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what apps? :D The whole idea behind firefox OS is the "open web", all "apps" are standards-compliant javascript. App portability shouldn't be much of a problem

by vitno 14y ago

what apps? :D The whole idea behind firefox OS is the "open web", all "apps" are standards-compliant javascript. App portability shouldn't be much of a problem.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
That's not true, both Firefox OS and Tizen use many not-yet-standard APIs. Luckily they are collaborating on many of these APIs and they will be interoperable.
- vitno 14y ago
  Right, but they are all in the process of being standardized. The idea behind them is that they WILL be written using standardized APIs
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    That doesn't help with portability though. Tizen apps and Firefox OS apps have to be constructed in such a way (by abstracting away the not-standard APIs) to make them portable. You don't get that for free.
    - thelukester 14y ago
      Throughout its history, HTML has always been a disaster when it comes to cross browser interoperability. Apps have always been desinged for the vogue browser, which has changed from Netscape to IE to webkit now. The more you abstract, the more functionality you lose and the more generic your mobile apps will look. Facebook learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to make their mobile App in HTML5. CSS, javascript, and DOM are just kudge piled upon kludge. HTML5 trying to shoehorn poorly thought out technologies created for hyperlinked static text documents into dynamic applications. Until some disruptive technology completely replaces that massive HTML5 spec you speak of, the natives apps will always rule the mobile space and performance critical spaces.
    - fpgeek 14y ago
      I suspect you get portability to Firefox for Android for (nearly) free. That's a decent start at the very least (and an important proof-of-concept for other Android browsers).
    - vidarh 14y ago
      The point is the goal is to make all of these API's standardised. Of course you will always have portability issues if you use the newest possible API's as someone will always be first out with an implementation. By the time FirefoxOS has any traction, it is likely a lot of these API's will have additional implementations and/or suitable "polyfills". That'd already put it in a better position out of the gate than Android or iOS in terms of portability.

by vitno 14y ago

what apps? :D The whole idea behind firefox OS is the "open web", all "apps" are standards-compliant javascript. App portability shouldn't be much of a problem.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

That's not true, both Firefox OS and Tizen use many not-yet-standard APIs. Luckily they are collaborating on many of these APIs and they will be interoperable.

vitno 14y ago
Right, but they are all in the process of being standardized. The idea behind them is that they WILL be written using standardized APIs
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  That doesn't help with portability though. Tizen apps and Firefox OS apps have to be constructed in such a way (by abstracting away the not-standard APIs) to make them portable. You don't get that for free.
  - thelukester 14y ago
    Throughout its history, HTML has always been a disaster when it comes to cross browser interoperability. Apps have always been desinged for the vogue browser, which has changed from Netscape to IE to webkit now. The more you abstract, the more functionality you lose and the more generic your mobile apps will look. Facebook learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to make their mobile App in HTML5. CSS, javascript, and DOM are just kudge piled upon kludge. HTML5 trying to shoehorn poorly thought out technologies created for hyperlinked static text documents into dynamic applications. Until some disruptive technology completely replaces that massive HTML5 spec you speak of, the natives apps will always rule the mobile space and performance critical spaces.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    I suspect you get portability to Firefox for Android for (nearly) free. That's a decent start at the very least (and an important proof-of-concept for other Android browsers).
  - vidarh 14y ago
    The point is the goal is to make all of these API's standardised. Of course you will always have portability issues if you use the newest possible API's as someone will always be first out with an implementation. By the time FirefoxOS has any traction, it is likely a lot of these API's will have additional implementations and/or suitable "polyfills". That'd already put it in a better position out of the gate than Android or iOS in terms of portability.