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No More Firefox For Windows Mobile
angry tapir writes "Mozilla has decided to stop development of a version of its Firefox mobile Web browser for phones running Windows Mobile. The reason is that Microsoft has closed the door to native applications on smartphones running its new Windows Phone 7 Series software. More reasoning can be found in a blog post by Stuart Parmenter, director of Mobile Engineering at Mozilla."
Given that Microsoft has a closed app store model for Windows 7 (just like the iPhone) the chances are good Microsoft would not allow Mozilla to run anyway, even if they wanted to make a nice Silverlight based browser...
That was an interesting choice on Microsoft's part, I can't believe they are not trying to grasp a lot of C# developers that have shifted to the iPhone just to move where the marketshare is. Now those guys have no reason to switch back anytime soon.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Microsoft is going to create a need for a WinPhone Dev Team to figure out how to jailbreak Windows Mobile phones?
I mean seriously, it's like they're taking everything that I like about owning a WinMo phone and throwing it away. I *like* having a file browser on my phone. I *like* having native applications. I *like* HTC's SenseUI. I *like* being able to use my phone as USB mass storage. I *like* being able to HardSPL my phone and use a custom ROM from HTCpedia or xda-developers. I *like* being able to tether my phone using a standard data plan. I *like* Opera Mobile. These are all features that WinMo had and the iPhone didn't. Between these and the dropped calls (oh, and iTunes), I ditched my iPhone and couldn't be happier. Now they're taking away even the possibility of all of these features? Sure, I could completely understand hiding the file browser by default. I could understand not allowing HTC to ship SenseUI enabled by default. I could understand wanting to streamline the process and moving away from scouring the internet for CAB files and shifting toward a more standardized development process. But seriously Microsoft, don't try to copy Apple's shortcomings at the expense of the very reasons why I chose a WinMo phone.
So the reason Microsoft is not allowing native applications is because they are requiring apps to run in either Silverlight or XNA. This is a classic strike against for-profit closed-source: their priorities do not always line up with their users. Remove the profit-motive and all of a sudden you are following your users not trying to make your own tech the standard of the day. I like my software bottom-up please, not top-down.
Shh.
Good grief, just how stupid can these guys get!
Just about the ONLY nice thing people say about Windows on a phone is that it is an open platform for all the corporate junk. Now it is a closed clone of the iPhone complete with app store. All the evil with none of the hipster kewl artsy metrosexual buzz.
Without a monopoly Microsoft couldn't sell icewater in hell.
Democrat delenda est
"Widows Mobil"
A gas station only for women who have lost their husbands?
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Android has its own issues. For example, the game some Android phone makers play with modders, where every version change unroots phones, or actually bricks (as in permanently trashes w/o change to reflash) devices.
I actually miss Windows Mobile. To use the phone to its fullest capacity (yes, including capacity), I had to do no hacks, no low level patches. Just install the right program and go. Every other vendor, I have to play the game of either continuing to run a backlevel OS, or upgrade to the latest and lose capabilities until they are re-hacked in.
Of course MS locking down stuff in Windows Mobile 7 pisses me off.
My next phone, I just want something that was like my old HTC Wizard -- won't brick if someone has a badly cooked image (just a reflash), keeps root/jailbroken, and is easily hackable without the vendor pushing out patches to kill phones.
I wonder, will the Apple fanboys defend Microsoft for this?
I think they did it because they see it works for Apple, and they are tired of being the industry whipping boy for security flaws in a platform. And honestly, who can blame them? They have formed a safe vantage point from which they will probably not be the worst platform for mobile security going forward.
I got the vibe the 7 app store was going to be closed right after they announced Windows 7 Series Mobile (any misordering of words there is not disrespect, I just have given up remembering the proper order), just because of how they framed it...
I think the closed app store model is a good idea that has helped Apple avoid some problems on the platform. What I think is a much, much less good idea is not offering the native SDK out of the chute - did they learn nothing from Palm of all people? And as I said, I think they have made a terrible mistake in not re-courting C# developers to come back into the fold. I'm sure people will jailbreak the 7 phones just like the iPhones, and we'll see some interesting stuff from that.
As far as looking for people to defend Microsoft I'll do you one better - I will even defend what they are doing with cut and paste (as in not having it). I still think it's possible to do some magic with data flows that might approximate cut & paste for most people and be an interesting alternative, so I am interested to see what they are doing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think it's safe to say anyone will probably be able to release anything they please.
I'm not sure how you missed the news if you have been paying attention to WIndows 7 Phone Series at all but... not so:
We just got out of a meeting with Microsoft's Todd Biggs, who dropped a little bombshell on us: the only official way to get apps on a Windows Phone 7 Series device will be to download them from the just-detailed Windows Phone Marketplace. That means developers will have to abide by Microsoft's technical and content guidelines in order to make it in, with the very real possibility of rejection - sound familiar? Todd told us Microsoft plans to avoid Apple-style submission headaches by making the process transparent and predictable, with a group of Microsoft execs regularly meeting to examine edge cases and refine the guidelines as needed, but even the best intentions can be led astray by a sexy app or two.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley