4 ms·

I've long wondered why Mozilla hasn't worked on a embeddable Gecko engine as an alternative to Electron. The Mozilla alternative could be promoted as a modular,

I've long wondered why Mozilla hasn't worked on a embeddable Gecko engine as an alternative to Electron. The Mozilla alternative could be promoted as a modular, cross-platform component but in a stripped-down, faster and less memory hungry form than Electron (assuming these features can be achieved). The traction that Electron has gained as a cross-platform option for building apps is huge. It's only set to get bigger (whether for better or worse). Imagine if Gecko was in this space competing with Electron. Imagine if thousands of developers place their trust in Mozilla because they have built their cross-platform apps using Gecko. They'd want to see Mozilla grow and succeed - they have a stake in seeing Gecko development continue. Is it too late (or too unrealistic) for this to happen? A very long time ago, Mozilla did have the option to embed Gecko into apps. It was never well-documented and what remains of the documentation is out-of-date and untouched: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embedding_Mozilla/FAQ/Embedding_Gecko https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embed...

sieabahlpark 6y ago
The engineers at Mozilla are just waiting to see if doing this also aligns with the social justice mission statement.
jcranmer 6y ago
> I've long wondered why Mozilla hasn't worked on a embeddable Gecko engine as an alternative to Electron. They have. Several times, in fact. There was the old embedding, then XULRunner, then Firefox apps (I'm not sure if that's the same as webapprt). But these efforts generally only lasts a couple of years before Mozilla decides it's the wrong approach and kills off the embedding.
- dblohm7 6y ago
  Though it is embeddable on Android via GeckoView.
  - iggldiggl 6y ago
    Although unfortunately at the same time increasing your app size by dozens of MBs just so you can use Gecko doesn't seem like an easy sell for mobile apps, especially when you have to compete with the Webview provided by the OS for free.
RobertoG 6y ago
What I would like is to be able to use Firefox as a UI for my local projects. Now if I want to do it, I have to run a server and duplicate code. The ability to create extensions for my personal use that can interact in local with my computer would be great. I understand that a browser have to be sandboxed but there are ways that could work without being unsafe. Maybe even two separate downloads, one for people that want to use the browser UI capabilities but work in local. This would not solve Mozilla problems, so it's a little tangent to the current discussion.
- open-source-ux 6y ago
  "This would not solve Mozilla problems" I think it might lead to growth or "mind share" among app developers (and indirectly to end-users who use the apps built by devs). The Chrome engine now powers the Edge and Brave browsers. Electron is used to built desktop apps by companies everyone recognises e.g. Microsoft, Slack, Figma. The appetite among companies and devs to build Electron apps shows no slowdown. Mozilla is nowhere to been seen in ths important space. In my opinion, this is a missed opportunity.

sieabahlpark 6y ago

The engineers at Mozilla are just waiting to see if doing this also aligns with the social justice mission statement.

jcranmer 6y ago

> I've long wondered why Mozilla hasn't worked on a embeddable Gecko engine as an alternative to Electron. They have. Several times, in fact. There was the old embedding, then XULRunner, then Firefox apps (I'm not sure if that's the same as webapprt). But these efforts generally only lasts a couple of years before Mozilla decides it's the wrong approach and kills off the embedding.

dblohm7 6y ago
Though it is embeddable on Android via GeckoView.
- iggldiggl 6y ago
  Although unfortunately at the same time increasing your app size by dozens of MBs just so you can use Gecko doesn't seem like an easy sell for mobile apps, especially when you have to compete with the Webview provided by the OS for free.

RobertoG 6y ago

What I would like is to be able to use Firefox as a UI for my local projects. Now if I want to do it, I have to run a server and duplicate code. The ability to create extensions for my personal use that can interact in local with my computer would be great. I understand that a browser have to be sandboxed but there are ways that could work without being unsafe. Maybe even two separate downloads, one for people that want to use the browser UI capabilities but work in local. This would not solve Mozilla problems, so it's a little tangent to the current discussion.

open-source-ux 6y ago
"This would not solve Mozilla problems" I think it might lead to growth or "mind share" among app developers (and indirectly to end-users who use the apps built by devs). The Chrome engine now powers the Edge and Brave browsers. Electron is used to built desktop apps by companies everyone recognises e.g. Microsoft, Slack, Figma. The appetite among companies and devs to build Electron apps shows no slowdown. Mozilla is nowhere to been seen in ths important space. In my opinion, this is a missed opportunity.