Yeah, it’s fine for me on my desktops (At least in it’s Iceweasel incarnation). I’m always a few version numbers behind though because I run Debian, and Debian does not move quickly.
Chrome is snappier and appears to run the flashplugin better (sooooon…) but that’s really not an issue for me.
However I do think that if Mozilla want to make a Mobile OS then they probably want to get their mobile browser somewhere near release-ready.
Personally I think I would like my next phone to be Firefox OS if I’m able to source one in Canada. I’m completely disenchanted by my smartphone experience. All I really do with it is visit a few mobile websites, few time wasting games, and for tethering my tablet. If I can fill all those needs for $25, I’ll be happy. I see no need to pay hundreds of dollars just so I can have a mobile web browser.
Phonegap’s update from last week added Firefox OS support. Meaning, anyone using cordova/phonegap to build hybrid html5 apps can now target Firefox OS in their builds, in addition to iOS, Android, BB10, etc.
While nerdgasms are fun and all, the chance of this succeeding is somewhere near zero percent.
After reading reviews on Tracfones phone offerings none seemed worthy hardware wise. Firefox browser on windows is very customizable and without FLASH on my computers works great. All of the web should ditch FLASH. Html5 works well for streaming. AND SLOW DSL. So programmers wake up and change the net. Waiting 2 minutes to load a FLASH website prelude is a waste of broadband resources akin to torrents and streaming. When a $25 FF OS Tracfone/Netlink smartphone is available cheap old me will be in line to purchase. Many apps or not. And yes, FF Android browser is a bit clunky on my tablet. Is the development of this OS the reason FF was asking for donations last desktop browser update?
AOL is still a good place to go for an anonymous email account that does not involve linking it to a profile or a computer or your DNA profile. So AOL is now very useful again. Now if AOL could just create a hipster retro artisanal image…
I generally use Chrome because it’s “snappier,” but have found Firefox to be my preferred choice for any Flash stuff. Chrome’s built-in ‘Pepper’ Flash has performance issues, and I’ve even had it bug out with the Google-owned YouTube. Swapping it out for ‘real’ Flash fixes these problems, but elicits an array of new problems stemming from Chrome not wanting to play nicely with a version of Flash that is not its pet (such as, for instance, breaking ad-blocking extensions that block ads in Flash videos if you’re not using Pepper Flash - extensions which work fine in Firefox).
I use several different browsers for various email accounts. Also, they vary in their ability to download and print some documents, which becomes important for someone taking classes.
King is gonna develop games for Firefox OS?
I would have expected OLPC to pivot to OMPC (One Mobile Per Child).
I would suspect that there are a a lot of Symbian developers out there that are already used to supplying apps to this market. With Nokia’s Symbian offerings mostly in maintenance mode right now, the developers should embrace Firefox OS…
It would be nice to see a OMPC work with these guys:
Village Telco » Deployments
It would fit in with the original OLPC mesh networks.
The Village Telco is an initiative to build low-cost community telephone network hardware and software that can be set up in minutes anywhere in the world. No mobile phone towers or land lines are required.
The vision of Firefox OS is a contrast to the Zuckerberg plan to supply “Internet” to poor people in the form of an ad-subsidized, all-surveilling walled garden. As Susan Crawford says, “That’s not the Internet – that’s being fodder for someone else’s ad-targeting business. That’s entrenching and amplifying existing inequalities and contributing to poverty of imagination – a crucial limitation on human life.”
Now that some of the major tech company money for Firefox is drying up, Mozilla says they are considering making the Firefox browser ad supported on its start page or whatever. How will that not make Firefox ad-subsidized?
Why so glum?
I find it sad how badly nokia fell. My last nokia (a 5300 if I remember right) was so cool, but once it started getting buggy it quickly went terminal and all my previous phones were nokias that I only got rid of/gave away because a lack of features, and I’m sure they’re still running.
I remember back in the day there were seemingly billions of pokemon websites, even on the ‘exclusive club’ (or whatever it was called) portal. And this was early enough in the web when we were dumb enough not to realize that hey, maybe you should make your stuff different so it stands out and not just wholesale swipe things, you dumb-dumbs.
I have a 3310 that had been in a desk drawer since, well, a 3310 was a thing, that booted straight up without needing a charge. Aint nuthin’ kills an old Nokia…
“An open source version of Google Play services and store would be heartily welcomed by most of the Android community, while achieving most of the goals Mozilla has set forth.”
Good idea. Google is really trying hard to close Android’s openness, and Cyanogen is now a corporation. We could use a reversal of this trend.
But I’m not sure we need a Firefox Open Android Store. Why couldn’t they build Open Source Services in collaboration with F-droid instead?
Interesting sidebar: Barry Kauler, the guy who originally developed Puppy Linux, now is tinkering with smartphones. I think he was inspired partly by Ubuntu’s Edge project a while back, the one that fell short on Indegogo. I’m keeping an eye on his efforts.
I’m really not seeing the need at all. The lowest unsubsidized smartphone price I’ve seen here in Taiwan is 1000NT or $33 with a quite a few offered at the 1-2K range.
Even if there is a difference in RAM requirements it just doesn’t seem much of a game changer. Unless Firefox brings more to the table than Android, targets specific users, or at creates a distinctive interface that creates a preference, there isn’t much there.
As a non-developer my impression of the Google Play is that from a security point of view it’s not restrictive enough. Would an open source alternative be better? (Although it’s worth noting that last time I looked the cheap Android phones/tablets came with alternative app stores not Google Play).
Maybe they can fix that by not implementing it in fucking Java 
