Switching To Firefox and Thunderbird from Mozilla Suite.

Despite my misgivings about the Mozilla Foundation's lack of support for Mozilla, I've bit the bullet and downloaded Firefox with the Google Toolbar, and downloaded Mozilla Thunderbird. I still dislike the fact that I have to start these applications separately - the Mozilla Suite was one button.

Once I verified that the automatic imports from my Mozilla Suite install were properly installed in the Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox installs, I took a deep breath and uninstalled Mozilla Suite.

My email archives took a long time to import - but they all made it. Passwords, cookies and everything else from the Mozilla Suite happened quickly and easily. Someone else in on a mailing list that I am on did something similar, and had multiple profiles. For people who are, like me, moving from Mozilla Suite to Firefox, here are a few links:

• Migrate from Mozilla Suite or Netscape to Thunderbird
• Common Firefox Plugins: Java, Adobe, Realplayer, et al.

It could be easier. It should be easier. For me, it was fairly easy.

Dress up

OK, so now it's all installed - but the thing is different. I miss the small buttons at the lower left which allow me to open email, the Mozilla HTML Editor, and so on. They are gone. That's life. Everything is centralized up top now. Time for it to get dressed with skins. Installing themes is pretty easy; it's all done in Firefox itself. I went with Saarang.

Addons for Firefox

This is why I did all of the updates. So I could get to the Firefox addons that didn't work with the Mozilla Suite. So now I'm picking through and getting the ones that I wanted.

The things we are forced to do for features...

Venting: Will The Real Mozilla Please Stand Up?

I cannot emphasize enough that I did not like being practically forced to do this... I think it's poor form to have left the Mozilla Suite without updates while Firefox gets all the plugins and updates. In looking at who's on the Mozilla Foundation board, and I don't see much room for discussion with them. It doesn't look very open source on the foundation end to me; and maybe it's an ideal I cling to from the beginnings of Free Software and open source, but I don't think that a product of the same base should be practically abandoned because of what boils down to marketing. I've used the Mozilla Suite for years, but to stay current - instead of being able to use the same plugins for Mozilla Suite - I have to upgrade. Boo! Hiss!

Either abandon Mozilla Suite formally, or start supporting it as you support Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. Shame on you for penalizing early adopters, leaving them in the dark like mushrooms. Can we expect this to happen when Firefox and Thunderbird are replaced by the better mousetrap? That's the sort of leadership that will alienate.

An argument can be made that more developers simply supported Firefox. That's fine. But that doesn't mean that the Foundation should be letting other products dwindle away. If anything, they should be informing Mozilla Suite users of how to upgrade on the Mozilla Suite splash page. The people who have supported Mozilla deserve a little bit better.

And if you're a Firefox evangelist, well - this may be you in a few years when the Foundation stops supporting Firefox and Thunderbird as well. There should be a lesson here. ;-)

The Up Side

Firefox is noticeably faster - at least for now, with a fresh install. It does have new features, but these new features haven't sold me on the installation of Firefox and Thunderbird as an 'upgrade' mainly because of the lack of integration that I have grown used to. I really would like to know why the Mozilla Suite hasn't been updated to reflect these changes.

Still, I will give them a chance to impress me. Change isn't always easy, but it's supposed to be for the better if it's to be called progress. That Mozilla Suite users aren't told that this is progress - switching to Firefox and Thunderbird - says a lot to me; yet what it speaks is yet to be determined. I don't switch software to be 'cool'; I switch because it suits my needs. Let's see if Firefox and Thunderbird are better supported throughout the entire software lifecycle than the Mozilla Suite has. In fact, in the back of my mind I see this as a downgrade because of Microsoft's use of Outlook Express and Internet Explorer as separate applications instead of an integrated solution as. Maybe the Foundation is looking to start selling the integrated solution.

I have better things to do with my time than change software just because people choose to make it obsolete. At least Microsoft tells you to buy the upgrade.

The image up top is one of mine - you can see the original here. I chose it because it fits my mood about the whole thing.