Mozilla, home to the brains behind Firefox, is planning to build its very own mobile OS. The project called Boot to Gecko or B2G broke cover on the Mozilla Developer Group yesterday. Its aim is to create a standalone operating system that will use web technologies to deliver all of its applications.
Think that sounds a lot like what Google is trying to do with Chrome OS? Well, you’d be right but the difference is that Mozilla is focused on mobile and, interestingly, it plans to build Boot to Gecko on an Android foundation. Could this be the truly open source OS many people have been craving?
Dr Andreas Gal, a researcher at Mozilla, explained the plan for Boot to Gecko to developers. He says the project will take the primary functions of a mobile device (making calls, sending texts, accessing the camera, USB, Bluetooth and NFC) and build web APIs to handle them. That will then allow developers to create safe ways for web pages and web apps to access those functions.
The open-source project will take Android as its starting point but only at a very basic level using the kernel and drivers to make sure whatever they produce can actually be booted on hardware. If the team behind the project manage to get it off the ground it could open up the potential for a truly open-source mobile OS.
That said, to get any traction, Boot to Gecko would need the support of some hardware manufacturers and a major cheerleader. Perhaps its web-focused aims might chime well with the prospect of a true Facebook phone or tempt Amazon to take a look. It’s clearly very early days for the project but we’re intrigued to see what Mozilla can come up with.
Out TBC | £TBC | Mozilla (via Techcrunch)
