The Book of Mozilla
Encyclopedia
The Book of Mozilla is a computer Easter egg
found in the Netscape
and Mozilla
series of web browser
s.
It is viewed by directing the browser to
There is no real book entitled The Book of Mozilla. However, apparent quotations hidden in Netscape
and Mozilla
give this impression by revealing passages in the style of apocalyptic literature
, such as the Book of Revelation
in the Bible
. When
There are five official verses of The Book of Mozilla which have been included in shipping releases, although various unofficial verses can be found on the World Wide Web
. All five official verses have scriptural chapter and verse references, although these are actually references to important dates in the history of Netscape and Mozilla.
The five verses all refer to the activities of a fearsome-sounding "beast". In its early days, Netscape Communications Corporation had a green fire-breathing dragon
-like lizard
mascot, known as Mozilla
(after the code name
for Netscape Navigator 1.0
). From this, it can be conjectured that the "beast" referred to in The Book of Mozilla is a type of fire-breathing lizard, which can be viewed as a metaphor
for, or personification of Netscape.
While part of the appeal of The Book of Mozilla comes from the mysterious nature, a knowledge of the history of Netscape and Mozilla can be used to extract some meaning from the verses. Furthermore, the Book of Mozilla page has annotations for each of the first, second, third and fifth verses hidden as comments in its HTML
source code. These comments were written by Valerio Capello in May 2004 and were added to the Mozilla Foundation
site by Nicholas Bebout in October that year. Neither Capello nor Bebout are 'core' Mozilla decision-makers; and there is no evidence that Capello's interpretations received any high-level approval from the senior management of the Mozilla Foundation.
The chapter and verse number 12:10 refers to December 10, 1994, the date that Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released.
The Book of Mozilla page, which includes four of the verses from The Book of Mozilla, contains the following explanation in its HTML source code:
The "beast" is a metaphor for Netscape. The punishments threatened towards the "unbelievers" (most likely users who didn't conform to standards) are traditionally biblical but with the strange threat that their "tags
shall blink until the end of days". This is a reference to a feature in early versions of Netscape that would make bad tags blink, as seen in the source code comments from the Book of Mozilla.
changed The Book of Mozilla verse to reference the fact that Netscape had released its code as open source
and started the Mozilla project. This verse was included in all Mozilla builds until October 1998, when a rewrite of much of the Mozilla code meant that the Easter egg was lost. On February 5, 2000, Ben Goodger
, then working for Netscape, copied The Book of Mozilla verse across to the new code base. It was included in all subsequent Mozilla builds (until the introduction of the 7:15 verse), Netscape versions 6 to 7.1 and Beonex Communicator
; it still appears in Classilla
due to that browser's unusual history.
The verse states:
(Red Letter Edition)
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
found in the Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
and Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
series of web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s.
It is viewed by directing the browser to
about:mozilla.There is no real book entitled The Book of Mozilla. However, apparent quotations hidden in Netscape
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
and Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
give this impression by revealing passages in the style of apocalyptic literature
Apocalyptic literature
Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians....
, such as the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. When
about:mozilla is typed into the location bar, various versions of these browsers display a cryptic message in white text on a maroon background in the browser window.There are five official verses of The Book of Mozilla which have been included in shipping releases, although various unofficial verses can be found on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. All five official verses have scriptural chapter and verse references, although these are actually references to important dates in the history of Netscape and Mozilla.
The five verses all refer to the activities of a fearsome-sounding "beast". In its early days, Netscape Communications Corporation had a green fire-breathing dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
-like lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
mascot, known as Mozilla
Mozilla (mascot)
Mozilla was the mascot of the now disbanded Netscape Communications Corporation.Mozilla takes the form of a green and purple cartoon lizard. Programmer Jamie Zawinski came up with the name during a meeting while working at the company. Mozilla was designed by Dave Titus in 1994.The name "Mozilla"...
(after the code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
for Netscape Navigator 1.0
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
). From this, it can be conjectured that the "beast" referred to in The Book of Mozilla is a type of fire-breathing lizard, which can be viewed as a metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for, or personification of Netscape.
While part of the appeal of The Book of Mozilla comes from the mysterious nature, a knowledge of the history of Netscape and Mozilla can be used to extract some meaning from the verses. Furthermore, the Book of Mozilla page has annotations for each of the first, second, third and fifth verses hidden as comments in its HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
source code. These comments were written by Valerio Capello in May 2004 and were added to the Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
site by Nicholas Bebout in October that year. Neither Capello nor Bebout are 'core' Mozilla decision-makers; and there is no evidence that Capello's interpretations received any high-level approval from the senior management of the Mozilla Foundation.
The Book of Mozilla, 12:10
The Book of Mozilla first appeared in Netscape 1.1 (released in 1995) and can be found in every subsequent 1.x, 2.x, 3.x and 4.x version. The following "prophecy" was displayed:The Book of Mozilla page, which includes four of the verses from The Book of Mozilla, contains the following explanation in its HTML source code:
<!-- 10th December 1994: Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released -->
<!-- This verse announces the birth of the beast (Netscape) and warns bad coders (up to Netscape 3, when you watched the HTML source code with the internal viewer, bad tags blinked). -->The "beast" is a metaphor for Netscape. The punishments threatened towards the "unbelievers" (most likely users who didn't conform to standards) are traditionally biblical but with the strange threat that their "tags
HTML element
An HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
shall blink until the end of days". This is a reference to a feature in early versions of Netscape that would make bad tags blink, as seen in the source code comments from the Book of Mozilla.
The Book of Mozilla, 3:31
On May 10, 1998, Jamie "JWZ" ZawinskiJamie Zawinski
Jamie Zawinski , commonly known as jwz, is a former professional American computer programmer responsible for significant contributions to the free software projects Mozilla and XEmacs, and early versions of the Netscape Navigator web browser...
changed The Book of Mozilla verse to reference the fact that Netscape had released its code as open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and started the Mozilla project. This verse was included in all Mozilla builds until October 1998, when a rewrite of much of the Mozilla code meant that the Easter egg was lost. On February 5, 2000, Ben Goodger
Ben Goodger
Ben Goodger is a former employee of Netscape Communications Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation and former lead developer of the Firefox web browser....
, then working for Netscape, copied The Book of Mozilla verse across to the new code base. It was included in all subsequent Mozilla builds (until the introduction of the 7:15 verse), Netscape versions 6 to 7.1 and Beonex Communicator
Beonex Communicator
Beonex Communicator was an open source internet suite based on the Mozilla Application Suite by Ben Bucksch, a German Mozilla developer, which have a higher security and privacy level than other commercial products....
; it still appears in Classilla
Classilla
Classilla is a Gecko-based web browser for PowerPC-based classic Macintosh systems, essentially an updated descendant of the now-defunct Mozilla Application Suite by way of the Mac OS port maintained in the now-aborted project...
due to that browser's unusual history.
The verse states:
(Red Letter Edition)
The Book of Mozilla page has the following comment in its HTML source about this passage:
<!-- 31st March 1998: the Netscape Navigator source code was released -->
<!-- The source code is made available to the legion of thousands of coders of the open source community, that will fight against the followers of Mammon (Microsoft Internet Explorer). -->Again, the "beast" is Netscape. The text probably refers to Netscape's hope that, by opening its source, they could attract a "legion" of developers all across the world, who would help improve the software (with the "din of a million keyboards"). The "legion" is actually a reference to the biblical quote Mark 5:9 in the King James Version (KJV) bible ("And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."), since The Book of Mozilla is presented as a sort of "computer bible" with prophecies. "Mammon
Mammon
Mammon is a term, derived from the Christian Bible, used to describe material wealth or greed, most often personified as a deity, and sometimes included in the seven princes of Hell.-Etymology:...
" refers to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, whose Internet Explorer browser was Netscape's chief competition. The word "mammon," in various semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, is related to money and riches; it appears in English translations of the Bible, and is sometimes used as the name of a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
of avarice. It may therefore imply not only that Microsoft has vastly greater funds to draw on, but that it has greedily abused that fact to further its own position in the marketplace; it also highlights the difference between the purely commercial development of Internet Explorer, and the new community-driven development of Netscape/Mozilla. "Red Letter Edition
Red letter edition
The term red letter edition is used to describe Bibles in which words spoken by Jesus, commonly only while he was on the Earth, are printed in red ink...
" may be a reference to so-called Red Letter Editions of the Bible, which print quotations by Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in red ink. It could also be a reference to a fact that March 31, 1998 was a red-letter day
Red letter day
A red letter day is any day of special significance.The term originates from Medieval church calendars. Illuminated manuscripts often marked initial capitals and highlighted words in red ink, known as rubrics...
for the Mozilla project.
The Book of Mozilla, 7:15
The next installment of The Book of Mozilla was written by Neil Deakin. It is included in all versions of Mozilla released from September 2003 to July 2008 (Mozilla 1.5 - Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.20), all versions of CaminoCamino
Camino is a free, open source, GUI-based Web browser based on Mozilla's Gecko layout engine and specifically designed for the Mac OS X operating system...
and the Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
email client, the SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey is a free and open source cross-platform Internet suite. It is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite, based on the same source code...
application suite, the Epiphany
Epiphany (web browser)
Epiphany is an open source web browser for the GNOME desktop environment. The browser is a descendant of Galeon, and was created after developer disagreements about Galeon's growing complexity...
web browser (version 1.8.0), the Minimo
Minimo
Minimo was a project to create a version of the Mozilla web browser for small devices like PDAs and mobile phones.The project aimed to make it easier for developers to embed parts of Mozilla into systems with limited system resources...
Pocket PC web browser, and all Netscape versions from 7.2 to 8.1.3 (except some Netscape Browser
Netscape Browser
Netscape Browser is the name of a proprietary Windows web browser published by AOL, but developed by Mercurial Communications. It is the eighth major release in name of the Netscape series of browsers, originally produced by the defunct Netscape Communications Corporation.While Netscape Browser's...
prototype releases):
In the HTML source of Book of Mozilla page, this verse is accompanied by the following annotation:
<!-- 15th July 2003: AOL closed its Netscape division and the Mozilla foundation was created -->
<!-- The beast died (AOL closed its Netscape division) but immediately rose from its ashes (the creation of the Mozilla foundation and the Firebird browser, although the name was later changed to Firefox). -->The "beast" falling refers to Netscape being closed down by its now parent company AOL. The "great bird" that rises from the ash is the Mozilla Foundation, which was established to continue Mozilla development. The bird rises from the ash like a phoenix
Phoenix (mythology)
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
– a reference to the original name of the Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
browser (known as Firebird at the time this verse was written). The bird casts down "fire" and "thunder" on the "unbelievers", which is a direct reference to the Mozilla Firebird (now Firefox) and Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
products, which became the main focus of Mozilla development a few months before the events of July 15. The fact that the beast has been "reborn
Reborn
Reborn may refer to:*Reborn, a Digital Creative Agency in Sydney, Australia*Reborn!, a manga series and a character in the manga*Reborn , a novel by F...
" indicates that the spirit of Netscape will live on through the Foundation (which is made up mostly of ex-Netscape employees) and its strength has been "renewed" as the foundation is less reliant on AOL (who many feel neglected Netscape). Again, "Mammon" is Microsoft, Mozilla's main commercial competitor.
The Book of Mozilla, 8:20
Netscape's Lead browser engineer Christopher Finke contributed the next verse of The Book of Mozilla. It was first made public in the June 5, 2007 release of Netscape Navigator 9.0b1Netscape Navigator 9
Netscape Navigator 9 is a web browser produced by the Netscape Communications division of parent AOL, first announced on January 23, 2007. After AOL outsourced the development of Netscape Browser 8 to Mercurial Communications in 2004, Netscape Navigator 9 marked the first Netscape browser to be...
.
Unlike previous verses, the HTML source for the Book of Mozilla page does not feature any verse-related annotations.
The "Creator" refers to Netscape the company. There are two interpretations of the verse: the phrase "beast reborn" appears in the previous verse referring to the Mozilla Foundation and "it was good" could be a tribute to everyone who contributed to the Mozilla project. "Beast reborn" could also be a reference to Netscape reopening their browser division instead of outsourcing development; Netscape Browser 8
Netscape Browser
Netscape Browser is the name of a proprietary Windows web browser published by AOL, but developed by Mercurial Communications. It is the eighth major release in name of the Netscape series of browsers, originally produced by the defunct Netscape Communications Corporation.While Netscape Browser's...
was produced by Mercurial Communications
Mercurial Communications
Mercurial Communications was a Canadian company that developed the Netscape 8.0 Browser for Netscape, a division of AOL. Netscape offered the browser to AOL but they declined in favour of AOL's Microsoft Internet Explorer-based browser...
.
This verse is a parody of God's creation of Earth described in Genesis 1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25, 1:31 of the Bible. It also may be referencing Luke 3:22 of the Bible.
The Book of Mozilla, 11:9
(10th Edition)This verse landed in the Mozilla trunk codebase on January 9, 2008. It first appeared in Firefox 3.0 Beta 3. This is also produced in the alpha 1 version of Mobile Firefox, codenamed "Fennec", Flock Browser Version 2.0.6, and Songbird.
In the HTML source of the Book of Mozilla page, this verse is accompanied by the following annotation:
<!-- 9th November 2004: Firefox 1.0 is officially released -->
<!-- The worldwide support of Firefox fans leads to its success, illustrating the power of community-based open source projects. -->"Mammon" is again Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
, which "slept" for the 5 years between releases (between Internet Explorer 6 and 7). The "beast reborn" refers to Firefox, which gained supporters who self-organized through Spread Firefox, and undertook publicity for the browser, taking out an advertisement in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and making a crop circle
Crop circle
A crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or rapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. While the exact date crop circles began to appear is unknown, the documented...
shaped like the Firefox logo. The "cunning of foxes" is a direct reference to Firefox's name. The "new world" refers to modern, standards based dynamic websites and open source applications. The latter half of the passage links to the Mozilla Manifesto and the about:Mozilla newsletter. The last part, starting with "Mammon awoke" speaks of the release of Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 7
Windows Internet Explorer 7 is a web browser released by Microsoft in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer and was the first major update to the browser in more than 5 years...
and with "it was naught but a follower" describes it as a follower, copying several of the functions in Firefox that Internet Explorer previously lacked. Additionally, this quote from the "10th edition", is an allusion to the Mozilla Foundation's 10th anniversary during the Firefox 3 development cycle.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
In some versions of MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
,
about:mozilla produces a blank blue page, an inside referenceIn-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
to the Blue Screen of Death
Blue Screen of Death
To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....
.
Netscape
Before Netscape 1.1,about:mozilla produced the text "Mozilla rules!".Viewing the
about:mozilla page with a UnixUnix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
version of Netscape would change the throbber
Throbber
A throbber is a graphic found in a graphical user interface of a computer program that animates to show the user that the program is performing an action .-Typical characteristics:...
to an animation of Mozilla
Mozilla (mascot)
Mozilla was the mascot of the now disbanded Netscape Communications Corporation.Mozilla takes the form of a green and purple cartoon lizard. Programmer Jamie Zawinski came up with the name during a meeting while working at the company. Mozilla was designed by Dave Titus in 1994.The name "Mozilla"...
rising up from behind the "planet" logo and breathing fire. (Images viewable here)
The Book of Mozilla, 11:1
Though not an official verse by Mozilla, a new verse of the Book of Mozilla, 11:1, became available in Flock Browser 1.0+, a "Social Web Browser" based on Firefox. This verse is shown on blue/white vertical gradient when about:mozilla is entered into the location bar. The verse is as follows.
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
. "Birds of Sulfur" references the developmental codename of Flock, which is Sulfur. The "mountain views" references the city of Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
where the company that produces Flock was based at the time of writing. The "24 wise men" refer to the 24 staff employees of Flock at that time. The "stars" refer to the star used in the branding ("Flockstar"). As this verse is new (version 1.0 was released 5 November 2007), much of the meaning is still unclear, though "they took their pens and dared to create" most likely references to the fact of a lot of blogging, and social networking integration to Flock. The section "Finally, they dared to share their deed with the whole of mankind." could possibly be making a reference to the fact that it is open source, and that they shared their good deed (their creation of the browser) with the world.
Iceweasel
Due to a dispute with the Mozilla CorporationMozilla Corporation
The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey Navigator web browsers and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by a growing global community of...
, the Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
project was forced to change the name and branding of Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
in its distribution. In response, it changed the name of the package to Iceweasel
Iceweasel
In 2006, a branding issue developed when Mike Connor, representing the Mozilla Corporation, requested that the Debian Project comply with Mozilla standards for use of the Thunderbird trademark when redistributing the Thunderbird software...
and the icon to a white weasel-like variant of the Firefox code although the package was otherwise identical to Firefox. Iceweasel included the
about:mozilla easter-egg and showed the standard response from Book of Mozilla 11:9. However, when users navigated to about:iceweasel they saw a thematically similar message from the Book of Ice that described the dispute with Mozilla and the creation of Iceweasel.The "Corpse" in this addition represents the Mozilla Corporation and the references to the prohibition on "flying in my name" is a reference to the trademark prohibition.
Changes to about:mozilla page
- Bug 213117 – new text for about:mozilla (bug report that led to the change from 3:31 to 7:15)
- CVS history for the about:mozilla file in the old (classic) Mozilla code base
- CVS history for the about:mozilla file in the new Mozilla code base until it was renamed to mozilla.xhtml
- CVS history for the about:mozilla file in the new Mozilla code base after it was renamed to mozilla.xhtml
- CVS history for the about:mozilla file in applications that use the new toolkit (Firefox, Thunderbird etc.)
- CVS history for the about:mozilla text (November 2004 and later)
- Mercurial history for about:mozilla passage since Mozilla' migration from CVS to Mercurial in 2007
Book of Mozilla on Mozilla.org
- The Book of Mozilla (includes annotations in HTML source)
- Bug 217203 – Book of Mozilla not on mozilla.org (bug report that led to the creation of www.mozilla.org/book/)
- CVS history for www.mozilla.org/book/index.xml (later replaced by index.html)
- CVS history for www.mozilla.org/book/index.html (replaced index.xml)
Articles about The Book of Mozilla
- MozillaZine article announcing the new verse of The Book of Mozilla
- Results of a MozillaZine poll on the readers' favourite verse
- Some clarifications regarding about:mozilla written by mozilla.org staff member Gervase Markham
Collections of passages
- Extracts from The Book of Mozilla – a compilation of official and unofficial passages from The Book of Mozilla