| Sept. 2002: | The mozilla/browser (m/b) project is renamed Phoenix to suggest the rebirth of the old codebase. |
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| Nov. 2002: | Phoenix is renamed Firebird after Phoenix Technologies, citing FirstWare Connect, asks that we change the name. This leads to the longest debate in Mozilla history. |
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| Feb. 2004: | Firebird is renamed Firefox after FirebirdSQL asks us to change the name. |
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| June 2004: | A firefox asks us to change the name, but courts rule that Chinese trademark law does not apply. And also, it’s an animal. |
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| Nov. 2004: | Firefox 1.0 is released to great fanfare and the brand enjoys widespread recognition. Success! |
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| . . . | ||
| Mar. 2005: | Oops. |
We chose “Firefox” because it connotes the agility and shrewdness of the product. So what does this other word, “Foxfire,” mean? Well, apparently it’s:
A phosphorescent glow...
So far so good.
...especially that produced by certain fungi...
Glowing fungus isn’t exactly the image we were going for.
...found on rotting wood.
Okay, so get Firefox and bask in the glow of rotting fungus.
Looks like Foxfire.org must have gotten plenty of inquiries, because they have a link back to mozilla.org in the bottom right. And the owner of Foxfire.com has graciously agreed to add a large link back to Firefox as soon as his site is back up. In the meantime, though, it looks as if the scammers have taken advantage of the situation: a Google search for Foxfire elicits two large ads above the results directing users to an alternate universe where Firefox costs $10/month.
Mother knows best, and long before most people had heard of Firefox, mine was already calling it “Foxfire”—and warned me others would do the same. Why does the name invite such confusion, and what steps can we take to prevent it?
March 27th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Roll on BirdThunder.
March 27th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
I think the confusion is a result of the two “sub-words” starting with the same sound: “F” Firebird could never be confused with Birdfire. But I still like firefox… its got character.
March 27th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
My Mom and Aunt both call it Foxfire, apparently there was a popular perfume by that name at one point… at least that’s what they tell me.
March 27th, 2005 at 7:20 pm
The fox fire seems to heave rather bad conotation in english.
In czech it is regarded as forest natural phenomenon.
It had even place in myths as fairies made of light called “bludi?ka”. Those fairies were mischievous and were leading people to swamps.
One comedian even tells a storry about his first encounter with this phenomenon. He and group of other acters were drinking in woods. The whole night was going well until there was a case of “glowing stool”. A medic was brought from the vilage 4 miles away. He was able to identify that the source of the glow was an old tree stump.
March 27th, 2005 at 10:29 pm
You get those firefox download ads when searching for anything firefox related on google.
For FreeDownloadHq.com it is easy to decode the javascript and access the “members” pages. All they are doing is offering links to download.com and other sites. It must be fun to live in their universe.
March 28th, 2005 at 12:30 am
>NOW AVAILABLE
>from the Gift Shop
>Foxfire 12
Ahh that’s the reason some people claim Firefox 1.2 is out… the other one being people not understanding what .0 means….
March 28th, 2005 at 6:09 am
Tis not just grannies and mothers:
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=node/view/12795
March 28th, 2005 at 6:34 am
This is a job for Spreadfirefox. We might not be able to stop the confusion, but we can somehow steal “foxfire browser” back from the scammers (in the regular search… nothing we can do about the paid ads).
Someone who knows more about Google needs to come up with a plan on how all of us who link to getfirefox.com can put another link and somehow relate it to foxfire. The trick will be coming up with a way to do it without even more confusion for the masses.
P.S. Good job on grabbing getfoxfire.com!
March 28th, 2005 at 9:13 am
How about a Googlebombing campaign for the term ‘foxfire’ to push one of the pages on Mozilla.org to be first for that query?
Ian
March 28th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Huh, I read the article, followed the links. Especially the “oops” one, and I didn’t get it until much after.
FOXfire. Yeah… whoops!
I can see how this will be very confusing. Even still, I don’t think it’s a fatal flaw. Especially if searchs for FOXfire will still point you in the same direction.
March 28th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
You can’t complain to Google about those ads?
March 29th, 2005 at 12:05 am
I like the name Firefox. I was even fascinated by the name and insignia. The word Firefox is _special_. Name it, say, Phoenix - and it will be an ordinary thing.
March 29th, 2005 at 10:34 am
I currently carry Google AdSense advertising on my site. I’ve added the sites mentioned in the comments here to my URL filter in my Adsense account so that those adverts don’t show. I’d advise anyone else who has AdSense advertising on their sites to do the same.
March 30th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Quote from my mum after I installed Firefox: “You’ve made my computer all Fox News!”
Firefox, Fox News… close enough.
March 30th, 2005 at 6:10 pm
“P.S. Good job on grabbing getfoxfire.com!”
Nope, that’s John Haller of Johnhaller.com.
And, my boss kept calling it Foxfire. Why? Apparently it’s something to do with the army. There’s a test site named that, at least.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=foxfire+site%3Awikipedia.org&btnG=Search
A movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire_(1996_movie)
A Series (Codename: Foxfire):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCook
A city:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire,_North_Carolina
Basis of the name for DALnet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DALnet
Here’s a tip:
Next rename, try the name out on your friends and family before you use it.
April 6th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
My manager on whose computer I replaced IE with Firefox is really happy with the better browser…
… and the rest of us are over the moon. Hearing lines like “Is the proxy down? Godzilla FoxFire’s not loading any pages…” is constant entertainment.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:27 am
I think you should rename the browser to FireQueef. That’d be killer. kthxbye
April 18th, 2005 at 5:29 am
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May 14th, 2005 at 1:21 am
Could the name Firefox have something doing with this http://www.levi.fi/pages/index.php?id=203&language=eng ??
The logo reminds of aurora borealis too.