Boot to Gecko: Mozilla's open-source mobile OS

MOZILLA, the creator of popular Internet browser Firefox, has announced an ambitious project to develop a standalone, web-based operating system designed for use on tablets and smartphones.

Much like the concept behind Google's netbook-focused Chrome OS, Mozilla says the Boot to Gecko (B2G) project was born out of a desire to realise the potential of the open web as a worthy alternative to single-vendor applications offered by dominant mobile operating systems such as Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

By taking the primary functions of a mobile device ie telephony, SMS, camera, USB, Bluetooth, Near Field Communications (NFC) and creating web APIs to handle these, they intend to develop a way for web pages and applications to safely access these components as needed.

Wikipedia describes an API (Application Programming Interface) as a particular set of rules and specifications that serve as an interface between different software programs and facilitates their interaction, similar to the way the user interface facilitates interaction between humans and computers.

By creating web APIs for these basic mobile functions, the folks at Mozilla hope to be able to create native-grade apps that run directly on the web and, and instead of being available only on certain devices, can be accessed over a wide variety.

Essentially, it aims to "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," said Mozilla engineer Andreas Gal in a blog post earlier this week.

It will be partially Android-based, where the kernel and the drivers will be used to ensure that whatever progress the developers make can actually boot. As of now, the project is still in a very early stage of planning; no timeframe has been set as of yet, nor the technology that will be used.

Gal said Mozilla needed to take "a hill" or win an early battle as leverage to fight on with the B2G project, which will likely take years to complete. Google took at least two years to bring Chrome OS to fruition.

But in true open source tradition, Mozilla plans to release the B2G source code in real-time and to take all successful additions to appropriate standards groups, Gal said. This is so that contributors will be able to participate in the planning process, which is more inclusive as opposed to the practices that Google uses for its Android operating system.

"We aren't trying to have these native-grade apps just run on Firefox, we're trying to have them run on the web," said Gal.

"Android is not open source in the sense of open technology. Android APIs are proprietary Google sauce, not broadly accepted and adopted open web standards," said Gal in a response to a commenter questioning the need for another operating system in the first place.

"I would love to boot my custom Android build on my Galaxy Tab 10, but no luck, Google refuses to release the source.

"We want to do Boot to Gecko the way we think open source should be done. In the open, from day one, for everyone to see and participate," he added.

The Brunei Times