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Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#2
I very strongly want this to work. I am very excited about the prospect of a phone/tablet OS that I hack up apps for in Javascript. But even more than that I pray for a true competitor to iOSX/Android.

They just need to get this thing moving. I am planning to buy a tablet this Christmas and I want FFOS to be a very good choice by then. Come on Mozilla.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#3
Very impressive! I remember seeing a list of Firefox OS supporting companies some time ago. A BIG list...

Ubuntu Phone has this nice webpage for "Operator and OEM partners" [1], but do they actually have any? I doubted Firefox OS a lot more than Ubuntu Phone, but it seems I was wrong.

[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/operators-and-oems

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#4
Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine?

If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#5
post #4

Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine? If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

Are you going to also complain about Canonical partnering with the Chinese government in creating a Ubuntu derivative[1][2]?

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UbuntuKylin

Business relationships make for strange bedfellows, and I'm sure Mozilla has some serious preconceptions about working with Foxconn, however it should be comforting that we're moving beyond the world of Microsoft/Apple/Google dominating consumer electronics.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#6
post #4

Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine? If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

One could consider Foxconn evil (I don't) and still recognize that it plays a very important role in the tech industry (most tech hardware gets assembled there after all) and therefor the fact that a huge player like Foxconn joins FirefoxOS could be seen as an important endorsement for Firefox and be celebrated by Firefox users/fans (which I am not).

The fact that you could turn a story like that into an occasion to attack Apple critics makes you look like some Apple fanboy with delusions of persecution.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#7
post #4

Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine? If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

Well ... because Apple is like the hot girl always complaining to be fat in front of her fat friends.

With the massive sales and the high margins that are in every analyst's wet dream Apple could double what it pays for assembly with ease and without huge hit on the bottom line. But they don't care enough.

This will be low margin/low volume devices initially with which mozilla - a non profit organization that wants to open the door to the internet on the poor people of the third world while preaching platform openness and standards. So maybe people are ready to cut them some slack for some time.

Also maybe they are produced in (slightly) better conditions than iphone just based on the fact that the volumes and pressure are quite lower than on the iDevices assembly line.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#8
This is a great move for Mozilla, and not completely surprising that a manufacturer would take an open source OS and dump it on the hardware they are building for everyone else.

Foxconn is providing enough value building devices that they could produce their own and if they can figure out the marketing/branding, would have a good shot at it. At the very least they could partner with retailers to co-brand a store brand like Best Buy does with insignia. Make a special store brand at each big chain - Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart. It's a little surprising this hasn't happened yet now that I think about it.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#9
post #5
post #4

Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine? If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

Are you going to also complain about Canonical partnering with the Chinese government in creating a Ubuntu derivative[1][2]? [1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UbuntuKylin Business relationships make for strange bedfellows, and I'm sure Mozilla has some serious preconceptions about working with Foxconn, however it should be comforting that we're moving beyond the world of Microso…

What does that have to do with Foxconn? Is it because Foxconn is in China and Mozilla is FOSS, like Ubuntu?

I don't think the parent was making a comment about either China, or FOSS, but about Foxconn, Apple (their most well-known and largest customer), Mozilla, and people's perceptions of partnership with Foxconn seeming situational.

Re: Foxconn Joins the Firefox OS Eco-System

#10
post #4

Shouldn't there be outrage about Foxconn and its production practices? Seems not long ago it was a hellhole representing everything wrong about the modern tech industry - now it's perfectly fine? If so, good job by Tim Cook to pressure them into greatness in worker treatment. Right?

Yeah, I've got to say: the fact that this is being done with Foxconn leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know the Mozilla folks never actually signed on with the whole "don't be evil" thing, but this is still something of a stain on the way they do things.
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