5 ms·

I imagine it will get cancelled, like Persona and Firefox OS did. The interesting, large side projects seem to go that way.

msla 9y ago
Or it will be used to deliver ads, like Firefox was.
jacquesm 9y ago
Thunderbird.
- kbenson 9y ago
  I take it you mean that as a rebuttal, because Thunderbird is still being released? At first I thought you were just offering another example of something cancelled, and I was pretty sure (but not positive) Thunderbird was still around. It is.
  - azinman2 9y ago
    Not only that but they’ve just done a UI redesign.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Thunderbird is still alive at Mozilla but it was a close call. https://blog.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2017/05/thunderbirds-future-home/ https://blog.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2017/05/thunderbirds-fu...
rectang 9y ago
Rust? If Persona counts, then so should Rust.
- book_mentioned 9y ago
  Persona was a core enabler of version v.next?
  - Vinnl 9y ago
    That was when Rust stopped being a side project.
  - hsivonen 9y ago
    The original vision for Browser ID, which was renamed to Persona, included integration to the Firefox UI.
rhinoceraptor 9y ago
Maybe someday Firefox will finish implementing HTML5...
- cptskippy 9y ago
  You do know it's a living standard and they offer as much support as anyone?
- mintplant 9y ago
  And be like Chrome, which shipped a bunch of low-quality code for the sake of adding more checkmarks to their compatibility charts?
petecox 9y ago
I recall that software developers from Firefox OS were re-tasked with adapting the phone OS to an IoT focus. So I would assume this announcement is the fruits of that side project.
- fabrice_d 9y ago
  A lot of engineers from FxOS ended up in a group called "Connected Devices" with a new VP, but the goal was never to adapt the phone OS to IoT (the goal was to kill the phone OS). A couple of members of the small team (5 people) who built this gateway were indeed former FxOS/CD staff.
gkya 9y ago
Persona was the best side project they could have ever picked, sth. that the internet community needed as an alternative to Google etc. logins or maybe proprietary username/password/2fa for each and every side, but they dropped it and later bought Pocket and made funny privacy scandals. Sad.
- Certhas 9y ago
  What privacy scandals? Not aware of any.
  - gkya 9y ago
    Well not actual privacy scandals, but shocking practices that some of the community took so. The most recent was an easter-egg extension covertly installed in about everybody's browsers, and there was a partnering I read of with a German web company. Then also there's the case with Pocket where it was (and if I'm not mmistaken still is) installed by default, even before Mozilla acquired the company.
    - r3bl 9y ago
      > The most recent was an easter-egg extension That surely was a fuckup. Lessons learned can be read here[0]. > ...and there was a partnering I read of with a German web company. Think of it as a default search engine that's applied to 1% of new German installs. Other 99% remained on the Google(Yahoo) deal(s) (which apply to Germany). My opinion is that it was blown way out of proportions. That company also purchased Ghostery, Mozilla invested some money in it[1] before they did this, and is also making its own private browser (Cliqz). > Then also there's the case with Pocket where it was (and if I'm not mmistaken still is) installed by default. Pocket started as a Firefox extension in 2007, raised 7.5 million of investments in 2011 and 2012, got bundled with Firefox by default in 2015, and then the whole startup became a subsidiary of the Mozilla Corporation in 2017. The Pocket button itself never did anything unless you click it. Extensions are now open sourced[2], apps are on their way (I think, I thought their code was online already), and I don't know about the server code. I am not familiar with what happened with the data between 2015 and 2017, but I presume that the data didn't get shared outside modern-day Mozilla Corporation (to confirm that, one would need to chase down Pocket's previous Terms of Service). [0] https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/retrospective-looking-glass/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/retrospective-looking-glass... [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/press-uk/2016/08/23/mozilla-makes-strategic-investment-in-cliqz-to-enable-privacy-focused-search-innovation/ https://blog.mozilla.org/press-uk/2016/08/23/mozilla-makes-s... [2] https://github.com/pocket https://github.com/pocket DISCLAIMER: Affiliated with the Mozilla Foundation, not the Corporation (therefore, not affiliated with Pocket nor Firefox, other than being a happy user of both).

msla 9y ago

Or it will be used to deliver ads, like Firefox was.

jacquesm 9y ago

Thunderbird.

kbenson 9y ago
I take it you mean that as a rebuttal, because Thunderbird is still being released? At first I thought you were just offering another example of something cancelled, and I was pretty sure (but not positive) Thunderbird was still around. It is.
- azinman2 9y ago
  Not only that but they’ve just done a UI redesign.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Thunderbird is still alive at Mozilla but it was a close call. https://blog.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2017/05/thunderbirds-future-home/ https://blog.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2017/05/thunderbirds-fu...

rectang 9y ago

Rust? If Persona counts, then so should Rust.

book_mentioned 9y ago
Persona was a core enabler of version v.next?
- Vinnl 9y ago
  That was when Rust stopped being a side project.
- hsivonen 9y ago
  The original vision for Browser ID, which was renamed to Persona, included integration to the Firefox UI.

rhinoceraptor 9y ago

Maybe someday Firefox will finish implementing HTML5...

cptskippy 9y ago
You do know it's a living standard and they offer as much support as anyone?
mintplant 9y ago
And be like Chrome, which shipped a bunch of low-quality code for the sake of adding more checkmarks to their compatibility charts?

petecox 9y ago

I recall that software developers from Firefox OS were re-tasked with adapting the phone OS to an IoT focus. So I would assume this announcement is the fruits of that side project.

fabrice_d 9y ago
A lot of engineers from FxOS ended up in a group called "Connected Devices" with a new VP, but the goal was never to adapt the phone OS to IoT (the goal was to kill the phone OS). A couple of members of the small team (5 people) who built this gateway were indeed former FxOS/CD staff.

gkya 9y ago

Persona was the best side project they could have ever picked, sth. that the internet community needed as an alternative to Google etc. logins or maybe proprietary username/password/2fa for each and every side, but they dropped it and later bought Pocket and made funny privacy scandals. Sad.

Certhas 9y ago
What privacy scandals? Not aware of any.
- gkya 9y ago
  Well not actual privacy scandals, but shocking practices that some of the community took so. The most recent was an easter-egg extension covertly installed in about everybody's browsers, and there was a partnering I read of with a German web company. Then also there's the case with Pocket where it was (and if I'm not mmistaken still is) installed by default, even before Mozilla acquired the company.
  - r3bl 9y ago
    > The most recent was an easter-egg extension That surely was a fuckup. Lessons learned can be read here[0]. > ...and there was a partnering I read of with a German web company. Think of it as a default search engine that's applied to 1% of new German installs. Other 99% remained on the Google(Yahoo) deal(s) (which apply to Germany). My opinion is that it was blown way out of proportions. That company also purchased Ghostery, Mozilla invested some money in it[1] before they did this, and is also making its own private browser (Cliqz). > Then also there's the case with Pocket where it was (and if I'm not mmistaken still is) installed by default. Pocket started as a Firefox extension in 2007, raised 7.5 million of investments in 2011 and 2012, got bundled with Firefox by default in 2015, and then the whole startup became a subsidiary of the Mozilla Corporation in 2017. The Pocket button itself never did anything unless you click it. Extensions are now open sourced[2], apps are on their way (I think, I thought their code was online already), and I don't know about the server code. I am not familiar with what happened with the data between 2015 and 2017, but I presume that the data didn't get shared outside modern-day Mozilla Corporation (to confirm that, one would need to chase down Pocket's previous Terms of Service). [0] https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/retrospective-looking-glass/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/retrospective-looking-glass... [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/press-uk/2016/08/23/mozilla-makes-strategic-investment-in-cliqz-to-enable-privacy-focused-search-innovation/ https://blog.mozilla.org/press-uk/2016/08/23/mozilla-makes-s... [2] https://github.com/pocket https://github.com/pocket DISCLAIMER: Affiliated with the Mozilla Foundation, not the Corporation (therefore, not affiliated with Pocket nor Firefox, other than being a happy user of both).