In light of the announced changes to Firefox OS/Marketplace/Connected devices, we need to start thinking about what needs to be done with the documentation available.
To this end, I have created a Google doc outlining my initial thoughts of what we could do: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m6inUUVdJ1hT8A25GyFmp0vdhKnXdaWt89wQhpRtbmo/edit# <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m6inUUVdJ1hT8A25GyFmp0vdhKnXdaWt89wQhpRtbmo/edit#> Please give me your comments/ideas/worries about this — obviously I want to collect a good amount of feedback and make sure the community likes the direction I am going in with the docs, before making any major decisions. Best regards, Chris Mills Senior tech writer || Mozilla developer.mozilla.org <http://developer.mozilla.org/> || MDN [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> || @chrisdavidmills > Begin forwarded message: > > From: George Roter <[email protected]> > Subject: Updates and changes to Firefox OS/Connected Devices > Date: 4 February 2016 at 08:35:05 GMT > To: [email protected] > Cc: John Bernard <[email protected]> > > Dear Mozillians, > > The purpose of this email is to share a follow up to what was announced by > Ari Jaaksi, Mozilla’s SVP of Connected Devices, in early December > <https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/12/09/firefox-os-pivot-to-connected-devices/> > -- an intent to pivot from “Firefox OS” to “Connected Devices” and to a > focus on exploring new product innovations in the IoT space. We’re sharing > this on behalf of Ari and the Connected Devices leadership group. > > In particular, there are a few decisions that we want to share along with > what will happen next. We’ll elaborate more below, but let us start by being > very clear and direct about 4 decisions that have been made: > > We will end development on Firefox OS for smartphones after the version 2.6 > release. > > As of March 29, 2016, Marketplace will no longer accept submissions for > Android, Desktop and Tablet, we will remove all apps that don’t support > Firefox OS. Firefox OS apps will continue to be accepted into 2017 (we have > yet to finalize a date for when we won’t continue accepting these apps). > > The Connected Devices team has been testing out a new product innovation > process with staff, 3 products have passed the first “gate” and many more are > in the pipeline. Having multiple different product innovations in development > will be the approach moving forward, and we’re hoping to open up the formal > process to non-staff participation in the first half of the year. > > The foxfooding program will continue and will focus on these new product > innovations (rather than improving the smartphone experience). We expect the > Sony Z3C foxfooding devices to be useful in this, but we expect it to take > until the end of March to figure out the specific design of this program. > > Obviously, these decisions are substantial. The main reason they are being > made is to ensure we are focusing our energies and resources on bringing the > power of the web to IoT. And let’s remember why we’re doing this: we're > entering this exciting, fragmented space to ensure users have choice through > interoperable, open solutions, and for us to act as their advocates for data > privacy and security. > > > There are some exciting opportunities for you to shape this next phase > through your participation -- we’ve started to outline some of these below > and will send more details in the days ahead. > > Even after reading more below, you may have questions to ask and thoughts to > share. For that reason we’re opening up a conversation here on Discourse > <https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/firefox-os-connected-devices-announcement/> > and will have open office hours over the coming days > <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Connected_Devices/Participation#Upcoming_Office_Hours>. > Please reach out. > > > And now more details... > > We will end development on Firefox OS for smartphones after the version 2.6 > release > Through the work of hundreds of contributors we made an awesome push and > created an impressive platform in Firefox OS. However, as we announced in > December, the circumstances of multiple established operating systems and app > ecosystems meant that we were playing catch-up, and the conditions were not > there for Mozilla to win on commercial smartphones. We have decided that in > order to succeed in the new area of Connected Devices we must focus our > energy completely on prototyping the future and exploring how we can make the > biggest impact in IoT. > > Therefore we are announcing our plan to end-of-life support for smartphones > after the Firefox OS 2.6 release. This means that Firefox OS for smartphones > will no longer have staff involvement beyond May. > > We will continue to assess the stack to determine fit with new projects > coming through the innovation process (outlined below). Of course, Boot to > Gecko (b2g) always has been and will continue to be an open source operating > system <https://github.com/mozilla-b2g> open to contribution. > > Let us end this section with a massive and heartfelt thank you to all of you > who poured your hearts into Firefox OS for smartphones. We added more than 30 > WebAPIs and proved the Web is flexible enough to support products from > smartphones to TVs. We learned a tremendous amount about how to partner with > other organizations and develop products with our values in a > hyper-competitive market. And it also stands as a great starting point to > proceed to the next phase of Connected Devices. > > Changes to Marketplace > As of March 29, 2016, Marketplace will no longer accept submissions for > Android, Desktop and Tablet, and will remove all apps that don’t support > Firefox OS. We will continue accepting Firefox OS apps into 2017 (we have yet > to finalize a date for when we won’t continue accepting these apps). Apps > that currently work on Desktop and Android will no longer function on those > platforms since the Web Runtime (WebRT) will be removed and will no longer be > able to install or launch apps. We will continue to allow submissions and > updates for free Firefox OS phone apps, and there are millions of existing > users that we will continue to support. For more information about the future > of Marketplace visit the wiki here <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Marketplace>. > > Product Innovation Process > For the past month, the Connected Devices team has been testing out a new > product innovation process with staff to identify our 2016 IoT product > programs. > > This process pushes us to think about early-stage ideas as if they were > tech-startup projects where teams advocating for them are required to > demonstrate a clear consumer value proposition at all points (“gates”) in the > development cycle. This will be the team’s approach moving forward. > > As of today, we have 3 projects that have passed the first gate including > SmartTV <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/Smart_TV>, and about a dozen > more projects are prepping for review. You can learn more about the product > innovation process here > <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Connected_Devices/Product_Innovation_Process>. > > We’re hoping to open up this formal innovation process to non-staff > participation in the first half of the year. The tricky part of this is how > to navigate volunteer involvement in the inevitable reality of projects that > don’t pass gates in the development cycle being wound-down quickly. If you > are interested in helping design this kind of open innovation process for > volunteer participation please get in touch. > > The foxfooding program will continue and will focus on these new product > innovations > Our push into the Connected Devices space will absolutely necessitate strong > community support for our initiatives to be successful -- and that means > hacking on and testing new product innovations coming through the pipeline. > > That means the foxfooding program will actually expand to engage community > members early and often with new product concepts. We expect the Sony Z3C > foxfooding devices in the existing program to be useful in this (since they > are already packed with various sensors that may be used in the IoT space). > We expect it to take until the end of March to figure out the specific design > of this program. > > Start Building the Future right now! > The possibilities, freedom and potential of the connected devices space make > it particularly exciting. We want to empower as many people as possible to > get involved! A full participation program is in the design phase > <https://github.com/mozilla/participation-org/issues/286> and will be rolled > out in the months ahead. > > In the meantime, a volunteer-driven and lightweight Innovation Fund is being > initiated by the Mozilla Reps Council. This fund is an experiment itself for > the next 3 months, and will provide a lightweight and streamlined process to > fund small projects that aim to experiment and prototype innovative ideas in > the connected devices space. You can read more about this here > <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Connected_Devices/Participation/Reps_Innovation_Fund>. > > > The entire Connected Devices leadership is overwhelmed with appreciation for > what we’ve built and accomplished working together -- a deep, heartfelt thank > you again. And we’re tremendously excited about what we will create together > in the future. > > We’ve put together some information about how you can get involved with > Connected Devices here. > <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Connected_Devices/Participation> > Please share all of your questions and concerns with us on Discourse > <https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/firefox-os-connected-devices-announcement/> > where we will be regularly responding, and answering questions. You can also > share your questions with John <https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/jbernard/>, > George <https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/geroter/>, Lucy > <https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/lucyeoh/> or Brian > <https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/kinger/> directly by email. > > Onwards, > John Bernard. Director, Collaboration, Connected Devices > George Roter. Head of Core Contributors, Participation > > -- > George Roter > Head of Core Contributors, Participation > > irc: geroter | skype: geroter > Cell - Canada: 416.670.2401 > Cell - USA: 650.485.0079 > <tel:650%20308%208443>_______________________________________________ > dev-fxos mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-fxos
_______________________________________________ dev-fxos mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-fxos
