Mozilla Plans for Firefox OS

Entirely geared to the Web, open and free for everyone: The Mozilla Foundation, is being developed by the Firefox wants to tinker around the browser its own operating system – and thus could make Apple and Google competition. The title pretty much says it all: “Booting to the Web,” “Run to the Internet” to German, is an article in MozillaWiki overwritten, in which the development of a new open operating system is announced. The software is based on Gecko, a fundamental part of the web browser Firefox and the e-mail program Thunderbird. Hence the title of the project: Boot to Gecko, B2G short, the authors have named it. Their goal: “a complete and independent operating system for an open web” to develop.

This sounds at first to Google. Finally, the Internet giant has just published the first version of its online operating system OS Chrome released on the special notebook, the Books Chrome runs. Google was used as the basis for the in-house web browser Chrome. The software only works if you have an internet connection, but that’s the idea behind Chrome OS: Instead of storing programs and data in the device itself, they are from Chrome the operating system into the data cloud, the cloud outsourced. They are stored on servers that can be anywhere on the globe, and loaded via an online connection to memory.

The same principle should also work boat to Gecko. Only that the Mozilla developers do not want to supply desktop computers or laptops. Your software should run on smartphones and tablets. Because they sure do not want to reinvent the wheel, they want to take over parts of Google‘s Android operating system, but only a few basic things. “We plan to use as little as possible of Android , “developer Andreas Gal wrote in a forum posting. Google wants to be non-addictive, but ultimately it was “nice to start with something that you know that it works and provides access to all those devices that will support you.”

Software for mobile phones Cloud

A very pragmatic approach. But in this way is from the start, a huge potential market for the new OS ready. Be installed on millions of Google phones – through the use of Android‘s core programs could boot to Gecko – at least in theory. In addition, developers argued Randell Jesup, would a manufacturer of mobile phone chips, like Texas Instruments, already provide by itself the necessary software drivers that you need to use their chips with Android. Android itself is for users of the boat to be Gecko, but nothing to see. Even Android apps are not using the Mozilla-compatible operating system. That would contradict the basic idea of ​​software whose main purpose is to web apps, so applications that run in Web browsers and not as a standalone program on smartphones with a powerful platform to offer.

Web apps, the second attempt

Apple had already tried something with the first iPhone. Today, after more than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, it’s easy to forget that the U.S. group had not originally planned the installation of other software on his mobile phone. Instead, even the iPhone Web apps that run in the browser , expand the functionality of the phone. The attempt failed, however grandiose, because the offer meager, puny, and the possibilities of the performance was lousy.

With a completely web-oriented apps mobile operating system could look at it differently. For a modern smartphones, with their dual-and quad-core chips will soon be considerably more power than the time the iPhone, on the other hand, the mobile networks since expanded better and faster. In addition, one mobile phone per se is always on, always connected to the wireless network, you can always access to apps and data – at least in the semi-mobile technologies developed regions of the world.

Who in the face of such promises impatiently pawing with his feet, must exercise in patience. So far, there are boat for the project to Gecko not even a schedule. Instead, developers and those interested in discussing details about Mozilla‘s forums eager but also basic questions about the planned software development. About whether or not you could also use instead of Android, developed by Nokia and Intel Meego as a basis.

But that is exactly what the developers of the software had wished for, as they released their plan. “We are already talking about it now, because we need the expertise of all Mozilla-members – and by those who do not belong.” Begin with a collective brainstorming – that is one of the strengths of open source. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 10:37 am and is filed under Technology. Tags: Firefox, Google, Mozilla, OS You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.