Today, The Mozilla Firefox plans to build an operating system very much like Google’s own Chrome OS where apps runs like a browser but for many mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. The company is known as firefox browsers. If the name Mozilla rings any bells it's because they're the tech boffins who put together Internet Explorer, the browser that Windows defaults to. Mozilla took the leviathan computing company on with its Firefox browser, and today it is the second most popular browser worldwide.
Now the company who was underdog to Microsoft looks to be playing the same role, but this time against internet head Google. Announced on the Mozilla discussion forum, Mozilla have begun coding for smart phones and tablets. The BBC revealed the mobile operating system will draw on Android code, with Mozilla writing as much fresh code as possible. The hybrid-like operating system will be named Boot To Gecko.
It is an unusual name for an OS, until you remember the name Gecko it is rendering engine employed by the Firefox browser that interprets web page coding and displays it in a screen-friendly format, a homage to its origins. Even though Android coding will form the operating system's foundations, Mozilla hope to add a much more open wrapper around it than Google currently do, making it more versatile as an operating system. Its shared foundations will also make Boot To Gecko compatible with the same phones as Android, competing as a direct alternative to Google.
Often, when you select a link from an application native to the Android or iOS market, the operating system will have to open a new webpage in the browser. Boot To Gecko aims to limit this by making applications much more web-centric. If the venture proves successful, Mozilla will be waging war against industry giants, with Google, Apple and Microsoft dominating many facets of the technological world.
Mozilla have acknowledged this project is in infancy and have chosen to make the development public in hope it will attract talented enthusiast coders who will contribute to the Boot To Gecko's cause. According to their project team, all of the mobile code development will be completed and shared with the public as soon as it is written. Researcher Andreas Gal, who announced the development, admits the company has set a high target, but wants to do it "the way we think open source should be done.
