Hey guys,
I recently drowned my Android, and in the near future i’m planning on buying this as a replacement:
http://drop.ndtv.com/TECH/product_database/images/1312014124414PM_635_geeksphone_revolution.jpeg
Especially because FirefoxOS 2 has finally been released, and according to testimonials, it’s shaping up quite nicely.
My question is - is anyone here using a FirefoxOS phone, or has tried out FFOS? What’s the verdict on your part?
Kind regards,
Bumping with updates…
Researching into the matter before purchasing made me quite upset. I don’t think I’ve ever read about anything technical online, that gets the amount of flack Firefox OS does. And it’s quite degrading and vocal. Considering the Firefox OS philosophy (basically an OS which is a browser, which uses a very universal standard and is open etc.), the most interesting points and phrases brought up were:
…and it’s in a very degrading tone. First of all, quite a number of people are asking that question, and are uncomfortable with the level of sacrifice they have to give information wise to use the phone. It can’t, and probably never will be able to compete with Android and iOS and WP. But doesn’t a different form of the company also insinuate different expectations of a result? I mean, Mozilla is a non-profit after all, and doesn’t that make it succumb to the profit-hoarding corporate philosophy a lot differently? Isn’t it nice that they are aiming to create an inexpensive but yet functional smartphone? And what’s with the apps? I mean, it’s all here.
…and that’s the problem I most often see with tech-related topics - they’re, oh the paradox, too technical (and very very speculative). And all I could find was three years worth of “Firefox is dead before it begun” articles.
Me, for one, I’m happy with the direction it’s going, and I’m more than happy that one of my favorite companies is continuing the mission on a mobile front also. I hope all of the catastrophic predictions won’t come true, but as far as phone usage goes - i use my phone for calling, texting, listening to music and lots of e-mailing. Once or twice a year I’m forced to use navigation, and that’s about it. So it does seem to fit my needs. I’ll report if I purchase.
But I couldn’t believe the amount of passion people who are writing about Firefox and Firefox OS are spreading negativity, and declaring which questions are not being asked, instead of doing some research beyond their comfort zone. At the end of the day, I might use it, or i might not, in any case, I wish Firefox and Mozilla the best, and go red panda, go!
http://www.pionero.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/firefox_OS-600x335.jpg
Firefox OS is in a way like a phone version of the Chromebook. And what helps is that webapps are growing for mobile devices (why write 3 or 4 versions when I can write one and have all phones point to it?!)
I dunno in a market dominated by android and ios its hard to see if anything else can catch up.
I have little faith in firefox OS, it is bound to have the same issue linux has on the desktop by being so late in the game
Isn’t this sort of the story of Mozilla’s life?
Right now yes, as really Mozilla has sort have stopped being innovative ages ago.
The mobile market is just too competitive methinks with lots of oversaturation.
If its one company that has proven that this is the case look at how Microsoft is doing in the mobile market, very poorly if I must point out.
I can see MS doing better and better, with more and more people owning their handsets, at least in my country. But that’s beside the point: How many does it have to sell, to still get a portion? I can only imagine that if Ubuntu and FirefoxOS gain the percentage desktop linux has, both combined, it should be more than enough to stay afloat?
But what about the mission? The nonprofit? Are we all really into the technical side of Linux/FOSS only? Nobody seems to put that into equation.
A story, I was saying for some months that I should buy a new mobile phone. My “old family” (father, older brother…) decided to make a practical joke. They where selling out (“sale” ~50Eur) Lumina 4x (MS based) something at a large general store before Christmas 2014. Perfect Christmas gift to me… They where LOL at me when I opened the package and dident understand a thing… Why?
Anyway my older sister ended up with the phone. I have publish photos before and her family is driving old cars, using horse at the farm/forest when its possibale. It started with SMS, then MMS and now I even receive e-mails from her from the MS based mobile phone. Well its seems to work running MS.
regards
If you think Mozilla will burden them self and customers with an old behaviour controlling “mission” I think you are wrong.
They left that years ago and it was mainly relevant when just the fact they were there, mainly Firefox, was enough to make people go Awwww. They were everyones darling. Easy.
After they got some power and money to actually do something about it they bend over to market 
So now Mozilla make deals with any willing isp, with SmartTV producers, is in to VR, some webRTC what ever will come soon I guess, with Internet of Things stuff which is wild west.
They are basically freelancing to highest bidder.
Obviously they are noobs in monetizing, also spoiled from easy Google money, so they are a bit rough, clumsy and lazy. Like when they try to make money off Firefox with advertising partners. Has to be worst campaign ever.
Mozilla still find it important to promote them self as a tad different. Can be seen when they make weird cult videos and chant “We are Mozilla”. Or when they explain why advertising is actually quite safe and will surely enhance users experience in a cool way. Again, trust us because “We are Mozilla” Is almost cute.
As could be seen when they debated DRM there are still pockets of resistance within Mozilla but they are underpowered. Did not create the “discussion” they felt was needed. Was run over. Even more clear when they initiated advertising scheme in Firefox. Try find the blog posts announcing this, then compare activity in Bugzilla. Devs doing the actual coding were jumping up and down in excitement. Way ahead of public debate which was ever so important to them, lol. Encouraged too. And then completely died because they cant handle critisism.
There is simple logic in bending over to market. All questions are answered, is almost maths. Someone freaked out on their Hacks site when they allowed some evil codec, “Mozilla is now dead as all principles are abandoned” or something. The Mozilla guy replied, “Question is if we want to be on the market place or not” - the end! Not coming from a guy working for a “mission based” company, not unless that mission is to profit, expand per market rules. Is free of any concerns as long as he can refer to “market”.
Anyway, about FirefoxOS: TechCrunch is part of the Yahoo family of brands = if it was really “dead” this and loads of other deals would not be made. They are doing business just fine and too soon to declare anything. Also because who has a clue of the money flow? Plus Mozilla probably think long term and will recycle/respin tech from FirefoxOS in to other areas. They already do wtih SmartTV and there has also been talk of more expensive tablets.
Also regarding their “non-profit” tax exempting part look up public records. Mozilla is very wealthy and has been so even before Google money. I bet they yearly spend more money on toilet paper than KDE does on Plasma 5. Important to remember when they fire off good old “oh, we lack resources” because they do when they get the odd push from media. Is of course about priorities and how company is run.
Sense of “decline” and not much going on might come from ever negative reports regarding browser usage but what if Mozilla do not care that much? Nice to have pretty numbers but not essential? May be Firefox served its purpose as catapult in to mobile vendor land? Now goal is to squeeze last drops and trying to stay somewhat relevant without actually doing much? Is only conclusion from last years activities. I doubt they are in shock because desktop browser is not immune to Chrome and MS newborn interest for “web” stuff.
Opposite view of Mozilla can be found on their blog
Being 3rd, 4th or 5th place in the mobile market is still nothing to sneeze at, and if the goal is not to line the pockets of shareholders, that money can go further than the companies having somebody breathing down their neck to make them money!
Thank you for contributing a quality post to the discussion.
Did you mean this post about advertising? Mozilla’s mission in the context of digital advertising | Advancing Content
Otherwise, I’m under no illusions about the market performance Firefox and FFOS have to endure, to stay afloat. People have to get paid, at the end of the day. So do people at SUSE and so do people at Canonical, and at my mail provider, Posteo, for example. But isn’t the whole philosophy they’re doing things and the non-profit organization worth it? Or is it, in your eyes, nothing else but a marketing stunt? that I didn’t fully grasp from your post.
Kind regards,
That’s sort of what i was thinking.
I do not know of current state regarding ads. Have stopped caring and use Firefox because it is modified to be my own. Cant do that with Chromium. This latest post is just one more. Have been loads but yeah Darren Herman is their hope and evil front figure. Master of new speak and nonsense. “user enhanced experience” is really plain old ads, he can do that all day long. Old VC guy hauled in to introduce ads in Firefox. What could go wrong?
Read this carefully Publisher Transformation with Users at the Center | Advancing Content - believe that was his first.
He spin every other term. When he say “users interest” he mean users interest in getting ads from IAB and friends. He outright say he wants to help their “members” “deliver compelling content”. Yeah ads are content. Paid reviews may be!
Is pretty much a new language he use considering this is posted on the official Mozilla blog.
What is infuriating is he play same trick other marketers use. There is no question you WIll love and NEED ads and we will make sure you get them. “We are excited about Directory Tiles because it has inherent value to our users”.
Besides of course simply know how of how advertising works. Like not optimal unless there is also tracking and data mining involved. Which is where Firefox comes in.
Check how advertising biz reacted, pure LOVE!:
http://adage.com/article/iab-annual-meeting/mozilla-sell-ads-firefox/291641/
“Mozilla is moving from a dumb window to the internet to a smart agent on behalf of the user, putting the user first,” Mr. Herman said.
User is not smart at all, need help!
There is more now I am on that horror blog User Personalization Update | Mozilla Labs
We think Firefox is well-positioned to help users save time by finding content on their favorite topics more easily, and help publishers get the right content to the right users to keep them coming back for more.
Users again reduced to idiots who cant figure out to browse on their own - those with money to spend has our interest.
And this “personalization” stuff is what MS new Spartan browser will be great at. Look up “Cortana”. “Related sites” on turbo and funny algorithms.
This is the new Mozilla and why it blows.
Gets even worse because one of Mozillas arguments for this initiative was they had a brainstorming session amongst developers and their suggestion for “how to get monies” was ads. Or close to 100% copy of what Opera has done for years. Except not because “We are Mozilla”, trust us… Is just depressing.
But about that money issue and mobile:
Some might suggest they should never have entered mobile space at all. Instead offer competitive services used by a gazillion people. Better and more secure alternatives to Gmail, Dropbox and who knows may be even build own social network. Diaspora could be a model even if half bad. There are also people working on secure mail clients, Mailpile for example https://www.mailpile.is/ - now Thunderbird is of little interest. Could also imagine app building for all mobile platforms. Not all would be free, some even targeted businesses. Why not?
Why not become more active in Linux world for that matter?
If answer to those pipe dreams is “oh but look at ChromeOS, is there its at these days, please read up on latest tech stories! tap tap tap” - then there is no other fix than to try and copy Google.
Is not true “people” wont spend money on stuff. But of course a challenge thanks to Google, FB etc. wrapping it all up in fake “free”, now also schools etc. with ChromeOS. Again what could go wrong? But on the other hand also easy for Mozilla as they are not that much for-profit. They will say it them self too, you cant force them to do X or Y. They will have freedom to follow their mission as that is why they exist. Is actually also reason they stash so much money away. They want to be able to survive for some years with no income. Should a sugardaddy get too annoying. They have said this though I think some years ago.
Anyway, check this Why I won’t mourn Mozilla – Armed and Dangerous dramatic title but note number of comments. He is well known so get clicks but still. I doubt that issue is isolated but gets bundled with being way too compliant with market forces and seemingly happy with new role as supplier of goods to others, including advertising industry. They have lost credibility in many ways. I doubt many care about them any more - forgetting there is no real alternative because that might eventually become the issue. That is why I am annoyed at least. Is missed opportunity in many ways and they do not hang on trees. Talk of “mission” just becomes annoying reminder. Of course he start article with a link to ComputerWorld saying Firefox is bleeding bad!
Firefox’s adoption of closed-source DRM breaks my heart | Firefox | The Guardian is from DRM days. Expectations were not met!
Lot of people are totally in to ads, love “free” stuff too. Get high thinking of all the money and opportunities.
This is one of the comments on Darren Herman posts
Why stop with such a revenue stream of such limited potential?
Once users are conditioned into acceptance of the browser software delivering paid advertising content, will you then tap into the much more profitable revenue stream of targetted advertising made so easily possible by the browser”s history list and cookie cache?
With the new Australis interface it should be much easier to implement an “advertising panel” for relevant paid commerical advertisements underneath the address bar based in which web site the user is currently visiting or has recently visited.
so many opinions.
“conditioned into acceptance” he said that
He is of course right the way they set up ads is silly as it will never work. But how did Google ad empire start? Not quite what we have today. Things evolve over time. Important is to get the ball rolling.
Wow. Oh, my.
I can’t believe I read those two blog posts. It’s ridiculous. And the worst thing about it is, that the users said:“Look, we love Firefox, if it takes ads in this manner to make it strive, than just be honest and get on with it, we’re all grownups”. Instead, they got a lecture a la Jobs when asked about security and privacy. And made people feel like idiots. I don’t seem to catch up on how the issue evolved, you have any more links, what were the responses?
You can find links all over the internet but is my impression they got scared enough to put advertising on hold. Or at lest not expand. If they advance forward noise will pop up again. The story about “only for new users blah blah and only for a period of time blah blah” is rubbish as it cant possibly make them much money. Is like saying we push ads but not because of money! Was the start of an adventure not the end of it.
Also do not forget extensive metrics/telemetry inside Firefox. Is like Google Analytics but better and build in. Is not hard to see why some get wet dreams of money flows. Is one of the not so talked about nasty side effects some expect - regardless of what Mozilla says. Is inevitable. Not much paranoia there really. Tracking, preferably hidden, is part of advertising to make it effective and possible to sell. Simple as that. If not it becomes weak geo sponsored stuff like I guess they have now.
Their CEO actually jumped in to a comment thread to remind people there was a person behind the words. She was sorry for how people treated the guy, lol. There was some cursing but what to expect! She also admitted protests was surprising and would make sure issue would received proper discussion before any implementations - but right now (early last year or something) she was occupied for a couple of weeks. After that NOTHING 
Which I translated in to, “OK, apparently that did not work out!”. But not sure and they can change mind fast.
Is really old issue with them, check this from 2007 http://www.computerworld.com/article/2539499/networking/mozilla-can-live-without-google-s-money--baker-says.html where she talk of their “rainy day fund”. Google might very well get the middle finger, entirely up to us, seem to be the message. They were stashing back then too But issues she talk about are still relevant and not really answered, definitely not with lame ads announced as if they are a “gamechanger”.
Seems a lot easier to relate to 100% Mozilla products, like online services be it email, storage or what ever. Ad stuff lurking and being in bed with many much bigger companies is not comforting. Which search engine they pimp is least of concerns.