The Mozilla Book
The Mozilla book is a well-known computer Easter Egg found in Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox browsers (and their forks), Minimo, Flock and SeaMonkey; plus Songbird's internal browser.
About The Mozilla Book
There isn't really a book called The Book of Mozilla. However, the quotes included in Netscape and Mozilla give that impression by revealing passages similar to the Book of Revelation of the Bible. When about:mozilla is entered, different versions of these browsers display a white message on a maroon background. There are six passages in total.
The book is named after the Netscape mascot (a green lizard) that would later give its name to the Mozilla Project, a project with which the mascot would later be redesigned.
In the source code of the official website of the Mozilla Book you can find, commented and in English, all the aforementioned phrases. In these it is revealed that "Mammon" it is effectively Internet Explorer.
The Mozilla Book, 12:10
The first appearance of The Mozilla Book was in Netscape 1.1 (in earlier versions about:mozilla displayed the text "Mozilla Rules!") and was maintained until version 4.8. The prophecy was as follows:
And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud of vengeance. The house of the unbelievers shall be razed and they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink until the end of days.
from The Book of Mozilla, 12:10
Whose translation is:
And the beast will emerge surrounded by a turbulent cloud of vengeance. The house of the unfaithful will be demolished and they will be completely destroyed. Yours tags They'll blink until the end of the day.of The book of Mozilla12:10
The "Beast" it's Netscape. Threats of punishment to "infidels" (non-Netscape users) are of Biblical origin, except for the bizarre threat that their "tags will blink until the end of days". This refers to Netscape's controversial HTML tag ( <blink>) that displayed blinking text introduced in an earlier version of Netscape. This proprietary HTML extension was considered distracting, annoying and ugly, making it a nasty punishment. The verse number refers to the release date of Netscape 1.0, December 10, 1994.
The Mozilla Book, 3:31
Netscape versions 6.0 and later that were based on Mozilla code (as well as all Mozilla versions) displayed the following message:
And the beast shall be made legion. Its numbers shall be increased a thousand fold. The din of a million keyboards like unto great ♪ shall cover the earth, and the followers of Mammon shall tremble.
from The Book of Mozilla, 3:31
(Red Letter Edition)
Whose translation is:
And the beast will become legion. Their numbers will multiply by thousands. The roar of a million keyboards will grow to become a great storm that will cover the earth and the followers of Mammon will tremble.of The book of Mozilla, 3:31 (Red Letter Edition)
Again, the "beast" it's Netscape. The text probably refers to the hope that by releasing the code, Netscape will attract a "legion" from developers around the world to help improve the software (to the "rumble of a million keyboards"). Some suggest that "Mammon" remotely refers to Microsoft, since Internet Explorer was Netscape's main competition (another argument suggests that the word "mammon" or "ממון" in Hebrew means "money", something Microsoft used to destroy Netscape). The numbers 3:31 refer to March 31, 1998, the date Netscape released its code. This day is considered so important that it is marked in red on the calendar ("Red Letter day").
The Mozilla Book, 7:15
The following quote was written by Neil Deakin and is included in all versions of Mozilla since July 2003 and all versions of Netscape from 7.2 to 9.0b1:
And so in the end the beast fell and the unbelievers rejoiced. But not everything was lost, because of the ashes a great bird arose. The bird watched the unbelievers and fired fire and thunder on them. Because the beast was reborn with his renewed strength, and Mammon's followers huddled in the horror.
The book of Mozilla, 7:15
The fall of the beast refers to the situation created when Netscape was shut down by its current parent company AOL (since the creation of this verse, AOL has resumed development of Netscape's browsers). The great bird that rises from the ashes is the Mozilla Foundation that continued the development of Mozilla. The Fire Bird refers to Mozilla Firebird, currently called Mozilla Firefox; the "thunder" refers to Mozilla Thunderbird. Both products were major development targets before Netscape's demise. The fact that the beast has been reborn indicates that the spirit of Netscape lives on in the Foundation (which is made up entirely of former Netscape employees) and its strength has been renewed since the Foundation is not dependent on AOL (which rejected Netscape for quite some time).). The fact that the beast was reborn as a phoenix may also refer to FireBird's previous name, which was Phoenix. The numbers in the title refer to July 15, 2003, the day that Netscape simultaneously disappeared and the Mozilla Foundation was created.
The Book of Mozilla, 8:20
Netscape chief engineer Chris Finke wrote the following quote. It first appeared on June 5, 2007 with the release of version 9.0b1 of the Netscape browser.
And thus the Creator looked upon the beast reborn and saw that it was good.
from The Book of Mozilla, 8:20
Whose translation is:
Then the Creator looked at the reborn beast and saw it was good. The book of Mozilla, 8:20
The reference 8:20 is due to the fact that on August 20, 2006 the first email was sent mentioning the possibility of developing the next version of the Netscape browser.
When he talks about the "Creator" refers to the Netscape company. There are two interpretations of the verse: The phrase "beast reborn" appears in the above quote referring to the Mozilla foundation and the phrase "it was good" may be a tribute to those who have contributed to the Mozilla project. "beast reborn" It would also refer to the reopening of its browser development department within the company, since version 8 was made by Mercurial Communications.
The Mozilla Book, 11:9 (10th Edition)
In Firefox 3 and 4 a new citation from the book appears:
Mammon fell asleep. And the Reborn beast, spreading throughout the Earth, and his followers were legion. And they proclaimed new times and sacrificed with fire, with the cunning of the foxes. And they built a new world into their own image as they promised sacred wordsand the word of the beast and his offspring. Mammon woke up, and suddenly it was just a lap.
of Mozilla's book, 11:9
(10th edition)
This time it includes two links: one on sacred words and one on the word.
The phrase "Mammon fell asleep" refers to MS Internet Explorer being stuck at version 6.0 for 5 years. "The beast was reborn" refers to Netscape being reborn at the AOL company (at least until 9.0.0.5). & # 34; Spreading throughout the earth and his followers became legion & # 34; because after Netscape was reborn, it expanded to the entire globe and its followers quickly became millions. "And they proclaimed new times" because in the future browsers would no longer be so tied to Internet Explorer, but rather new possibilities would exist. "They sacrificed crops with fire, with the cunning of foxes" refers (directly) to Firefox, as its logo is a fire fox, hence the name "Firefox". "And they built a new world in their own image as the sacred words promised" refers to the fact that the Mozilla Foundation released the source codes of its products. "Mammon woke up" refers to the release of version 7 of IE; & # 34; and suddenly he was nothing but a straggler & # 34; refers to the fact that Explorer, from being an innovator, went on to copy features from Firefox that Explorer lacked.
The passage number, 11:9, may refer to November 9 (11-9 in Anglo-Saxon nomenclature). On November 9, 2004, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 was released. It would have to do with the rebirth of the beast in terms of creating the first stable executable of what was the "Beast" and that today is Firefox.
The Mozilla Book, 15:1
Them twins Mammon fought. His fight plunged the world into a new darkness and the beast detested the darkness. So he started moving boldly and became more powerful and went beyond and multiplied. And the beasts brought Fire and light to darkness.
of Mozilla's book, 15:1
This verse was included in the Firefox 21 source code on January 23, 2013.
With the "twins" de Mammon refers to Apple and Google whose operating systems have duopolized the mobile operating system market. The "new darkness" mentions the online software stores of these systems, which are closed and prevent freedom. When he talks about rapid movement he is referring to Firefox's new six-week release cycle, which started in June 2011. And when he says that Firefox has multiplied he is referring to the Firefox for Android and Firefox OS project.
Mozilla's Book on Flock
A new verse from Mozilla's book, 11:2, has been published in the Flock 1.0 + browser, the "social web browser" based on Firefox. This verse is displayed in a blue/white vertical gradient when about:mozilla is placed in the address bar. The verse is as follows:
And when the Beast had been made with the power of a quarter of the Earth, a quarter of a hundred Sulphur Birds flew from the Depths. The birds crossed hundreds of mountains and found twenty-four wise men coming from the stars. And then it started, the believers dared to listen. Then they took their pen and dared to create. Finally, they dared to share their writings with all humanity. Spreading words of freedom and breaking chains, birds granted freedom to everyone.
of Mozilla's book, 11:2
"And when the Beast had seized power over a quarter of the Earth..." is probably a reference to the growing market share that Firefox is gaining more than that of the popular Internet Explorer. The "brimstone birds" refer to Flock's development name Sulfur (in the English version Flock shows "sulfur birds"). The "mountains" refers to the city of Mountain View, California (in the English version, Flock shows "mountains views" and not just "mountains"), where the company that produces Flock is based. "He took his pen and dared to create" most likely it refers to the fact of the integration that Flock boasts with blogs, social networks and others.
Mozilla's book on SeaMonkey
A new verse from Mozilla's book, 7:15, has been published on the SeaMonkey Internet suite. The verse is as follows:
And so at last the beast fell. and the unbelievers rejoiced. But not everything was lost, from the ashes arose Big bird. The bird looked down at the infidels and threw Fire and thunder about them. The beast was reborn with his strength renewedand followers of Mammon They shook with horror.
of Mozilla's book, 7:15
Mozilla's Book on Songbird
- In Songbird 1.4 when you type in a tab about:mozilla you can see exactly what comes out in Firefox 3.0
Mozilla's book on Iceweasel
Entering the text "about:iceweasel" In Iceweasel, the alternative version (fork) of Mozilla Firefox created by Debian to be able to distribute it, according to its terms and without restrictions from the Mozilla Foundation, you can see:
And thus the beast grew powerful, and fire and thunderswept the land. But Mammon in their hearts, and the beast Foundered, and its Corpse arose, and commanded "thou shalt not fly in my name." And the blazes shall freeze cold, and the souls of the followers of Mammon shall learn to tremble in the face of ice as they did before the fire.
from The Book of Ice, 10:13
The quote alludes to the strength of Debian's and the Free Software Foundation's free software rules, and the fact that features not compatible with these rules were mostly cosmetic (the mark, name and logo).
On Pale Moon
Before Pale Moon version 26, typing about:mozilla in the address bar would show verse 15:1. However, Pale Moon 26 and later show the following:
Dedicated to the tireless developers who have come and gone.
To those who have put their heart and soul into Mozilla products.
To those who have seen their good intentions and hard work squandered.
To those who really cared about the user, and cared about usability.
To those who truly understood us and desired freedom, but were unheard.
To those who knew that change is inevitable, but loss of vision is not.
To those who were forced to give up the good fight.
Thank you. Pale Moon would not have been possible without you.
Whose translation would be:
Dedicated to the tireless developers who have gone and come.For those who have placed their heart and soul in the products of Mozilla.
For those who have seen their good intentions and hard work wasted.
For those who really care about the user, and care about usability.
For those who truly understood us and desired freedom, but were not heard.
For those who knew that change is inevitable, but loss of vision is not.
For those who were forced to give up the good fight.
Thank you. Pale Moon wouldn't have been possible without you.
Similar to Iceweasel, typing about:palemoon should display the following text:
The Beast stumbled in the dark for it could no longer see the path. It started to fracture and weaken, trying to reshape itself into the form of metal.
Even the witches would no longer lay eyes upon it, for it had become hideous and twisted.
The soul of the Beast seemed lost forever.
Then, by the full moon's light, a child was born; a child with the unbridled soul of the Beast that would make all others Pal in comparison.
That translated would look like:
The Beast stumbled into the darkness because I could no longer see the way. It began to fracture and weaken, trying to reshape the shape of the metal.Even the witches could not take their eyes off him, because he had become horrible and twisted.
The soul of the Beast seemed lost forever.Then, by the light of the full moon, a child was born; a child with the unbridled soul of the Beast that would make all others pale in comparison.
of the Chronicles of Pale Moon, 24:2
The Mozilla book in other web browsers
- If the command is written about:mozilla in a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (up to version 6) a strange display of the same blue color appears when Windows hangs. From IE6 for Windows XP SP2 this screen is not displayed, except if it is written in the browser bar "res://mshtml.dll/about.moz".
- In the Epiphany browser (for S.O. Unix and Mac OS) if written about:epiphany A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry appears in the same format, but with the blue background.
- In the browser AOL 9.1 if written about:mozilla, the word appears Mozilla without format in a browser window. However, this is possible to do with any word, since the browser does not understand the instruction about, and writes directly the following to "about:".