Avencius

Not only did Mozilla Firefox 1.0 just pass the 6 million downloads today. They've also received the CNET.com Editor's Choice award, giving them credit where credit is due in delivering an excellent alternative to the old and insecure IE browser.

With the upcoming release of Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0, Asa Dotzler asks testers to help in making it a solid release.

Thunderbird 1.0 stability push

We're getting very close to the Thunderbird 1.0 release and making our final stability push. If you'd like to help us with this, please download the latest branch nightly Thunderbird build and when you install it be sure to select the "custom" install so you can be sure that the Talkback crash reporting component is enabled.

We've fixed a number of serious stability problems and in order to verify that the crashes are indeed fixed -- and that we haven't introduced any new ones, we need a lot of users testing the latest nightly builds with Talkback enabled.

These builds are quite solid and I use them without fear of losing any of my data (including tens of thousands of local messages in my POP3 account). It's always good practice to have backups of sensitive data (even when running production software) but Thunderbird has been so strong for so long that I don't fret dataloss at all.

So join us as we drive the final miles to Thunderbird 1.0. There's no doubt in my mind that this is an Outlook-killer and we just need to get those magic numbers, "1 dot 0" attached to it so that the rest of the world will feel safe in trying it out. You can help us achieve that 1.0 status by downloading and using these latest nightly builds.

Through mozillaZine we learn that Asa Dotzler has posted a message on the Mozilla usenet in regards to the upcoming release of the Mozilla Suite 1.7.5.

The Mozilla 1.7.1, 1.7.2, and 1.7.3 releases were all security releases from near the 1.7 release tag. Since then, we've taken quite a few changes into the 1.7 and Aviary branches but haven't delivered those changes in a Seamonkey release yet.

We're planning a mid-December Mozilla 1.7.5 release that will include all of those changes and be a Gecko-equivalent to Firefox 1.0. Web and web application developers should be able to test and certify against either of Mozilla 1.7.5 or Firefox 1.0 and have confidence that their code will work in the other.

For 1.7.5 we are only considering changes that provide the maximum compatibility with the Gecko shipped in Firefox 1.0, and of course any security issues that might be raised in the next week or so.

I've updated the "1.7.x" Bugzilla flags to "1.7.5" since that's the next major release we're shipping. We don't intend to take any changes into 1.7.5 that would break Gecko compatibility with Firefox 1.0 and we'd like to make this release happen quickly so we're also not likely to take even non-Gecko changes into 1.7.5 unless they're security related.

Opera Software announced today that they've made a deal with Red Flag, Chinese largest Linux distributor, on offering the Opera Internet Suite in their software package.

Ben Goodger informs us through his Inside Firefox blog that the Mozilla Firefox roadmap has been updated.

This updated roadmap teaches us that we'll see Firefox 1.1 in March 2005, as well as Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0. As you can see the version jumps are quite big, and the feature list for the upcoming versions is rather thin, undetailed and unexciting. Of course this list will surely grow fast when everyone starts spurring their ideas =)

The fifth alpha of the Mozilla Suite has been released. According to the roadmap, Mozilla's alpha-cycle will continue until both Firefox and Thunderbird reach their 1.0 status. Though a "What's new" section is currently missing from the release notes, testers can view the rough changelog generated from Bugzilla entries.

Opera Software announced the new ERA technology today, which can also be tested in Opera 7.60 Preview 3. This technology makes the web even more accessible to users of small, medium and other low resolution screen devices.

The new ERA of content rendering: Opera Introduces Fit-to-Window and Fit-to-Page Technology for All Screen and Paper Sizes
Oslo, Norway - November 23, 2004

Opera Software today announced that they have solved the problem of rendering and printing Web pages effectively regardless of screen or paper size. Opera's new Extensible Rendering Architecture (ERA) means no more horizontal scrolling or cutting off the edges on print-outs. In combination with Opera's Zoom function, ERA also presents a compelling accessibility feature with which users can magnify Web pages dramatically and still view them without having to scroll sideways.

OneStat.com, a dutch web analysis company, has published its latest results in the use of web browsers. To acquire this number they've tracked multiple favorite sites for a wide variety of people.

"It seems that people are switching from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Mozilla's new Firefox browser. The total usage share of Microsoft declined 5 percent and the total usage share of Mozilla increased 5 percent," said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of OneStat.com.

Microsoft's IE 6 is currently the leading browser on the web. Microsoft's IE 6 global usage has increased with 11.65 percent from 69.3 percent to 80.95 percent since May 2004.

Opera's global usage share is 1.33 percent and Safari has a global usage of 0.91 percent.

The guys and gals at the Mozilla Foundation are having a hard time decorating their walls. And you know what it means when the Foundation is in need of assistance. Go send your postcard to the Mozilla Foundation and help contribute in decorating a beautiful Mozilla mosaic!

The Mozilla Mosaic Project

Sitting here at the Mozilla Foundation it's hard to fully appreciate how far and wide Mozilla software is used, and the effect that it has on people's lives. There's also no way for us to see all the great articles about Mozilla, Firefox or Thunderbird in your local newspapers, or from magazines from outside the USA.

Can you help?

Here's the idea: send us a postcard or press clipping, letting us know where you are in the world and how you use Mozilla software and we'll put it up at the Mozilla Foundation for all to see! Please be sure to include your e-mail address as we'll pick someone each week and send out a t-shirt or other prize.

(I'll post a picture of our rather bare walls shortly.)