Mozilla Boot to Gecko – Open Source Mobile OS for Smartphones

Mozilla has planned to jump into Mobile OS war with the news of its new product – Boot to Gecko. Aiming at standards-based Web technologies, Mozilla has planned to launch it for smartphones first.

The project is in its initial phase right now and company is working on collecting ideas and welcoming developers.

Unlike Android, Mozilla has said that source code will be made public once the development starts rather than disclosing it after a complete product.

Boot to Gecko (B2G) is said to be based on Android and Linux Kernel. This will help Mozilla in getting larger hardware compatibility for existing Android devices. While on the other hand it has planned to use “as little of Android as possible.”

Likewise, Mozilla is not using Android’s Java based environment or programming in native code, so Android apps will not run on this OS.

Mozilla Wiki for the B2G project says:

We want to take a bigger step now, and find the gaps that keep web developers from being able to build apps that are — in every way — the equals of native apps built for the iPhone, Android, and WP7.

To that end, we propose a project we’re calling Boot to Gecko (B2G) to pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web. It’s going to require work in a number of areas.

New web APIs: build prototype APIs for exposing device and OS capabilities to content (Telephony, SMS, Camera, USB, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.)

Privilege model: making sure that these new capabilities are safely exposed to pages and applications

Booting: prototype a low-level substrate for an Android-compatible device

Applications: choose and port or build apps to prove out and prioritize the power of the system.

It is pre-mature to say anything at the moment on how Mozilla is going to compete Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and then joint venture of Nokia and Intel – Meego.

But at the same time when we look at Mozilla’s smartphone, introduced last year, one can guess what Mozilla is capable of and how things can turn out to be.

Wireless inductive charging with dual pico projectors give Seabird, a power to sustain. 8 MP camera with Bluetooth/IR dongle that lets users interact with the phone in 3D and futuristic ability of phone to allow user to type on full keyboard on any flat surface are other salient features of this device.

Check the following demo video of the phone.


  • Just a start towards new era of Mobile Technology! Best of Luck Seabird and Thanks to innovations, made our lives easy =)

  • Does Mozilla have a plan to launch Seabird in market – or it will stay on youtube only.

  • Hello,

    Just a correction.

    Meego is not the joint venture of nokia and microsoft, it is the joint venture of nokia and intel.

    Regards
    Sajid Zaman


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