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Operating Systems Firefox Hardware

Mozilla Teams Up With Foxconn; Tablet On the Way? 54

The Register is one of several outlets reporting (based on a Reuters report) that Mozilla is working with Foxconn on a mobile device and "plans to unveil it at an event next week." Firefox OS is already running on other makers' phones; CNET speculates that this new device may be a tablet, which matches the Register's "insider" information.
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Mozilla Teams Up With Foxconn; Tablet On the Way?

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  • Great ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @07:52AM (#43839367)

    Great, a tablet that needs to update its entire OS every time you switch it on.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I know you were being clever, but that is a million times better than the android situation where the manufacturers never release an update, or release one at most.

      I would welcome a rolling release mobile OS as long as it is small and fast. I wish it was pure Linux like my n900, but I will settle for the open sourcy goodness of Mozilla. The release can't come soon enough for me.

      • Except it won't be better, because the next patch will make it buggy, slow and crash more often than you load a web page.

        Being open source doesn't mean its not crap, you really should open your eyes.

    • Assuming it turns on to begin with.

  • Foxconn? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Isn't that the Chinese factory where the working conditions are notoriously awful? I'd except better from a non-profit such as Mozilla than a deal with that kind of partner...

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Firefoxconn, it just sounded too good to not do it.

    • Isn't that the Chinese factory where the working conditions are notoriously awful?

      Not to defend Foxconn per se but do you think the working conditions in the fields for Chinese farmers are any better? Working conditions might be pretty bad to our eye but chances are that for many the alternatives available aren't especially wonderful either. Quite possible that Foxconn is the least worst alternative for many people. Sometimes a shitty job is the best alternative available at the time. That's not to excuse any abuses that might be occurring (Foxconn might be pure evil) but we should vi

  • by Big Hairy Ian ( 1155547 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @08:07AM (#43839493)
    And another contender in tablet space just as BlackBerry pulls the plug on it's tablets. Hopefully this one won't be as memory hungry as Firefox (My only gripe with the browser). Still have to wonder what's going on if they'll team up with scum like Foxcon...
    • Announcing next week would put it one week before the Apple WWDC, ensuring that it will be forgotten in favour of iOS 7 and poorly-conceived iPhone 6 rumours in the shortest possible time.

    • Re:Oh another one (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @08:35AM (#43839715)

      Eh? Firefox actually uses the least memory of all browsers.

      • Hmm currently using 1/2 a gig on my box :(
        • by Luthair ( 847766 )
          So compare the same usage scenario in another browser.
          • by lxs ( 131946 )

            Sure Chrome is worse but only because you have 741 tabs open.

            • Of all the tabs I have open in Firefox, only a few actually are loaded. This happy accident was a bug, where tabs wouldn't automatically load after browser restart. The tabs would be there, but wouldn't load until you clicked on them. That's an example of a bug that's a feature. Thus I can have hundreds of tabs open (vertical tab list is great -- use some of that horizontal screen realestate), but only have a few actually loaded in memory. It's basically "fast bookmarks" -- Where the bookmark has its

              • This happy accident was a bug, where tabs wouldn't automatically load after browser restart. The tabs would be there, but wouldn't load until you clicked on them. That's an example of a bug that's a feature.

                Unless I want them loaded so that I can read them on my laptop while riding the bus.

      • As long as you don't leave it running for awhile. It seems to have issues with leaking bits of crap all over the place, it has since the release of Firefox 3.0. Google chrome plateaus around 1gb or so I find, but firefox will keep on eating. Had it up to a 3.2gb usage before I finally pulled the plug and just don't use it anymore.

        • by Luthair ( 847766 )
          I've used FIrefox from 0.1, and the only time I've ever run into huge memory consumption was with Adobe's PDF plugin. Look at any comparison and you'll find Firefox uses significantly less memory than other browsers (Chrome often needs double the amount.)
          • You don't actually use your web browser for much then. If I just use it for keeping gmail, slashdot, and 1 or 2 other things all day its fine. If I'm looking for things and have 50+ tabs open and youtube etc back and forth without closing it(normal use case for me) then it starts chewing ram like a mofo and not ever giving it back.

            Chrome needs double the amount at start, but as I said, it plateaus somewhere, and is still just as fast which makes me happy. Firefox does not.

            • If I'm looking for things and have 50+ tabs open and youtube etc back and forth without closing it(normal use case for me)

              So its an ID10-T error then, is it? 50 tabs open? Seriously? You do realize your nearly an order of magnitude beyond what your mind can analyze on the fly right? Just counting tabs names, not even the content, you're already well past the point of information falling out one side of your head while you're cramming it in the other.

              • Its called opening all pages of interest while on the search etc page then sifting through them. Shit, I've got 6 slashdot stories sitting open right now.

                This isn't an ID10-T error, its how I function, and how a LOT of people I know function. Its how I've done it since the advent of tabbed browsing. It is, in fact, WHY tabbed browsing is awesome.

        • Yeah, the problem it seems, is Firefox not releasing Memory when it's no longer in use. This has been an issue for years, but the devs seem more concerned with implementing features nobody wants; like that new Download manager and linking Web History with Download History so clearing one also clears the other.

          What gets me is the OS is Linux based, yet they continuously snub their Browser on actual Linux desktops. To me, it looks like they don't have good leadership and have their priorities backwards.

          Now, I

        • by caspy7 ( 117545 )

          In the past year+ Mozilla has really tackled memory and this includes running it over the long term. Worth giving another try.

          • It has been a little over a year since I gave up on firefox, maybe I will try it again. My main problem is a lack of impetus to do so, Chrome works great for everything I actually need it to do.

    • as memory hungry as Firefox (My only gripe with the browser)

      Have you tried the Browser in the last year? How "memory hungry"?

    • I want to see the firefox phone first before I think of touching one of these. I love firefox but there do seem to take there time rolling out the phone and tablet software.
  • Not likely yet (Score:4, Informative)

    by robmv ( 855035 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @08:10AM (#43839517)

    If you haven't read blogs ot commit logs about the updates of the Firefox OS platform and base UI to adapt to tablet resolutions/aspect ratios in the open, then there is no Firefox OS support for those devices yet. Mozilla isn't Google, writing code in secrecy

    • If you haven't read blogs ot commit logs about the updates of the Firefox OS platform and base UI to adapt to tablet resolutions/aspect ratios in the open, then there is no Firefox OS support for those devices yet.

      That's odd, it seems that pretty much all tablets in the open use typical resolutions, or close to it. It's almost like they won't have to take screen size into account at all, since Firefox already runs at a variety of resolutions.

      • by robmv ( 855035 )

        Good external applications and device base applications don't have the same UI on tablets than phones. Phone layouts don't take advantage of the extra space. One of the "problems" in Google Play is that many applications use the same phone layout on tablets. I haven't seen any reference that make me think that Mozilla is already committing code to make the base OS applications adapt to tablets

  • Oh wow, that really makes sense because Mozilla makes good products and Foxconn makes ultra low quality crap like for example MP3 players that fail within a month and the world's worst motherboards.
    • Eh? Foxconn makes products for all the major companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Google etc etc
    • by JDG1980 ( 2438906 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @09:03AM (#43840013)

      Oh wow, that really makes sense because Mozilla makes good products and Foxconn makes ultra low quality crap like for example MP3 players that fail within a month and the world's worst motherboards.

      Foxconn builds to whatever price point the customer wants. If you order cheap crap, they'll build cheap crap. If you pay extra for a high-quality product (as Apple does), then that's what you'll get.

      The workers get treated like crap either way, though.

    • I bet every TV, monitor, PC and portable device (smartphone/tablet) you own has several foxconn components in it.

      You more or less can't buy a PC motherboard without Foxconn components.

      You have no idea what you're talking about.

  • by night_flyer ( 453866 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2013 @09:15AM (#43840157) Homepage

    Ill wait until version 32.6 is out

  • Mozillia teams up with the suicide factory? Hmmm...
    • by Anonymous Coward

      If by "suicide factory," you mean where the suicide rate is nearly an order of magnitude lower than the rest of the country, and half the suicide rate of Italy (which is the lowest in Europe), then yes. Mozilla is teaming up with the suicide factory.

      You might want to look into getting some critical thinking skills.

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