Firefox OS

Article said:

Mozilla reckons the OS will be lighter and faster, but also says it will be more open than the open source OS,  Android. Google has shown some hesitation in releasing source code for recent versions of Android.

Except, it also looks like Android with some iOS influences...

The interesting bit is that all the apps are to be written in HTML5. When I first heard about the OS, I thought "Yeah, right...people definitely want to develop for yet another platform. This will work, sure." But if it's all in HTML5, then maybe the barrier for development is actually lower, and that devs will get the benefit of some code/skill reuse.

Also, Mozilla doesn't really need to promote its own products like Google, which may mean less restrictions for carriers and smartphone manufacturers. They would be able to morph it to their needs.

Maybe the OS might gain some popularity?

So not like firefox then?

in the current model, you have 3 major data points (WP, iPhone, Android) with certain groups of people of varying sizes attracted to each point. Now, when you add a fourth point that is similar to one of the existing points (doesn't matter how technically different, but conceptually), how does that effect the model now? Would there be a split effect, as in the existing groups going to Android split slightly between it and FFOS, and would this split weaken that side of the model and strengthen the iPhone/WP side? Or would it increase attraction to that side altogether?

(in case you're wondering, I'm imagining 3-4 n-dimensional equidistant points in space)

Like, maybe this could actually be good for WP because it casts some uncertainty and instability on the FFOS/Android side.

Jolla is going to use Mer based MeeGo. They are going to publish two MeeGo-phones this year.

http://twitter.com/JollaMobile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolla

http://androidistica.blogspot.fi/2012/07/jolla-ltd-and-dphone-sign-product-sales.html

Yet another is Tizen

http://tizencommunity.org/

I find all these new platforms interesting. I definitely would like to have a new N900 kind of phone. By far the best phone I have used so far.

• WebOS
• Tizen
• Jolla
• FireFox OS

1 hour ago, MasterPie wrote

*snip*

Also, Mozilla doesn't really need to promote its own products like Google, which may mean less restrictions for carriers and smartphone manufacturers.

*snip*

It's funny that you should say that since the carriers themselves are responsible for most of the restrictions placed on the end-user.

25 minutes ago, cbae wrote

• WebOS
• Tizen
• Jolla
• FireFox OS

 

There was a rumor somewhere that Google would retire Android in favor of Chrome OS on smartphones to better own the experience.

1 minute ago, Bass wrote

I would like to see an open source, C#/Mono based mobile OS.

Didn't Xamarin pretty much do that already with XobotOS? If my only Android device wasn't such an old POS, I'd probably try installing this on it.

Mozilla publishes first Firefox OS nightly builds

I won't hold my breath for the glorious fates of the Firefox OS: unless they offer something that simply blows the competitors away, they'll have to face the same difficulties that WP7 faced (late to the party, no apps) except that it's now a lot later in the game and, of course, Mozilla doesn't have the kind of cash Microsoft has.

20 hours ago, Bass wrote

I would like to see an open source, C#/Mono based mobile OS.

I would like to see a smartphone OS UI design that does not look anything like iPhone/Android. We have WP (and maybe Palm Pre?) and that's it.

More specifically, I always thought about Google as the sugar daddy of OSS: creepy beyond belief, but too rich to send packing. This might indicate that something is changing, or at least that Mozilla wants that to change. I have a hunch the IP battlefield is going to become weird...

Interesting times ahead.

On a side note, apps that have their names cut off on the home screen with "..." added makes that platform look like amateur crap. "App Mar..." and "Cut the..."  <-- really?

It's a shame that the iTunes store is exactly the same with titles of apps, music, and videos.

1 day ago, Bass wrote

I would like to see an open source, C#/Mono based mobile OS.

1 day ago, Bass wrote

I would like to see an open source, C#/Mono based mobile OS.

It's not really possible to make a really open-source mobile OS, because of legal constraints regarding the radio stack - specifically that base-band users (i.e. carriers) need to demonstrate that their users cannot be broadcasting traffic on someone else's part of the spectrum - which is pretty hard to do if you're going to be shipping the device with open-source drivers for a general purpose high-energy radio transmitter (which is the antenna of the phone).

That's why even Android - the open-sourcest of them all - still keeps the radio stack as Google-only closed source.

Jolla Mobile to Launch App Store for MeeGo Software
Finland's Jolla Will Be The Ferrari Of The Smartphone World

I just tried Firefox OS in Linux virtual environment and I have to say it was better than I expected. They still have lots of work to do but overall it looked quite nice.