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Firefox - The Platform

Posted by timothy on from the if-it-only-had-an-ssh-client dept.

Strudelkugel writes "Business 2.0 reports Firefox is becoming a problem for Microsoft. But FF is not just a problem as a browser; its potential as a platform is significant. From the article: 'It all adds up to a business opportunity for startups, established software companies, and Web giants alike. Though Ross and the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation don't stand to make money, Firefox's open platform gives it enormous potential to hatch a new class of applications that live on the desktop but do business on the Web.'"

2 of 589 comments (clear)

  1. Re:let it be just a browser by FuzzzyLogik · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is a browser. But the components that were used to BUILD the browser are very cross platform (hence you have firefox on 3 major different platforms, windows, linux, and mac). in doing so the backend of all of this is cross platform and can be used to create other applications besides just a web browser. you only really need to know javascript, xul, and a few other things and you can use the stuff that was used to build firefox and make your own application. it's a novel idea and hopefully it'll be put to good use.

    --
    Kyle
    http://www.unlogikal.net/
  2. Re:Worries me.. by damiam · · Score: 5, Informative
    FireFox is already extremely bloated (on Windows) compared to other Windows applications

    Firefox is a 4.5MB download. That may be bloated compared to sol.exe, but it's tiny compared to IE, and not much bigger than Opera (3.5MB).

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.