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I always wondered why they didn't try a tablet first. Like the Chromebooks, but in tablet form, heavy on Firefox branding. Maybe this too is something that woul

I always wondered why they didn't try a tablet first. Like the Chromebooks, but in tablet form, heavy on Firefox branding. Maybe this too is something that would've been an 'also-ran' or market failure, but I still want one even as I type this.

dhimes 11y ago
Damn you. I want one too now.
striking 11y ago
What would that solve that a Chromebook wouldn't? Chromebooks already run Linux when so coerced, and are the most bulletproof computing platform for education and business. What could be special about the FirefoxBook? Perhaps, instead of expending that much effort to engineer a new tablet entirely from scratch, find an Android tablet and put a Mozilla sticker on it.
- spinchange 11y ago
  Literally nothing except a different form factor. FWIW, I wish there were Chrometablets too. The Pixel C is headed this way in form, but unfortunately toward Android and native apps instead of ChromeOS and the Web.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > The Pixel C is headed this way in form, but unfortunately toward Android and native apps instead of ChromeOS and the Web. The web -- though not Google's non-standard Chrome apps through the browser, as yet -- works quite well on Android.
    - spinchange 11y ago
      Indeed. I use Android devices and think the market is headed toward native vs. the web too, I just hope it's not zero sum. ChromeOS is arguably less functional than Android, but there are use cases for it, and its stripped-down, web-only nature, in many respects is a feature, not a bug. I also really don't like commercial app stores. Discovery is terrible and then who wants to try a couple different versions of an app, before finding the best in class, if not immediately obvious? At least with web apps discovery is easier and switching costs much lower. Native apps also feel less configurable, less extensible, silo'ed off, and don't offer the freedom software provides for on a desktop anyway. I know this all may change in the future - I'm hopeful it does!
- underwater 11y ago
  It seems like expectations would be lower for a tablet because they're a secondary device. With a phone there's a whole host of things you need to build (maps, mail, messages, FB, Twitter, etc.) because it's often the only device people have on them. With a tablet I would at least have a good browser, which would cover most of my idle browsing. And if there is something I absolutely must do on Android then worst case is I pull out my phone and use that instead.
anirudh24seven 11y ago
They did try the tablet space. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/TCP https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/TCP I signed up for the contribution program, received a tablet, built and ran updates on it, participated in Discourse discussions and wanted to do more. Sadly, builds started breaking, they weren't attended to, and the program died a slow death.

dhimes 11y ago

Damn you. I want one too now.

striking 11y ago

What would that solve that a Chromebook wouldn't? Chromebooks already run Linux when so coerced, and are the most bulletproof computing platform for education and business. What could be special about the FirefoxBook? Perhaps, instead of expending that much effort to engineer a new tablet entirely from scratch, find an Android tablet and put a Mozilla sticker on it.

spinchange 11y ago
Literally nothing except a different form factor. FWIW, I wish there were Chrometablets too. The Pixel C is headed this way in form, but unfortunately toward Android and native apps instead of ChromeOS and the Web.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > The Pixel C is headed this way in form, but unfortunately toward Android and native apps instead of ChromeOS and the Web. The web -- though not Google's non-standard Chrome apps through the browser, as yet -- works quite well on Android.
  - spinchange 11y ago
    Indeed. I use Android devices and think the market is headed toward native vs. the web too, I just hope it's not zero sum. ChromeOS is arguably less functional than Android, but there are use cases for it, and its stripped-down, web-only nature, in many respects is a feature, not a bug. I also really don't like commercial app stores. Discovery is terrible and then who wants to try a couple different versions of an app, before finding the best in class, if not immediately obvious? At least with web apps discovery is easier and switching costs much lower. Native apps also feel less configurable, less extensible, silo'ed off, and don't offer the freedom software provides for on a desktop anyway. I know this all may change in the future - I'm hopeful it does!
underwater 11y ago
It seems like expectations would be lower for a tablet because they're a secondary device. With a phone there's a whole host of things you need to build (maps, mail, messages, FB, Twitter, etc.) because it's often the only device people have on them. With a tablet I would at least have a good browser, which would cover most of my idle browsing. And if there is something I absolutely must do on Android then worst case is I pull out my phone and use that instead.

anirudh24seven 11y ago

They did try the tablet space. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/TCP https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/TCP I signed up for the contribution program, received a tablet, built and ran updates on it, participated in Discourse discussions and wanted to do more. Sadly, builds started breaking, they weren't attended to, and the program died a slow death.