4 ms·

>What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? Firefox OS's USP is web apps with native bindings Connect a display and you have full ubuntu

by polshaw 14y ago

>What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? Firefox OS's USP is web apps with native bindings Connect a display and you have full ubuntu. With today's smartphones already computationally competitive with your standard netbook, that alone is a massive value proposition to me. Add something like motorola's lapdock and there is 95% of all my computing needs met, all with a single, central data storage. Hopefully porting from linux will be fairly straightforward too.. just a new UI support?, giving apps that work from desktop to mobile. Not to mention that is has most of the FFOS advantage too.

maratd 14y ago
> Connect a display and you have full ubuntu. I didn't see this mentioned in the keynote. I was specifically looking for it and there were zero mentions?
- r3m6 14y ago
  Mark S. mentions it in the Engadget interview: "If I dock this, I can get the full Ubuntu desktop".
  - lttlrck 14y ago
    So is it going to have two WMs and two versions of every desktop app? One touch optimized and one for the desktop? It doesn't sound all that wonderful. Desktop/mobile crossover might be better served with cloud-sync.
    - lotyrin 14y ago
      > cloud-sync Except if I'm in a developing nation where I'm not guaranteed connectivity. (Don't scoff yet, because I'd say the US is in this category.)
    - Shorel 14y ago
      No. I think it will have a native GUI toolkit that can adapt to both with some hints by the developer.
      - demetrius 14y ago
        Currently Canonical encourages using QML for writing apps that will be mobile-friendly: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ Maybe this is going to be the mobile toolkit you’re talking about?..
elithrar 14y ago
> Hopefully porting from linux will be fairly straightforward too.. just a new UI support?, giving apps that work from desktop to mobile. Not to mention that is has most of the FFOS advantage too. I wouldn't trivialise the effort required to create a touch-friendly UI, especially from an existing desktop application (with the expectations that go with it).
- AnthonyMouse 14y ago
  Well, you're assuming they would need a new UI. You know what would be really nice to have on a phone if it didn't take any real effort to get it there? bash, ssh, nfs/sshfs/samba, etc. I know the typical user isn't going to care, but I could see how it would be a big win for developers, and as we all know, "developers developers developers."
  - wmf 14y ago
    That didn't work out for Maemo. Is this time going to be different?
    - AnthonyMouse 14y ago
      I don't know. But Maemo didn't also happen to be the most popular desktop Linux distribution. And it was effectively abandoned at birth by its creators, which I have a suspicion Canonical is not about to do.
    - regularfry 14y ago
      Depends if it gets shackled to a completely schizophrenic manufacturer or not.
    - jstanley 14y ago
      I use Maemo every day and I'd say it definitely worked out.
  - nathan_f77 14y ago
    I love my jailbroken iPhone for this reason. Bash, SSH and SSHFS are really useful to have.

by polshaw 14y ago

maratd 14y ago

> Connect a display and you have full ubuntu. I didn't see this mentioned in the keynote. I was specifically looking for it and there were zero mentions?

r3m6 14y ago
Mark S. mentions it in the Engadget interview: "If I dock this, I can get the full Ubuntu desktop".
- lttlrck 14y ago
  So is it going to have two WMs and two versions of every desktop app? One touch optimized and one for the desktop? It doesn't sound all that wonderful. Desktop/mobile crossover might be better served with cloud-sync.
  - lotyrin 14y ago
    > cloud-sync Except if I'm in a developing nation where I'm not guaranteed connectivity. (Don't scoff yet, because I'd say the US is in this category.)
  - Shorel 14y ago
    No. I think it will have a native GUI toolkit that can adapt to both with some hints by the developer.
    - demetrius 14y ago
      Currently Canonical encourages using QML for writing apps that will be mobile-friendly: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ Maybe this is going to be the mobile toolkit you’re talking about?..

elithrar 14y ago

> Hopefully porting from linux will be fairly straightforward too.. just a new UI support?, giving apps that work from desktop to mobile. Not to mention that is has most of the FFOS advantage too. I wouldn't trivialise the effort required to create a touch-friendly UI, especially from an existing desktop application (with the expectations that go with it).

AnthonyMouse 14y ago
Well, you're assuming they would need a new UI. You know what would be really nice to have on a phone if it didn't take any real effort to get it there? bash, ssh, nfs/sshfs/samba, etc. I know the typical user isn't going to care, but I could see how it would be a big win for developers, and as we all know, "developers developers developers."
- wmf 14y ago
  That didn't work out for Maemo. Is this time going to be different?
  - AnthonyMouse 14y ago
    I don't know. But Maemo didn't also happen to be the most popular desktop Linux distribution. And it was effectively abandoned at birth by its creators, which I have a suspicion Canonical is not about to do.
  - regularfry 14y ago
    Depends if it gets shackled to a completely schizophrenic manufacturer or not.
  - jstanley 14y ago
    I use Maemo every day and I'd say it definitely worked out.
- nathan_f77 14y ago
  I love my jailbroken iPhone for this reason. Bash, SSH and SSHFS are really useful to have.