• On TechRepublic: Five super-secret features in Windows 7
April 25, 2008 7:33 AM PDT

Mobile comes to Firefox (at last!)

by Matt Asay
  • Font size
  • Print
  • Post a comment

Mozilla has shuffled around mobile for several years now, initially with Minimo. Mozilla has finally decided to get into the mobile market in earnest, however, with Fennec.

If Fennec proves to be even a shadow of Firefox's potential, the world will never be the same.

Access to data, sites and applications on the Internet shouldn't be limited by the type of device being used, and Fennec will make that possible, said Mitchell Baker during a keynote speech at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

"The key to the Internet should be the same. The core is information: What can I get to and what can I do with it?" she said.

Mobile has been fraught with problems since its inception, largely due to corporations carving up their petty niches for profit. With a true, community-developed mobile web platform and entry point, however, we may yet see a rich convergence in mobile, one where a particular mobile device is not an inhibitor to the web, as it has been (giving rise to the need for mobile open-source providers like Volantis).

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay.
Recent posts from The Open Road
Apache: 'No jerks allowed'
Cloud to suck money out of market, report says
When open source isn't (open enough)
SAP wants an open Java process (pot, meet kettle)
Google shifts software value to operations, away from IP
Mobile: Still waiting to see what sticks
Google privacy controls: Most people won't care
Amazon's move mocks EU's fear of Oracle
advertisement

A CNET Conversation with Eric Schmidt

CNET's Tom Krazit and Molly Wood sit down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss the future of Android, the Chrome OS, the problem of real-time search indexing, and more.

Verizon tests sending RIAA copyright notices

The No. 2 phone company, known for its reluctance to intervene in antipiracy cases, strikes an agreement to forward copyright notices on behalf of the music industry.

advertisement

About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

The Open Road topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right