Mozila has decided to make Firefox mobile. I was waiting to check the response to this, as nowadays I get as skeptical as excited about news from Mozilla. I think even others are wary of some of the disadvantages of today’s Firefox. Of course, we all look towards an improved version 3.
My main concern with Firefox has been that it seems to have shifted focus away from surfing, which, I think, is the main objective of a browser. Of course, it can do many more things, but they should not adversely affect the browsing capability. I am in the same boat as many who have use Firefox more as a development tool rather than a browser. Why? Because Firefox seems to be good as a development tool, sometimes even a platform, but not necessarily as a browser.
I wonder what approach would Mozilla take with the mobile devices. Mozilla Foudantion CEO Mitchell Baker hints towards a platform. Joey seems to be more than Web, it seems to be looking at the integrated capabilities of a mobile device. I wonder if Firefox will adopt techniques that serve well in mobile world, like displaying river of news or using more of feeds and outlines. I also, have a wishful thinking somwhere, that Firefox integrates with OpenMoko as well. It will be interesting. However, the deciding point, and I am sure everyone is aware of this, will be whether Firefox respects the constraints of the mobile world. Expandability is easier with PCs and notebooks, which can take care of a higher footprint, memory leaks or dangerous extensions. On mobiles, a fraction of that can make it unusable.
As I said earlier, I am equally excited as I am skeptical about this. I like the Mozilla development platform, it is excellent for cross-platform development. However, I am using Firefox lesser and lesser for surfing. It will be interesting to see how it behaves in the mobile world.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Even I agree that the platform like Mozilla/Gecko has some scope in the mobile world… But Im happy with OperaMini as my mobile browser. Opera seemed to have done it right from the very beginning. Only thing is they didnt get the publicity!!
October 16th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
So what you are saying is that developers might compromise a browsers performance just to add new features to the software. I think that it is important for a browser to have maximum compatibility vs. having a cutdown software like Opera or Safari even if it is just a little bit slower.
October 17th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I think Gecko is one of the best rendering engines.
Michael, I am completely with you if the development is about improving compatibility. But the new direction that it is heading in seems to be about a lot more than surfing, and probably which is why it feels as an overkill to surf the Web. I wonder if this same approach will make the browser lag behind others in the mobile world.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Although the weird thing is that Opera, Safari and IE are the ones coming up with new features and Mozilla is coming up the rear with maximum compatibility and copied features.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Michael, I will partially disagree there, since this is not only about features but more of a vision. Mozilla is headed more towards being a platform with the offline support and information broker idea. I am not saying they are not useful, but it might put the surfing in the backburner.
And I am not looking only at Opera or Safari or IE. Epiphany and Flock are two Gecko based browsers which are more efficient in terms of memory and performance. Epiphany in fact highlights usability the most, IMHO. Then there is also Konqueror.