sargebaldy Posted February 9, 2004 Yeah, Phoenix/Firebird once again has changed names, this time to "Firefox", and has released a new version. I've tried it, and I'm sticking to 0.7. The only "new features" I see in 0.8 are cutesy messages, and a lot of nice features (such as a standard download manager and the back and forward buttons) have been removed. I guess that's all they've managed to do in the last three months. Clearly this new version is designed with the elderly and computer illiterate in mind. Go ahead and try it though, but I for one am far from impressed. 0 Share this post Link to post
Szymanski Posted February 9, 2004 Naming your browser after a decidedly ropy film isn't the best idea. 0 Share this post Link to post
exl Posted February 9, 2004 It sounds like they molested a fine browser by removing some handy features. There's already IE for the computer illiterate, so when they stop being illiterate they can switch to Firebird\Firefox\Cheesemonkey or whatever. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 9, 2004 0.8 is great. Some rather annoying bugs fixed, autodownload, a great (though not perfect) download manager, better name/logo. sargebaldy: download manager and back/forward buttons removed? o_O 0 Share this post Link to post
exl Posted February 9, 2004 What? They weren't removed?! Sargebaldy! Edit: Anyone know a mirror? The mozilla.org site seems to be extremely slow right now. 0 Share this post Link to post
Sephiroth Posted February 9, 2004 i would like to see it called "assfire" how aboot "jock itch" why dont they call it the "porn-0-izer" seeing that the internet was made almost excusivily to insure we would have a constant supply of porn in the even of a nuclear war 0 Share this post Link to post
zark Posted February 9, 2004 I think Firefox is pretty good, the logo/icon is far better, and at last it has a proper installer. I dunno what happened to your forward/back buttons... definetly still here. Plus I don't use the download manager so that's no difference. 0 Share this post Link to post
Lord FlatHead Posted February 9, 2004 I keep telling you : Opera is the finest Internet browser ever crafted by human hands. Tabbed browsing, easy customisation, built-in popup blocker that hasn't fucked up even once in all the months I've been using it, excellent download system... the list goes on. If you haven't yet, you should at least give it a try. 0 Share this post Link to post
Bloodshedder Posted February 9, 2004 I second the Opera recommendation. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 9, 2004 Except Opera has a huge-ass ad that takes up valuable screenspace and way way way too many menus and widgets and arbitrary bloat that I don't expect to ever use. Oh, and, there's no skin for it that looks good. I'd use it over Internet Explorer, though. Note that I used Opera for several months (until Phoenix turned up) and do use it from time to time, but not as my primary browser or even on a daily basis. 0 Share this post Link to post
Sporku Posted February 9, 2004 Personally, I like the name 'FireBird' better, but at least there's a new version of Mozilla's new browser out. 0 Share this post Link to post
gatewatcher Posted February 9, 2004 OMG YAY! There was something I was looking forward to in .8, but can't remember what it was at the moment. 0 Share this post Link to post
Linguica Posted February 9, 2004 For a long time I refused to switch to a Mozilla based browser because it just didn't work as well as MSIE + popup blocker. Recently though I finally tried out Firebird (again) and it's finally matured enough that it's replaced MSIE for me. Plus it has nice things like tabs (which I don't really care about so much) and the ability to open a folder of bookmarks in tabs all at once (VERY useful). 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 9, 2004 Hmm, I've heard of others losing the back/forward buttons. Seems to be an issue with non-standard skins. Installing to a new profile probably works. 0 Share this post Link to post
Cyb Posted February 9, 2004 yeah I had the problem with the back/forward buttons, it seems firebird skins aren't backwards compat with firefox... selecting the default skin fixes it, and then you can reselect the custom skin and it'll work fine, though you have to do that every time you start firefox, so I just uninstalled it and will deal with the crappy default skin until they get out new versions of the old skins or a patch or something 0 Share this post Link to post
Arioch Posted February 9, 2004 Cyb said:backwards compatforwards compat, actually. Unless you switch firefox and firebird around, in which case it would be backwards compat. 0 Share this post Link to post
sargebaldy Posted February 9, 2004 Fredrik said:sargebaldy: download manager and back/forward buttons removed? o_O apparently i'm the only one with those problems. i've tested several of the "nightly releases" between 0.7 and 0.8 and neither feature was working, and when i saw they still weren't in the final release, i assumed that meant they took them out. guess i'll have to pester them about those, now that i know they're bugs :P edit: well i had actually tried that before with the skin and it didn't fix... but i'll guess i'll give it another try. edit2: i didn't quit after changing themes the last time apparently :P as for the standard download manager... what's the problem there? the only ways i can see to download are "autodownload", which is annoying, and that big fat download manager i don't want anything to do with. 0 Share this post Link to post
Tobester Posted February 9, 2004 Never tried firebird, I've got everything I need in Opera. 0 Share this post Link to post
Psyonisis Posted February 9, 2004 Eh.. the Opera site doesn't make it seem so appealing. Firebird has replaced IE as my default browser now. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 9, 2004 sargebaldy said:as for the standard download manager... what's the problem there? the only ways i can see to download are "autodownload", which is annoying, and that big fat download manager i don't want anything to do with. Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> "Ask me where to save every file" 0 Share this post Link to post
Doom-Child Posted February 9, 2004 I enjoyed Opera, but I didn't get as significant a speed increase as I did with Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox/Foxtrot/Horse/Blarg. Also, being a huge interface freak, I just can't endorse something with such a cluttered life. DC 0 Share this post Link to post
sargebaldy Posted February 9, 2004 Fredrik said:Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> "Ask me where to save every file" where? 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 9, 2004 It's there for me. Maybe your theme screwed up that too, heh. 0 Share this post Link to post
david_a Posted February 10, 2004 You don't have to stick to Opera's admittedly clumsy default interface. I changed it to the (included) Windows skin and rearranged the buttons to get it rather minimal... The Opera UI is immensely configurable, but I haven't really bothered changing it all that much other than moving some buttons around (like any modern browser lets you do). Supposedly 7.5 (in beta now) slims down the interface quite a bit. And yes, I actually *gasp* payed for it. It does all I need it to do, and with a student discount the price doesn't exactly break the bank. Maybe if Firebird Phoenix FireFly was around back then I wouldn't have payed, but by this time it would take me forever to adjust to another browser. 0 Share this post Link to post
Sharessa Posted February 10, 2004 Having recently been very dissapointed when upgrading to Winamp 5, I'm a little peery when it comes to upgrading my cool programs. I'll hold off on this for a while. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted February 10, 2004 It's always a good idea to generalize. 0 Share this post Link to post
sargebaldy Posted February 10, 2004 After having it crash twice when trying to looking at my options, no longer being able to use one of my tab extensions, and not noticing any improvements over 0.71, I've gone back to the older browser. I don't know what they think they've accomplished over the last three months, but it obviously wasn't much. 0 Share this post Link to post
Doom-Child Posted February 10, 2004 If your interface is so terrible that you allow users to change it, it's time to put a new designer to the job. Or, to phrase it another way, if a user can modify your interface and end up with a better interface than they originally started with, it wasn't a good interface to begin with. Customizability is not as great as everyone thinks. DC 0 Share this post Link to post