Over on Desktoplinux.com, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has written a very brave article criticizing the recent forking of the Firefox code. This has arisen because of the spat over use of the word “Firefox”. The entire project has been forked, and this is a genuine fork too, with new code and new features.

The article is brave because the free software community has a habit of thinking those who make criticisms about its philosophies are automatically enemies. The message seems clear: You’re either with us, or against us.

Recently I visited the home of a friend who I had converted to Firefox a year or two ago. Using his computer to check my email, I was thrust into a parallel universe when I fired up the browser. His Firefox had a really garish black/green look and feel. There were several additional toolbars I hadn’t seen before. I checked his extensions dialog and, sure enough, he had hundreds installed.

This made using Firefox a curiously different experience, like driving a car that’s the same make and model as yours, but which has been radically personalized and “tricked out” with add-ons and gadgets.

This is the beauty of Mozilla products, of course. But in utilizing a fundamentally modular structure, Mozilla may well have defined the future of desktop software.

For the past few weeks I’ve been using Mozilla Sunbird for my calendar needs. This is the stand-alone calendar tool that’s based on the same XUL technology behind Firefox.

It’s a pretty cool product that definitely meets my needs, although it has to be said that I’m far from a Yuppie when it comes to appointment management. All I want is to see at a glance what’s happening on a particular day.