[Linux-aus] Firefox vs IceWeasel

[Simon Lyall]

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006, gareth wrote:
> I was just wondering if there was consensus withing Linux.Aus that the
> Firefox/Iceweasle(omg) situation is in fact a debacle that jeopardises
> FOSS from taking its rightful place as a global standard.

Quite the reverse, while the solution is unfortunate the fact that the
Debian people were *able* to fork [1] firefox even if they were required
to rename it just shows the strength of open source.

Imagine if instead of firefox the Debian people had been using a freely
distributable version of Opera. If the Opera people changed the terms on
them they would have had no choice but to accept them or stop using it
entirely.

BTW: My firefox 1.5.0.7 still crashes on random pages, creates other pages
as pop-ups instead of tabs [2] and generally isn't as stable a browser as
I would hope. The only extension I have is english-gb language pack.
Hopefully this new Iceweasel is more stable :)


[1] - It's not really a full fork, more a repackage AFAIK.

[2] - In an ugly, "close the wrong window and it crashes way".

-- 
Simon J. Lyall  |  Very Busy  |  Web: http://www.darkmere.gen.nz/
"To stay awake all night adds a day to your life" - Stilgar | eMT.