As a Mozilla enthusiast, I have to criticise a bit the Firefox affaire.
Let’s start in this way. I have always used Mozilla. As a Netscape fan, it wasn’t a problem for me to switch to Mozilla. Since the latest versions of Netscape were Mozilla-based, by getting Mozilla I had the possibility to be sure to get the latest bug fixes and new features.
That was three years ago.
Since the last year, the echoes coming from the development of Firefox (bird, or whatever) and Thunderbird started to be more and more intense. I’m talking about echoes, because so they were for me. I’m a Mozilla user. I use continuously its browser and its mail reader, often the HTML editor (useful for adjusting tables and forms, to get all the tags in small letters, etc.), seldom chatZilla (I don’t like to chat through a computer, except with Mau).
Now, due to the separate development of Firefox and Thunderbird, the development of Mozilla has literally stopped on Sept 28, 2004 with the Mozilla 1.8a4. Before we used to get a new realease within four/five weeks. Now it is also hard to know when the next version will be available.
As a matter of fact, the Mozilla roadmap doesn’t specify anything after the 1.8a4.
What is this? I guess Mozilla developers want me to forget the Mozilla suite being a product having the latest features. It seems that for that I should switch to Firefox and Thunderbird. Well, right now I tell you “no, thank you”. I still do believe that the suite is better for my needs. But, please, don’t forget it.
P.S.: Just to realise how times have changed, try to see how long it takes from the Mozilla main page to reach the the download page of the latest version of Mozilla. If you can’t find it, it’s here.
Update: I just found out that Planet Mozilla shows a Mozilla Tree Schedule containing the future 1.8 alpha versions. From that schedule it seems that the 1.8 alpha 5 freeze time is now. Funny to notice that it links back to the Mozilla roadmap which is stuck to 1.8a4. More than funny, weird.