Mozilla product naming

Posted on October 10, 2004 @ 17:32 in General

I've been installing Windows on a couple of computers for normal, non-geek, but certainly not dumb users. One of them my dad. I've installed the latest Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird for them and I've used the Win2k/WinXP "Set Program Access and Defaults" to hide Internet Explorer and Outlook (Express) from showing up on the desktop and in the Start menu. There are just too many security issues with these programs to leave them out in the open for the users and I do believe in a bit of gentle coercion to protect these users from themselves and the evil lurking beyond their routers.

Looking at the desktop and the Firefox and Thunderbird icons sitting there, it struck me that the names "Mozilla Firefox" and "Mozilla Thunderbird" don't convey to the user what they're good for. "Firefox" says nothing about the internet or browsing and "Thunderbird" doesn't say anything about the internet or e-mail.

"Internet Explorer" in contrast is a brilliant name that says exactly what the program will do for you. Admittedly "Outlook" doesn't really say what it will do when you open it, but its corporate omnipresence ensures it has enough mindshare. In the Windows 95 days, before Outlook was Outlook (Express), it was simply named "Internet Mail."

So, in order to make life simpler for the users whose computers I'd reinstalled, I renamed "Mozilla Firefox" to "Internet Browser" and "Mozilla Thunderbird" to "Internet E-mail." That way, even if the icons on the desktop don't look like a blue E or a yellow-greenish envelope, their function is crystal clear.

Comments and Trackbacks

  1. In the start menu in XP, you can have this automatically. Go to the properties of the start menu, Customize, then see the box at the bottom, with places to specify your email and browser.

    When used like this, the icons show as Internet + Firefox in grey, and Email + Thunderbird in grey.

    Posted by Steven Campbell on October 10, 2004 @ 19:27

  2. Ah... that's good to know, thanks :) In Win2k and my own WinXP box that uses the "Classic Desktop" setting, this doesn't appear to work though: the functions you describe don't show up in the Start menu properties. It's probably a function of the new XP desktop only.

    Posted by Frank on October 11, 2004 @ 08:02

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