Firebird 0.8 has just been released, and they've renamed it "Firefox"!
Sexy logo! I definitely don't like the name as much as Firebird (yet), but I'm glad the name Firebird belongs solely to the database project again. What the Mozilla project did by usurping their name wasn't right.
In addition, Thunderbird 0.5 has been released (it's time for me to give it another try), MozillaZine has a new layout, and they've launched a wiki-based knowledgebase. They also now have some Mozilla-focused blog cross-mojination going on on the MozillaZine front page.
Here's Firefox's product page on Mozilla.org, a press release, and a FAQ about the new name. Ben Goodger has lots of information about the work that went into it:
This was by far the most difficult problem we've yet tackled in the history of this project. It involved people across multiple timezones and even continents. The name we have chosen took nearly 2 months to lock down, and while that might seem like a short time in the world of trademark law, it was the primary reason for the six week delay in shipping our 0.8 release.
And with some unlucky timing for me as I just installed 0.7 on someone else's computer tonight because 0.8 wasn't out yet. 
Update: Here's a good explanation of some of the design work that went into Firefox: Branding Mozilla: Towards Firefox 1.0
- (Feb 8, 0:58) In the NY Times attempt to justify homosexuality... - In their discussion of bonobo monkeys, they chose to leave out the interesting fact that bonobo monkeys also have sex with their young.
- (Feb 8, 2:48) Antioch Road: When Human Life Begins, Biologically Speaking - "'To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence'"
- (Feb 8, 3:04) Clark Papers Talk Politics And War (washingtonpost.com)
- (Feb 8, 3:35) Soldiers Record Lessons From Iraq (washingtonpost.com)
- (Feb 8, 3:47) Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions - outline - wow. great outline.
- (Feb 8, 4:43) What biology textbooks never told you about evolution
- (Feb 8, 8:33) Re: Euphoria - Larry Wall discusses the programming language Euphoria, back in 1999
- (Feb 8, 8:48) Be Wary of Health-Related Infomercials: Supreme Greens with MSM? - I saw this today on TV. I don't know all that much biology, but the stuff that guy was claiming was completely ridiculous. Cells can have a layer of fat around them? Our cells "vibrate" at 70 mhz? He even called a virus a living organism.
- (Feb 8, 8:55) A Comparative Overview of C#
- (Feb 8, 15:22) Semiotics for Beginners
- (Feb 8, 15:25) ONLamp.com: When Pythons Attack [Feb. 05, 2004] - "In this article, I will chronicle some of the most common mistakes made by both new and veteran Python programmers, to help you avoid them in your own work.... these come straight from first-hand experience. I earn my living as a Python trainer."
- (Feb 8, 15:33) flysui - "Man who catch flies with chopsticks can accomplish anything" -- Mr. Miyagi. Whoa, I just got a score of 23! Woo, now 28!
- (Feb 8, 15:36) Programming in C: UNIX System Calls and Subroutines using C
- (Feb 8, 15:49) BBCi - Science - Human Body - Spot The Fake Smile - I got 16 out of 20 correct. I missed 3 in the first 10, but I started realizing more what to look for and only got 1 wrong in the next 10.
- (Feb 8, 15:49) BBC - Science - Human Body - TV Programmes - Human Mind - Some tests and other neat things
- (Feb 8, 16:11) Mercury News: Teen girls defining a California dialect - Linguistics is fascinating. Via man_bellefontaine
- (Feb 8, 16:25) The Awful Forums - My mother is insane (~5M of photos) - this is sad
- (Feb 9, 0:06) Throw Rocks At Boys - I rule at this game
- (Feb 9, 2:24) Joshua Claybourn fisks the President on discretionary spending numbers - I still obviously want Bush re-elected, but he doesn't get a "free pass" with me
- (Feb 9, 2:44) Roger L. Simon: Never Trust the Media, Including Me! - "in an odd way [the picture above is] the most frightening of all, because it is one of the most graphic portrayals of media dishonesty I have ever seen."
- (Feb 9, 3:03) WikidPad version 1.0.7 released - He added my most desired feature even without me asking: a shortcut to insert the date (you can even customize its format in Python!). As I've told a friend, wikidPad is software I wish I'd written. I think that's the highest compliment you can give.
For links "as they happen", see http://del.icio.us/keith
Monday, February 9, 2004
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Spider solitaire
To answer an earlier question, I amalmost certain every game can bebeat. ...
Jared: Jul 16, 2:20pm