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Mike Angelo -- 15 January 2003 (c) -- Page 2
The Mozilla 1.0.2 download information and links are in the Resources section at the end of this article. Lots of Bugs for Mozilla 1.0.2Release of Mozilla 1.0-RC1 signaled that finally after four-years in development, Mozilla 1.0 was on its way soon. However, some in the Mozilla community questioned whether Mozilla 1.0 was ready for show time. One major concern was that there were too many open bugs in Mozilla 1.0. Another was that Mozilla 1.0 still did not have enough polish. Nevertherless, AOL-Netscape's Mozilla Organization prematurely released Mozilla 1.0 -- bugs, annoyances, issues, and all. Also, Mozilla 1.0 has some significant performance problems. However, the performance problems are much more noticeable on slower computers than on more high-powered computers. The Mozilla 1.0 release was far from a clear success. The Mozilla people ought to have done more bug-squashing and product-polishing before releasing Mozilla 1.0. Prior to the Mozilla 1.0 release, we addressed some of these concerns in our article, Mozilla Milestone 0.9.9 Branched Behind Schedule. In that article, we noted that on 1 March 2002, there were some 12,137 targeted new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs and 21,199 new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs) altogether. However, it appeared that only 1,575 bugs were set to be fixed before Mozilla 1.0 was released. Many of those 1,575 bugs were not fixed prior to the Mozilla 1.0 release. On May 10, when Mozilla 1.0-RC2 was released, there were 12,417 targeted, new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs and 23,569 new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs) altogether. Mozilla 1.0-RC2 had more bugs than did Mozilla 0.9.9. When Mozilla 1.0-RC3 was released, there were 12,515 targeted, new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs and 24,031 new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs) altogether. Mozilla 1.0-RC3 had more bugs than did Mozilla 0.9.9. On 5 June, the day Mozilla 1.0 was released, there were 12,596 targeted, new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs and 24,511 new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs) altogether. Mozilla 1.0 had more bugs than did Mozilla 0.9.9. Mozilla 1.0 had more bugs than did Mozilla 1.0-RC3.
At the beginning of year 2002, there were around 1,000 unconfirmed bugs. Over the first six months of 2002, the number of unconfirmed bugs zoomed some 400% to 4,525 unconfirmed bugs. Today, there are 5,531 unconfirmed bugs listed. This tremendous and continuing increase in not-yet-triaged bugs is particularly bothersome. First, the dramatic increase in unconfirmed bugs suggests the AOL-Netscape-Mozilla Quality Assurance people are not keeping up with triaging bug reports as they come into the Bugzilla database. Second, until these unconfirmed bugs are appropriately triaged, it is not likely that AOL-Netscape-Mozilla developers are going to fix any of these as yet not-triaged bugs. Third, while some of these unconfirmed bugs might be discarded as Duplicate, WFM, or Won't Fix bugs, there could be some very critical or major bugs in that cesspit of unconfirmed bugs that need, and should get, immediate attention -- which they likely will not get until they are triaged. Perhaps even more bothersome is the rise in new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs). Earlier today, there were 29,986 new, assigned, and reopened bugs (open/unfixed bugs) altogether listed in the Mozilla bug-tracking database, Bugzilla. Please see our Mozilla 0.9.9 release article for more information about, and a breakdown of, the targeted new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs complex. Mozilla has bugs problems. The Mozilla developers have continually failed to get the bugs targeted to milestones fixed before the scheduled milestone branching dates. Moreover, the Mozilla developers do not seem to be very effective in keeping buggy code from getting into the development tree. However, since the Mozilla 0.9.9 release, code-checkin practices have been tightened down somewhat. That seems to be providing some reduction in the Mozilla runaway bugs problem.
The preceding bugs discussion has focused on the impact of Mozilla's bugs on the development process. Just as important as that, if not even more important, is how the Mozilla bugs hit users. If the Mozilla bugs for the most part are trivial or only rarely occurring, then end-users likely are not going to be very upset by the bugs, However, if the bugs are more noticeable, annoying, disruptive, or result in data loss, system crashes, or application lock-ups, then users likely are going to be rather upset. That said, the more bugs in a program the more likely users will notice them and the more likely they will be annoyed by them. Bugs in milestone development releases are understandable although not a good thing. However, prematurely releasing a Mozilla 1.0 that was so buggy could have hurt the Mozilla effort. More than 12,000 targeted-bugs and 24,000 open bugs in Mozilla was just too darn many bugs for a Mozilla 1.0 offering. Incidentally, a Bugzilla query today for open bugs with the keyword crash turned up more than 700 hits. A similar query made today using the keyword dataloss turned up more than 180 bugs. That's not a very pretty picture either. All this bug stuff can be confusing. The most important point is that Mozilla 1.0 includes not merely the bugs that were targeted to Mozilla 1.0. Rather, Mozilla 1.0 includes some 24,000 un-fixed new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs. The Mozilla 1.0-targeted bugs is merely a subset of the more than 29,000 un-fixed new, assigned, and reopened Mozilla bugs. Please see our 0.9.4 branching article, Mozilla 0.9.4 Branched -- Behind Schedule & Buggier Than Ever, for more detail and information about the Mozilla bugs. Mozilla 1.0.2 is available for the BSD, Linux, Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, Sun, and several UNIX platforms. Source code is available if you want to custom compile your own Mozilla builds. Incidentally, please check the MozillaQuest Magazine front-page (mozillaquest.com) sidebar every now and then for bug-count updates and for upcoming, post Mozilla Milestone 1.0 progress updates. There also will be more Mozilla 1.x news and information there too. Please see our article, Mozilla Roadmap Update: Mozilla 1.0 Set Back to April 2002, for more information about the October 2001 Mozilla Development Roadmap and development schedule revisions. There is lots of bug information in that article too. For the revised post-Mozilla 1.0 development roadmap and plan please see our article, Moz 1.0 April Release Confirmed & Post-1.0 Development Plan Announced.
Downloading & Installation Info
Here are the FTP download links for Mozilla 1.0.2 for you readers that cannot wait to try Mozilla 1.0.2
Please see the important note in the sidebar to the right here before installing. ------>> Related Articles
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Mozilla 1.0-RC1 Browser-Suite Sneak Preview Mozilla 1.0 on the Way -- Milestone 1.0-RC1 Branched
Netscape 7.01 Browser-Suite Released Netscape 7.0 Browser-Suite Released Netscape 4.80 Browser-Suite Released Netscape 6.2.2 Browser-Suite Released Is Mozilla Actually AOL-Netscape's Mozilla?
Mozilla Milestone 0.9.9 Branched Behind Schedule
Year 2001 in Review -- Mozilla and Netscape Browsers Mozilla Roadmap Update: Moz 1.0 April Release Confirmed & Post-1.0 Development Plan Announced |
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