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82-514: Firefox OS (project name: Boot to Gecko , also known as B2G ) is a discontinued open-source operating system made for smartphones , tablet computers , smart TVs , and dongles designed by Mozilla and external contributors. It is based on the rendering engine of the Firefox web browser, Gecko , and on the Linux kernel . It was first commercially released in 2014. Firefox OS was designed to provide
164-444: A privilege model to safely expose these to web pages, applications to prove these capabilities, and low-level code to boot on 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
246-406: A Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program to support open source innovation. The adoption of open-source software by industry is increasing over time. OSS is popular in several industries such as telecommunications , aerospace , healthcare , and media & entertainment due to the benefits it provides. Adoption of OSS is more likely in larger organizations and is dependent on
328-541: A bug needs to be fixed in their project. This is established by communicating with the OSS community through avenues such as bug reporting and tracking or mailing lists and project pages. Next, OSS developers select or are assigned to a task and identify a solution. Because there are often many different possible routes for solutions in OSS, the best solution must be chosen with careful consideration and sometimes even peer feedback . The developer then begins to develop and commit
410-803: A complete, community-based alternative operating system, for running web applications directly or those installed from an application marketplace. The applications use open standards and approaches such as JavaScript and HTML5 , a robust privilege model , and open web APIs that can communicate directly with hardware, e.g. cellphone hardware. As such, Mozilla with Firefox OS competed with commercially developed operating systems such as Apple 's iOS , Google 's Android , Microsoft 's Windows Phone , BlackBerry 's BlackBerry 10 , Samsung 's/ Linux Foundation 's Tizen , and Jolla 's Sailfish OS . In December 2015, Mozilla announced it would stop development of new Firefox OS smartphones and, in September 2016, announced
492-507: A copy of the license is provided to recipients with the code. One important legal precedent for open-source software was created in 2008, when the Jacobson v Katzer case enforced terms of the Artistic license , including attribution and identification of modifications. The ruling of this case cemented enforcement under copyright law when the conditions of the license were not followed. Because of
574-409: A launching at $ 25 in partnership with Intex and Spice , but the price ended up being $ 33 (converted from 1,999 Rupees ). The initial development work involves three major software layers: Gonk consists of a Linux kernel and user-space hardware abstraction layer (HAL). The kernel and several user-space libraries are common open-source projects: Linux, libusb , BlueZ , etc. Some other parts of
656-456: A networking stack, graphics stack, layout engine, virtual machine (for JavaScript), and porting layers. Gaia was the user interface of Firefox OS and controlled everything drawn to the screen. Gaia included by default implementations of a lock screen, home screen, telephone dialer and contacts application, text-messaging application, camera application and gallery support, plus the classic phone apps: mail, calendar, calculator and marketplace. Gaia
738-454: A new bug. Early releases : The first version of the software should be released as early as possible so as to increase one's chances of finding co-developers early. Frequent integration: Code changes should be integrated (merged into a shared code base) as often as possible so as to avoid the overhead of fixing a large number of bugs at the end of the project life cycle. Some open-source projects have nightly builds where integration
820-514: A press conference before the start of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the first wave of Firefox OS devices would be available to consumers in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela. Mozilla also announced that LG Electronics , ZTE , Huawei and TCL Corporation had committed to making Firefox OS devices. In December 2013, new features were added with
902-508: A public good as it is available to everyone and does not decrease in value for others when downloaded by one person. Open source software is unique in that it becomes more valuable as it is used and contributed to, instead of diminishing the resource. This is explained by concepts such as investment in reputation and network effects . The economic model of open-source software can be explained as developers contribute work to projects, creating public benefits. Developers choose projects based on
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#1732852779538984-440: A service provider might restrict user access to users whose account exhausted the pre-paid money on their account. This has long been a central issue constraining the telecommunications sector, as developers face huge hurdles in making their applications available to end-users. In a more extreme example, the regulated 1970s American telephone system, Bell , owned all the hardware (including all phones) and had indirect control over
1066-447: A similar way user scripts and custom style sheets allow for web sites, and eventually publish the modification as a fork for users with similar preferences, and directly submit possible improvements as pull requests . The Open Source Initiative 's (OSI) definition is recognized by several governments internationally as the standard or de facto definition. OSI uses The Open Source Definition to determine whether it considers
1148-592: A software license open source. The definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines , written and adapted primarily by Perens . Perens did not base his writing on the "four freedoms" from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which were only widely available later. Under Perens' definition, open source is a broad software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent restrictions on
1230-615: A sub-$ 100 tablet (that can also run Android 4.4 KitKat). Mozilla has worked on developing the OS for Smart Feature Phones. Firefox OS was discontinued in January 2017. In 2014, Gal announced a change in course, writing that future versions of the Firefox browser would include digital rights management (DRM). Implementation of DRM in the Firefox browser began with version 38. In August 2015, attempts by Matchstick TV (based on Firefox OS) to add DRM caused
1312-422: A victory for OSS supporters. In open-source communities, instead of owning the software produced, the producer owns the development of the evolving software. In this way, the future of the software is open, making ownership or intellectual property difficult within OSS. Licensing and branding can prevent others from stealing it, preserving its status as a public good . Open source software can be considered
1394-404: Is a good or service, what can be considered a modification, governance through contract vs license, ownership and right of use. While there have been developments on these issues, they often lead to even more questions. The existence of these uncertainties in regulation has a negative impact on industries involved in technologies as a whole. Within the legal history of software as a whole, there
1476-539: Is absolutely another terrific way that individuals and organizations choose to contribute to open source projects. Groups like Open Collective provide a means for individuals to contribute monthly to supporting their favorite projects. Organizations like the Sovereign Tech Fund is able to contribute to millions to supporting the tools the German Government uses. The National Science Foundation established
1558-544: Is done automatically . Several versions: There should be at least two versions of the software. There should be a buggier version with more features and a more stable version with fewer features. The buggy version (also called the development version) is for users who want the immediate use of the latest features and are willing to accept the risk of using code that is not yet thoroughly tested. The users can then act as co-developers, reporting bugs and providing bug fixes. High modularization: The general structure of
1640-427: Is in contrast to an open platform , wherein consumers generally have unrestricted access to applications and content. For example, in telecommunications , the services and applications accessible on a cell phone on any given wireless device were formerly tightly controlled by the mobile operators . The operators limited the applications and developers that were available on users' home portals and home pages. Thus,
1722-404: Is innovative since open-source programs are the product of collaboration among a large number of different programmers. The mix of divergent perspectives, corporate objectives, and personal goals speeds up innovation. Moreover, free software can be developed in accordance with purely technical requirements. It does not require thinking about commercial pressure that often degrades the quality of
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#17328527795381804-560: Is legal variety in this definition. Some jurisdictions attempt to expand or reduce this conceptualization for their own purposes. For example, The European Court of Justice defines a computer program as not including the functionality of a program, the programing language , or the format of data files. By limiting protections of the different aspects of software, the law favors an open-source approach to software use. The US especially has an open approach to software, with most open-source licenses originating there. However, this has increased
1886-543: Is no longer maintained. Capyloon is a modern fork of Firefox OS started in 2022 which additionally makes use of decentralized web technologies such as IPFS . Builds are available for Pixel 3a and Pixel 6a devices, as well as GSI images for Android 10 based devices. Linux mobile devices such as the PinePhone , PinePhone Pro and Librem 5 are also supported. Firefox OS used the Linux kernel like Android does. Firefox OS used
1968-468: Is theoretically challenging in economic models, it is explainable as a sustainable social activity that requires resources. These resources include time, money, technology and contributions. Many developers have used technology funded by organizations such as universities and governments, though these same organizations benefit from the work done by OSS. As OSS grows, hybrid systems containing OSS and proprietary systems are becoming more common. Throughout
2050-529: The Rutgers University WINLAB , expressed concern about the discovery mechanism of a Web-based platform, but a Mozilla spokesperson stated that Mozilla required developers to "package downloadable apps in a zip file that has been cryptographically signed by the store from which it originated, assuring that it has been reviewed." In addition, "apps coming back from search are given only limited access to device programming interfaces and applications, unless
2132-889: The distributed version control system (DVCS) are examples of tools, often open source, that help manage the source code files and the changes to those files for a software project in order to foster collaboration. CVCS are centralized with a central repository while DVCS are decentralized and have a local repository for every user. concurrent versions system (CVS) and later Subversion (SVN) and Git are examples of CVCS. The repositories are hosted and published on source-code-hosting facilities such as GitHub . Open-source projects use utilities such as issue trackers to organize open-source software development. Commonly used bug trackers include Bugzilla and Redmine . Tools such as mailing lists and IRC provide means of coordination and discussion of bugs among developers. Project web pages, wiki pages, roadmap lists and newsgroups allow for
2214-539: The "Boot to Gecko " Project (B2G) on the mozilla.dev.platform mailing list. The project proposal was 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 Windows Phone 7." The announcement identified these work areas: new web APIs to expose device and OS capabilities such as telephone and camera,
2296-532: The 1.2 release, including conference calling , silent SMS authentication for mobile billing, improved push notifications , and three state settings for Do Not Track . Async Pan and Zoom (APZ), included in version 1.3, should improve user interface responsiveness. Work was done to optimize Firefox OS to run a 128 MB platform with version 1.3T. A 128 MB device is out that seems to use that version but it may be unfinished. In 2015, Mozilla ported Firefox OS (an "experimental version") to MIPS32 to work in
2378-458: The Bazaar , open-source influential contributor Eric S. Raymond suggests a model for developing OSS known as the bazaar model. Raymond likens the development of software by traditional methodologies to building a cathedral, with careful isolated work by individuals or small groups. He suggests that all software should be developed using the bazaar style, with differing agendas and approaches. In
2460-591: The Gecko engine on top of the Linux kernel to render the screen output. Apps were written using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript—all three being cooperative languages used in making internet webpages. In essence, apps on Firefox OS were web apps and the OS could be thought of as a Web browser that stored content off-line. On the other hand, Android's apps are coded in Java using Android Studio. Android also enjoys greater maturity and support. Despite these differences, Firefox OS did feature all
2542-512: The HAL are shared with the Android project: GPS, camera, among others. Gonk is basically an extremely simple Linux distribution and is therefore from Gecko's perspective, simply a porting target of Gecko; there is a port of Gecko to Gonk, just like there is a port of Gecko to OS X, and a port of Gecko to Android. However, since the development team have full control over Gonk, the developers can fully expose all
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2624-505: The Mozilla platform to run on a number of devices that ship with Android. While some ports of Firefox OS are hardly different from their original versions, others are heavily modified to fit the device in question. There are quite a few to note that are specifically made for Firefox OS as stated above. There are some that are designed for the developers themselves and others that are consumer-phones. There are also emulators for testing both apps and
2706-414: The OS itself on the desktop which are designed for both OS testing and the developers themselves. Firefox OS specific devices for developers: Firefox OS specific devices for consumers: Firefox OS has been ported to the following devices: Open-source software Open-source software ( OSS ) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users
2788-630: The Public Interest . Within Europe some notable organizations are Free Software Foundation Europe , open-source projects EU (OSP) and OpenForum Europe (OFE). One Australian organization is Linux Australia while Asia has Open source Asia and FOSSAsia . Free and open source software for Africa (FOSSFA) and OpenAfrica are African organizations and Central and South Asia has such organizations as FLISOL and GRUP de usuarios de software libre Peru . Outside of these, many more organizations dedicated to
2870-569: The United States has focused on national security in regard to open-source software implementation due to the perceived threat of the increase of open-source software activity in countries like China and Russia, with the Department of Defense considering multiple criteria for using OSS. These criteria include: if it comes from and is maintained by trusted sources, whether it will continue to be maintained, if there are dependencies on sub-components in
2952-473: The advancement of open-source software exist. FOSS products are generally licensed under two types of licenses: permissive licensing and copyleft licensing . Both of these types of licenses are different than proprietary licensing in that they can allow more users access to the software and allow for the creation of derivative works as specified by the terms of the specific license, as each license has its own rules. Permissive licenses allow recipients of
3034-402: The bazaar model should exhibit the following patterns: Users should be treated as co-developers: The users are treated like co-developers and so they should have access to the source code of the software. Furthermore, users are encouraged to submit additions to the software, code fixes for the software, bug reports , documentation, etc. Having more co-developers increases the rate at which
3116-466: The code facilitates public trust in the software. Open-source software development can bring in diverse perspectives beyond those of a single company. A 2024 estimate of the value of open-source software to firms is $ 8.8 trillion, as firms would need to spend 3.5 times the amount they currently do without the use of open source software. Open-source code can be used for studying and allows capable end users to adapt software to their personal needs in
3198-414: The code. The code is then tested and reviewed by peers. Developers can edit and evolve their code through feedback from continuous integration . Once the leadership and community are satisfied with the whole project, it can be partially released and user instruction can be documented. If the project is ready to be released, it is frozen, with only serious bug fixes or security repairs occurring. Finally,
3280-427: The company's IT usage, operating efficiencies, and the productivity of employees. Industries are likely to use OSS due to back-office functionality, sales support, research and development, software features, quick deployment, portability across platforms and avoidance of commercial license management. Additionally, lower cost for hardware and ownership are also important benefits. Organizations that contribute to
3362-459: The demise of Matchstick , a decision that Boing Boing called "suicide-by-DRM". At Mobile World Congress 2012, Mozilla and Telefónica announced that the Spanish telecommunications provider intended to deliver "open Web devices" in 2012, based on HTML5 and these APIs. Mozilla also announced support for the project from Adobe and Qualcomm , and that Deutsche Telekom ’s Innovation Labs would join
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3444-467: The development and expansions of free and open-source software movements exist all over the world. These organizations are dedicated to goals such as teaching and spreading technology. As listed by a former vice president of the Open Source Initiative , some American organizations include the Free Software Foundation , Software Freedom Conservancy , the Open Source Initiative and Software in
3526-794: The development of "Firefox OS for smartphones" would cease after the release of version 2.6. Around the same time, it was reported that Acadine Technologies , a startup founded by Li Gong (former president of Mozilla Corporation ) with various other former Mozilla staff among its employees, would take over the mission of developing carrier partnerships, for its own Firefox OS derivative H5OS. In January 2016, Mozilla announced that Firefox OS would power Panasonic's UHD TVs (as previously announced Firefox OS "would pivot to connected devices"). In September 2016, Mozilla announced that work on Firefox OS had ceased, and that all B2G-related code would be removed from mozilla-central. On July 25, 2011, Andreas Gal , Director of Research at Mozilla Corporation , announced
3608-651: The device's hardware. It is now the basis of KaiOS which has (as of January 2019) over 17 percent of the Indian mobile phone market and is the third most popular phone OS. KaiOS is closed-source . B2G OS was forked from Firefox OS following Mozilla's decision to discontinue support for their mobile operating system. The decision was made, according to Ari Jaaksi and David Bryant, in order to "evolve quickly and enable substantial new architectural changes in Gecko, Mozilla’s Platform Engineering organization needs to remove all B2G-related code from mozilla-central." As of 2017, B2G OS
3690-461: The distribution of project information that focuses on end users. The basic roles OSS participants can fall into multiple categories, beginning with leadership at the center of the project who have control over its execution. Next are the core contributors with a great deal of experience and authority in the project who may guide the other contributors. Non-core contributors have less experience and authority, but regularly contribute and are vital to
3772-411: The dominant mobile operating systems." In 2012, Andreas Gal expanded on Mozilla's aims. He characterized the current set of mobile operating systems as " walled gardens " and presented Firefox OS as more accessible: "We use completely open standards and there’s no proprietary software or technology involved." (That changed in 2014; see Digital rights management (DRM) , below.) Gal also said that because
3854-664: The end of development. Successors to Firefox OS include the discontinued B2G OS and Acadine Technologies' never-released H5OS as well as KaiOS Technologies' KaiOS and Panasonic's My Home Screen for smart TVs. Firefox OS was publicly demonstrated in February 2012, on Android-compatible smartphones. By December 16, 2014, fourteen operators in 28 countries throughout the world offered Firefox OS phones. On December 8, 2015, Mozilla announced that it would stop sales of Firefox OS smartphones through carriers. Mozilla later announced that Firefox OS smartphones would be discontinued by May 2016, as
3936-472: The essentials required to use a smartphone. Firefox launched its first official device in Germany in 2014, which was an Alcatel One Touch Fire. The device had a 3.5” HVGA screen, Cortex A5 processor, 256MB RAM, and 512MB storage. As of December 2015, Mozilla had launched 12 smartphones across 24 countries. Chris Ziegler of the technology website The Verge wrote that Firefox OS would take app distribution back to
4018-452: The features and interfaces required for comprehensive mobile platforms such as Gecko, but which aren't currently possible to access on other mobile OSes. For example, using Gonk, Gecko can obtain direct access to the full telephone stack and display framebuffer , but doesn't have this access on any other OS. Gecko is the web browser engine of Firefox OS. Gecko implements open standards for HTML , CSS , and JavaScript . Gecko includes
4100-601: The focus on patent rights within these licenses, which has seen backlash from the OSS community, who prefer other forms of IP protection. Another issue includes technological protection measures (TPM) and digital rights management (DRM) techniques which were internationally legally recognized and protected in the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty . Open source software proponents disliked these technologies as they constrained end-users potentially beyond copyright law. Europe responded to such complaints by putting TPM under legal controls, representing
4182-526: The founder of the company, had overseen the development of Firefox OS while serving as president of Mozilla Corporation . A fork called KaiOS has been used on a few feature phones, including Alcatel 's OneTouch Go Flip (known as Cingular Flip 2 on AT&T), Reliance Jio 's JioPhone (LYF F30C), and Intex's Turbo+ 4G. The system brings support for 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, and HTML5-based apps onto non-touch devices with an optimized user interface, less memory usage, and longer battery life. B2G OS (Boot 2 Gecko )
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#17328527795384264-482: The information sent through their infrastructure. It was an open government-sanctioned natural monopoly regulated by the Communications Act of 1934 . However, in the landmark case Hush-A-Phone v. United States , Bell unsuccessfully sued a company producing plastic telephone attachments. More generally, a walled garden can refer to a closed or exclusive set of information services provided for users. Similar to
4346-480: The many benefits provided, a huge issue to be considered is cybersecurity . While accidental vulnerabilities are possible, so are attacks by outside agents. Because of these fears, governmental interest in contributing to the governance of software has become more prominent. However, these are the broad strokes of the issue, with each country having their own specific politicized interactions with open-source software and their goals for its implementation. For example,
4428-560: The mid 2000s, more and more tech companies have begun to use OSS. For example, Dell's move of selling computers with GNU/Linux already installed. Microsoft itself has launched a Linux-based operating system despite previous animosity with the OSS movement. Despite these developments, these companies tend to only use OSS for certain purposes, leading to worries that OSS is being taken advantage of by corporations and not given anything in return. While many governments are interested in implementing and promoting open-source software due to
4510-562: The need to rewrite their application for each platform. In July 2012, Boot to Gecko was rebranded as 'Firefox OS', after Mozilla's well-known desktop browser, Firefox , and screenshots began appearing in August 2012. In September 2012, analysts Strategy Analysts forecast that Firefox OS would account for 1% of the global smartphone market in 2013, its first year of commercial availability. In February 2013, Mozilla announced plans for its global commercial roll-out of Firefox OS. Mozilla announced at
4592-505: The number of people employed in the IT sector. OSS can be highly reliable when it has thousands of independent programmers testing and fixing bugs of the software. Open source is not dependent on the company or author that originally created it. Even if the company fails, the code continues to exist and be developed by its users. OSS is flexible because modular systems allow programmers to build custom interfaces, or add new abilities to it and it
4674-435: The perceived benefits or costs, such as improved reputation or value of the project. The motivations of developers can come from many different places and reasons, but the important takeaway is that money is not the only or even most important incentivization . Because economic theory mainly focuses on the consumption of scarce resources, the OSS dynamic can be hard to understand. In OSS, producers become consumers by reaping
4756-404: The potential to quicken innovation and create of social value. In France for instance, a policy that incentivized government to favor free open-source software increased to nearly 600,000 OSS contributions per year, generating social value by increasing the quantity and quality of open-source software. This policy also led to an estimated increase of up to 18% of tech startups and a 14% increase in
4838-489: The pre-iPhone era, requiring application developers to deal with multiple carriers and their app stores. At the Mobile World Congress , Mozilla's CEO Gary Kovacs said that Firefox OS has the advantage that users need not install an app to use it. Mozilla sought to make the most of this with the search functionality built into Firefox OS, a core feature of the platform. Janne Lindqvist, a mobile security researcher at
4920-574: The project is fully released and only changed through minor bug fixes. Open source implementation of a standard can increase adoption of that standard. This creates developer loyalty as developers feel empowered and have a sense of ownership of the end product. Moreover, lower costs of marketing and logistical services are needed for OSS. OSS can be a tool to promote a company's image, including its commercial products. The OSS development approach has helped produce reliable, high quality software quickly and inexpensively. Open source development offers
5002-759: The project's development. New contributors are the least experienced but with mentorship and guidance can become regular contributors. Some possible ways of contributing to open-source software include such roles as programming , user interface design and testing, web design , bug triage , accessibility design and testing, UX design , code testing, and security review and testing. However, there are several ways of contributing to OSS projects even without coding skills. For example, some less technical ways of participating are documentation writing and editing, translation , project management , event organization and coordination, marketing, release management, community management, and public relations and outreach. Funding
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#17328527795385084-459: The project. Mozilla demonstrated a "sneak preview" of the software and apps running on Samsung Galaxy S II phones (replacing their usual Android operating system). In August 2012, a Nokia employee demonstrated the OS running on a Raspberry Pi . Firefox OS is compatible with a number of devices, including Otoro, PandaBoard , Emulator (ARM and x86), Desktop , Nexus S , Nexus S 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II , Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 . A MIPS port
5166-431: The rewards of contributing to a project. For example, a developer becomes well regarded by their peers for a successful contribution to an OSS project. The social benefits and interactions of OSS are difficult to account for in economic models as well. Furthermore, the innovation of technology creates constantly changing value discussions and outlooks, making economic model unable to predict social behavior. Although OSS
5248-411: The rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative, public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration , meaning any capable user is able to participate online in development, making the number of possible contributors indefinite. The ability to examine
5330-490: The same license while weak copyleft licenses require the use of the same license only under certain conditions. Examples of this type of license include the GNU family of licenses , and the MPL and EPL licenses. The similarities between these two categories of licensing include that they provide a broad grant of copyright rights, require that recipients preserve copyright notices, and that
5412-500: The similarity of the Artistic license to other open-source software licenses, the ruling created a precedent that applied widely. Examples of free-software license / open-source licenses include Apache licenses , BSD licenses , GNU General Public Licenses , GNU Lesser General Public License , MIT License , Eclipse Public License and Mozilla Public License . Several gray areas exist within software regulation that have great impact on open-source software, such as if software
5494-485: The software "in any manner they see fit, without requiring that they pay the author(s) of the software a royalty or fee for engaging in the listed activities." Despite initially accepting it, Richard Stallman of the FSF now flatly opposes the term "Open Source" being applied to what they refer to as "free software". Although he agrees that the two terms describe "almost the same category of software", Stallman considers equating
5576-401: The software evolves. Linus's law states that given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow. This means that if many users view the source code, they will eventually find all bugs and suggest how to fix them. Some users have advanced programming skills, and furthermore, each user's machine provides an additional testing environment. This new testing environment offers the ability to find and fix
5658-484: The software should be modular allowing for parallel development on independent components. Dynamic decision-making structure: There is a need for a decision-making structure, whether formal or informal, that makes strategic decisions depending on changing user requirements and other factors. Compare with extreme programming . The process of Open source development begins with a requirements elicitation where developers consider if they should add new features or if
5740-444: The software stack is entirely HTML5, there are already a large number of established developers. This assumption is employed in Mozilla's WebAPI. These are intended W3C standards that attempt to bridge the capability gap that currently exists between native frameworks and web applications. The goal of these efforts is to enable developers to build applications using WebAPI which would then run in any standards compliant browser without
5822-453: The software to implement the author's copyright rights without having to use the same license for distribution. Examples of this type of license include the BSD , MIT , and Apache licenses . Copyleft licenses are different in that they require recipients to use the same license for at least some parts of the distribution of their works. Strong copyleft licenses require all derivative works to use
5904-568: The software, component security and integrity, and foreign governmental influence. Another issue for governments in regard to open source is their investments in technologies such as operating systems , semiconductors , cloud , and artificial intelligence . These technologies all have implications for global cooperation, again opening up security issues and political consequences. Many countries have to balance technological innovation with technological dependence in these partnerships. For example, after China's open-source dependent company Huawei
5986-425: The software. Commercial pressures make traditional software developers pay more attention to customers' requirements than to security requirements, since such features are somewhat invisible to the customer. In open-source software development, tools are used to support the development of the product and the development process itself. Version control systems such as Centralized Version control system (CVCS) and
6068-597: The terms incorrect and misleading. Stallman also opposes the professed pragmatism of the Open Source Initiative , as he fears that the free software ideals of freedom and community are threatened by compromising on the FSF's idealistic standards for software freedom. The FSF considers free software to be a subset of open-source software, and Richard Stallman explained that DRM software, for example, can be developed as open source, despite that it does not give its users freedom (it restricts them), and thus does not qualify as free software. In his 1997 essay The Cathedral and
6150-514: The traditional model of development, which he called the cathedral model, development takes place in a centralized way. Roles are clearly defined. Roles include people dedicated to designing (the architects), people responsible for managing the project, and people responsible for implementation. Traditional software engineering follows the cathedral model. The bazaar model, however, is different. In this model, roles are not clearly defined. Some proposed characteristics of software developed using
6232-437: The use and modification of the code. It is an explicit "feature" of open source that it puts very few restrictions on the use or distribution by any organization or user, in order to enable the rapid evolution of the software. According to Feller et al. (2005), the terms "free software" and "open-source software" should be applied to any "software products distributed under terms that allow users" to use, modify, and redistribute
6314-498: The user grants permission for further access." Ben Francis, an engineer on the Boot to Gecko and Firefox OS projects, described the changes in direction of the project from open web technologies for app development, to cheap smartphones, to connected devices; and how evaluation of its success was reduced to its market share as a third smartphone platform (after Android and iOS). The structural similarities between Firefox OS and Android allow
6396-482: Was a community-developed mobile operating system , and the successor to Firefox OS. It follows the Firefox OS goal of providing a complete, community-based alternative operating system , that runs software as web applications . Its mobile apps therefore use open web standards and programming languages such as JavaScript and HTML5 , a robust privilege model , and open web APIs that can communicate directly with
6478-752: Was created by Imagination Technologies in March 2015. In December 2012, Mozilla rolled out another update and released Firefox OS Simulator 1.0, which can be downloaded as an add-on for Firefox. The latest version of Firefox OS Simulator, version 4.0, was released on July 3, 2013 and announced on July 11, 2013. Mozilla's planned US$ 25 Firefox smartphone displayed at MWC, is built by Spreadtrum . Mozilla has collaborated with four handset makers and five wireless carriers to provide five Firefox-powered smartphones in Europe and Latin America so far with cellphone launches being led by UK marketer John D. Bernard. In India, Mozilla planned
6560-404: Was much debate on whether to protect it as intellectual property under patent law , copyright law or establishing a unique regulation. Ultimately, copyright law became the standard with computer programs being considered a form of literary work, with some tweaks of unique regulation. Software is generally considered source code and object code , with both being protectable, though there
6642-560: Was prevented from using Google's Android system in 2019, they began to create their own alternative operating system: Harmony OS . Germany recently established a Sovereign Tech Fund , to help support the governance and maintenance of the software that they use. Closed platform A closed platform , walled garden , or closed ecosystem is a software system wherein the carrier or service provider has control over applications , content , and/or media , and restricts convenient access to non-approved applicants or content. This
6724-508: Was written entirely in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It interfaced with the operating system through Open Web APIs, which were implemented by Gecko. Because it used only standard web APIs, it could work on other OSes and other web browsers. Panasonic continues to develop the operating system for use in their Smart TVs, which run My Home Screen, powered by the Firefox OS. Acadine Technologies has derived their H5OS from Firefox OS as well. Li Gong ,
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