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I tried some FirefoxOS phones for about 20 minutes @ fosdem. As a developer the idea of native html is tempting. As a normal user I'm rather unimpressed. "Wha

I tried some FirefoxOS phones for about 20 minutes @ fosdem. As a developer the idea of native html is tempting. As a normal user I'm rather unimpressed. "What can this do, that my Android can't?" Without the answer to that question, people won't get it.

thisone 14y ago
I've heard both the Firefox and Ubuntu mobile OSs described as developer phones (I believe this was on Click (BBC)). It made a bit of sense. If you're the type to immediately root your android phone and start running custom builds, then these OSs may give you even more room to run.
- jlongster 14y ago
  The released version will not just be targeted at developers. Right now there is a Firefox OS developer phone [1] that you can get, but when it officially comes out it will be a fully-featured phone targeted at low prices. [1] http://www.geeksphone.com/ http://www.geeksphone.com/
janjongboom 14y ago
For this (as I share his opinion), read the article from my collegue Sergi Mansilla about the promise of Firefox OS: http://sergimansilla.com/blog/promise-of-ffos/ http://sergimansilla.com/blog/promise-of-ffos/
- AlexanderDhoore 14y ago
  I tried to analyse that article a bit. Paragraph 1: Ok, so we have some serious competition. 2: We are not going to beat them, we are changing the game. 3: There is massive developer potential. 4: Html sucks, or does it? 5: Frameworks and compile-to-js save the day! 6: Not just HTML5, standardized HTML5! 7: Fixing the problem of "Several languages, frameworks, APIs" and "vendor lock-ins" 8: Mozilla can be trusted. So 2, 6 and 7 are the big promises. And 3 and 5 is how they are going to do it. My question is this: yes there are lots of web developers, but are they skilled enough for more advanced challenges? And are you really solving the "Several languages, frameworks, APIs" problem? One could argue that there are way to many javascript compilers, frameworks... already!
  - daleharvey 14y ago
    'Are web developer smart enough to build apps' seems like a pretty disingenuous question. And the problem isnt 'too many frameworks / languages', its the ones that run on a single platform requiring you to write the same app 5 times that are the problem.
    - AlexanderDhoore 14y ago
      I agree it's a bit disingenuous. But I believe, for example, that the fact that Android is easier to develop for than iOS, delivers all the crappy "I just got out of college" java apps. And although they promote it as the platform to rule them all, reality is: http://xkcd.com/927/ http://xkcd.com/927/ But I wish them all the best, of course.

thisone 14y ago

I've heard both the Firefox and Ubuntu mobile OSs described as developer phones (I believe this was on Click (BBC)). It made a bit of sense. If you're the type to immediately root your android phone and start running custom builds, then these OSs may give you even more room to run.

jlongster 14y ago
The released version will not just be targeted at developers. Right now there is a Firefox OS developer phone [1] that you can get, but when it officially comes out it will be a fully-featured phone targeted at low prices. [1] http://www.geeksphone.com/ http://www.geeksphone.com/

janjongboom 14y ago

For this (as I share his opinion), read the article from my collegue Sergi Mansilla about the promise of Firefox OS: http://sergimansilla.com/blog/promise-of-ffos/ http://sergimansilla.com/blog/promise-of-ffos/

AlexanderDhoore 14y ago
I tried to analyse that article a bit. Paragraph 1: Ok, so we have some serious competition. 2: We are not going to beat them, we are changing the game. 3: There is massive developer potential. 4: Html sucks, or does it? 5: Frameworks and compile-to-js save the day! 6: Not just HTML5, standardized HTML5! 7: Fixing the problem of "Several languages, frameworks, APIs" and "vendor lock-ins" 8: Mozilla can be trusted. So 2, 6 and 7 are the big promises. And 3 and 5 is how they are going to do it. My question is this: yes there are lots of web developers, but are they skilled enough for more advanced challenges? And are you really solving the "Several languages, frameworks, APIs" problem? One could argue that there are way to many javascript compilers, frameworks... already!
- daleharvey 14y ago
  'Are web developer smart enough to build apps' seems like a pretty disingenuous question. And the problem isnt 'too many frameworks / languages', its the ones that run on a single platform requiring you to write the same app 5 times that are the problem.
  - AlexanderDhoore 14y ago
    I agree it's a bit disingenuous. But I believe, for example, that the fact that Android is easier to develop for than iOS, delivers all the crappy "I just got out of college" java apps. And although they promote it as the platform to rule them all, reality is: http://xkcd.com/927/ http://xkcd.com/927/ But I wish them all the best, of course.