Mozilla on Windows Phone 7 – “We’re not going to bother.

July 10, 2010 | By Surur

Firefox is dead on Windows Phone 7

Christopher Blizzard, Director of Developer Relations and Open Source Evangelist at Mozilla spoke to Gizmodo about the future of their browser in the new order, where they are facing competition from Google on the desktop and mobile, and are also seemingly excluded from many mobile platforms, such as the iPhone and Windows Phone 7.

While the interview only touches on Windows Phone 7, is is clear the open source browser project has no love lost for the new OS.

Noting that they were going to do Windows Mobile because it “really needed a good browser”, he felt the restrictions related to Windows Phone 7 was too cumbersome to make it worthwhile.

“(Microsoft) said, ‘You can use stuff in Silverlight if you want, but you have to come through our app store, and we get to veto.’ We’re not going to bother….”

He was not too impressed with IE Mobile 7 either.

“They’re gonna ship some version of IE, which is gonna be terrible.” He went on “The wonderful thing about the mobile web is the people like being able to use modern browser platforms and Microsoft’s gonna single-handedly gonna drag that back.”

Of course the slow progress of the browser on Windows Mobile has meant Mozilla lost any fanbase they may have had rooting for a Windows Phone 7 port, but it is still disappointing that they are not even expressing any desire to be on the platform, especially given Microsoft’s expressed willingness to bend the rules regarding native applications for significant players.

Read the full interview at Gizmodo here.

Via The Deranged Shaman, thanks Serge Francis for the tip

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged browser, fennec, firefox mobile, mozilla, software, windows phone 7

Jeek

AH….screew Mozilla on mobile. They have fucked around with horrible alphas on WM since god knows went and have their ass kicked hard by Opera. Now they're crying bitches. Don't get me wrong though. I'm die-hard for FF on the desktop, but their effort in mobile space is just pathetic. They should quit and stfu.

iFloss™

They're morons because their beta's and alpha's were ALL worse than IE Mobile 6

So in that case they're crying babies and should just shut up and go back home. As for the mobile browser on WinPho7 Microsoft can't afford to get that wrong so then again I will say they're morons and are just sad because they know their software is gonna suck so much ass they're gonna get a veto.

Google Chrome for desktop. Mozilla has too much crapware.

http://intensedebate.com/people/djguapo djguapo

Give it 2 years. By then, MS will open the API a ltitle more…

Kalif

Microsoft doesn't have 2 years to get it right.

John

“They’re gonna ship some version of IE, which is gonna be terrible.” Really?

Did you guys think he gonna say they will come with wonderful version of IE for Windows Mobile? f course he is gonna say that and try trash competition.

But who cares Mozilla come to Windows Phone 7 or not?

What I saw so far from new IE on WP7 is good enough that I don't think even if they release Mozilla for Windows Phone I get it anyway.

The wonderful thing about the mobile web is the people like being able to use modern browser platforms and Mozilla is the one who is gonna drag that back like what they do in Desktop version.

So yes we don't need Mozilla crap on our phones and we really don't care about it. Yes! One less crappy browser on Windows Phone market. Thats is a good news to me.

Kalif

It's not just Mozilla abandoning Windows Phone 7. It's Opera. It's SkyFire. It's WebKit. None of them will be there.

Sledgehammer

Who cares pal? I'm confident it'll be great to have only one browser that does all things right, agree? Remember Safari and iPhone, right? So now – please… kindly shut the fcuk up.

http://twitter.com/chmun77 @chmun77

I do care as mate! IE cannot even perform well for the ACID 3 tests! Is totally crappy standards!

Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, etc etc all are conforming and performing well on the ACID 3 standards but they are all abandoning WP7!

Don't be such a fan boy please……

Jason

Firstly, ACID3 isn't a good test. It tests for stuff that aren't even standards. ACID2 was a good test.

I'm guessing you haven't been keeping up with what they are doing with IE9. The plan is for IE9 to be completely HTML5 compliant. The IE team is completely focused on standards right now. They have also made great strides in the performance of their JS engine. Heck, it beats out Firefox. I've heard in an interview that the new JS engine is going into the new mobile IE.

The version of IE that's in the emulator isn't even that bad in the last version of the emulator.
Sledgehammer

Do you really know something about the standards? I bet the answer is no. Even a slow company like Microsoft learn their lesson, but unfortunately you are not mature enough to understand this. PLEASE don't even try to compare other browsers to IE:
Safari on WinPhone – NEVER!
Firefox on WinPhone – Do you really want a slow and buggy browser? Have you tested their pathetic "browser" on a mobile platform? I don't need this – I really love FF as a desktop browser but nothing more!
Opera – this is the only browser I will miss on WinPhone
Chrome – seriously… Google to make browser for Microsoft mobile platform? Oh gosh!

http://www.Appatic.com Avatar X

Mozilla got zero credibility in the mobile space so far. I can bet opera will have a WP7 browser. They managed to make one for the iphone. the same could be true from netfront given it is a staple in Win CE (now WEC) and Windows Mobile. Then there is also Skyfire and Maxthon as possible companies to release a alternate mobile browser for WP7.
davidgk

MS is screwing themselves up with winpho7.. by closing everything up, android is going to take the lead. and i'll be sure to switch when it gets ported to the HD2
http://www.facebook.com/J88NYR Jonny Rose

Meh, not a fan of mozilla anyway, I use opera on my phone and pc.
http://www.darkriderdesign.com Darkriderdesign

I agree with you guys I've just about had it with the "Fan Boy" bashing of Windows Mobile. Ehhh no Fire Fox. Whoopie as if that's going to stop people from buying the phones. It might be a big deal in an Os like the iphone when your stuck with 1 browser. I currently have 3 browsers on my Winmo device so saying that they are not porting FF….. ok then don't port it….. We'll keep using IE and Opera.

iFloss™

And the third browser you failed to mention xD

Because I could almost bet money that the other browser isn't Firefox

Kalif

This is a very serious issue for Windows Phone 7.

Your're stuck with IE. That's it.

Windows Mobile gave you Opera and SkyFire. I know so many people who relied on SkyFire because IE Mobile was just not up to scratch.

Now Microsoft is making sure there is no alternative to its slow and cumbersome Internet Explorer. It's the slowest browser in the business, and the least standards compliant. WP7 will have no Firefox. No Opera.

Windows Phone 7 won't even have WebKit, which so many mobile apps are becoming reliant on. To exclude WebKit is a crazy and destructive move by Microsoft. This is just to preserve Ballmer's honour (he hates open-source software), but is to the detriment of WP7 users.

Who wants to buy a mobile cellphone that has no browser choice? Really? Do you really want no browser choice?

Peter

Yes. I want IE on my phone and it is there. So yes I gonna buy that phone. It has all I needed, Internet Explorer.

And yes I really don't care about Mozilla and their crappy browsers on my phone or on my computer.

Mozilla says “We’re not going to bother" ? Well guess what? Even if you have it in WP7 “We’re not going to bother to install and use it".
Cakes

Why would anyone care if there is or isn't browser choice on WP7, seriously, it's whatever gets the job done, they all do the same thing (on mobile platforms). It's not a serious issue so get over it.
Pedro El Bastardo

I totally share your point of view.

I will not buy WP7 because it does not have Opera. Internet is one of the most important feature for me. And IE is slow. MS has never been able to develop one single good browser.

One must be crazy to spend some bucks in a system that does not have Swype, Flash, Opera or any other alternative browser. A systems that wants to force you to use both IE and Bing (instead of Google), which are so crappy.

I am amazed that few WM users cannot open their eyes on this.
They are really becoming like silly IPhone fans. They will not have a lot of features, and they are very happy about that. Crazy.
Come on. Wake up!

Jason

I guess you haven't heard. WP7 is getting flash. Adobe just won't be finished with it until after launch. That's why they have been saying that Flash won't be there at launch.

I will fully stand by Bing over Google. Bing really is a good search engine and a lot of people talk shit about it and refuse to use it because it's made by Microsoft and want to be snobby about it.

Also, IE9 is going to rock. Have you checked out the developer previews yet? They have been focused on putting out the most standards complient browser as possible and the new JS engine is sick.

The features will be addressed. They have already said that copy-and-paste is going to be added as soon as they can after launch. The lack of expandable memory is a non-issue as long as someone mades phones with 32-64GB of space on it and I do kind of like the centralized app store idea.

Jason

Webkit is't the end-all-be-all of rendering engines.

Frenkie Smart

They are not going to bother because IE on WP7 is a double faster than any mobile browser, I have allready used it, so I say this from my own experience. And flash and silverlight willl come very fast after the release of WP7. SO why bother porting a non-Flash and non-Silverlight browser wich btw right now is useless. Fennec/Firefox mobile was a flop for Mozilla, they just cannot accept that so they are playing ignorance now…

Kalif

It's not a matter of ignorance. 3rd party app vendors aren't being given access to native code in Windows Phone 7. Without that, the browsers would run too slow. The app approval process also poses the risk of rejection. If those 2 factors were changed, I think the other browsers would come to the party.

Jason

As long as they do a good job on mobile IE, any lack of third party browsers isn't going to matter at launch. I've heard that the JS engine is going to be the one that they developed for IE9 and I wouldn't doubt that the new version of Trident is going to come to the phone once they are done.

From what I've heard they are trying to be as transparrent and fair as possible with the app store approval process.

Joe

There's already a good browser on Windows Phone 7. It's called Metro Browsers. I believe one or two guys made it. It really is a great browser. If they can do it, why can't Mozilla? Because Mozilla has been a joke in the mobile space. I have no doubt Opera will make one, with or without native API.

As for IE, Windows Phone 7 will have HTML5 and Flash before the summer is over. It will also probably have a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9.
http://twitter.com/seanscholes @seanscholes

Don't worry you can get Mozilla on Android or Meemo or Meego or Linux…………….