February 9th, 2004 with .
The development team at Mozilla.org have officially released the next incarnation of what was originally named the Firebird browser. The software has been updated to version 0.8 and in the process has been renamed Mozilla Firefox.
The logo on the other hand was reportedly inspired by the Firefox, or “another name for the Red Panda, also known as the lesser panda or the cat bear. The name, firefox, is translated from the Chinese name for the Red Panda, ‘hon ho’ which means ‘fire-fox’.” (ref)
An explanation on the process of branding Firefox can be found at hicksdesign.
February 5th, 2004 with .
Out of all the software installed on my computer there are a handful of programs that I just couldn’t live without, for functionality and everyday use;
- Adobe Photoshop for it’s ease of use and functionality, not to mention being able to successfully translate my designs to print and the web seamlessly.
- Dreamweaver despite my preference to handroll sites over ‘wizzywig’ there are features of Dreamweaver that streamline the process.
- Firebird for it’s ingenuity and brilliant rendering code. Believe me, I was not a fan of Netscape and to think that FB is built on Gecko amazes me.
with .
The Cyan Worlds web site reports that URU Live is officially dead. That’s right, due to lack of subscribers the online portion of Ages Beyond Myst has been canned.
In their own words:
Even with all of the time, money, resources, code, people, sweat, and heart that were poured into Uru Live, we needed a certain number of subscribers to pay the bills. We didn’t get there. Uru Live is innovative and unique; its online universe is one of the most beautiful and complex ever built, anywhere. The idea of ongoing content was dramatic and forward-looking, but it required a substantial continuing effort to sustain. We were just not able to sign up the number of subscribers (even for free) necessary to pay for that effort.
February 4th, 2004 with .
Cory Doctorow (of boingboing.net) has released his second novel, Eastern Standard Tribe. Once again, he is releasing it simultaneously as both a free download in various digital formats and the standard paper and ink version at a price.
Cory’s explanation for releasing a free format?
bq. 
“I don’t believe that there’s any market-demand for teasers or for “Digital Rights Management” technology: none of you woke up this morning and said, “Damn, I wish there was a way I could get less of the books I enjoy and a way I could do less with them once I have them.” My goal here is to figure out what people actually want out of electronically delivered text.”
