Another operating system? Seriously? We already have plenty to choose from: Windows, iOS, Mac OS, Android, Chrome and countless Linux flavors. Do we really need Mozilla's Boot-to-Gecko?
A simple answer: No, we don't. However, asking whether we need another Os would be the wrong question to begin with. The right question would be: Does Mozilla need its own OS? In this case, the answer would be absolutely. In fact, why have they waited so long?
If you have read my previous columns, you may already know that I am a big proponent of web platforms and doubt that Mozilla will be able to survive with a browser that is threatened to be generally downgraded from the cornerstone of Internet usage to an app among hundreds of thousands of other (Internet-enabled) apps.
The Problem
We are constantly evolving how we use the Internet, how we access information and what we do with it. Mozilla's main issue is that its core product, Firefox, has not evolved and has not shaped changes that would be beneficial to us or Mozilla. 2010 was a turning year for the web browser and caught Mozilla sleeping. While Mozilla was busy fixing Firefox and copying trends that emerged and were ignored in 2009 for a browser that was released almost half a year late, the competition evolved their browsers into platforms.
The result is that Google already has Chrome that just happens to be a browser today, but goes much more in the direction of a client cloud OS. Microsoft is making big steps to an Internet Explorer that is closely tied to Windows 8 and Microsoft's intention to make HTML5 web apps run especially well on IE9 and IE10. Firefox is already shut out of iOS. If Mozilla stands still, Firefox will become an app, in a best case scenario, and turn into an alternative that will require its loyal users to make a lot of compromises that will mean that Firefox will not be the best browser on any evolving platform. Conceivably, we could be talking about a slow and painful death here.
Escaping The Trap: Platformization
Market share data today indicate that Mozilla is caught between IE and Chrome, in a fight to survive as a company that balances corporate interests with those of an open web. The threat of becoming irrelevant is very real at this time as Chrome is gaining market share rapidly and is spreading out into different areas such as tablets and most likely smartphones as well. Whether Mozilla likes it or not, Firefox is caught in a trap that is pretty tight and could suffocate the browser, especially since we have been seeing Firefox play catch-up rather than innovate lately.
Mozilla has only one option to help Firefox survive: The browser needs to become a platform and shed its perception of being a browser. If there is a trend of Firefox being shut out of other platform efforts, the only opportunity for the future appears to be a platform that goes beyond a distributed and fragmented web store. Mozilla Boot-to-Gecko is a first step that seems to follow, once more, Google's approach with Chrome and Chrome OS, but maintains the open web principle that will keep Mozilla's image as the defender of the open Internet alive.
Is Mozilla Too Late?
You could argue that there is already a substantial cloud play via Chrome, Android, Windows (soon), iOS; and if you really don't like any of those, you still have options such as Blackberry, WebOS and Linux. Microsoft acknowledged that it has been late to the game and it is not difficult to see that WebOS is a fish dead in the water. RIM is gambling its users away, even if it once had a highly loyal and enthusiastic user base. So, what about Mozilla? Is Mozilla gambling as well and is it too late?
It is late, but perhaps not too late. There are still hundreds of millions of loyal Firefox users and there is still the brand recognition that anything-Firefox simply works and has a very high quality standard. Sure, Firefox has lost some of its appeal over the past 2 years, especially in the innovations space, but it is still a trusted brand that could easily spread out in neighboring product categories: a web-based Mozilla OS for smartphones and tablets that promotes an open platform as opposed to the closed market environments of iOS and Android could be an attractive alternative and could gain traction much faster than, for example, Windows could. We should not underestimate Mozilla's grass-roots marketing capabilities.
Quality versus Innovation?
Mozilla's big disadvantage in developing and pitching an OS is resources. The OS step will mean that Mozilla will have to compete with Google, Microsoft and Apple - not to mention the fact that it will have to get into the hardware business, at least to the degree as understanding today's and future hardware is concerned. Developing an OS for smartphones, tablets and future mobile devices, will require a lot more investment and manpower than Mozilla has at its disposal at this time.
If it cannot hire substantially more people, Mozilla will end up in compromises that will involve release time frame, updates, feature set, creativity as well as quality. Most likely, Mozilla could be caught in a trap between quality and innovation. While it needs innovative features, it cannot jeopardize its quality and very foundation of its reputation. The most interesting aspect of the Mozilla OS will be how the company can manage to distance itself from its rivals and still maintain the perception it has today. As far as features are concerned, just another OS that runs a phone won't be enough. Mozilla will need to deliver the entire package. My prediction: if Mozilla can create a working cloud OS (provided there is omnipresent connectivity) and has hardware like the Seabird phone in place, it can succeed.
The Mozilla OS pitch has been long overdue. It is the right move that could drive innovation for the industry and shape Mozilla's future in a positive way. If created with care and innovation in mind, it could do for the cloud OS what Firefox once did for the web browser.
actually go out of their way to make it compatible. Something countless programs
already fail to do for the OS X which already has a notable market-share.
Even if they skip the PC OS altogether and go straight for phones and tablets they will once
against the same problem and then on top of it they will have to convince major manufactures to risk making phones and tablets with their OS and with how things are today I do not see anyone taking such a risk.
As much as I like Mozilla and I have for many years now, as I type this using Firefox I regretfully say this is a bad idea and should not be pursued.
It was good for a while but sorry and goodbye
You obviously haven't really used Firefox for a long period of time have you? Been by their side since 2004 and has been my main browser ever since then.
In my days of using Netscape on my school computers many many years ago, I preferred IE. On the Macs, I only remember using Netscape. Now, I barely even touch IE. Used IE for Windows Update for XP, but that was about it. Rarely ever came across a page that didn't render properly in FF, but there were a few that would only render properly in IE. Also those few ActiveX sites, that I haven't come across in I can't tell you how long. There was (and still is) an add-on for FF called IE Tab if you didn't want to touch IE with a 10 foot pole.
I know there is already such a solution, gut it is way too big to be a real competition kicker and it is not made by mozilla themselves.
This would not work even in the rest of the world, because people that travel will need to pay for connectivity (roaming, etc) just to be able to boot their phones. With the current (and likely near-future) business model of wireless providers everywhere, this design would be stillborn.
I think Gruener missed this point. If anything, a phone still needs to have an OS that resides entirely on the phone, not in the cloud.
OTOH, if Mozilla comes out with an OS that is able to unify/run applications from different markets, and that OS is compatible with a wide variety of hardware, that would be something I would install on my phone in a blink of an eye. So, yes, we need such an OS, again despite what the author thinks. Granted, the AppStore will still be off-limits, just because it requires registering via another program (iTunes) that will detect the hardware and deny access, but with compatibility for alternative markets, that should not be missed too much.
I use FF daily and I believe they are capable of pulling something like this. I also have a few old(er) smartphones laying around that I could use for testing such an OS. I also know for a fact that there is a huge community of developers and coders out there waiting to jump on every opportunity, just like they did with Android, iOS and others.
Scaled the heights for a while, then bagan a death spiral into obscurity, English football fans will understand the analogy
by Netscape Navigator Mozilla Firefox --- ---}} B2G OS. We welcome competition and different points of view!!
if indeed Mozilla does decided to make an OS it sure as hell isn't going be pitching against windows and such likes, it would be a light weight streamlined purpose built OS, id imagine for the deployment of an OS within an OS, virtualising windows with windows is a pig on resources especially if your going to be using it only for a specific task, if that task can be performed by a light weight OS customized for that particular task you going eat up far less resources, and in fact the most ideal situation for this is web browsing, virtualising an OS just for web browsing would allow you to tie the browser directly into the OS kernel giving a serious speed boost and the virtualisation would add a layer of security
sure your not going be shifting large quantities of your OS but when your up against the big guns, it's better to find the niche market and exploit that rather then take the big guns head on, with enough traction you could well dig out a small corner for yourself.
And for those who decry the idea of having to code specific apps for such an OS, the same can be said for firefox and yet it has a loyal and substantial add on catalog, and ultimately thats all that this OS needs, add ons
That's because it was written by Wolfgang Gruener. I've never seen anything else from him. I envision the origin of each of his articles like so... "What're the tech headlines today? Hmm... Oh, Mozilla's working on an OS! Well, let's see - I'll just sit here and think about it for a while, then I'll write what purports to be an authoritative piece of journalism, but is actually based entirely on my own conjecture rather than genuine understanding of the industry. Tom's always lets me get away with that!"