Mozilla Teams Up With Foxconn; Tablet On the Way?

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Mozilla Teams Up With Foxconn; Tablet On the Way?

Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @12:48AM from the iceweasel-devices-will-be-gnu-licensed-instead dept.

The Register is one of several outlets reporting (based on a Reuters report) that Mozilla is working with Foxconn on a mobile device and "plans to unveil it at an event next week." Firefox OS is already running on other makers' phones; CNET speculates that this new device may be a tablet, which matches the Register's "insider" information.

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Great ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 00:52 · Score: 4, Funny

Great, a tablet that needs to update its entire OS every time you switch it on.
1. Re:Great ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 01:31 · Score: 0
  
  Sounds about right, I only switch my tablet on about once a month.
2. Re:Great ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 02:30 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I know you were being clever, but that is a million times better than the android situation where the manufacturers never release an update, or release one at most.
  I would welcome a rolling release mobile OS as long as it is small and fast. I wish it was pure Linux like my n900, but I will settle for the open sourcy goodness of Mozilla. The release can't come soon enough for me.
3. Re:Great ... by Austerity+Empowers · 2013-05-28 03:08 · Score: 1
  
  Assuming it turns on to begin with.
4. Re:Great ... by BitZtream · 2013-05-28 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Except it won't be better, because the next patch will make it buggy, slow and crash more often than you load a web page.
  Being open source doesn't mean its not crap, you really should open your eyes.
  
  --
  Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
5. Re:Great ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 08:30 · Score: 0
  
  > Being open source doesn't mean its not crap,
  Being closed source doesn't mean its not crap, either.
Foxconn? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 00:52 · Score: 2, Insightful

Isn't that the Chinese factory where the working conditions are notoriously awful? I'd except better from a non-profit such as Mozilla than a deal with that kind of partner...
1. Re:Foxconn? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 00:56 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Firefoxconn, it just sounded too good to not do it.
2. Re: Foxconn? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 01:43 · Score: 0
  
  FoxboxOne
3. Re:Foxconn? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 02:04 · Score: 0
  
  Not only poor working conditions, Foxconn is generally a PITA to deal with, requiring extensive customer information in order to get basic datasheets requireed for design. Mozilla can do better than this.
wonder what the chinese will do by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 00:53 · Score: 0

when mozilla can't pay because no one buys this POS
1. Re:wonder what the chinese will do by Cenan · 2013-05-28 00:55 · Score: 1
  
  Accept IOUs like they always do.
  
  --
  ... whatever ...
Another Data Miner? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 00:57 · Score: 0

Will it be another data miner or wil the consumer have control of his device?
1. Re:Another Data Miner? by FuzzNugget · 2013-05-28 06:12 · Score: 2
  
  This is the Mozilla Foundation we're taking about here. Honestly, it's one of the few organizations around today that I feel I can trust to value my privacy and have my interests in mind, even if they do annoy me sometimes with silly design decisions.
  Everything Mozilla is open source, free as in beer *and* as in speech. My money's on Mozilla putting the user in control (I really hate that word ... "consumer").
Oh another one by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2013-05-28 01:07 · Score: 2

And another contender in tablet space just as BlackBerry pulls the plug on it's tablets. Hopefully this one won't be as memory hungry as Firefox (My only gripe with the browser). Still have to wonder what's going on if they'll team up with scum like Foxcon...

--
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
1. Re:Oh another one by Sockatume · 2013-05-28 01:10 · Score: 1
  
  Announcing next week would put it one week before the Apple WWDC, ensuring that it will be forgotten in favour of iOS 7 and poorly-conceived iPhone 6 rumours in the shortest possible time.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
2. Re:Oh another one by Luthair · 2013-05-28 01:35 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Eh? Firefox actually uses the least memory of all browsers.
3. Re:Oh another one by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2013-05-28 01:46 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm currently using 1/2 a gig on my box :(
  
  --
  Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
4. Re:Oh another one by Ironhandx · 2013-05-28 01:55 · Score: 1
  
  As long as you don't leave it running for awhile. It seems to have issues with leaking bits of crap all over the place, it has since the release of Firefox 3.0. Google chrome plateaus around 1gb or so I find, but firefox will keep on eating. Had it up to a 3.2gb usage before I finally pulled the plug and just don't use it anymore.
5. Re:Oh another one by Luthair · 2013-05-28 02:03 · Score: 1
  
  So compare the same usage scenario in another browser.
6. Re:Oh another one by Luthair · 2013-05-28 02:07 · Score: 2
  
  I've used FIrefox from 0.1, and the only time I've ever run into huge memory consumption was with Adobe's PDF plugin. Look at any comparison and you'll find Firefox uses significantly less memory than other browsers (Chrome often needs double the amount.)
7. Re:Oh another one by lxs · 2013-05-28 02:11 · Score: 1
  
  Sure Chrome is worse but only because you have 741 tabs open.
8. Re:Oh another one by Mike+Frett · 2013-05-28 02:13 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, the problem it seems, is Firefox not releasing Memory when it's no longer in use. This has been an issue for years, but the devs seem more concerned with implementing features nobody wants; like that new Download manager and linking Web History with Download History so clearing one also clears the other.
  What gets me is the OS is Linux based, yet they continuously snub their Browser on actual Linux desktops. To me, it looks like they don't have good leadership and have their priorities backwards.
  Now, I don't WANT it (the OS) to fail, but maybe the community needs it to fail in order to put the zap on their heads and get their act together.
9. Re:Oh another one by Ironhandx · 2013-05-28 02:20 · Score: 0
  
  You don't actually use your web browser for much then. If I just use it for keeping gmail, slashdot, and 1 or 2 other things all day its fine. If I'm looking for things and have 50+ tabs open and youtube etc back and forth without closing it(normal use case for me) then it starts chewing ram like a mofo and not ever giving it back.
  Chrome needs double the amount at start, but as I said, it plateaus somewhere, and is still just as fast which makes me happy. Firefox does not.
10. Re:Oh another one by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 02:59 · Score: 0
  
  Eh? Firefox actually uses the least memory of all browsers.
  Next thing you know you're going to tell me that things in soviet Russia are not the reverse of things in America!
  it's a meme. Firefox is using the least memory, and you can show that to people with numbers but if people keep talking about it being slow, then it becomes "true" to the group that discusses it.
  Other examples of slashdot memes that are not true:
  Apple products are higher quality products and not just identical PC hardware manufactured by Intel with a bios/driver setting changed.
  Jesus was the son of God, died and came back to life.
  Android is free.
  Everyone should use Ubuntu, I put Ubuntu on my grandma's computer and disappeared off to college for four years and never spoke to her again and she died recently, but that counts as her not having any complaints right?
  Count the bumps on the bottom of your green pepper to know if it is male or female.
  Windows 7 is better than windows 8. Metro's 3d tiles totally slow everything down!
  Nokia's appointment of Elop is actually part of a conspiracy at the highest levels of Microsoft and not just a really stupid decision. And Elop is definitely the devil, and not just a human being with really poor business and technology sense.
  Lady Gaga is a dude.
  String theory is plausible.
  if this is modded at all it will be troll, but there's a valid point here Don't pass along untruthful info ;even if everyone agrees with it.
11. Re:Oh another one by fbobraga · 2013-05-28 04:18 · Score: 1
  
  as memory hungry as Firefox (My only gripe with the browser)
  Have you tried the Browser in the last year? How "memory hungry"?
12. Re:Oh another one by fbobraga · 2013-05-28 04:23 · Score: 1
  
  Lady Gaga is a dude.
  Wow! It's news!
13. Re:Oh another one by BitZtream · 2013-05-28 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  If I'm looking for things and have 50+ tabs open and youtube etc back and forth without closing it(normal use case for me)
  So its an ID10-T error then, is it? 50 tabs open? Seriously? You do realize your nearly an order of magnitude beyond what your mind can analyze on the fly right? Just counting tabs names, not even the content, you're already well past the point of information falling out one side of your head while you're cramming it in the other.
  
  --
  Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
14. Re:Oh another one by VortexCortex · 2013-05-28 05:30 · Score: 1
  
  Of all the tabs I have open in Firefox, only a few actually are loaded. This happy accident was a bug, where tabs wouldn't automatically load after browser restart. The tabs would be there, but wouldn't load until you clicked on them. That's an example of a bug that's a feature. Thus I can have hundreds of tabs open (vertical tab list is great -- use some of that horizontal screen realestate), but only have a few actually loaded in memory. It's basically "fast bookmarks" -- Where the bookmark has its own tab instead of taking over the current tab. Try also: Middle Click a folder of bookmarks to open them all in tabs -- This will load them all though, and that does eat memory.
15. Re:Oh another one by lipanitech · 2013-05-28 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  I want to see the firefox phone first before I think of touching one of these. I love firefox but there do seem to take there time rolling out the phone and tablet software.
  
  --
  http://thetechnologygeek.org/
16. Re:Oh another one by caspy7 · 2013-05-28 08:40 · Score: 1
  
  In the past year+ Mozilla has really tackled memory and this includes running it over the long term. Worth giving another try.
17. Re:Oh another one by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 18:03 · Score: 0
  
  Of all the tabs I have open in Firefox, only a few actually are loaded. This happy accident was a bug, where tabs wouldn't automatically load after browser restart. The tabs would be there, but wouldn't load until you clicked on them. That's an example of a bug that's a feature. Thus I can have hundreds of tabs open (vertical tab list is great -- use some of that horizontal screen realestate), but only have a few actually loaded in memory. It's basically "fast bookmarks" -- Where the bookmark has its own tab instead of taking over the current tab. Try also: Middle Click a folder of bookmarks to open them all in tabs -- This will load them all though, and that does eat memory.
  This is not a bug, it's a configuration setting. In the "tabs" section is an option, "Don't load tabs until selected," that, when checked, makes this behaviour default. It's practically mandatory if you're managing over 100 tabs, and makes it use almost no memory with a lot of tabs open but unaccessed.
18. Re:Oh another one by Ironhandx · 2013-05-29 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  Its called opening all pages of interest while on the search etc page then sifting through them. Shit, I've got 6 slashdot stories sitting open right now.
  This isn't an ID10-T error, its how I function, and how a LOT of people I know function. Its how I've done it since the advent of tabbed browsing. It is, in fact, WHY tabbed browsing is awesome.
19. Re:Oh another one by Ironhandx · 2013-05-29 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  It has been a little over a year since I gave up on firefox, maybe I will try it again. My main problem is a lack of impetus to do so, Chrome works great for everything I actually need it to do.
20. Re:Oh another one by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-29 14:43 · Score: 0
  
  *POKER FACE*
Not likely yet by robmv · 2013-05-28 01:10 · Score: 3, Informative

If you haven't read blogs ot commit logs about the updates of the Firefox OS platform and base UI to adapt to tablet resolutions/aspect ratios in the open, then there is no Firefox OS support for those devices yet. Mozilla isn't Google, writing code in secrecy
1. Re:Not likely yet by drinkypoo · 2013-05-28 01:35 · Score: 2
  
  If you haven't read blogs ot commit logs about the updates of the Firefox OS platform and base UI to adapt to tablet resolutions/aspect ratios in the open, then there is no Firefox OS support for those devices yet.
  That's odd, it seems that pretty much all tablets in the open use typical resolutions, or close to it. It's almost like they won't have to take screen size into account at all, since Firefox already runs at a variety of resolutions.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
2. Re:Not likely yet by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 03:59 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed. GP is a mong.
3. Re:Not likely yet by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 05:23 · Score: 0
  
  wow, i learned a new slur
  downies can be called mongs
  i've never really thought downies look like chinks, nips, gooks, or spics though
4. Re:Not likely yet by robmv · 2013-05-29 03:27 · Score: 1
  
  Good external applications and device base applications don't have the same UI on tablets than phones. Phone layouts don't take advantage of the extra space. One of the "problems" in Google Play is that many applications use the same phone layout on tablets. I haven't seen any reference that make me think that Mozilla is already committing code to make the base OS applications adapt to tablets
I'm beginning to worry by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 01:20 · Score: 0

I'm beginning to worry that nothing is sacred from the reaches of monetization, tracking, and overall corporate control/oversight. Mozilla is the last of the "decent" browsers with actual usable features and now it seems the lure of money is taking them down a path that will result in more and more people losing their privacy.
Why can't Konqueror or another open source browser step up with great features, stay true to the cause, etc. I'm beginning to worry. I was once an Ubuntu user. Now? Fedora. I want my OS free as in freedom, free as in beer. I don't want it reporting back to some mothership on Amazon searches -- or anything else. Monetization does not belong in operating systems. My OS should be a place of privacy, intimate details kept that way -- not a new place to make money. I'm worried.
1. Re:I'm beginning to worry by fbobraga · 2013-05-28 04:27 · Score: 1
  
  I was once an Ubuntu user. Now? Fedora.
  2
Oh that makes sense by slashmydots · 2013-05-28 01:52 · Score: 1

Oh wow, that really makes sense because Mozilla makes good products and Foxconn makes ultra low quality crap like for example MP3 players that fail within a month and the world's worst motherboards.
1. Re:Oh that makes sense by IRWolfie- · 2013-05-28 01:59 · Score: 2
  
  Eh? Foxconn makes products for all the major companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Google etc etc
2. Re:Oh that makes sense by JDG1980 · 2013-05-28 02:03 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Oh wow, that really makes sense because Mozilla makes good products and Foxconn makes ultra low quality crap like for example MP3 players that fail within a month and the world's worst motherboards.
  Foxconn builds to whatever price point the customer wants. If you order cheap crap, they'll build cheap crap. If you pay extra for a high-quality product (as Apple does), then that's what you'll get.
  The workers get treated like crap either way, though.
3. Re:Oh that makes sense by BitZtream · 2013-05-28 05:08 · Score: 2
  
  I bet every TV, monitor, PC and portable device (smartphone/tablet) you own has several foxconn components in it.
  You more or less can't buy a PC motherboard without Foxconn components.
  You have no idea what you're talking about.
  
  --
  Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Ill wait... by night_flyer · 2013-05-28 02:15 · Score: 2

Ill wait until version 32.6 is out

--

Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
1. Re:Ill wait... by HaZardman27 · 2013-05-28 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  An early adopter, eh?
  
  --
  Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
Suicide factory by AndyKron · 2013-05-28 02:26 · Score: 1

Mozillia teams up with the suicide factory? Hmmm...
1. Re:Suicide factory by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 03:11 · Score: 1
  
  If by "suicide factory," you mean where the suicide rate is nearly an order of magnitude lower than the rest of the country, and half the suicide rate of Italy (which is the lowest in Europe), then yes. Mozilla is teaming up with the suicide factory.
  You might want to look into getting some critical thinking skills.
Working conditions in context by sjbe · 2013-05-28 04:57 · Score: 1

Isn't that the Chinese factory where the working conditions are notoriously awful?
Not to defend Foxconn per se but do you think the working conditions in the fields for Chinese farmers are any better? Working conditions might be pretty bad to our eye but chances are that for many the alternatives available aren't especially wonderful either. Quite possible that Foxconn is the least worst alternative for many people. Sometimes a shitty job is the best alternative available at the time. That's not to excuse any abuses that might be occurring (Foxconn might be pure evil) but we should view with the larger societal context in mind. If you want something that has a high labor content built for the lowest possible price then that requires working conditions that cut expenses to the bone. This necessarily means long hours, low wages, low overhead and little/nothing in the way of benefits. As bad as that sounds, sometimes it is a step up from something like subsistence farming where starvation is a serious concern.
There have been a lot of sensationalist stories regarding Foxconn and other contract manufacturers and it isn't especially clear what the truth is about them. Might really be a little slice of hell on earth or it might not be so bad. All the information we have is 3rd hand at best so it's a little hard to be certain what level of indignation is appropriate. I've been to China and seen factories that have working conditions I would generously describe as unpleasant. I've seen parts made for Dell monitors in a factory near Chengdu with gravel floors. Most americans would describe the conditions as poor but it wasn't anything unusually bad by local standards.
Offline use by tepples · 2013-05-28 05:44 · Score: 1

This happy accident was a bug, where tabs wouldn't automatically load after browser restart. The tabs would be there, but wouldn't load until you clicked on them. That's an example of a bug that's a feature.
Unless I want them loaded so that I can read them on my laptop while riding the bus.
shit by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-28 06:16 · Score: 0

Mozilla has jumped the shark. Oh well.
Small PC Teblte by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-30 17:42 · Score: 0

Mozilla is working with Apple hardware-maker Foxconn to release a mobile device running Firefox OS, it told news outlets on Monday, and plans to unveil it at an event next week.
http://resultplanet.org/