what was wrong with the name chimera?

lungaretta · February 16, 2003 6:36PM

<a href="http://www.mozillazine.org/weblogs/pinkerton/archives/002527.html"; target="_blank">read this</a>.

camino is a fireplace in italian. hmmm... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

bauman · February 16, 2003 7:00PM

Apparently, there's some legal issue. Here's what his blog from the day before says:

[quote] Many of you may be wondering "Where is Chimera 0.7?" It's sure been a while since we've put out a new release and we've got a long list of new features and bugfixes. What we don't have is a name.

You heard me. For a variety of reasons, the details of which I certainly won't go into here because I'll cause myself to blow a gasket, we can no longer legally use the name Chimera. We figured it would be easy to come up with another name and just move on. That was several months ago and many, many painful meetings complete with Chinese water torture and thumbscrews. The net result: we still don't have a good name. Oh, coming up with a name that doesn't suck is easy. We've got plenty. What's hard is coming up with a name that doesn't suck and clears legal. That, my dear readers, is close to impossible.

We have two top contenders right now, Camino and iVoyage. Neither really float my boat, but then again, I didn't think Chimera was a good name either. I even tried to get it changed. I guess that shows what I know. Yet when I tell people we might call it Camino, they burst out laughing. I really don't like being laughed at. Perhaps it dredges up too many childhood memories. Everyone is a critic. It's too easy to say, "God that name sucks," and yet not have any suggestions. That's really not very helpful. Really. Not helpful.

So it all boils down to the fact that we cannot release 0.7 using the name Chimera. Until the name issue gets resolved, don't expect to see it. Rest assured that we are still working on it and we have lots of cool things in store for future versions.

Oh, please, for the love of god, do not suggest any names either in comments on via email. I'll hunt you down and slaughter your family. That's a promise. The last thing I need to see is what you think a kewl name would be. Trust me, it probably won't make it through legal. <hr></blockquote>

[Edit] A quick Google search for Chimera brings up a variety of companies, but the one that probably did them in is <a href="http://www.chimera.org/"; target="_blank">http://www.chimera.org/</a>; - a UNIX web browser.

Some others, tho, are:

<a href="http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/"; target="_blank">www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/</a> - a free graphics program

<a href="http://www.syntheverse.com/"; target="_blank">www.syntheverse.com/</a> - a Sci Fi Publisher

<a href="http://www.chimeralighting.com/"; target="_blank">www.chimeralighting.com/</a> - Film, video and still photography

chimera.roma1.infn.it/ - a WWW server in Rome.

[ 02-16-2003: Message edited by: bauman ]

lungaretta · February 16, 2003 8:07PM

so i guess the question (and probably the name of the thread) should have been

"So What Would You Call Chimera?"

me? i think BrowserWithCoolTabsHaHa 0.7

elric · February 16, 2003 8:52PM

I'd call it WebTabs or SurfTabs or even iTabs

alcimedes · February 16, 2003 10:17PM

they should take a page out of Apple's book and call it

"Sosume"

(that's read So sue me)

alcimedes · February 16, 2003 10:21PM

or from thesaurus.com (sp?)

<a href="http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=chimera"; target="_blank">http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=chimera</a>;

personally i like ignis fatuus the best.

chrisg · February 16, 2003 11:07PM

I like BWAIN 0.7 (Browser Without An Intersting Name)

inactionman · February 17, 2003 12:14AM

Either Reign of Terror 0.7 or widowmaker 0.7. Or get really creative the way Apple did with their email app and call it Browser. Maybe Tabasauros. Maybe not. Boooo!

bill m · February 17, 2003 12:48AM

"Camino" means "road" in Spanish.

jll · February 17, 2003 4:37AM

I don't understand the socalled legal battle.

Chimera is the name of the project, and Chimera isn't mentioned in the browser at all - it's called Navigator.

ghost_user_name · February 17, 2003 1:25PM

[quote]Originally posted by JLL:

Chimera is the name of the project, and Chimera isn't mentioned in the browser at all - it's called Navigator.<hr></blockquote>Ah, but it used to be the name of the browser as well. That's why there's so much confusion about the name nowadays. They kept Chimera as the project name but changed the brower's name to Navigator. To add to the end-user's confusion who may not know about the differing names, the preferences in the ~/Library directory are stored with the *project* name "Chimera" and not "Navigator"!

[ 02-17-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]

jll · February 17, 2003 3:53PM

[quote]Originally posted by Brad:

Ah, but it used to be the name of the browser as well. That's why there's so much confusion about the name nowadays. They kept Chimera as the project name but changed the brower's name to Navigator. To add to the end-user's confusion who may not know about the differing names, the preferences in the ~/Library directory are stored with the *project* name "Chimera" and not "Navigator"!<hr></blockquote>

I know that the browser was called Chimera earlier, but I just can't see why Navigator 0.7 can't be released.

lungaretta · February 17, 2003 4:45PM

i remember getting on the internet for the first time with Navigator 2.0 mid 90's(ish).

Am i confused as to why Navigator stepped back and now resides at v0.6... ummm.. no... duh.

I guess a project with no name is like a war with no flags

bluerabbit · February 19, 2003 11:01AM

[quote] Originally posted by Bill M:

"Camino" means "road" in Spanish. <hr></blockquote>

Wasn't it also a planet from Star Wars Episode 2?

mrmister · February 19, 2003 12:29PM

<geek>

That was Kamino.

</geek>

hamfistedbunvendor · February 20, 2003 9:25AM

OK here's a few suggestions:

Searchlight

Radar

Tracker

Ximera

Xandra

Xtab

Superweb

Locator

I will think of more.

TTFN

luca · February 20, 2003 12:17PM

Maybe something incorporating the name "Mozilla" into it? And reflecting either its cocoa background or its OS X compatability.

Like...

MozillaX

MozX

XMoz

XMozilla

CocoaMoz

"I choose you, Kokomoz! Kill that Pikachu!"

snoopy · February 20, 2003 2:46PM

I thought iVoyage was not bad, but I would make it iVoyager, which might be a take off on Internet Explorer. Gad, how a trivial little problem like this can keep real progress from happening.

kecksy · February 20, 2003 11:48PM

How about Aremihc? (Chimera spelled backwards)

No, to hard to pronounce.... Oh, wait!

Echinda. She gave birth to the Chimera.

Her upper body is beautiful (like Aqua), but she has the lower body of a lizard (Gecko).

hamfistedbunvendor · February 21, 2003 1:43PM

Why not call it

Completelyredundantnowwehavesafari

t'hain esh kelch · February 21, 2003 3:52PM

Maybe because

IEatSafariForBreakfast 0.7

would be a MUCh better name, and one that actually makes sense?

what was wrong with the name chimera?

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