicity stunt or if the moz developers are really this oblivious to the inconvenience they're causing. I would expect this sort of insane behavior from a pair of firms with an over-imaginative PR departments trying to brand themselves. But watching this shit come from open-source developers? Depressing.
Re:1 name can ref to more then one person (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, if you read the article, you'd know that software is the entire category. That's why the Linux, as the sole name of a word processor, is out of the question, no matter what os it ran on.
Name Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Synonyms? (Score:3, Interesting)
I like Purity and Archetype as browser names. But Humdinger would be funny, as it's one of those words that sounds vaguely pornographic but isn't. Paragon would also be good. In fact, I think I might change my browser to report itself as Paragon.
Re:Why fight so hard to keep the name? (Score:4, Interesting)
Easy - my guess would be money. Given that their first name landed them in legal hot water, they had to plead with the Mothership to have the lawyers do a lot of footwork to make sure the next name was legal. Legal, mind you, not "nice."
Odds are not good that they'll change it, 'cuz that will take more money (something AOL isn't really rolling with these days). It's unfortunate that all this happened - fwiw, I don't think the Mozilla team was intentionally obtuse about it, but what's done is done and they can't really do anything now. Hopefully they'll be more considerate of smaller fish next time.
That said, I agree that Firebird is kind of a dumb name for a broswer. There didn't seem to be as much trouble picking "Camino" or even "Safari" for other browsers...
They know... (Score:2, Interesting)
Good or bad, they have their publicity.
Salamander is a great name (Score:3, Interesting)
That's brilliant! And really much better than Firebird. Putting out fires, being immune to fire (to flames?), etc. - things you actually want in a browser! Plus the obvious flexibility of an amphibian...
Here's a little quote about the etymology:
Newts and Salamanders
Newts and salamander have also been associated with evil and mischief. Salamanders have been linked to fire as far back as the times of Aristotle (384-322 BCE.); the word salamander is of Greek origin, and translates roughly to "Fire-Lizard". It was believed that salamanders were immune to fire, and could extinguish fire with skin secretions. In 1607, Edward Topsel published the book The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents, which, along with illustrations of newts and salamanders resembling serpents and dragons, hypothesizes about the ability of salamanders to extinguish fire, receive nourishment from fire, and pass through fire unscathed. This leads to the origin of the of the vernacular name, Fire Salamander, given to the species Salamandra salamandra.
- Amphibian Folklore [livingunderworld.org]
Re:sounds like they're just whining (Score:1, Interesting)
Luckily it won't; this really has nothing to do with Mozilla proper. Most mozilla users have never cared about Phoenix (though they like the fact of there being choice), and they're not going to care about Mozilla Firebird now either. And the Mozilla developers really walk in a wide circle around this entire mess (which was helped by them being spammed early on, so now they're not even willing to intervene on behalf of the database people).
It's only the Phoenix guys who made a bad decision (although I'm willing to believe they were completely baffled how a completely dissimilar product could object to their name change). The problem is that those phoenix advocates include some people like Asa; who does great work as a driver and delivering mozilla builds, but has the communicative skills and objectivity of a script-kiddie and really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near an end user, let alone argue the firebird database users on public fora.
(And it doesn't help that the ex-phoenix and firebird db fans apparently include some very experienced trolls.)
Re:Probably is a publicity stunt... (Score:2, Interesting)
no. you have it wrong. (Score:1, Interesting)