Boot 2 Gecko
Encyclopedia
Boot 2 Gecko is a proposed open source
operating system
in development by Mozilla Corporation
, initially targeting Android-compatible smartphone
s.
video tour of a concept phone, the Mozilla Seabird, shown by product designer Billy May for the Mozilla Labs' Concept Series. At the time, it was hypothesized that this was merely a concept, never to see the light of day.
, announced on the mozilla.dev.platform mailing list a project to "pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web" in order to "find the gaps that keep web developers from being able to build apps that are --- in every way --- the equals of native apps built for the iPhone, Android, and WP7." The announcement identified these work areas: new Web API
s to expose device and OS capabilities such as telephony and camera, a privilege model
to safely expose these to web pages, applications to prove these capabilities, and low-level code to boot
an Android-compatible device.
This led to much blog coverage.
According to Ars Technica
, "Mozilla says that B2G is motivated by a desire to demonstrate that the standards-based open Web has the potential to be a competitive alternative to the existing single-vendor application development stacks offered by the dominant mobile operating systems."
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
in development by Mozilla Corporation
Mozilla Corporation
The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey Navigator web browsers and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by a growing global community of...
, initially targeting Android-compatible smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s.
Announcement
In September 2010, Mozilla released photos and a 3D3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
video tour of a concept phone, the Mozilla Seabird, shown by product designer Billy May for the Mozilla Labs' Concept Series. At the time, it was hypothesized that this was merely a concept, never to see the light of day.
Follow Up
On July 25, 2011, Dr. Andreas Gal, Director of Research at Mozilla CorporationMozilla Corporation
The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey Navigator web browsers and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by a growing global community of...
, announced on the mozilla.dev.platform mailing list a project to "pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web" in order to "find the gaps that keep web developers from being able to build apps that are --- in every way --- the equals of native apps built for the iPhone, Android, and WP7." The announcement identified these work areas: new Web API
Web api
A web API is typically a defined set of HTTP request messages along with a definition of the structure of response messages, typically expressed in JSON or XML...
s to expose device and OS capabilities such as telephony and camera, a privilege model
Privilege (Computing)
In computing, privilege is defined as the delegation of authority over a computer system. A privilege is a permission to perform an action. Examples of various privileges include the ability to create a file in a directory, or to read or delete a file, access a device, or have read or write...
to safely expose these to web pages, applications to prove these capabilities, and low-level code to boot
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...
an Android-compatible device.
This led to much blog coverage.
According to Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
, "Mozilla says that B2G is motivated by a desire to demonstrate that the standards-based open Web has the potential to be a competitive alternative to the existing single-vendor application development stacks offered by the dominant mobile operating systems."
External links
- B2G project page on MozillaWiki
- B2G source code on GitHubGithubGitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that use the Git revision control system. GitHub offers both commercial plans and free accounts for open source projects...