Asa Dotzler: Firefox and more

Don't be anal about it man.
i have been using it for almost two months. works just fine.

I definitely agree with you, Asa. Pre-posting links to not-yet-released software builds (whether the release is tomorrow or not) can definitely come back and bite everyone involved. Firefox 2 is NOT released!

Hey Guy - We love you all dearly and not to 'back-bitch' too loudly, but shouldn't you be putting up a 'hey hold it' on : xxxx /devnews/

-?- Where I got my Fx 2.0, RC 3, having been encouraged to do so as a "users who want to get a sneak peak"??!! It's flying just great, 'crisper'!!
I'd previously gotten 2.0 Beta 1, and 2?, skipped RC 1 and 2, then got RC 3 Saturday nite, after 'muggling around' for it, from Friday having remembered a 10/20/06 alert for 2.0's release then?(last Friday) - and 1.5 beta, ahead of Fx 1.5 proper?
I'd dropped Fx 2.0 beta 2?, because most of my extensions weren't functional yet - 5 still aren't - but more because I was having a problem with the new tabs rendition - constant width vs 'squinching' narrower as with 1.5! Now, I get it, and it's OK - in a couple of weeks it'll be A-OK! Thanx for everybody's efforts
Jim C.

What kind of idiots put a build on a public server and then get pissed when people download it? Well, duh.

In slightly less insulting phrasing, I'd agree with Al here. The stuff on public mozilla ftp servers has caused confusion before and that's not the fault of the people who download mislabeled or misplaced files. I understand the need to distribute files over various mirrors but pretending there is no release when in fact there is does not really work with much of the downloading crowd.

Anyway, I'm waiting from the autoupdate from RC3. BTW. is that actually the final build or were more things fixed?

I also was wondering about auto update from 1.5 for my parents. They've been happily using firefox and accepting updates all the time. I want to get them on 2.0 with as little fuss as possible.

My recommendation for the future: announce upcomming relasese with (for instance): "Fx 2.0.0.1 is not yet released", and replace it on the release day with the announcment.

I seem to remember that there was a similar problem with the RCs getting confused with the actual releases since the code in the RC was the same as in a release (ie. no special "Warning this is a RC"-text). But couldn't you solve both problems by having the browser fetch its "marketing name" (eg. "Firefox 1.5.0.4" or "Mozilla 2.0alpha 3"), from your servers based on the build-id, when the browser checks for updates? That way you could make the releases as just another nightly (or just another release candidate) and just change the "marketing name" when all the bits where safely out there.

I think you (Mozilla) should do something about this for the next major release to avoid getting screwed over so badly. Don't allow the file to be downloaded from FTP. You can sync mirrors with rsync, can't you?
On some other blog someone mentioned it's up there for the benefit of QA testers; well then just put a copy of it in a separate QA directory with a slightly different filename.

Remember, you're dealing with the internet. Assume black-hat by default.

Pretty impressive that the release makes it to the front page of the BBC News website, http://news.bbc.co.uk/ :-)

I agree with Al and jilles... The build was there. It WAS released on FTP. Next time, don't put the build there before you want people to download it. There are people who watch the FTP servers when they know a release is coming.

My idea... either 1) Get over it,
or 2) prevent people from downloading it.

Otherwise you have no right to gripe about it at all.

For instance, lets say I started a business website, and was going to sell something. Should I finish the website and just put a note on the front page saying "hey, don't buy anything until tomorrow", or should I replace the front page with a page saying, "under construction".

I don't want to hear it. You (Mozilla) messed up. Not the people downloading off of FTP.

If you don't like it, stop it.

If you don't want people downloading it, don't post it on FTP with all of the other final versions! That's all there is to it. If you post it, people are going to find it, and pleading about it probably isn't going to change anything.

Nice release, btw. :-)

Asking people people to not download and/or link the this download is like asking motorists to not slow down to look at an accident. Not gonna happen. It would be much more wise for Mozilla to prevent the accident in the first place. There are literally thousands of geeks out there clicking refresh and hoping to be the first to get FF2.0, not to mention a couple million hoping to make a name for themselves by submitting the first scoop to slashdot. Everyone should have seen this coming.

Nevertheless, dont let it spoil a great release day. Congrats on the great work!

you guys are such morons.. "if you dont want people downloading then don't.. bla blah bla imsoo sto0pid!! tee hee"

Don't complain when you find out those builds pull up an error message asking you to "End yourself". I suggest you comply.

The problem isn't people downloading the unofficial builds, It's people saying Firefox have been silently released or released a day early without no official word. that's just an immature and riduclous claim.

Almost like saying George Bush got impeached 2 years before the end of his term.

Linking to builds before the official release gives aid and comfort to the terrorists. Why do you hate America?