Mozilla Stops Development of Firefox for Windows Mobile
Mozilla has decided to stop development of a version of its Firefox mobile Web browser for phones running Windows Mobile.
Microsoft has closed the door to native applications on smartphones running its new Windows Phone 7 Series software, Stuart Parmenter, director of Mobile Engineering at Mozilla Corporation, wrote in a blog post on Monday.
Mozilla was preparing to develop a version of Firefox for Windows Mobile, and the development work Mozilla has done on Windows CE 6 has left it "well positioned to have an awesome browser on Windows Phone 7," according to Parmenter.
But the absence of a software development kit for native applications has made it impossible for Mozilla to move forward, he said.
Microsoft will only support development of applications running in the Silverlight runtime environment, or of games in the XNA Game Studio runtime environment, it announced last week at its Mix conference. It will not allow third party app developers direct access to the phone's hardware, where they might be better able to exploit its potential.
Still, Parmenter hopes that Microsoft provide Mozilla with a way to build Firefox for Windows Phone 7 Series. Mozilla thinks Windows Phone 7 looks interesting and has the potential to do well in the market, according to Parmenter.
Firefox for Android is still only a pre-alpha version, which means it is still in the early stages of development, according to Mozilla. The pre-alpha version has been optimized for Motorola's Droid and Google's Nexus One.
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im kinda torn cuz i really wanted a browser from them on wp7, but on the other hand every version of fennec was unusable
NOOO!!!!!
Come on Windows Mobile 7… do not mess yourself up!
I still think they’ll open they’re doors to third parties. I just hope it’s sooner (and official) rather than later.
I kinda feel their is a lot of BS in this story. (from their side). For one they have yet to make a useable version for the current WM, and secondly they just hate Microsoft as it is (a lot like apple people) so they feel the need to show it. In all sense I have never liked firefox over other browsers on PC (Opera 10, Maxthon, etc all better IMO) and wm7′s IE browser does look to be pretty impressive right out of the box. Don’t think Microsoft will “shut the door” on the likes of Opera when they have helped immensly in the current mobile browser war. Microsoft knows better than that nowadays.
That sounds…. horrible. .netcf is horribly optimized…. Unless they fix it yesterday, programs will run horribly slow compared to their native counterparts. Also, Silverlight and XNA don’t give as much freedom as native applications do. And what about c++? They are leaving all of those developers in the dust? Microsoft continues to astound me with how stupid they have been with their new phones. I can’t wait until they flop. No MS phone is better than a severely crippled one.
windows is really going down the crapshoot. All I know is that with sprint announcing the supersonic, my days with windows mobile are numbered. I will be switching to android by end of year or sooner. Unless cows fly and windows 7 does some amazing things that can compare to android.(heres to wishing)
I now call for a boycott of mozilla until they realize they’re making a big mistake. they kno its bullshit what they are doing, so now lets decrease their market share by uninstalling firefox and going to other browsers such as IE8,opera or google chrome. malditos nacos desgraciados crétinos tarados asquerosos !!!
I said this on their site the day it came out and I’ll say it here. Just one more Death Nail in MS’s coffin. Shut out other developers and lock down your development sources and you’ll be left wondering why there’s no apps out there for your new device. Then you’ll wonder why no one is buying a phone with your OS on it. Up until WM6, I was still using MiniMo on my Axim x51v and thought it was a pretty decent browser.
@eric12341 – No moron…you don’t boycott the ones doing the right thing…you boycott the one who isn’t allowing them to be on their OS, Windows Phone isn’t allowing any applications that doesn’t use Silverlight RE on their OS…so why would you boycott the ones who can’t help what they do? If you were smart, you would get an Android device instead as Android is the only OS making any progress…
STFU WhoNOTdaman……I agree with the other guy you are a dipsh1t!!!! Firefox has an agenda and so do you.You hate MS so you are pushing Googley who are fascist motherfukkers!!! Boycott Mozilla as they know they are playing games….You don’t mind APPLE blocking apps that don’t work within their guidelines so why do you FAULT MS for doing the same? Hypocritical Bastard!!
XDA and HTC made winmo.
At a time when no one would give winmo a change, htc produced units with Winmo.
I started using winmo since the blue angel days and continued till today.
Many of winmo OS that came with the phone were terrible, but xda-developers and people who were willing to put in time to learn and improve roms that were better than what the providers and ms can provide. Today we have many sites (including ppcgeeks) that support winmo and made it better for everyone.
MS at one point didnt want to allow the development of winmo….and wanted to force cooks go underground and send xda legal letters for posting of roms. .
Now MS want to shoot itself in the foot again…LOL
What can I say……MS is telling and inviting all of us to move to Android and I am sure, I will take on MS invitation with open arms. I guess the days of buying a MS winmo is over for me. For many of us, the ability to make our phones better and the ability to use programs that suit our needs is what made us buy winmo over and over again…..Now we have no incentive to do so!!!!