4 ms·

C'mon Mozilla, please. Less projects that will end up like Firefox OS, more work on _Firefox_.

metildaa 7y ago
Firefox OS has been rebranded as KaiOS since Mozilla stopped working on it, and it has been gaining significant market share since then. A $5 LTE bar or flip phone based on a Qualcomm 205 with 128MB of ram isn't able to run Android (especially not in a fast manner), but it will run KaiOS just fine.
- fooker 7y ago
  Can you link to a $5 flip phone with Firefox OS I can buy today?
  - commoner 7y ago
    The JioPhone is effectively offered for free, with a ₹1,500 ($21.60) deposit that is refunded after 3 years. To be precise, it's a candybar phone that runs on KaiOS (forked from Firefox OS, closed source). https://www.jiophone.com/ https://www.jiophone.com/
    - fooker 7y ago
      I was looking for an unlocked option that would work in the US.
      - kkarakk 7y ago
        afaik there are no unlocked phones that exist that run KaiOS(outside of tinkerers in shenzhen)
    - omnifischer 7y ago
      You cant get the source code. Reliance telco does not care - nor does KaiOS people.
- carmate383 7y ago
  So you're encouraging Mozilla to create more abandonware?
  - ShinTakuya 7y ago
    If it has a reasonable chance of not becoming abandonware, sure. I'm sick of people being so pessimistic. Imagine if Google stuck to search and never released new products. Maybe some people would prefer that but personally I can't live without Google Maps for instance.
    - carmate383 7y ago
      And how much money do you donate to Mozilla to fund their abandonware habbit?
      - Intermernet 7y ago
        Why are you being so anti innovation? I could pass it off as opinion for a few comments, but this comment section is now littered with your comments that all seem to say that mozilla shouldn't bother developing anything new. Do you have skin in this game? Did you get personally burnt by mozilla somewhere along the line?
danso 7y ago
Seriously? IoT is a quickly growing, potentially massive and ubiquitous field. Given the shit state of security and technical implementation of its initial era, in very glad that a well-resourced non-profit is helping to create an open standard.
- carmate383 7y ago
  And six years ago, mobile was a quick-growing massive and ubiquitous field. How did that pan out for Mozilla? A failed operating system and the beginning of a huge decline in both marketshare and performance for Firefox.
  - greenhatman 7y ago
    If we stopped doing things because they might fail we'd be nowhere.
    - carmate383 7y ago
      And if Mozilla keeps making the same mistakes it will go nowhere.
      - hutzlibu 7y ago
        They develeoped and pushed WebStandards nonstop. It did not lead to widespread Firefox mobiles, but it was not wasted work.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        With Chrome of all things now, lets see how it pans out.
  - danso 7y ago
    Last I checked, Mozilla was still a functioning, funded company pushing out regular updates to Firefox, among other projects. Mobile still is a massive and ubiquitous field, and Firefox Mobile is one of Mozilla's ongoing projects. You believe that a failed project means a company should stop innovating and entering emerging fields?
snek 7y ago
If you somehow feel that firefox is moving too slowly (check the vcs history its very active) you can always contribute yourself, it's OSS :)
- walid 7y ago
  No he can't always contribute himself because most people myself included can't contribute to whatever project just because it is open source. You need to have an intimate knowledge of the technology and the experience and since you suggesting that he "can always contribute" I'd ask you: can you?
  - blotter_paper 7y ago
    An up front cost in learning doesn't mean you can't contribute.
    - bepvte 7y ago
      Exactly. Theres plenty of documentation to be written and translating to be done
    - themacguffinman 7y ago
      I guess there's no sense in ever complaining about politics and laws since you can just run for office yourself. Didn't realize upfront costs don't matter :shrug:
Vinnl 7y ago
The phone OS market was already pretty entrenched when they started on Firefox OS. They're focusing on IoT now exactly to prevent it from ending up like Firefox OS, and to prevent them from ending up in a Firefox Desktop-like situation, where its relevancy keeps declining both because the relevance of desktop is declining, and because people do not use Firefox on mobile and thus cannot sync.
Fnoord 7y ago
What kind of work on Firefox are you referring to?
marcosdumay 7y ago
Because developers are interchangeable gears that can work on any kind of project without any bump, and can be stacked into any number on a shared project without any issue.

Firefox OS has been rebranded as KaiOS since Mozilla stopped working on it, and it has been gaining significant market share since then. A $5 LTE bar or flip phone based on a Qualcomm 205 with 128MB of ram isn't able to run Android (especially not in a fast manner), but it will run KaiOS just fine.

fooker 7y ago
Can you link to a $5 flip phone with Firefox OS I can buy today?
- commoner 7y ago
  The JioPhone is effectively offered for free, with a ₹1,500 ($21.60) deposit that is refunded after 3 years. To be precise, it's a candybar phone that runs on KaiOS (forked from Firefox OS, closed source). https://www.jiophone.com/ https://www.jiophone.com/
  - fooker 7y ago
    I was looking for an unlocked option that would work in the US.
    - kkarakk 7y ago
      afaik there are no unlocked phones that exist that run KaiOS(outside of tinkerers in shenzhen)
  - omnifischer 7y ago
    You cant get the source code. Reliance telco does not care - nor does KaiOS people.
carmate383 7y ago
So you're encouraging Mozilla to create more abandonware?
- ShinTakuya 7y ago
  If it has a reasonable chance of not becoming abandonware, sure. I'm sick of people being so pessimistic. Imagine if Google stuck to search and never released new products. Maybe some people would prefer that but personally I can't live without Google Maps for instance.
  - carmate383 7y ago
    And how much money do you donate to Mozilla to fund their abandonware habbit?
    - Intermernet 7y ago
      Why are you being so anti innovation? I could pass it off as opinion for a few comments, but this comment section is now littered with your comments that all seem to say that mozilla shouldn't bother developing anything new. Do you have skin in this game? Did you get personally burnt by mozilla somewhere along the line?

danso 7y ago

Seriously? IoT is a quickly growing, potentially massive and ubiquitous field. Given the shit state of security and technical implementation of its initial era, in very glad that a well-resourced non-profit is helping to create an open standard.

carmate383 7y ago
And six years ago, mobile was a quick-growing massive and ubiquitous field. How did that pan out for Mozilla? A failed operating system and the beginning of a huge decline in both marketshare and performance for Firefox.
- greenhatman 7y ago
  If we stopped doing things because they might fail we'd be nowhere.
  - carmate383 7y ago
    And if Mozilla keeps making the same mistakes it will go nowhere.
    - hutzlibu 7y ago
      They develeoped and pushed WebStandards nonstop. It did not lead to widespread Firefox mobiles, but it was not wasted work.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        With Chrome of all things now, lets see how it pans out.
- danso 7y ago
  Last I checked, Mozilla was still a functioning, funded company pushing out regular updates to Firefox, among other projects. Mobile still is a massive and ubiquitous field, and Firefox Mobile is one of Mozilla's ongoing projects. You believe that a failed project means a company should stop innovating and entering emerging fields?

snek 7y ago

If you somehow feel that firefox is moving too slowly (check the vcs history its very active) you can always contribute yourself, it's OSS :)

walid 7y ago
No he can't always contribute himself because most people myself included can't contribute to whatever project just because it is open source. You need to have an intimate knowledge of the technology and the experience and since you suggesting that he "can always contribute" I'd ask you: can you?
- blotter_paper 7y ago
  An up front cost in learning doesn't mean you can't contribute.
  - bepvte 7y ago
    Exactly. Theres plenty of documentation to be written and translating to be done
  - themacguffinman 7y ago
    I guess there's no sense in ever complaining about politics and laws since you can just run for office yourself. Didn't realize upfront costs don't matter :shrug:

Vinnl 7y ago

The phone OS market was already pretty entrenched when they started on Firefox OS. They're focusing on IoT now exactly to prevent it from ending up like Firefox OS, and to prevent them from ending up in a Firefox Desktop-like situation, where its relevancy keeps declining both because the relevance of desktop is declining, and because people do not use Firefox on mobile and thus cannot sync.

Fnoord 7y ago

What kind of work on Firefox are you referring to?

marcosdumay 7y ago

Because developers are interchangeable gears that can work on any kind of project without any bump, and can be stacked into any number on a shared project without any issue.