Has the Firefox Add-on site become senile?
Posted by Dave Jackson (Scoop0901) on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 @ 10:55 am In Blogging, Online, Software, and Technology | 2 Comments
Being a leader in the field of software development is great, as forward thinking is often what sets the precedent for other tools that will come later. Thinking back to the early 1990s, while living and working in Champaign, Illinois, I had the chance to use pre-release versions of [1] Mosaic, the [2] first graphical Internet browser. Later incarnations of that software were called [3] Netscape Navigator.
[4] 
This morning, though, while browsing the [5] Firefox Add-on site for some updates, I noticed an odd thing: every add-on listed was created on the same date! If the information on the site is correct, I will not be using any of the add-ons.
Saying I will never use any of the Firefox add-ons again if the information on the Firefox site is correct is a pretty bold statement, right? Well, let’s look at the reasoning behind the comment.
As I said, while browsing this morning, looking for a few add-ons for Firefox, hoping to make it a more useful tool, I noticed every add-on was created, and, evidently, last updated on the same date: November 30, 1999!
In my life, November 30, 1999 is a bittersweet day. There is an anniversary I hold near to my heart on that day, but there I had also recently been reunited with someone very special in my life, whom I hadn’t seen in years, and we were enjoying life that day. In fact, I spent the day shooting photos things we did, which makes it even more memorable for me.
Now, just because November 30, 1999 has significance in my life, it does not mean I want to use most software created or last updated on that date. Sure, I am running software on my Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate machine that was created in 1992, as well as a ZDnet utility, ZDNet’s Where (version 1.1), created in July 1999, and programmed by Matthew Seddon.
[6] 
What does ZDnet’s Where do? It was designed to pick up where Microsoft Windows’ built-in “send to” function stops. When you right-click on any file or directory, a menu pops up. One option in that menu is “Send To” with a variety of choices, such as the My Documents directory, other hard drives, and any external hard drives or other connected storage locations.
With ZDnet’s Where utility, an option is added into that Windows “Send To” menu, allowing you to specify any directory on any available hard drive or attached storage device as the target directory. This small but handy utility has saved me a lot of time doing cut-and-paste operations to move files. The best thing about this tool is that I have never yet found a file size limitation.
Sadly, though, I couldn’t find any updated versions of ZDnet’s Where when I did a Google search minutes ago. Then again, ZDnet’s Where v.1.1 has been working for me now, under heavy use, for eight years. It has successfully run on all the Windows platforms I’ve used during that time, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now, Windows Vista. That alone says a lot about the program.
ZDnet’s Where is an example of a piece of software, intended to do one job and do it properly, that has proven itself again and again.
Now that we’ve determined utilities written many years ago will still work, the issue comes down to a few other things, such as forward thinking.
I am sure [7] Can Erten, whose only Firefox Add-on is the [8] Live Writerfox, allowing Windows users to blog about any specific page using [9] Microsoft’s [10] Windows [11] Live [12] Writer, did not think of developing Live Writerfox back in November 1999.
Looking over the pages, though, I noticed that every add-on listed on the Firefox add-on site was created on November 30, 1999. Coincidence? Nah. But perhaps the fox has been hit by buckshot and suffered a nasty wound. Perhaps senile dementia is something that also happens to Firefoxes, as well as to people?
Technorati Tags: [13] Microsoft, [14] Windows Live Writer, [15] WLW, [16] Firefox, [17] Firefox addons, [18] Can Erten, [19] Live Writerfox, [20] November 30, [21] 1999, [22] senile, [23] senility, [24] senile dementia, [25] ZDnet, [26] ZDnet Where, [27] Microsoft Windows, [28] Windows 95, [29] Windows 98, [30] Windows 2000, [31] Windows Vista, [32] Windows Vista Ultimate, [33] Matthew Seddon, [34] software, [35] developers, [36] forward-thinking, [37] My-Documents, [38] directories, [39] directory-structure, [40] software-developers, [41] hard drives, [42] external storage, [43] Netscape Navigator, [44] Netscape, [45] Mosaic, [46] Champaign, [47] Champaign-Illinois, [48] University of Illinois, [49] University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, [50] UIUC, [51] National Center for Supercomputing Applications, [52] NCSA, [53] Philadelphia, [54] browsing, [55] Internet browsing, [56] graphical browsing
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URL to article: http://blog.scoop0901.net/technology/has-firefox-become-senile/
URLs in this post:
[1] Mosaic: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Projects/mosaic.html
[2] first graphical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_(web_browser)
[3] Netscape Navigator: http://browser.netscape.com/
[4] Image: http://blog.scoop0901.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Firefox_site.gif
[5] Firefox Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
[6] Image: http://blog.scoop0901.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/ZDnetWhereUtility.gif
[7] Can Erten: http://www.canerten.com/
[8] Live Writerfox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3214
[9] Microsoft: http://writer.live.com
[10] Windows: http://blog.scoop0901.net/technology/using-blog-software-to-maintain-non-blog-sites/
[11] Live: http://blog.scoop0901.net/technology/windows-live-writer-gets-a-beta-overhaul/
[12] Writer: http://blog.scoop0901.net/technology/windows-live-writer-makes-blogging-easier/
[13] Microsoft: http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft
[14] Windows Live Writer: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%20Live%20Writer
[15] WLW: http://technorati.com/tags/WLW
[16] Firefox: http://technorati.com/tags/Firefox
[17] Firefox addons: http://technorati.com/tags/Firefox%20addons
[18] Can Erten: http://technorati.com/tags/Can%20Erten
[19] Live Writerfox: http://technorati.com/tags/Live%20Writerfox
[20] November 30: http://technorati.com/tags/November%2030
[21] 1999: http://technorati.com/tags/1999
[22] senile: http://technorati.com/tags/senile
[23] senility: http://technorati.com/tags/senility
[24] senile dementia: http://technorati.com/tags/senile%20dementia
[25] ZDnet: http://technorati.com/tags/ZDnet
[26] ZDnet Where: http://technorati.com/tags/ZDnet%20Where
[27] Microsoft Windows: http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft%20Windows
[28] Windows 95: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%2095
[29] Windows 98: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%2098
[30] Windows 2000: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%202000
[31] Windows Vista: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%20Vista
[32] Windows Vista Ultimate: http://technorati.com/tags/Windows%20Vista%20Ultimate
[33] Matthew Seddon: http://technorati.com/tags/Matthew%20Seddon
[34] software: http://technorati.com/tags/software
[35] developers: http://technorati.com/tags/developers
[36] forward-thinking: http://technorati.com/tags/forward-thinking
[37] My-Documents: http://technorati.com/tags/My-Documents
[38] directories: http://technorati.com/tags/directories
[39] directory-structure: http://technorati.com/tags/directory-structure
[40] software-developers: http://technorati.com/tags/software-developers
[41] hard drives: http://technorati.com/tags/hard%20drives
[42] external storage: http://technorati.com/tags/external%20storage
[43] Netscape Navigator: http://technorati.com/tags/Netscape%20Navigator
[44] Netscape: http://technorati.com/tags/Netscape
[45] Mosaic: http://technorati.com/tags/Mosaic
[46] Champaign: http://technorati.com/tags/Champaign
[47] Champaign-Illinois: http://technorati.com/tags/Champaign-Illinois
[48] University of Illinois: http://technorati.com/tags/University%20of%20Illinois
[49] University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://technorati.com/tags/University%20of%20Illinois%20at%20Urbana-Champaign
[50] UIUC: http://technorati.com/tags/UIUC
[51] National Center for Supercomputing Applications: http://technorati.com/tags/National%20Center%20for%20Supercomputing%20Applications
[52] NCSA: http://technorati.com/tags/NCSA
[53] Philadelphia: http://technorati.com/tags/Philadelphia
[54] browsing: http://technorati.com/tags/browsing
[55] Internet browsing: http://technorati.com/tags/Internet%20browsing
[56] graphical browsing: http://technorati.com/tags/graphical%20browsing
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2 Comments To "Has the Firefox Add-on site become senile?"
#1 Comment By mikek123 On Thursday, July 26, 2007 @ 6:23 am
Don’t make the mistake of drawing too many parallels between Firefox (The web browser) and AMO (The Firefox add-on site). Of course both fall within the bounds of the Mozilla Foundation, but that’s more-or-less where any parallel ends. My own involvement with AMO led me very quickly to believe that MoFo (The Mozilla Foundation) sees the add-ons site as something that isn’t really worthy of it’s full attention.
Lately, things have improved a weeny little bit with AMO, but the guys running the AMO-show still wouldn’t stand a snowballs-hope-in-hell of cutting it in the real (Profit making) world.
#2 Comment By Dave J. (Scoop0901) On Friday, July 27, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Thanks for the clarification, Mike. I didn’t realize there was such division for the site.