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Update on Mozilla WebThings

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Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#11

Post by silon42 »

detaro wrote: post #7

Maybe just a marketing failure, but WebThings to me always seemed like a project with no clear purpose in the ecosystem. Not enough mindshare and nothing unique to attract that mindshare. Open-source home automation projects is not a field lacking options. While the idea of standardization for protocols has some merit, a W3C group working silently and then tying it to another new standalone "gateway" project is not t…

Haven't used it (or any IOT), but they are doing something right:

(quote) Because your smart home gateway is designed to operate locally inside your home without the need for a centralised cloud service, it will continue to work just as before. You’ll still be able to monitor, control and automate your home via the gateway’s web interface inside your home network.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#12

Post by atonse »

dahfizz wrote: post #3

I hope this goes well, but I am worried. This is a project that I really care about. Mozilla seemed like our only hope for a smart home that doesn't spy on you between WebThings and all the speech processing tech they had. It's important that we have open source alternatives. I will be contributing to this project and I encourage others to do so as well.

Apple’s HomeKit Is another ecosystem that doesn’t spy on you. It’s the main reason I picked it even though there are fewer, more expensive devices to choose from.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#13

Post by detaro »

silon42 wrote: post #11
detaro wrote: post #7

Maybe just a marketing failure, but WebThings to me always seemed like a project with no clear purpose in the ecosystem. Not enough mindshare and nothing unique to attract that mindshare. Open-source home automation projects is not a field lacking options. While the idea of standardization for protocols has some merit, a W3C group working silently and then tying it to another new standalone "gateway" project is not t…

Haven't used it (or any IOT), but they are doing something right: (quote) Because your smart home gateway is designed to operate locally inside your home without the need for a centralised cloud service, it will continue to work just as before. You’ll still be able to monitor, control and automate your home via the gateway’s web interface inside your home network.

Sure, but that's true of pretty much all the open-source options in the field. (To be clear, I don't want to say it's bad, just not sure about the place and why)

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#14

Post by benfrancis »

josteink wrote: post #2

In other words: It's dead. And to be clear, IMO that is absolutely fair. At this stage WebThings seemed more like a conceptual thought, rather than actual marketable products, protocols or even code. If Mozilla need to cut for real, they should definitely get rid of stuff like this which lacked a complete and convincing story.

I'm pleased to report that WebThings isn't dead, it is alive and kicking with a new commercial sponsor.

The Thing Description specification at the core of WebThings is now a W3C Recommendation (https://www.w3.org/TR/wot-thing-description/) and there is a new W3C Web Thing Protocol community group working on standardising the concrete HTTP & WebSockets based protocol WebThings uses to monitor and control devices.

The WebThings platform includes over a hundred GitHub repositories worth of code (https://github.com/WebThingsIO/) but I'm sorry to hear you feel it lacks a convincing story. That's something I hope to improve in WebThings' new life beyond Mozilla's R&D department.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#15

Post by vongomben »

detaro wrote: post #7

Maybe just a marketing failure, but WebThings to me always seemed like a project with no clear purpose in the ecosystem. Not enough mindshare and nothing unique to attract that mindshare. Open-source home automation projects is not a field lacking options. While the idea of standardization for protocols has some merit, a W3C group working silently and then tying it to another new standalone "gateway" project is not t…

I totally see your points. The interoperability of a standard and a common voice on the home protocols could be relevant move. The gateway is not need or at least is in a very competitive market (with open source solutions)

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#16

Post by dvionoth »

dahfizz wrote: post #3

I hope this goes well, but I am worried. This is a project that I really care about. Mozilla seemed like our only hope for a smart home that doesn't spy on you between WebThings and all the speech processing tech they had. It's important that we have open source alternatives. I will be contributing to this project and I encourage others to do so as well.

have you heard of HASS? https://www.home-assistant.io/

it seems like the perfect fit for you.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#17

Post by calpaterson »

gostsamo wrote: post #9
lloydatkinson wrote: post #4

I have since removed my plan of using WebThings in my house, right after Mozilla started it's self imposed suicide starting with firing Firefox devs.

The strange thing is that as far as I get, Mozilla didn't fire a single ff dev. Servo - yes, mdn - yes, but they actually want to focus on FF and transfered people from the servo team to the core product.

My understanding was that some Firefox teams were cut.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/firef...

Do you know different?

I also think that cuts to servo are de-facto cuts to Firefox as that browser was supposed to be the source of faster components.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#18

Post by scns »

dvionoth wrote: post #16
dahfizz wrote: post #3

I hope this goes well, but I am worried. This is a project that I really care about. Mozilla seemed like our only hope for a smart home that doesn't spy on you between WebThings and all the speech processing tech they had. It's important that we have open source alternatives. I will be contributing to this project and I encourage others to do so as well.

have you heard of HASS? https://www.home-assistant.io/ it seems like the perfect fit for you.

Hass translates to hate in german

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#19

Post by dralley »

calpaterson wrote: post #17
gostsamo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strange thing is that as far as I get, Mozilla didn't fire a single ff dev. Servo - yes, mdn - yes, but they actually want to focus on FF and transfered people from the servo team to the core product.

My understanding was that some Firefox teams were cut. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/firef... Do you know different? I also think that cuts to servo are de-facto cuts to Firefox as that browser was supposed to be the source of faster components.

The only parts of Servo that could realistically be ported into Gecko within the next couple of years have already been ported. Servo's DOM engine would be the last major remaining piece, but that would be a very, very long-term project.

According to your link, developer tools and internal tooling/infrastructure teams took a cut. The effects will mostly be indirect.

Re: Update on Mozilla WebThings

#20

Post by aesh2Xa1 »

benfrancis wrote: post #8
lloydatkinson wrote: post #4

I have since removed my plan of using WebThings in my house, right after Mozilla started it's self imposed suicide starting with firing Firefox devs.

Sorry to hear that and I'm very sad about the recent layoffs at Mozilla too, which included lots of people I know. What would convince you to give WebThings a second chance under its new management?

For me, what would do it is a complete product that is not niche. A Chromecast competitor that supports the big platforms and content providers out of the box (Android/iOS, Spotify/Netflix, Alexa/Google/Siri) would be ideal. This already exists in the Chromecast, except it's not open. Ideally, it'd just be software on a Raspberry Pi or any hardware.
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