Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones • Hacker News Board

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#101

Post by wamatt » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:44 PM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #40

lewisl9029 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree that they should turn their focus towards solving privacy and identity management. I'm hoping that this might mean they can direct some resources towards Persona development again. Or at least experiment with something new in this area.

+1 for Persona. Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10436123 Re: privacy / security, I really wish they hadn't dropped Thunderbird.

It's a shame really, but as an outsider, it wasn't clear that Persona was even given a chance to fail.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#102

Post by bad_user » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:45 PM UTC

johansch wrote: post #60

sp332 wrote: post #31

Remember, the point of Firefox OS was not to challenge or take over the market with Firefox OS devices. It was to develop web APIs for phone things, like the dialer, video, voice, accelerometer, etc. And they succeeded! That's why the statement says "We are proud of the benefits Firefox OS added to the Web platform". Other browsers adopted the tech, and all phone browsers are better off for the project. That's a win.

That sounds like a post-rationalization to me. All I heard was that this was how they expected to survive without Google. It was expected to bring a lot of revenue.

Source?

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#103

Post by static_noise » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:45 PM UTC

Steko wrote: post #93

frik wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to IDC the Worldwide Smartphone Market in 2015: Android ... 81.2% iOS ... 15.8% Windows Phone ... 2.2% Others ... 0.8% Worldwide Smartphone Forecast by OS for 2019: Android ... 82.6% iOS ... 14.1% Windows Phone ... 2.3% Others ... 0.9% Source: http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40664915 @downvoter: it's a forcast by the well known IDC, also the current market share (2015) is interesting on its ow…

Same 'forecasters' that had WP over 20% in 2015, lol. http://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/idc21.jpg

When you know nothing about future trends the current state is the best estimate. This explains both predictions.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#104

Post by wott » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:48 PM UTC

gtk40 wrote: post #94

Animats wrote: post #45

A few days ago, it looked like they were ditching Thunderbird so they could concentrate on their phone products. What's left besides Firefox? - "WebMaker", whatever that does. - Rust. - The $60 Mozilla hoodie. - Their world tour of meetups.[1] - The really fancy headquarters overlooking SF bay. A tight focus on Firefox might be a win. I'm looking forward to an all-Rust browser. [1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contr…

SeaMonkey? Or is there practically no connection left with Mozilla? (I still use Composer for maintaining some basic stuff and use it on my netbook where it ironically is faster than Firefox).

4 days ago, I read a Mozilla employee writing "Seamonkey does not interest anyone inside Mozilla. Who would nowadays use a Netscape-like tool?".

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#105

Post by kybernetikos » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:51 PM UTC

MawNicker wrote: post #77

sremani wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will Windows Phone/ Windows Mobile be around 2019, as a die-hard WP user, I hope so. I just do not like those icon based OSes.

I suspect the Universal Windows Platform will have a significant impact. Especially the ability to dock your phone with an external display/keyboard/mouse. For a large portion of the market it displaces the need for a second computing device. Microsoft is much further along on this front than both Android and iOS.

I've been able to (and have done so) plug my android phone into a usb hub with mouse and keyboard and into a 1080p screen for quite a few years now.

Of course, there's relatively little that truly takes advantage of that set up, and making the user experience more pleasant would make a huge difference, but android understands mouse and keyboard input just fine. Microsoft may be somewhat further along on this front, but I don't think it's as much as you think - the apps that can run in this way are not full windows applications, and there are relatively few of them at present.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#106

Post by SwellJoe » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:51 PM UTC

ausjke wrote: post #81

Lots of headlines at HN from Mozilla these days. Tried Firefox OS emulator and it's fine, but not impressed enough to actually to get a real device. Yes they better focus on privacy/identity and revamp Thuderbird to make it a unique product.

Revamping Thunderbird has already been ruled out by one of those previous headlines. Mozilla has cut the cord with Thunderbird. So, they're either focusing on their core strengths or giving up on a lot of fronts, depending on your perspective.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#107

Post by rockdoe » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:52 PM UTC

epoch1970 wrote: post #30

Certhas wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But when they tried to pioneer privacy respecting ads in the new tab window, they were repeatedly and roundly criticised here, too...

That's not the kind of innovation that users want, nor is it the kind that they truly benefit from. In general, users don't want any ads at all showing in their browser. They don't want them as part of web pages, they don't want them embedded in videos, and they surely don't want them as part of the browser itself! This should have been obvious given the popularity of various ad-blocking extensions for Firefox. Going…

Users want to have their cake and eat it too. Following the users wishes when they're self-destructive is bad, and you should feel bad.

Ads are enormously important for a lot of quality content out there to exist. Destroying them now, without good alternatives, is destructive to the web.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#108

Post by criddell » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:53 PM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #6

Guess it's up to Canonical to make Ubuntu Touch a viable open source smartphone OS - are there even devices running it that are being sold in the U.S.? Did not expect that Sailfish OS would outlive Firefox OS.

If you want an open source smartphone OS, why not just use Android (AOSP)?

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#109

Post by johansch » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:55 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #102

johansch wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a post-rationalization to me. All I heard was that this was how they expected to survive without Google. It was expected to bring a lot of revenue.

Source?

Random industry gossip. From real people obviously, but noone I can name.

Re: Mozilla Will Stop Developing and Selling Firefox OS Smartphones

#110

Post by SwellJoe » Tue, Dec 08, 2015, 9:56 PM UTC

I was always waiting for a credible Firefox OS phone in the US; ready to buy immediately on arrival. Nothing ever arrived. The phones were weak by Android phone standards, expensive by low-end Android phone standards, and often didn't support all of the bands of my carrier and so would have had less connectivity in remote locations.

I'm disappointed, though. I looked forward to a more open phone built by an organization I trust. Google is barely OK. Apple is not even that. Microsoft is improving, but still out of the running in terms of openness.