Thunderbird's Address Book is being replaced and made pluggable (easily connecting to various contact providers). So not all development has stopped. Work from Thunderbird has fed into Firefox OS and I believe vice versa.
Doesn't mean they shouldn't be regulated more strictly. How am I supposed to compare two vehicles based on their mpg? Hope and pray that they're both defrauding me equally?
Firefox may be open source, but Mozilla has demonstrated their need to divert resources where they count the most. This is, for instance, why Firefox is no longer developed on Maemo.
So beyond the potential political or legal ramifications, the sliver of market share that Cydia possesses is simply not worth the engineering effort. And the gamble that releasing it for iPhone would somehow influence Apple to allow third-party browsers, given Apple's stubborn history, would likely be foolhardy.
aside: I have an iPhone and would love if Firefox existed on it.
How is this news? a) Why would Mozilla build a browser Apple has already said it won't allow? b) This same stance has been repeated by Mozilla multiple times.
Also providers will only need to worry about writing changes to the Linux underpinnings (Gonk) for their hardware *once* and then leave all the Gecko updates to Mozilla. Instead of leaving their users behind in features, stability and security because they're not willing to provide the resources to update their Android branch, they can theoretically leave most of the heavy lifting to Mozilla.
Mozilla has truly separated Gonk (Linux) from Gecko and Gaia (the UI) so that updates can be delivered separately.
Please mod parent up. I've been following Firefox development for some time and this echos my sentiment as well. There are a constellation of reasons why Mozilla will not switch to Webkit. One of those reasons is the one that has been mentioned several times in the comments: avoiding a browser monoculture.
Mozilla is very ideologically driven and understands that there is as much a danger of Webkit becoming a danger to the web (especially the mobile web lately) through monoculture as there once was with IE. It was from that environment that Mozilla formed and Firefox was born. And this belief remains engrained in their DNA.
This separation is what Firefox OS does actually. There is the lower level linux kernel/Gonk layer and then Gecko running on top of that. So Gecko can be patched with small over-the-air updates (these may come straight from Mozilla). Either way the burden on a carrier would be notably less.
As a bonus Gonk is based on the same code Android uses, so if a carrier wants to port Firefox OS onto Android compatible hardware it should be relatively easy.
Remember all those post-apocalyptic shows in which a giant EMP reverts the world to a technological wasteland? Put this these in all our electronics and we might get to find out what that's like.
If you need to turn the red light green the current green light will turn yellow (and perhaps a necessarily short one) causing some drivers to speed up to make it, thereby potentially escalating an accident into a high speed catastrophe.
...but in the Garden of Eden there were two trees of note, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil and the Tree of Life. After man sinned (by eating from the former tree), God banished them from the garden so that they would not eat from the tree of life and live forever. I find it interesting that when they were innocent God was all cool with them being immortal, but when they became sinful/morally flawed/infected with evil, God's like, "These schmoes as immortals? Nope. Nuh huh. This will not end well."
There was a group trying to grow diamonds for processors, but they closed up shop. Dunno if it was issues with refining the process or De Beers pushed them out somehow.
I think this is a good time to point out that Firefox OS will be free and open and, once released, you should be able to install it on your Android phone without issue. (It's also running on the same basics as Android.)
I'm not claiming it will be the end-all-be-all of mobile OSes, but because of Mozilla's lack of profit-drivenness, it will have no lock-down. Heck, you can go download the entirety of the code right now.
One pretty big shortfall I'm seeing is a lack of integration with the system Address Book. This is a feature I use *very* frequently and makes for a bunch of extra work to copy & paste otherwise. I'm unsure what exactly led to this oversight, but I think it's important to make sure it's on Google's radar.
To report your desired for contacts integration to Google: 1) Open Google Maps 2) Shake your phone in order to give feedback 3) Tell them that you miss integration with the Address Book
They get a lot of feedback, but with enough reporters statistical analysis should put contacts integration on their radar. The more people giving feedback on it, the more likely it will be on top of their todo list.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish them the same success!
Thunderbird's Address Book is being replaced and made pluggable (easily connecting to various contact providers).
So not all development has stopped.
Work from Thunderbird has fed into Firefox OS and I believe vice versa.
Doesn't mean they shouldn't be regulated more strictly.
How am I supposed to compare two vehicles based on their mpg? Hope and pray that they're both defrauding me equally?
True, but it's still not really Chrome as it doesn't use their version of webkit or their JS engine.
Just a skin.
Anyone is welcome to make their own alternate browser for Firefox OS. (Mozilla would surely encourage it it.)
Firefox may be open source, but Mozilla has demonstrated their need to divert resources where they count the most. This is, for instance, why Firefox is no longer developed on Maemo.
So beyond the potential political or legal ramifications, the sliver of market share that Cydia possesses is simply not worth the engineering effort. And the gamble that releasing it for iPhone would somehow influence Apple to allow third-party browsers, given Apple's stubborn history, would likely be foolhardy.
aside: I have an iPhone and would love if Firefox existed on it.
How is this news?
a) Why would Mozilla build a browser Apple has already said it won't allow?
b) This same stance has been repeated by Mozilla multiple times.
...how my parents feel is another.
Genetically my clone is their son. Do *they* have any rights or obligations towards him?
Oh...I guess it did happen.
...busted this one already
http://youtu.be/3Hji3kp_i9k?t=2m42s
(that's a finger print lock that's detecting signs of life)
Also providers will only need to worry about writing changes to the Linux underpinnings (Gonk) for their hardware *once* and then leave all the Gecko updates to Mozilla.
Instead of leaving their users behind in features, stability and security because they're not willing to provide the resources to update their Android branch, they can theoretically leave most of the heavy lifting to Mozilla.
Mozilla has truly separated Gonk (Linux) from Gecko and Gaia (the UI) so that updates can be delivered separately.
If you're trying to argue that Star Trek: Nemesis was any good, imma hafta stop you right there.
Please mod parent up.
I've been following Firefox development for some time and this echos my sentiment as well.
There are a constellation of reasons why Mozilla will not switch to Webkit. One of those reasons is the one that has been mentioned several times in the comments: avoiding a browser monoculture.
Mozilla is very ideologically driven and understands that there is as much a danger of Webkit becoming a danger to the web (especially the mobile web lately) through monoculture as there once was with IE. It was from that environment that Mozilla formed and Firefox was born. And this belief remains engrained in their DNA.
This separation is what Firefox OS does actually.
There is the lower level linux kernel/Gonk layer and then Gecko running on top of that. So Gecko can be patched with small over-the-air updates (these may come straight from Mozilla). Either way the burden on a carrier would be notably less.
As a bonus Gonk is based on the same code Android uses, so if a carrier wants to port Firefox OS onto Android compatible hardware it should be relatively easy.
Could any XMPP client implemented in the browser pull this off?
I don't know, but if so, that would cover all of Google's chat network.
Remember all those post-apocalyptic shows in which a giant EMP reverts the world to a technological wasteland?
Put this these in all our electronics and we might get to find out what that's like.
If you need to turn the red light green the current green light will turn yellow (and perhaps a necessarily short one) causing some drivers to speed up to make it, thereby potentially escalating an accident into a high speed catastrophe.
Not sure /. is that far behind Digg anymore.
Not sure if *anyone* is behind Digg anymore.
...but in the Garden of Eden there were two trees of note, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil and the Tree of Life.
After man sinned (by eating from the former tree), God banished them from the garden so that they would not eat from the tree of life and live forever.
I find it interesting that when they were innocent God was all cool with them being immortal, but when they became sinful/morally flawed/infected with evil, God's like, "These schmoes as immortals? Nope. Nuh huh. This will not end well."
There was a group trying to grow diamonds for processors, but they closed up shop. Dunno if it was issues with refining the process or De Beers pushed them out somehow.
A browser's JS JIT compiler isn't exactly a user-facing component.
I think this is a good time to point out that Firefox OS will be free and open and, once released, you should be able to install it on your Android phone without issue. (It's also running on the same basics as Android.)
I'm not claiming it will be the end-all-be-all of mobile OSes, but because of Mozilla's lack of profit-drivenness, it will have no lock-down. Heck, you can go download the entirety of the code right now.
"Authorities had to act because it was THEIR FRICKIN' JOB"
One pretty big shortfall I'm seeing is a lack of integration with the system Address Book. This is a feature I use *very* frequently and makes for a bunch of extra work to copy & paste otherwise. I'm unsure what exactly led to this oversight, but I think it's important to make sure it's on Google's radar.
To report your desired for contacts integration to Google:
1) Open Google Maps
2) Shake your phone in order to give feedback
3) Tell them that you miss integration with the Address Book
They get a lot of feedback, but with enough reporters statistical analysis should put contacts integration on their radar. The more people giving feedback on it, the more likely it will be on top of their todo list.
That's the last straw Facebook! I've had it. I'm deleting my account!
Really.
Soon.
Maybe tomorrow actually. ...
Who am I kidding? I can't stay made at you.
(See you soon!)