Everyone on my twitter or Facebook or even at my office were sharing with me the news about Mozilla B2G (Mozilla Boot to Gecko), even few friends they told me Mozilla is copying Google with their Chrome OS.
But For me the news was not a big surprise may be because I read it in different way and I know it’s still fall under Mozilla mission. What I believe Mozilla is not trying here to be a player in the OS area because it’s not their area but as usual they trying to show the users their options and to build a model for a modern open Mobile/Tablet OS that everyone can benefit from it.
When Mozilla start working on the Web App project (An app can be run on any device, any browser, distributed from any app store or even from developer store), it was to give the developer an example how the Apps should be, open not a closed manipulated by companies, not centralized and everyone must follow their rules or you will be kicked out, you sit your own rules by yourself and you take the control of your efforts and investments.
Imagine if you are a developer and building an apps that can run on any OS that have access to the web (because Apps on this model will be running on the Web not on Firefox) without modifying the code or learning new technology.
The main difference in Chrome OS and the coming Mozilla B2G is Google building their model on Chrome but Mozilla is building their model on the web.
If you look to Firefox, is not just a browser, it’s piece of software that packed with ideas and concepts, it’s an idol for how the browser should be, and how the web should be, pushing towards a standardization and openness, giving the user a choice to run the web or living his online experience as he want.
Ask MS/Apple/Java/Google developers, what’s their main pain point, they will answer, if I develop an app to run on MS platform and I want to run it on iOS or Android I have to rewrite the whole code and before that I have to learn a new technology and concept and invest more time and effort. What Mozilla is trying to do here with B2G is to bridge the gap by promoting common/standard development tools to build and app that can run on whatever device you have and whatever OS does the user own.
It’s just sitting an example for how the Web should be, how your online life should be. This is how I am reading the news.
