8 ms·

Having spent a couple of years building apps for KaiOS (which is really Firefox OS), I can say that it's probably the easiest development platform out there - m

by jeswin 8y ago

Having spent a couple of years building apps for KaiOS (which is really Firefox OS), I can say that it's probably the easiest development platform out there - mostly pure web; with some proprietary extensions. I wish Firefox OS hadn't thrown in the towel so early. These devices are selling millions of units every month.

orf 8y ago
Was Firefox OS targetting this kind of phone though? I thought it was trying to be a touch-screen smartphone OS.
- jeswin 8y ago
  Wasn't really, although their focus was on low cost phones too. Credit to KaiOS for recognizing the potential of non-touch devices. However, the effort required to enable a non-touch UI would have been a small fraction of the overall FirefoxOS effort. Something Mozilla could have responded to, if the team was intact.
  - fzzzy 8y ago
    The non-touch concept was under development when firefox os was cancelled.
    - jeswin 8y ago
      Yup. FFOS actually convinced me that even high-end devices built on open web technologies could work quite well enough for today's usecases. I'd buy one today if I could - not a low end device but a Snapdragon 8xx device. Web is good enough for 90% of apps, and a bare metal SDK would be needed for games.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        PWAs did it for me. Even WebGL 2.0 alongside WebAssembly will be good enough for Flash like games (Google Chrome team will give a talk about WebGPU at IO).
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
hopler 8y ago
Like the old Palm Pre?
- BoorishBears 8y ago
  WebOS was ahead of its time.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    Symbian as well. Many of the supposed iOS "innovations" were already there.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    Is, not "was." My LG television runs WebOS.
    - eropple 8y ago
      ...as a conduit to barf ads at you. I wish I could have gotten my TV without ask the parts that forced me to install a PiHole just to not get ads overlaid onto my menus. Any good parts of webOS are now just incidental.
      - reaperducer 8y ago
        I just banned the TV’s MAC address from my network. IMO there’s no reason for it to connect to the outside world.
        eropple 8y ago
        Good solution if you can do it, but my girlfriend likes watching YouTube and Sling through it. :-/
    - BoorishBears 8y ago
      The WebOS that runs in your television is very unlike the WebOS that was. That ecosystem, interface, and community no longer exist. - Also your comment doesn’t really make sense. Something that currently exists can still have been ahead of its time. My comment isn’t an indication it doesn’t exist.
type-2 8y ago
firefox os had so much potential, now with pwa's being the next big thing, it seem like firefox os could be a game changer. Too bad they killed it.
- herogreen 8y ago
  what is pwa ?
  - ronsor 8y ago
    Progressive Web Apps
  - r3bl 8y ago
    Progressive Web App. A web app that's supposed to be indistinguishable from the native one, built using web technologies (so that you don't have to maintain multiple code bases). When Firefox OS was around, they were still pretty niche.
- i4blux 8y ago
  Firefox OS was doomed to fail. They created an operating system which used the slowest rendering and JS engine there was and put it in the worst hardware they could find.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    These phones run on the same rendering and JS engine... "KaiOS apps are based on web technologies–HTML, CSS, and JavaScript–and are run by Gecko runtime." https://developer.kaiostech.com/ https://developer.kaiostech.com/
    - 0815test 8y ago
      Except that Firefox is phasing out Gecko and replacing it with Servo (we're not yet there but some components have been replaced already - this is what the Firefox Quantum thing was all about). So this KaiOS thing is basically picking up an abandoned project...
derefr 8y ago
Is there much difference between development of a KaiOS app, and a ChromiumOS app?
srndh 8y ago
> KaiOS (which is really Firefox OS) Thats news to me. I read that KaiOS was built from the ground up & not derived from anything. > Firefox OS hadn't thrown in the towel so early That was a rather quite event and I was surprised to see no much discussion around it. An OS by Mozilla can be more trusted than an OS by Google. Why did Mozilla kill the project?
- tlamponi 8y ago
  > Thats news to me. I read that KaiOS was built from the ground up & not derived from anything. Where did you read that? Read the first sentence of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaiOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaiOS (all with good citations, e.g., https://support.kaiostech.com/support/solutions/articles/35000075651-what-is-kaios- https://support.kaiostech.com/support/solutions/articles/350... )
  - srndh 8y ago
    Wow. I didn't check the wikipedia entry for KaiOS earlier. But the weird thing is that I recently read in some magazine (I am unable to remember the name) about Google investing in KaiOS which was a Brazilian company and the whole article was mentioning how Silicon Valley is unable to understand its customers as they live in a bubble and how its the companies in developing countries that truly understand the needs of the customer and deliver. Its mentioned that KaiOS is gunning at Android for #1 in India and Google's investment was a sign of acceptance and a hint that the new version of Android will get shelved soon. It even referred to India based Zoho as the true challenger to Google Apps & Office 360. Also how wechat is miles ahead of Whatsapp & likes and how in a sense it challenges the whole Silicon Valley in terms of all the features it has. Basically it was urging the readers to not assume that silicon valley products as superior and try others too. I hope Mozilla reconsiders and starts up Firefox OS again. I prefer it over a company driven product like KaiOS. P.S. Just noticed that the last name of the KaiOS's CEO is "Codeville".

by jeswin 8y ago

orf 8y ago

Was Firefox OS targetting this kind of phone though? I thought it was trying to be a touch-screen smartphone OS.

jeswin 8y ago
Wasn't really, although their focus was on low cost phones too. Credit to KaiOS for recognizing the potential of non-touch devices. However, the effort required to enable a non-touch UI would have been a small fraction of the overall FirefoxOS effort. Something Mozilla could have responded to, if the team was intact.
- fzzzy 8y ago
  The non-touch concept was under development when firefox os was cancelled.
  - jeswin 8y ago
    Yup. FFOS actually convinced me that even high-end devices built on open web technologies could work quite well enough for today's usecases. I'd buy one today if I could - not a low end device but a Snapdragon 8xx device. Web is good enough for 90% of apps, and a bare metal SDK would be needed for games.
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      PWAs did it for me. Even WebGL 2.0 alongside WebAssembly will be good enough for Flash like games (Google Chrome team will give a talk about WebGPU at IO).
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

hopler 8y ago

Like the old Palm Pre?

BoorishBears 8y ago
WebOS was ahead of its time.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Symbian as well. Many of the supposed iOS "innovations" were already there.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Is, not "was." My LG television runs WebOS.
  - eropple 8y ago
    ...as a conduit to barf ads at you. I wish I could have gotten my TV without ask the parts that forced me to install a PiHole just to not get ads overlaid onto my menus. Any good parts of webOS are now just incidental.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      I just banned the TV’s MAC address from my network. IMO there’s no reason for it to connect to the outside world.
      - eropple 8y ago
        Good solution if you can do it, but my girlfriend likes watching YouTube and Sling through it. :-/
  - BoorishBears 8y ago
    The WebOS that runs in your television is very unlike the WebOS that was. That ecosystem, interface, and community no longer exist. - Also your comment doesn’t really make sense. Something that currently exists can still have been ahead of its time. My comment isn’t an indication it doesn’t exist.

type-2 8y ago

firefox os had so much potential, now with pwa's being the next big thing, it seem like firefox os could be a game changer. Too bad they killed it.

herogreen 8y ago
what is pwa ?
- ronsor 8y ago
  Progressive Web Apps
- r3bl 8y ago
  Progressive Web App. A web app that's supposed to be indistinguishable from the native one, built using web technologies (so that you don't have to maintain multiple code bases). When Firefox OS was around, they were still pretty niche.
i4blux 8y ago
Firefox OS was doomed to fail. They created an operating system which used the slowest rendering and JS engine there was and put it in the worst hardware they could find.
- icebraining 8y ago
  These phones run on the same rendering and JS engine... "KaiOS apps are based on web technologies–HTML, CSS, and JavaScript–and are run by Gecko runtime." https://developer.kaiostech.com/ https://developer.kaiostech.com/
  - 0815test 8y ago
    Except that Firefox is phasing out Gecko and replacing it with Servo (we're not yet there but some components have been replaced already - this is what the Firefox Quantum thing was all about). So this KaiOS thing is basically picking up an abandoned project...

derefr 8y ago

Is there much difference between development of a KaiOS app, and a ChromiumOS app?

srndh 8y ago

> KaiOS (which is really Firefox OS) Thats news to me. I read that KaiOS was built from the ground up & not derived from anything. > Firefox OS hadn't thrown in the towel so early That was a rather quite event and I was surprised to see no much discussion around it. An OS by Mozilla can be more trusted than an OS by Google. Why did Mozilla kill the project?

tlamponi 8y ago
> Thats news to me. I read that KaiOS was built from the ground up & not derived from anything. Where did you read that? Read the first sentence of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaiOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaiOS (all with good citations, e.g., https://support.kaiostech.com/support/solutions/articles/35000075651-what-is-kaios- https://support.kaiostech.com/support/solutions/articles/350... )
- srndh 8y ago
  Wow. I didn't check the wikipedia entry for KaiOS earlier. But the weird thing is that I recently read in some magazine (I am unable to remember the name) about Google investing in KaiOS which was a Brazilian company and the whole article was mentioning how Silicon Valley is unable to understand its customers as they live in a bubble and how its the companies in developing countries that truly understand the needs of the customer and deliver. Its mentioned that KaiOS is gunning at Android for #1 in India and Google's investment was a sign of acceptance and a hint that the new version of Android will get shelved soon. It even referred to India based Zoho as the true challenger to Google Apps & Office 360. Also how wechat is miles ahead of Whatsapp & likes and how in a sense it challenges the whole Silicon Valley in terms of all the features it has. Basically it was urging the readers to not assume that silicon valley products as superior and try others too. I hope Mozilla reconsiders and starts up Firefox OS again. I prefer it over a company driven product like KaiOS. P.S. Just noticed that the last name of the KaiOS's CEO is "Codeville".