Ubuntu Touch Beats Firefox OS For 'Best of MWC' From CNET

Jono Bacon writes "This week at Mobile World Congress both Firefox OS and Ubuntu have been wooing the audience with their mobile offerings. CNET reviewed both and felt that Ubuntu was 'the clear winner.' From the article, 'The team thought that Ubuntu Touch, the tablet version of which we got our hands-on for the first time at MWC, feels more like the complete package at this point. We liked its slick, elegant interface that makes use of every side of the screen and puts your content and contacts front and center, minimizing the time spent hopping back to a home screen.'" They still liked Firefox OS though, and the mere existence of multiple Free Software mobile systems with carrier support is a good sign if you ask me.

But but but

[noobermin]

Ubuntu is evil! Richard Stallman says so!!

Fragmentation

[Anonymous Coward]

the mere existence of multiple Free Software mobile systems with carrier support is a good sign if you ask me.

Actually the mere existence of multiple such systems fragments the market for them, thus reducing the already-slim chance they have of becoming real competitors to the established players in the market.

c|net?

[MrEricSir]

Why the hell are still linking to c|net articles again? Would it kill the editors to wait for a real news organization to review Ubuntu Touch instead of just posting the first crap that comes along?

Re:Fragmentation

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello from 1997.

I agree that this 'fragmentation' thing everyone speaks of is not so great for the makers of different operating systems, such as Apple.

But before The Jobs declared it to be Evil Incarnate, we used to call it 'choice.' And choice was good for consumers. I thought. How strange.

WebApp API

[alexandre]

I just hope that Tizen, Ubuntu, FirefoxOS et al. can agree on a common WebApp API...

Re:But but but

[mhall119]

If by "like they are with the desktop" you mean "not at all", then the answer is yes. If you mean something else, then then answer is "you're wrong".

Re:WebApp API

[gmuslera]

Thats the nice thing about standards, there are so many of them.

I would add Webkit to that list.

And something that the people of Ubuntu should agree on UI components [slashdot.org] with the people of Sailfish (that was also in that show), and KDE plasma active (and maybe Blackberry and WebOS), making it easier to port apps between different mobile OSs (i.e. like this calculator [jollausers.com]).

Once you can have everywhere the apps that you want, you are free choose the best OS that fits better in your device/needs.

Re:Fragmentation

[ozmanjusri]

In 1997?

Proprietary vendors keep spreading this FUD, as "fragmentation" is core to Linux/FOSS adoption. Freedom and opportunity for choice in the Linux world means anyone can start their own distro, or fork an existing one to meet their own needs. To many of us, this is one of the truly great benefits of the open source world.

OS vendors like Microsoft and Apple have a sales/distribution model that's antithetical to this sort of freedom, so it's in their best interest to portray one of Linux's great advantages as a negative. Hence the more than a decade's worth of FUD.

Re:iOS is the odd duck

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually iOS seems to be the system of choice which is why the iPhone always tops the best selling phones, Android makes up the numbers thanks to its prevalence in the low end of the market. Android is like Windows, people don't so much choose it as they use it because when an OEM wants to put out a phone they just chuck Android on it, so if you don't care you've probably got Android.

Re:But but but

[exomondo]

I lost a lot of respect for Stallman when he sunk to the RIAA/MPAA level with statements like 'proprietary software is unethical because it takes away users' rights', of course it doesn't take away anything, just like music piracy doesn't take away profits like the RIAA/MPAA claim, they can't take away something of yours if it's something you never had in the first place. You may not have been granted rights you would otherwise get with free software, but nothing was taken away.

Re:But but but

[fredprado]

But it does. Proprietary software enforces controlled standards, locked systems, treacherous computing like UEFI. It ends taking away the user ability to make choices and to even know what his system is doing. And if you leave it unchecked you won`t have choices because control gives economical power and economical power pushes for more control. UEFI is an example. Soon it will be hard to find computers without it, and soon enough it may be impossible. Little by little we are having our choices eroded by progressively more restrictive hardware with closed specifications, because hardware producers go to bed with big software corporations.

Re:But but but

[exomondo]

Proprietary software enforces controlled standards, locked systems, treacherous computing like UEFI.

Rubbish, if i run a proprietary application on my system i don't end up with a 'locked system', it doesn't enforce any 'controlled standards' and I don't end up with UEFI. I haven't had anything taken away, even if it does aid your agenda to suggest that.

Re:But but but

[fredprado]

Free software can't pervert standards and be malicious just as a proprietary software can, because it can be easily branched if it becomes inconvenient (as it often happens). The use of proprietary programs does take a lot of things away as explained more than once, but if you refuse to understand and be part of the problem it is your choice.

You may believe in whatever absurdity you wish, it does not make it more true. It does not seem to be the case, though. You can't be so stupid. So I am forced to conclude that you indeed have an agenda. The fact you keep claiming you have no agenda just makes more apparent you do. And it is clear you will keep talking nonsense and trying to justify your incoherent beliefs in the hope of achieving it. You are nothing more than a corporate shill.