A matter of requirements and principles. I'm currently discussing that change in...

Pacabel · on May 10, 2014

Do the "principles" in your case revolve around openness, freedom, and so forth?

I've heard a lot of people use such ideals when advocating for Firefox OS, but I just don't see it all holding true in practice.

Firefox OS is one of the more restrictive environments, at least for developers. I'm basically stuck using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. If I want to use any other language, I have to try to molest it through something like Emscripten. If I want to create a native app, I'm out of luck.

At least a platform like Android gives developers a comparatively wide variety of options, from Java, to C and C++, to JavaScript/HTML5/CSS.

By limiting the freedom of developers to create apps as they see fit, then it directly impacts the freedom of end users to use such apps.

And I don't see Firefox OS as being particularly open in other respects. Maybe the code is available under an open source license, and maybe Mozilla will accept minor bug fixes from the community, but I really doubt an average user would have any ability to influence/impact/control Firefox OS beyond that. Decisions are foisted upon the users. It doesn't seem any better than Android, or iOS, or whatever other platform you want to consider.

The same goes for the "But we implement open standards!" claims. The process to come up with such standards isn't very open at all. It ends up being controlled by a small handful of major browser vendors, with minimal to no input from others. Merely being published does not make a standard "open".

All in all, it makes no sense to me to choose Firefox OS on a matter of principle. It doesn't actually meet whatever standard is being set by those principles, yet it still gives a much inferior experience to the alternatives.

glogla · on May 10, 2014

There are different kinds of freedom and openness.

FxOS is made by Mozilla, which is very different in both goals and culture from Google, Microsoft and Apple. You don't need special account with OS vendor to unlock full functionality of the phone like with Android and WP, or to even use it at all as with iOS. You don't need special license (that actually costs money, IIRC) to load you own software to your own device like with iOS or WP. You can develop the software for FxOS on any operating system, unlike with iOS and WP.

This is different kind of openness than "can I use C", but to me it is more important. Personally I hate Javascript with strength of thousand suns. But FxOS seems to be worth the price.