4 ms·

Lot of people got pissed off they wasted resources on it

mumblemumble 4y ago
Although, in fairness, that could be said of literally every project Mozilla has launched that isn't either a Web browser or MDN.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Gigachad 4y ago
  I think they have a pretty good future in web services. I'd be happy to pay for a mozilla password manager/vpn/email hosting/cloud storage. But for some reason they only sell the VPN and not in Australia.
  - coffeeblack 4y ago
    That’s a rebranded Mullvad VPN.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    If you want the VPN in Australia, you can get it directly from Mullvad - they do have servers there.
    - Gigachad 4y ago
      Yeah that's what I do. But I'd be happy to pay an all inclusive subscription to Mozilla for a full set of web services and drop my subscription to google and mullvad. But they just don't offer a product I can buy.
ksec 4y ago
That is missing a lot of context. They wanted everything to be Javascript and running on a $50 Smartphone. ( I think initially it was even lower than $50, but they rise it to $50 a bit later ) If there was ever anything that show how Silicon Valley and Tech, the modern meaning of "Software people" with little to zero understand of hardware and supply chain. This is it. And Mozilla wasn't the only one, even Bill Gate said all hardware will eventually cost zero and be subsidised by running software and services. The lack of understanding of hardware and Supply Chain, even after COVID and in 2022 still greatly baffles me.
leke 4y ago
Yep, that's why I grinded my teeth a bit when I read the post title. As a broke ass student back in the day, I counted my pennies to buy one of those devices. Even shilled it to my peers, some of whom also bought devices.
throwaway559 4y ago
Inside Mozilla too. Some execs thought Firefox OS would never be competitive because Google could always make a cheaper Android phone that still supported the whole Android ecosystem. Others wanted to move desktop Firefox to maintenance mode and bet everything on Firefox OS.
- nicoburns 4y ago
  They should’ve built a cross platform UI toolkit based on Servo, and built Firefox OS on top of that. That would have given it the efficiency it needed to be successful. They’d have taken a lot of market share very quickly if their apps could run on android/iOS too.
mtrycz2 4y ago
I owned a Firefox phone and it was awesome. It had understandably few apps, but it worked really well. One thing I really appreciated was that it was conceived as an appliance rather than as an attention grabber. We tolerate our phones being attention grabbers, but unrightfully so, it doesn't have to be this way. The default UI even had the saturation toned down, to not be so much in your face. It was pretty capable for an 80 Euro phone. It was the only smartphone I owned that I could feel vibrate in my pocket. I concede that Android ran better on it, but it's not like FirefoxOS ran bad, on the contrary. I unfortunately lost it, and it was about the time it was being discontinued. I would probably get another one. Heck, I would get one now, if they were still around. Anecdote: friend had a KaiOS and it was pretty aweful.

Although, in fairness, that could be said of literally every project Mozilla has launched that isn't either a Web browser or MDN.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Gigachad 4y ago
I think they have a pretty good future in web services. I'd be happy to pay for a mozilla password manager/vpn/email hosting/cloud storage. But for some reason they only sell the VPN and not in Australia.
- coffeeblack 4y ago
  That’s a rebranded Mullvad VPN.
- OJFord 4y ago
  If you want the VPN in Australia, you can get it directly from Mullvad - they do have servers there.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    Yeah that's what I do. But I'd be happy to pay an all inclusive subscription to Mozilla for a full set of web services and drop my subscription to google and mullvad. But they just don't offer a product I can buy.

ksec 4y ago

That is missing a lot of context. They wanted everything to be Javascript and running on a $50 Smartphone. ( I think initially it was even lower than $50, but they rise it to $50 a bit later ) If there was ever anything that show how Silicon Valley and Tech, the modern meaning of "Software people" with little to zero understand of hardware and supply chain. This is it. And Mozilla wasn't the only one, even Bill Gate said all hardware will eventually cost zero and be subsidised by running software and services. The lack of understanding of hardware and Supply Chain, even after COVID and in 2022 still greatly baffles me.

leke 4y ago

Yep, that's why I grinded my teeth a bit when I read the post title. As a broke ass student back in the day, I counted my pennies to buy one of those devices. Even shilled it to my peers, some of whom also bought devices.

throwaway559 4y ago

Inside Mozilla too. Some execs thought Firefox OS would never be competitive because Google could always make a cheaper Android phone that still supported the whole Android ecosystem. Others wanted to move desktop Firefox to maintenance mode and bet everything on Firefox OS.

nicoburns 4y ago
They should’ve built a cross platform UI toolkit based on Servo, and built Firefox OS on top of that. That would have given it the efficiency it needed to be successful. They’d have taken a lot of market share very quickly if their apps could run on android/iOS too.

mtrycz2 4y ago

I owned a Firefox phone and it was awesome. It had understandably few apps, but it worked really well. One thing I really appreciated was that it was conceived as an appliance rather than as an attention grabber. We tolerate our phones being attention grabbers, but unrightfully so, it doesn't have to be this way. The default UI even had the saturation toned down, to not be so much in your face. It was pretty capable for an 80 Euro phone. It was the only smartphone I owned that I could feel vibrate in my pocket. I concede that Android ran better on it, but it's not like FirefoxOS ran bad, on the contrary. I unfortunately lost it, and it was about the time it was being discontinued. I would probably get another one. Heck, I would get one now, if they were still around. Anecdote: friend had a KaiOS and it was pretty aweful.