Bonum Certa Men Certa

Ubuntu, WebOS, Firefox OS Make a Splash in Mobile

Summary: More success stories relating to GNU and Linux in mobile platforms

Free software in mobile is not just Android and it's not just Linux. GNU too is part of this revolution, as Ubuntu Edge [1] helped prove. Meizu [2], a hardware platform which is believed to be Ubuntu's first phone, incorporates a lot of the Free software stack, enabling developers to port desktop applications to phones (just like in Maemo, MeeGo, and Jolla's Sailfish OS).



Now we discover that WebOS is to be incorporated in TVs from LG [3-4], demonstrating yet another manifestation on Linux in miniature platforms. Additionally, Firefox OS reaches TVs, tablets, and desktops [5-8], demonstrating that not only Android has desktop ambitions that are starting to bear fruit.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Five ways the convergent platform can transform mobile business in 2014
    This technological dreamscape is actually closer than you think. Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu Linux) made a valiant effort with the indiegogo campaign for Ubuntu Edge. With its Ubuntu Touch interface, Canonical will finally make this all a reality. The same interface between tablet, phone, and desktop will also help users easily sync data between their devices.


  2. First Ubuntu Phone Leaked Images Spotted Online
    Information about the first official Ubuntu phone has been spotted on a Chinese website, making Meizu the first hardware partner for Canonical.

    According to the website in question, Meizu will come to CES 2014 with the first Ubuntu phone, probably using its newly announced Meizu MX3 platform.


  3. LG Bets on WebOS for New Smart TV Line
    "The beauty of webOS is that it provides so much freedom and is so simple to use," said In-kyu Lee, senior vice president and head of the company's TV division. "Consumers will find navigating, exploring and switching between different forms of content on webOS a truly enjoyable, not frustrating, experience."


  4. LG reveals massive plans for webOS TV platform
    LG hasn't yet taken the stage for its CES keynote, but the company's Korea division has already revealed the webOS TV. Palm's mobile operating system has been resurrected as a TV interface that focuses on ease of use. And LG is putting its weight behind the effort: webOS will be used on over 70 percent of the company's 2014 Smart TV lineup. webOS on the TV is very different from what you remember on mobile phones. It's now based around three new features: simple connection, simple switching, and simple discovery.


  5. Firefox OS advances beyond phones
    Firefox OS widened its horizons today. Panasonic says it’s using it in a smart TV, and Via Technologies pledged to support it on new embedded form factors.


  6. Mozilla partners with Panasonic to bring Firefox OS to the TV, details progress on tablet and desktop versions
    At CES 2014 in Las Vegas today, Mozilla announced its plans for Firefox OS this year. Having launched Firefox OS for smartphones in 2013, the company has now partnered with Panasonic to bring its operating system to TVs, and also detailed the progress that has been made around the tablet and desktop versions.


  7. VIA Partners With Mozilla For Firefox OS
    VIA and Mozilla already have out Firefox OS for the APC Paper and APC Rock. The APC Paper is a $99 VIA ARM Cortex-A9 800MHz with 512MB DDR3 desktop computer that's built inside a recycled cardboard box. Rock The APC Rock is basically the same VIA ARM Cortex-A9 512MB development board but without the recycled cardboard case and costs $20 USD less. These are VIA's first two Firefox OS supported ARM devices but other products powered by Mozilla's operating system are expected.
  8. Mozilla Bringing Firefox OS to TVs, Tablets, Desktops
    Mozilla's Firefox Web browser once was limited to just desktop and notebook computers running on top of existing operating systems, but that's no longer the case. In a series of announcements today at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Mozilla announced new Firefox OS efforts to bring the open-source browser operating system to TVs, tablets and even desktop PCs.




Recent Techrights' Posts

Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
 
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025