thanks for sharing this. It was nice to see this week with the lumia launch, how many people want a low-stress mobile phone, that doesn't beep, and doesn't track your every move.
b2g could have been amazing to a mobile industry that feels shallower each quarter.
The Story of Firefox OS
11–20 of 87 posts
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#12They should have forked AOSP instead and included F-Droid and Firefox by default. Maybe tweaked some things, like replacing WebView with a Gecko solution, adding first-class Web app support, etc.
First class unsigned code in unsafe language support on a physical device seems to be a bit of a worrisome idea.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#13The new web APIs developed as part of Firefox OS seem to be growing. Bluetooth connectivity via webapps has a lot of potiental.
In some fields, incremental enhancement isn't enough, and that, I believe, is what killed Firefox phones. They've shown that their excellent engineering allows to run better code on cheaper spec - but people still buy phones for numbers in specs, not performance.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#14They should have forked AOSP instead and included F-Droid and Firefox by default. Maybe tweaked some things, like replacing WebView with a Gecko solution, adding first-class Web app support, etc.
First class unsigned code in unsafe language support on a physical device seems to be a bit of a worrisome idea.
Web apps would also have to get permissions like native apps.
But you're right that some permissions like complete file access might be a bit too much. They could implement it so that only signed Web apps installed through the app store would get such permissions.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#15> What I Would Do Differently Today ... Product — Not try to create the cheapest smartphone. But, then who will? Firefox OS allowed you to run a full HTML5 browser on a phone with half the specs of Android[1]. They sold a phone for $33 that was (and still is) the cheapest thing to run Youtube and Wikipedia! The only huge technological advantage Firefox OS had was the fact that Boot-to-Gecko didn't have the overhead o…
> Want to know where the best location to get water is? Want to know which farms in the area are hiring? Want to see the local mayor's latest scandalous photo? These all can be coded in a weekend at the local internet cafe.
These could also just be implemented as web ... sites.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#16At the end of the day the web is interpreted, and developed on desktop computers.
This result in two problems when doing web first on mobile.
1: bloated frameworks. Both in term of CPU usage, memory consumption, and the number of round trips needed to show something like a simple list of links.
2: "mobile" sites that may look right at first glance but that invariably show themselves to have elements that hint at having been designed on a large screen computer with a mouse attached.
But what sank FFOS was its availability. Its concept fitted perfectly into the SV mindset and the ongoing "maker" thinking.
But they were launched and sold to the "third" world as spruced up featurephones.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#17>My main hope in documenting all of this is that Firefox OS is remembered as more than just a footnote in tech history which says “a failed mobile OS from Mozilla”. I got one of the Mozilla Flame phones back when they came out and loved that device. I'm pissed that now the only option for a viable open source mobile OS I have is Google. But unless there is some unlikely comeback, that is exactly what it will be remem…
> I'm pissed that now the only option for a viable open source mobile OS I have is Google.
There will even be a device... a Sony: http://www.xperiablog.net/2017/02/27/jollas-sailfish-os-is-o... :-)
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#18> [biggest Achievements] Product — Successfully launched 20 devices in over 30 countries, mobilised the Mozilla community to help run launch parties and created slick branding and marketing campaigns Therein lies the rub. The products were all mediocre-specced handsets from little known manufacturers. So, right from the outset Firefox OS felt like a down-market 'landfill Android' type product. I'd have bought a Firef…
Yes, OpenSource is only for those, who can't afford better... Seems the premise of many, but if we also accept that, we won't get far. But he knows that: "After realising “open” on its own doesn’t sell, ultimately chose a strategy to compete mainly on price, which is just a race to the bottom. "
One of lessons that Dell learned: do not create low-end laptops with Linux. The Linux users won't be interested in weak hardware and those who want to save the money, will be disappointed, because they do not realize that there's no Windows before the purchase.
That's why the project Sputnik used a machine from the higher end of the spectrum - and it was a success.
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#19I would agree that the timing of FirefoxOS is too early rather than too late.
Another infuriating thing is that they decided to focus the FirefoxOS on the cheapest smartphone. You have to remember the one who buy these cheap phones, of course they will be concern about their ISP price too. In the end it would be better for them just to buy a feature phones. Eventhough Firefox OS can work offline, most of the advantage of FirefoxOS is on the web interaction. They really should target urban customer
Re: The Story of Firefox OS
#20I still see no reason why they couldn't reboot the project and agree with his thinking here: "Create a mid-range tablet ... Carve out a niche in developed markets first ... Firefox OS was actually five years too early!"
I always thought they were trying to put a ChromeOS competitor on a phone when it actually belonged on laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s (to start). I would have been very interested in a device running an extension-rich privacy-respecting browser, using open tech, focused on education and as a device to develop for.
It's essentially Mozilla's mission statement made into physical form. Dealing with corporate interests, as the article suggests, forced Mozilla to diverge from their base (end-users). It was a learning experience, that was all.
I don't actually expect the project to be revived and that's a real shame given the hostility of the alternatives (not including Linux, etal) available to (the rest of) us.