No More Firefox For Windows Mobile 226
angry tapir writes "Mozilla has decided to stop development of a version of its Firefox mobile Web browser for phones running Windows Mobile. The reason is that Microsoft has closed the door to native applications on smartphones running its new Windows Phone 7 Series software. More reasoning can be found in a blog post by Stuart Parmenter, director of Mobile Engineering at Mozilla."
Re:Preemptive Strike (Score:4, Insightful)
who wants windows mobile after the last 6 fiascos? c64 apps are feeling more responsive...
So basically (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft is going to create a need for a WinPhone Dev Team to figure out how to jailbreak Windows Mobile phones?
I mean seriously, it's like they're taking everything that I like about owning a WinMo phone and throwing it away. I *like* having a file browser on my phone. I *like* having native applications. I *like* HTC's SenseUI. I *like* being able to use my phone as USB mass storage. I *like* being able to HardSPL my phone and use a custom ROM from HTCpedia or xda-developers. I *like* being able to tether my phone using a standard data plan. I *like* Opera Mobile. These are all features that WinMo had and the iPhone didn't. Between these and the dropped calls (oh, and iTunes), I ditched my iPhone and couldn't be happier. Now they're taking away even the possibility of all of these features? Sure, I could completely understand hiding the file browser by default. I could understand not allowing HTC to ship SenseUI enabled by default. I could understand wanting to streamline the process and moving away from scouring the internet for CAB files and shifting toward a more standardized development process. But seriously Microsoft, don't try to copy Apple's shortcomings at the expense of the very reasons why I chose a WinMo phone.
Re:So basically (Score:3, Insightful)
I tried a beta of Fennec, and really, it needed a lot of work anyway.
Re:So basically (Score:5, Insightful)
Speaking of native apps, it's kind of funny how every new smartphone repeats this:
Apple, 2007: Javascript is good enough!
Apple, 2008: Okay, okay, here's a C SDK.
Google, 2008: Java is good enough!
Google, 2009: Okay, okay, here's a C SDK.
Palm, 2009: Javascript is good enough!
Palm, 2010: Okay, okay, here's a C SDK.
Microsoft, 2010: Silverlight and Flash are good enough!
Re:So basically (Score:5, Insightful)
I *like* having native applications. ... use a custom ROM from HTCpedia or xda-developers.
I *like* HTC's SenseUI.
I *like* being able to use my phone as USB mass storage.
I *like* being able to
I *like* being able to tether my phone using a standard data plan.
I *like* Opera Mobile.
Android welcomes you.
Re:Preemptive Strike (Score:1, Insightful)
> Given that Microsoft has a closed app store model for Windows 7 (just like the iPhone) the chances are good Microsoft would not allow Mozilla to run anyway, even if they wanted to make a nice Silverlight based browser...
I wonder, will the Apple fanboys defend Microsoft for this?
(I, for one, hate the closed app stores on all platforms. I wouldn't have such a big problem if you could get apps (without jailbreaking) from somewhere other than their store, but I do have a big problem with using any device that restricts what I can run on it.)
Re:Preemptive Strike (Score:2, Insightful)
If you want to be an good Apple fan you should try not to spout nonsense - your ignorance makes Steve look bad.
Re:Oh thats a shame... (Score:5, Insightful)
Android has its own issues. For example, the game some Android phone makers play with modders, where every version change unroots phones, or actually bricks (as in permanently trashes w/o change to reflash) devices.
I actually miss Windows Mobile. To use the phone to its fullest capacity (yes, including capacity), I had to do no hacks, no low level patches. Just install the right program and go. Every other vendor, I have to play the game of either continuing to run a backlevel OS, or upgrade to the latest and lose capabilities until they are re-hacked in.
Of course MS locking down stuff in Windows Mobile 7 pisses me off.
My next phone, I just want something that was like my old HTC Wizard -- won't brick if someone has a badly cooked image (just a reflash), keeps root/jailbroken, and is easily hackable without the vendor pushing out patches to kill phones.
Re:Preemptive Strike (Score:4, Insightful)
Given that Microsoft already has an app store and hasn't made any motion to filter what goes into it... I think it's safe to say anyone will probably be able to release anything they please.
Just because there is a gate doesn't mean there is a gatekeeper.
Re:So basically (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because it's intentional, and more like:
Company: javascript/java/flash/silverlight are good enough for now, since we want to sell the devices while we have time to develop a native sdk!
Nokia/Symbian Phone? (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.symbian.org/ [symbian.org]
It's as open as you can possibly get. I understand coding at the OS level is some C++ weirdness or something. But it's all there. Media freedom, OS freedom, works great, lots of apps.
Just Requiring CLR? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Preemptive Strike (Score:3, Insightful)
My Nokia E65 runs Symbian. I can download and install whatever I want from whatever website I want. But Symbian is as good as dead, and good riddance. Hopefully the new Linux OS they are now developing is as open as Symbian.
Re:So basically (Score:3, Insightful)
Company: javascript/java/flash/silverlight are good enough for now, since we want to sell the devices while we have time to develop a native sdk!
MS has a native SDK. It's not like this is the first version of their OS, it's just an incremental upgrade to previous ones with native SDKs already published. It should run the same apps with the same install process. MS just want to exert more control on what you can do with your phone.
Oh Jesus (Score:3, Insightful)
...The thing that really amuses me about the whole Windows vs. Mac thing, is how often the Mac people end up knowing so much more about both platforms than the people who only really know Windows. ...
This makes me weep. I'm a system administrator for a large design company, running Mac servers with about 45 Mac clients and 10 PC clients. The Mac users are so singularly clueless about what a computer does and how it does it, it makes me cringe. It's good that OSX is simpler and more robust than Windows because, man, do they need it.
What Mac users especially are, is loud-mouthed know-it-alls who think they know more about any topic in IT because some rabidly Mac centric blog, like Daring Fireball or Roughly Drafted writes totally false articles on why Flash won't work on the iPhone (They said it's because the OS doesn't have a cursor so roll-over events won't work, which is so utterly pathetically wrong, it's just sad), for instance. Those same "knowledgeable" Mac users will then go on to scream that piece of falsehood at the top of their lungs on the internet.
Yay Mac, because having to apply one's brains is sooo uncool.
Re:Why not? It's proven to work. (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft mobile team meeting:
OK guys, Apple made a fuckton of money on the iPhone, so we're gonna copy what they did step-for-step. Here's my hierarchical breakdown of the project.
- Phase 1: Massive initial fuckups, geek hardon removal
----Lock development down like Fort Knox
----Make sure no alternative browsers are available
----Leave basic functionality out of the OS and apps
-------Copy and Paste
-------Multitasking
-------Browser download capability
- Phase 2: Hype the LIVING SHIT out of this phone
----Spread rumors and then deny them
----Trendy ads - no Seinfeld this time
----*Idea: Plant some line campers on release day?
----Online media blitz
-------Rapidfire press releases
-------Sue bloggers for Streissand effect
-------*Idea: Torture Chinese factory worker over lost prototype?
----Promise to patch in some basic OS and app features left out in Phase 1, hype them like they're amazing new innovations
- Phase 3: ??????
- Phase 4: PROFIT!