Disband Firefox 3 Alpha Rumours!

[Daniel Cater]

Just a friendly let-you-know that rumours are spreading on the web about a
Firefox 3 Alpha, and pointing users at nightly builds.

http://addict3d.org/index.php?page=downloadfile&ID=5528
http://digg.com/software/Firefox_3.0_Alpha_1_Already_Better_Than_Firefox_2.0_Alpha_1_
http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/04/08/test-firefox-30-alpha-1-yes-that-says-30/
http://digg.com/software/Download_Firefox_3.

I think MozillaZine/Asa/some other high profile public Mozilla outlets should
publicly disband (is that the right term?) the rumours (as happened when Bon
Echo Alpha 1 was prematurely announced), as users using trunk builds is a bad
thing. Places isn't entirely dataloss free, etc.

Dan.

P.S. I think it is also time to fix bug 308973
(https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=308973) as this puts the word
Alpha in the product name (a bad thing). Also Deer Park it is not.

[steve....@gmail.com]

Is there any way 3.0 can be marked as "pre-alpha" in their version/name
strings? Or something scarier..

[fantasai]

steve....@gmail.com wrote:
> Is there any way 3.0 can be marked as "pre-alpha" in their version/name
> strings? Or something scarier..

"unstable" ?

~fantasai

[Mike Beltzner]

There's a bug to rename the trunk builds "Minefield". I need to get a
graphic with that new name and then we can put that to bed.

cheers,
mike

--
mike beltzner, user experience lead, mozilla corporation

[Robert Marshall]

Mike Beltzner wrote:
> There's a bug to rename the trunk builds "Minefield". I need to get a
> graphic with that new name and then we can put that to bed.

I vote for this. ;)
http://bugs.rdmsoft.com/minefield.png

[Mike Beltzner]

> I think MozillaZine/Asa/some other high profile public Mozilla outlets

Well, I don't think I qualify as high profile, but I blogged about
this today and it should get picked up by Planet. I notice that the
story is now marked as "Under Review" by Digg, as well.

cheers,
mike

--

[ mike beltzner / user experience lead / mozilla corporation ]

[code...@gmail.com]

I was actually going to post something similar until I saw this thread.
I think it's crucial that proper branding/naming of the trunk happen
asap before we gets more confused people thinking Firefox 3 is
alpha-ready and comparing it to "more stable" browsers like IE7. We've
all seen stories spread around the blogs before...

Also, I myself am confused: Is the "mozilla1.8.0" branch for Firefox
1.5.x and the "mozilla1.8" branch for Bon Echo?

Considering the renaming of 1.1 to 1.5 last year it gives the
impression that Mozilla has serious naming issues :P

[code...@gmail.com]

Daniel Cater wrote:
> I think MozillaZine/Asa/some other high profile public Mozilla outlets should
> publicly disband (is that the right term?) the rumours (as happened when Bon
> Echo Alpha 1 was prematurely announced)

And the proper term is "debunk" ;)

[Mike Beltzner]

On 10 Apr 2006 13:22:05 -0700, code...@gmail.com <code...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was actually going to post something similar until I saw this thread.
> I think it's crucial that proper branding/naming of the trunk happen
> asap before we gets more confused people thinking Firefox 3 is

Is today fast enough? The patch is approved and it and the new graphic
are awaiting checkin. Hopefully they'll make it for tonight's nightly
build. :)

> Also, I myself am confused: Is the "mozilla1.8.0" branch for Firefox
> 1.5.x and the "mozilla1.8" branch for Bon Echo?

Yes, exactly. We might actually snip a mozilla1.8.1 for Firefox2 and
declare mozilla1.8 a dead branch, not sure yet. And trunk will branch
to mozilla1.9 for Firefox 3.0.

> Considering the renaming of 1.1 to 1.5 last year it gives the
> impression that Mozilla has serious naming issues :P

We do, but apparently the idea of matching up platform and app version
numbering has been floated many times before, and killed each time.
I'm not about to worry about it. Our users know the Firefox number,
and there's a maintained page of branch-to-product mappings on
developer.mozilla.org for developers, so I'm not exactly worried about
it.

[Gavin Sharp]

Mike Beltzner wrote:
> On 10 Apr 2006 13:22:05 -0700, code...@gmail.com <code...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

>> I was actually going to post something similar until I saw this thread.
>> I think it's crucial that proper branding/naming of the trunk happen
>> asap before we gets more confused people thinking Firefox 3 is
>>
>

> Is today fast enough? The patch is approved and it and the new graphic
> are awaiting checkin. Hopefully they'll make it for tonight's nightly
> build. :)
>
>

I just landed Beltzner's rebranding patch on the trunk, so barring any
catastrophes, the next bunch of nightlies should be "Minefield".

[steve....@gmail.com]

I don't understand why such rebranding doesn't happen as soon as a new
branch is cut. It always seems to lead to confusion then a bit of a
rush to get things straightened out again.

[Mike Beltzner]

On 10 Apr 2006 17:54:26 -0700, steve....@gmail.com

Usually it's because it's the last thing on people's minds. This new
naming structure should help. Experimental/test builds on the trunk
will default to Minefield, and only when a branch is cut will they be
renamed. Huzzah. Let's move on. :)

[Jeff Schiller]

Yep, the latest has the fuse on the globe and is called "Minefield" in
the application. However, the exe is still "firefox.exe". Am I
nitpicking? ;)

[Mike Shaver]

Changing that name is pretty painful, and most people won't see it.
You're nit-picking; please sit down. :)

Mike

[Daniel Cater]

That's the word I was looking for! Thanks :-)

Dan.