AfterDawn: Tech news

Mozilla to develop mobile operating system

Written by James Delahunty @ 27 Jul 2011 3:35 User comments (6)

Mozilla to develop mobile operating system Boot to Gecko project draws on some parts of Google's Android.
Gecko is the rendering engine that is used by the Firefox browser to display content from the web. Mozilla is looking to expand its capabilities to be at the core of a web-centred operating system that will be developed in the open with all code shared as soon as it is written.

The OS will draw on some parts of Google's Android operating system, but most of the code will be freshly written. If successful, it could become a competitor for Android itself, Apple's iOS, webOS, Chrome OS and Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.

The Mozilla team said the project is only now in its infancy, but has made it public to attract interested experts in the Mozilla community and elsewhere, whom it encourages to join the effort.

Tags: Mozilla
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6 user comments

127.7.2011 15:45

Hell yea! I've been hoping for this for a good while, maybe I'll get a phone or a tablet if this comes to pass...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 27 Jul 2011 @ 11:06

227.7.2011 21:47

Open? Good...show google what they are doing wrong!

328.7.2011 04:21

Web-based... F**k it. Not til data plans stop sucking

428.7.2011 11:14

I just hope they get a better grasp than what went was going down with FF4 to FF5. Without being too flippant, an OS is quite a step up from an internet browser. And then 'shorty' has a point as well...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Jul 2011 @ 11:15

55.8.2011 15:45

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Open? Good...show google what they are doing wrong!

So, isn't Android open?

http://source.android.com/

It's the vendors choice to shield the firmwares of their devices, not Google's.

The Android Market is a different matter, though. I understand why Google bans certain devices from accessing it but, eventually, that practice will lead to some proven mistakes, like what happened with the Toshiba Folio, for instance.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 05 Aug 2011 @ 3:48

65.8.2011 15:46

Sorry, duplicate post. Please, moderators, feel free to delete this one. O:)

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 05 Aug 2011 @ 3:47

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