6 ms·

I very strongly want this to work. I am very excited about the prospect of a phone/tablet OS that I hack up apps for in Javascript. But even more than that I pr

I very strongly want this to work. I am very excited about the prospect of a phone/tablet OS that I hack up apps for in Javascript. But even more than that I pray for a true competitor to iOSX/Android. They just need to get this thing moving. I am planning to buy a tablet this Christmas and I want FFOS to be a very good choice by then. Come on Mozilla.

eksith 13y ago
This Christmas is awfully close to R&D, Q&A and clean up the rough edges for a finished product. It's vital they get this right the first time or that would be a serious blow to it and any future competitor to the two. But I agree, it's very exciting!
- fmstephe 13y ago
  Yeah, I may be out of luck. Such a shame.
callahad 13y ago
Christmas is probably too soon, unfortunately. Everything I've read has been focused on launching FxOS in emerging markets starting this Summer, then moving on to developed markets next year, once it's had time to mature and get some more polish.
- janjongboom 13y ago
  Release 1.1 that will contain a lot of polish will come out in November and will then be launched in Eastern Europe on Telenor markets.
tsurantino 13y ago
This might be a black sheep type of question in a thread like this but here goes. Microsoft pursued a strategy that enabled people to make web apps in HTML5/Javascript as first class apps in Windows 8. Why is it not being adopted/praised as much as Firefox OS is? Is it because it's Microsoft? Is it because the Win8 HTML5/JS apps are more closed-system-esque than Firefox OS apps will be? A lot of people denounce Windows because of its lack of app ecosystem. Does everyone think that Firefox OS will have a better chance at solving this problem and thus deserves praise for creating an ecosystem exclusively for web-based apps?
- ryanmcbride 13y ago
  It's most likely because Mozilla makes things open source, and Microsoft doesn't usually. I agree that this pretty much seems like another Windows Phone, that won't really make huge competition for iOS or Android devices. I hope I'm wrong though because I hate Java.
- pepr 13y ago
  > Is it because the Win8 HTML5/JS apps are more closed-system-esque than Firefox OS apps will be? Yes, basically. At least for me. It comes down to trust. I trust Mozilla that they want to do good for the community. I trust Microsoft first and foremost wants to make money for their shareholders and only after that for the community. This is fine, they're a for-profit company. It's just that doing good for your shareholders doesn't always lead to doing good to the community. Not to mention Microsoft doesn't exactly have the greatest of reputations when it comes to vendor lock-in issues.
  - fmstephe 13y ago
    They are complete Bds. I am still very unhappy about what they did with the win7 phone. I feel like such a sucker. I was so enthusiastic about the interface, I showed to all my workmates and tried to convince them it was better than their phones (with little success). And then they went and left me with a ghost town of a phone. I felt quite foolish after that. I took it all a bit personally :)
- fmstephe 13y ago
  I think it is a very fair question. The first reason I want Mozilla to win here is that they don't want my data. They are pushing for stronger privacy in firefox, and although I love Chrome I don't think Google can ever support real browser privacy. I am a fan of JS on windows 8 and winphone 8. However, I own a win7 phone and got burned by their non-backwards compatible upgrade to 8. So I have no love for MS, although I am a big fan of the tiled UI. I think that FFOS will provide a better place where I can put together an app in Linux with vim. I don't want to install eclipse to write for Android, buy a macbook to write an iOSx app or install visual studio. I hope that FFOS can be an easy to fiddle playground for me. We'll see.
Dirlewanger 13y ago
I too want to see this work, but I'm worried about Google's response. What if this takes off? Seeing as how right now, how much of Mozilla's revenue comes from Google, if Firefox OS takes off I would think it needs to take off hard in the case that Google decides to maneuver against them by toying with their main artery that is Firefox's default search engine. I don't know.
- venomsnake 13y ago
  Nope. Google does not make money from Android. And with js apps inserting google ads into the app will be trivial. So no harm for them there.
- tyree732 13y ago
  If Google doesn't pay Mozilla, Yahoo or Microsoft will. Furthermore, the reason Google pays so much money to Mozilla is not out of goodwill, but for all the revenue that Google makes off of the traffic the search bar generates. Google not paying Mozilla to be the default search provider would be cutting off its nose to spite its face.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Zigurd 13y ago
> But even more than that I pray for a true competitor to iOSX/Android. I hope so, too, and I write books about Android programming. Without competition, especially competition from systems that will try to differentiate by being more open than Android, there is a substantial risk that Google will become increasingly closed and conservative about developing Android. Windows lacked competition for more than a decade. That created mind-set that couldn't disrupt it's own business, and consequently missed both handsets and tablets. So I hope there are five or six viable mobile technology platforms and ecosystems.

eksith 13y ago

This Christmas is awfully close to R&D, Q&A and clean up the rough edges for a finished product. It's vital they get this right the first time or that would be a serious blow to it and any future competitor to the two. But I agree, it's very exciting!

fmstephe 13y ago
Yeah, I may be out of luck. Such a shame.

callahad 13y ago

Christmas is probably too soon, unfortunately. Everything I've read has been focused on launching FxOS in emerging markets starting this Summer, then moving on to developed markets next year, once it's had time to mature and get some more polish.

janjongboom 13y ago
Release 1.1 that will contain a lot of polish will come out in November and will then be launched in Eastern Europe on Telenor markets.

tsurantino 13y ago

This might be a black sheep type of question in a thread like this but here goes. Microsoft pursued a strategy that enabled people to make web apps in HTML5/Javascript as first class apps in Windows 8. Why is it not being adopted/praised as much as Firefox OS is? Is it because it's Microsoft? Is it because the Win8 HTML5/JS apps are more closed-system-esque than Firefox OS apps will be? A lot of people denounce Windows because of its lack of app ecosystem. Does everyone think that Firefox OS will have a better chance at solving this problem and thus deserves praise for creating an ecosystem exclusively for web-based apps?

ryanmcbride 13y ago
It's most likely because Mozilla makes things open source, and Microsoft doesn't usually. I agree that this pretty much seems like another Windows Phone, that won't really make huge competition for iOS or Android devices. I hope I'm wrong though because I hate Java.
pepr 13y ago
> Is it because the Win8 HTML5/JS apps are more closed-system-esque than Firefox OS apps will be? Yes, basically. At least for me. It comes down to trust. I trust Mozilla that they want to do good for the community. I trust Microsoft first and foremost wants to make money for their shareholders and only after that for the community. This is fine, they're a for-profit company. It's just that doing good for your shareholders doesn't always lead to doing good to the community. Not to mention Microsoft doesn't exactly have the greatest of reputations when it comes to vendor lock-in issues.
- fmstephe 13y ago
  They are complete Bds. I am still very unhappy about what they did with the win7 phone. I feel like such a sucker. I was so enthusiastic about the interface, I showed to all my workmates and tried to convince them it was better than their phones (with little success). And then they went and left me with a ghost town of a phone. I felt quite foolish after that. I took it all a bit personally :)
fmstephe 13y ago
I think it is a very fair question. The first reason I want Mozilla to win here is that they don't want my data. They are pushing for stronger privacy in firefox, and although I love Chrome I don't think Google can ever support real browser privacy. I am a fan of JS on windows 8 and winphone 8. However, I own a win7 phone and got burned by their non-backwards compatible upgrade to 8. So I have no love for MS, although I am a big fan of the tiled UI. I think that FFOS will provide a better place where I can put together an app in Linux with vim. I don't want to install eclipse to write for Android, buy a macbook to write an iOSx app or install visual studio. I hope that FFOS can be an easy to fiddle playground for me. We'll see.

Dirlewanger 13y ago

I too want to see this work, but I'm worried about Google's response. What if this takes off? Seeing as how right now, how much of Mozilla's revenue comes from Google, if Firefox OS takes off I would think it needs to take off hard in the case that Google decides to maneuver against them by toying with their main artery that is Firefox's default search engine. I don't know.

venomsnake 13y ago
Nope. Google does not make money from Android. And with js apps inserting google ads into the app will be trivial. So no harm for them there.
tyree732 13y ago
If Google doesn't pay Mozilla, Yahoo or Microsoft will. Furthermore, the reason Google pays so much money to Mozilla is not out of goodwill, but for all the revenue that Google makes off of the traffic the search bar generates. Google not paying Mozilla to be the default search provider would be cutting off its nose to spite its face.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

Zigurd 13y ago

> But even more than that I pray for a true competitor to iOSX/Android. I hope so, too, and I write books about Android programming. Without competition, especially competition from systems that will try to differentiate by being more open than Android, there is a substantial risk that Google will become increasingly closed and conservative about developing Android. Windows lacked competition for more than a decade. That created mind-set that couldn't disrupt it's own business, and consequently missed both handsets and tablets. So I hope there are five or six viable mobile technology platforms and ecosystems.