mercredi 22 juin 2011

Back from Bilbao

Raise your hand if you like the Open Web! @ Nonick Conference, Bilbao, Spain

Raise your hand if you like the Open Web! Nonick crowd cheering for the Open Web, taken from the stage

Last Friday, I gave a talk at the Nonick Conference in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. I've put the slides on Slideshare.net: [The Open Web approach |http://www.slideshare.net/nitot/the-open-web-approach|en]. I hope to have the audio and/or the video to publish soon, if the organizers can provide me with the files.

I encourage you to view the slides, but here is what I discussed:

  • Cross-platform development (Windows/Mac/Linux) is hard, but Mobile development makes things even harder
  • The Open Web can be a solution especially since HTML5 and related technologies enable developers to build much richer applications, with video, audio, 3D,
  • I gave demos from Web Of Wonders
  • I discussed how cool it would be to have the benefits of App Stores for the Web (discovery, sense of ownership, monetization), without the negative part (centralization, possible censorship, lack of choice), as communicated a few months ago by Jay Sullivan.

I also gave a couple of TV interviews with the EITB (Basque regional TV and Website):

mercredi 15 juin 2011

Adobe Ditches AIR for Linux

Reminder: as usual, I'm not speaking on behalf of Mozilla here, just expressing my own views.

So it looks like Adobe will no longer be releasing (...) versions of Adobe AIR and the AIR SDK for desktop Linux..

A few questions and remarks come to my mind, which I'd like to share:

  1. Is this going to hurt Linux?
  2. Is this a good thing for Adobe?
  3. Is there a lesson here?

So Is this going to hurt Linux? Well, maybe, but not much. The application ecosystem on Linux is pretty strong, and as Adobe says, "since the release of AIR, we’ve seen only a 0.5% download share for desktop Linux", which tends to show that Linux users are not much interested in AIR at all.

Is this a good thing for Adobe? On one hand, it will enable them to invest more in the Android version of AIR, which is an important market, with enormous potential, Android being a platform that needs more love from Adobe if they want to be able to compete. But on the other hand, this is pretty bad for their cross-platform story. People who have chosen AIR because it enabled them to "write once run anywhere" - recycling the old Java promise - rightfully feel betrayed. AIR is a decent platform, but what made it stand out was the promise of running on all three desktop platforms. And this is now gone.

Is there a lesson here? I guess so. In short: never trust of a proprietary vendor when it comes to running cross-platform, especially when you have a truly open alternative. In this case, the Web. What makes the Web beautiful is the fact that no one owns it. You don't have to make a deal with the VP of Business Development of the Web in order to deploy a large application. You can pick a (modern) browser and switch away from it later on if the vendor you've chosen is taking a path that you don't like. Just make sure it's following Web standards and is Open Source and open to external contributions, so that you can offer patches if needed. Make sure it's extensible, so you can customize it for your needs. You'll see, the Open Web as a platform is making progress daily. It's amazing, really.

You'll have no fees to pay, no contracts to negotiate, just freedom to use and innovate. I know it's a little unsettling at first, but over time it's liberating. So liberating that - once accustomed to freedom - you won't want to go back.

Sunset in Normandy

Free as a bird flying into the sunset in Normandy

mardi 14 juin 2011

Mozilla at the eG8

(I wish I had some time to post this earlier, but vacations got in the way.)

A couple of weeks ago, Mitchell Baker and I have been invited to participate to the eG8 forum, an event which took place in Paris, led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, known for his "three strikes law" that kicks citizens out of the Internet if they share copyrights content and get caught three times:

The two-day e-G8 gathering was an opportunity for debate and collective reflection on a wide number of key themes involving the Internet. They included support for innovation; future development of the Internet; freedom of networks; protection of personal data from cybercrime; protection of minors; and, more broadly, the practical impact of virtual and digital applications on fields as varied as economic growth, job creation, democracy, government administration, education, news and health.

President Sarkozy takes a question from the crowd during the opening session of the eG8 forum

President Sarkozy takes a question from the crowd during the opening session of the eG8 forum

The speaker line-up was quite impressive, including Eric Schmidt (Chairman, Google) and Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook) and many other CEOs. The fact is that the event was mostly focused on the economic value of the Internet, and therefore missed what is probably the biggest part of the Internet: users, the civil society. In short: us, the people who make the Internet what it is. While participating to the eG8, I had the impression that the attendees were entrepreneurs looking for business opportunities in an Internet that was perceived as a sea of customers. But Internet users are much more than customers. We're participants. Citizens. Human beings.

Mozilla, along with a handful of participants of the civil society, was here to bring a different perspective, following the 9th and 10th principles of the Mozilla Manifesto:

9 - Commercial involvement in the development of the Internet brings many benefits; a balance between commercial goals and public benefit is critical.

10 - Magnifying the public benefit aspects of the Internet is an important goal, worthy of time, attention and commitment.

Mitchell Baker (Mozilla) at the privacy workshop during the eG8 - Paris

Mitchell Baker (Mozilla) at the privacy workshop during the eG8 - Paris

Mitchell as she participated to a workshop on privacy, has taken the side of the users. The eG8 has also been an opportunity to meet with the press in order to explain what makes Mozilla a special organization, competing on a market against large commercial organizations, while being mission-driven.

Mitchell Baker (Mozilla) being interviewed by OWNI.eu reporters at the eG8 Forum- Paris

Mitchell Baker (Mozilla) being interviewed by OWNI.eu reporters at the eG8 Forum- Paris

Links to other articles, talks and interventions related to civil society at the eG8:

vendredi 11 février 2011

Interview: Realease and the Shogo tablet running Linux

The Realease Shogo Tablet

''The Realease Shogo Tablet''

I've recently had the opportunity to interview a long-time friend of mine, Daniel Schneersohn, CEO of Realease, the company that makes the 10 inch Shogo Tablet I have already written about: Shogo, the tablet you can control, extend and hack ;.

QUESTION: Daniel, can you introduce yourself and your company?

RealEase is a company setup in Hong Kong by 3 French Engineers one based in HK the other two based in France. We realized 3 years ago that to design and build anything electronic our days, we had to be doing from Asia and in particular from the South China region and Shenzhen in particular. But we also quickly learned that without good old western (US or European) ways, the results of what we designed or produced over there was often disappointing. We embark on the idea to setup a company that would bring the best of both world, western design, creativity and software development and China's supply chain, production capability, and rapid response time for development and production

QUESTION: Tell me more about Shogo, your product

After introducing the world first Digital photo frame with WiFi and a touch screen interface in 2008 we realized the potential of what we could design and build using the latest ARM processor now that full version of Linux were becoming available on these processors and we were no longer limited by smaller processors running proprietary OSes with limited APIs The combination of the power of the ARM processor available and now all of them running a full fledge Linux OS with all the world of open source (and free software) tools and libraries that could be used to create new solution was going to make an entire new category of devices possible in the embedded category. We envisioned the happening of the Internet Tablet category at the end of 2008 and started our development. Our idea was simple, we are not Microsoft nor Apple and cannot embark on the development of a proprietary GUI that could run on a tablet device and be feature rich enough to compete on the general purpose consumer tablet category. But we were starting to sense that given what was becoming possible with these devices and at the price we were going to be able to produce them, this was going to create a huge demand for people wanting to create their own tablet as a delivery device for their specific application, or content or services.

QUESTION: so what does the Shogo looks like today?

As we embarked on the development of our ARM based Linux Open source tablet, we were approached by a company at the beginning of 2009 asking us to develop for them a custom tablet for their own application / solution. This is how we teamed-up with UnoWhy of France to develop and product the QOOQ tablet what was launched in France in the fall of 2009 and was the first 10" capacitive touch screen tablet ever. This is a Tablet that is custom-designed for the kitchen with a very rich content dedicated to the Epicurian in us.

Since then, we have designed and developed the 10" Shogo Tablet based on the same ARM processor from FreeScale running Linux with the Qt Development framework. The idea for the Shogo Tablet is to provide a platform, hardware and software for customers who have an application, a solution, some content, or some services that they would like to deliver to their customers on a tablet form-factor. They might already have the application or service, or have the idea or the plan to develop such application or service that will need a tablet device to be delivered or deployed. We needed to create the Shogo tablet as a "Generic" tablet that can be used by these developers to evaluate, prototype and develop their solution before deciding if they would need a custom device for their solution (with specific ID Design and casing and form factor etc... like the QOOQ), or if the Shogo tablet itself with some level of customization would be suitable for their target audience.

We made some changes to the design in order to be more flexible and allow for some customization cosmetic ones like allowing to change the logo the color of the plastic, the entire packaging but also to include or omit some electronic elements like bluetooth, sensors, webcam...

''Inside the Realease Shogo Tablet''

QUESTION: In short, you're enabling companies to follow the famous quote by Alan Kay "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware."?

It's exactly that! In reality, you can do so much with the hardware available today, look at the QOOQ, when you have a file system custom-designed for what you need it to do, you do not need ultra high speed CPU nor gigantic amounts of RAM because you are not stuffing your environment with software that is not needed.

QUESTION: Why a company should build their future product on top of the Shogo instead of the iPad or a mass-market Android tablet like the Samsung Tab?

Well basically people contacting us start by telling us that they need something else for the following reasons:

  1. They need to be able to use whatever they want to be able to use whatever tools and environment they want and do not want to be limited by what Apple or others are going to make available for them
  2. they want to be able to create an environment they can control 100% for the user of their tablet or their application. Only see the GUI they have created, only allow the use of the applications they want, and if they want to allow to browser the Internet, limit access to whatever site on the Internet or intranet they want. It is meant to be a working device or a single purpose device not a general purpose Internet browsing device they want to be able to customize every aspect of the UI including the device setting menus etc...
  3. they want the device to have no resell value to avoid theft.

Also some people are specifically looking for a device capable to run Qt Development framework to run application developped with Qt.

QUESTION: So what's the next step is for your company?

We have recently released the Shogo, in November 2010, and started to ship it to customers around the world for the past few weeks. Companies are now evaluating the product and prototyping their solution on it. Some of them will do it on the stock Shogo tablet, some other will need customized hardware. Many of them are already hard at work building solutions around the Shogo!

vendredi 14 janvier 2011

Shogo, the tablet you can control, extend and hack

I've been loaned a Shogo Tablet recently, and I wanted to share my first impressions this device which is very different from other tablets of roughly the same size. Not trying to compete with the iPad nor the Android tablets, the Shogo is actually a platform for companies and developers who want to build applications that are a combination of custom software running on the stock Shogo or custom hardware derived from the Shogo.

Opening up the Shogo tablet boxe

While its sleek aluminum industrial design makes it look like high end competitors, but what makes the Shogo stand out is its complete openness:

  • Ability to install the software you want based on GNU/Linux in order to run Qt, C++ and HTML applications (See the developer documentation and forums)
  • Extensive connectivity (photo) including:
    • Ethernet 10/100
    • Wifi b/g
    • Bluetooth 2.0
    • 1 external USB port (see below for more)
    • 1 SDHC card slot
    • Audio in and out ports
    • Power

Shogo 10 inch tablet detail

The hardware specifications are as follow:

  • ARM processor FreeScale iMX-37
  • 256MB DDR RAM
  • 4GB NAND Flash
  • 1024*600 multi-touch capacitive screen
  • 2 Megapixels camera
  • 2 microphones
  • motion sensor
  • accelerometer
  • 5 keys (On-Off, Volume up, volume down, home, menu) on the right-hand side of the case

Inside the Shogo 10 inch tablet

The case is really easy to open, with just a few screws to deal with. Inside, we'll find 2 available USB ports with room in the case to plug additional hardware internally such as additional flash storage or USB sticks

Shogo tablet general view

I think I'm going to publish a couple more articles on the Shogo, because it's so different - by its open nature in terms of both software and hardware - from the other products on the market. In short, the ability to connect things, open the case, add applications without centralized control by a third party is quite refreshing in a world dominated by Apple and Android[1].

Notes

[1] I understand that Android is Open Source, but it's tightly controlled by Google and the hardware is much harder to customize, considering the volume that vendors are looking for.

jeudi 6 janvier 2011

Firefox leading in Europe

Top 5 browsers in Europe, according to StatCounter

A recent report by StatCounter says that Firefox is now the leading browser in Europe. As always, market numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt, but it's hard to imagine a better way to start 2011, considering how small Mozilla is compared to its main competitors (Microsoft, Google and Apple). This is the result of the commitment of the Mozilla community and teams over the past decade. Very frankly, if someone told me that a non-profit organization would beat Microsoft at its own game just 5 or 6 years ago, I would have told him to quit smoking funny cigarettes ;-).

It's time to rejoice and have a drink, (after all, the Paris office is in France, so we're always ready to party and have a drink!), but let's not forget a couple of things[1]...

  1. We're now in a market that is more competitive than ever, where 3 players are likely to dominate the others (Firefox being one of them):
    1. Chrome is gaining market share and shipping new versions very quickly, along with a very aggressive marketing campaign
    2. Microsoft is back at work and IE9 is a very serious competitor, especially as it's bundled with Windows (as always).
  2. Mobile is the new frontier, and Mozilla has a card to play here, especially on Android.

In order to succeed on the desktop and the mobile spaces, there is a very simple thing to do: ship a killer version of Firefox 4 soon!

So let's enjoy the fact that we're succeeding more in Europe than we hoped for initially, but let's quickly return back to work and invest all of our energy in making an amazing Firefox 4 both on the desktop and on mobile. This is key for our future!

More reading

Notes

[1] And I'm not even mentioning the fact that there are various sources of market share data, and not all of them give the same results.

mardi 14 décembre 2010

How is Firefox different from other browsers

As always on this blog, this article does not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

In the light of the recent Google announcements about Chrome, Chrome OS and the Web App Store, I am getting questions from people around me and from reporters. Many people seem to forget how Google and Mozilla differ. While both of us- like Apple and Microsoft - are browser vendors who care a lot about speed and security, Mozilla is different by nature. Mozilla is a non-profit, mission-driven organization who cares about the health of the Open Web. I recognize that this may be hard to understand, as it's not very concrete. So let's see in very concrete ways how the Mozilla approach differs from the other browser vendors, who are all commercial ventures[1]

An App Store for the Open Web, not for a specific browser

Mozilla has recently announced a Prototype of an Open Web App Ecosystem. Let's see how this differs from Google's announcement on a similar topic.

In Mozilla's approach, Open Web Apps:

  • work in all modern Web browsers
  • Support portable purchases: An app purchased for one browser works in other browsers, and across multiple desktop and mobile platforms without repurchase
  • Can be distributed by developers directly to users without any gatekeeper, and distributed through multiple stores, allowing stores to compete on customer service, price, policies, app discoverability, ratings, reviews and other attributes.

Fore more details, go read Pascal Finette's recent post: Building the Open Web App Ecosystem.

On the other hand, Google's App Store requires Chrome and centralized, two things that differ from the principles of the Open Web (choice of browsers and services to use)[2].

Getting a personalized experience without losing your privacy or control over your data

The promise of the cloud is that our data is accessible from anywhere. Like many other people, I love this idea! Now it does not necessarily mean that everything has to be stored centrally. As an individual, I want my data to stay private and not data-mined, while enjoying the benefits of the cloud.

Firefox Sync is one of these services. Built into Firefox 4 for both mobile and desktop and available as an extension for Firefox 3.6, it enables people to store their browsing history on a server so that they can access history, passwords, bookmarks and even open tabs across all his/her devices.

Mozilla understand that people expect things to work right out of the box, so we offer a server to host people's data in order to make their life easier.

  • User data, when hosted by Mozilla, is encrypted on the client side, so it cannot be data-mined by Mozilla (what Mozilla hosts is encrypted data that cannot be analyzed).
  • Users - should they want to - can run their own server: the protocol is public and extensible, the code is free and open (for both client and server).

Some other browser vendors offer similar services, but you cannot run them on your own server and data is not encrypted.

Conclusion

All Browsers are making significant progress in terms of performance and some of them also offer more when it in terms of security and standards support. But when it comes to choosing which browser you are going to use, one should consider the reasons of the organization who's producing it, and how it relates to keeping the Web Open and user data private.

Notes

[1] nothing wrong with this, of course. It's just that our goals and approach differ significantly because of that.

[2] For the record, Apple is significantly worse than Google in this regard, going as far as preventing users to use competing App Stores...

mardi 7 décembre 2010

Community meetups with Gary Kovacs

Our new CEO, Gary Kovacs, was on a trip in Europe last week to meet with employees (in Toronto, London, Paris and Munich) and communities (in Paris, Munich and Ljubljana). I traveled with him, Chris Beard (VP of engagement) and Mary Colvig (Head of contributor engagement). I took quite a few pictures that I posted on Flickr.

Group photo during dinner in Ljubljana

The initial plan was to have a community dinner in Paris with Gary, but the weather decided otherwise (pro tip: Eurostar seems to be less reliable than airplanes when snowing), so we had to party without Gary and Chris. As you can see with the Paris pictures, we had tons of fun!

The next day, we had breakfast with Gary at the Paris office, then we headed to Munich (Germany) to meet with members of the Open Source community during one of the famous Open Source Treffen organized by Tomcat.

The next day took us to Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, where William and amazing volunteers (including Milos Dinic, Brian King and Matjaž Horvat organized the Mozilla Balkans Community Meetup, where 9 communities from the Balkans were represented.

Our visit was a surprise to the community members, and the dinner was a lot of fun!

T-shirt

Here are the links to the pictures I took on this trip:

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