News has emerged today that Mozilla, the creator of the Firefox internet browser, is working on its own operating system called Boot To Gecko (B2G), which is intended for use with smartphones and tablets.
The standalone, web-based, open source operating system will rival Google’s Chrome OS and will be based on the building blocks of Android.
The news of B2G was announced yesterday on Mozilla’s Developer Newsgroup forum by Dr. Andreas Gal, who is currently heading up the project. According to Dr. Gal, the main objective initially of Boot To Gecko is to “make open web technologies a better basis for future applications on mobile and desktop alike”, but the overall goal is “breaking the stranglehold of proprietary technologies over the mobile device world”.
Mozilla has confirmed that new code for the operating system will be shared as it is written in order to aid with development. Any developers interested in being part of the project are being urged to get involved as it will take a huge push from the developer community to complete the task at hand.
Essentially Mozilla is aiming to build a web-based operating system that can run basic smartphones functions (telephony, SMS, Camera, USB, Bluetooth, NFC) directly on the web, as opposed to the way that they currently run through native applications. If the project goes to plan it could improve the security of smartphones, which is a much needed progression as they become more and more integrated into everyday life.
But is there room for yet another operating system in the world of smartphones? Well…maybe. We’ll have to wait and see how the project comes along, it’s still in its infancy and a lot of development is needed, but it will be interesting to see how it develops.
For more info check out the TechCrunch post or head over to Mozilla’s Developer Newsgroup.
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