| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The Book of Mozilla is a well-known computer Easter egg found in the Netscape and Mozilla series of browsers.
There is no real book entitled The Book of Mozilla. However, apparent quotations found in Netscape and Mozilla give this impression by revealing passages similar to the Book of Revelation of the Bible. When about:mozilla is typed into the location bar, various versions of these browsers display a message in white text on a maroon background in the browser window. In all, three different passages have been produced.
The book is named after Mozilla, Netscape's green lizard mascot, who later gave his name to the Mozilla project (whose mascot is a different, red dinosaur).
Before Netscape 1.1, about:mozilla produced the text "Mozilla rules!" In Internet Explorer, a blank blue page is produced. Some say it is parodying the Blue Screen of Death.
The Book of Mozilla first appeared in Netscape 1.1 and stayed until Netscape 4.8. The following prophecy was displayed:
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
The "beast" is Netscape. The punishments threatened towards "unbelievers" (non-Netscape users) are traditionally biblical, but with the strange threat that their "tags shall blink until the end of days". This refers to the controversial HTML tag introduced in an earlier Netscape version. This proprietary HTML extension, which made text blink on and off, was widely derided as annoying, distracting, and ugly - thus making it an undesirable punishment. The chapter and verse numbers 12:10 refer to the release date of Netscape 1.0, December 10, 1994.
Netscape versions 6.0 and later were based on Mozilla code and featured the following message (which was also included in all Mozilla builds):
And the beast shall be made legion. Its numbers shall be increased a thousand thousand fold. The din of a million keyboards like unto a great storm shall cover the earth, and the followers of Mammon shall tremble.
from The Book of Mozilla, 3:31
(Red Letter Edition)
Again, the "beast" is Netscape. The text probably refers to Netscape's hope that, by opening its source, they could attract a " legionLegion can refer to: # A Roman legion # A Polish Legion # A Foreign Legion # Legion (model), a computer programming model." of developers all across the world, who would help improve the software (with the "din of a million keyboards"). Some suggest that " MammonMammon a word of Aramaic origin, means "riches", but has an unclear etymology; scholars have suggested connections with a word meaning "entrusted", or with the Hebrew word "matmon", meaning "treasure". It is also used in Hebrew as a word for "money" -." refers obliquely to MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation , headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, is the world's largest software company (with over 50,000 employees in various countries, as of May 2004). Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of software, which seems plausible given that Microsoft Internet Explorer was Netscape's chief competition (and that the word "mammon" or "ממון" means "money" in HebrewThe word Hebrew can variously mean: The Hebrew language or Hebrew languages The Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew calendar Pertaining to Jews or Judaism The ancient Hebrew people An Israelite, Jew, Pashtun, Bnai Israel The term Hebrew is sometimes used by certai, as reference to Microsoft's unproportionally larger monetary power). The numbers 3:31 refer to March 31March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years). There are 275 days remaining. Events 307 After divorcing his wife Minerva, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian. 1774 American R, 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting, the date on which Netscape released their source code. This day is considered important enough to be a "Red Letter" Day.