On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 4:23 PM, George Roter <[email protected]> wrote:
> Ben, thanks for this. > > What stood out as 2 key lessons from your email: > > 1) We need to be very clear about our goals/theory of impact at every > stage of our work moving forward with Connected Devices, revisit them > regularly for relevance and assumptions, and be explicit when we are > changing direction. > > 2) We should make sure those goals/theory of impact are laser focused on > our mission and overall organizational strategy. > > I would say that both of these lessons are also critical for building > healthy, effective community participation. > +1 I would love to help with this discussion. Is there a mailing list and irc channel we can use for this? > > Thanks again, > George > > > On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 4:02 PM, Armen Zambrano Gasparnian < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Ben, >> This is very well written. Thank you. >> >> On 23 February 2016 at 08:08, Benjamin Francis <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> On 4 February 2016 at 08:35, George Roter <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> 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. >>>> >>> >>> I want to follow up on this one point because I've seen this text quoted >>> in the press and internally so many times and I think the way it's worded >>> provides a misrepresentation. >>> >>> There is a common misconception that what we set out to do with the Boot >>> to Gecko project was to build an operating system that could compete with >>> Android and iOS to become the "third platform" on mobile. As I understood >>> it that was never our goal, and neither was our intention for "Mozilla to >>> win on commercial smartphones". Had anyone told me that was the goal I >>> would never have joined Mozilla to work on the Boot to Gecko project four >>> years ago. >>> >>> The original stated goal >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mozilla.dev.platform/dmip1GpD5II/CzJSSUMq5HsJ> >>> was to prove that the *web* could be that platform, on both mobile and >>> desktop. "*We aren't trying to have these native-grade apps just run on >>> Firefox, we're trying to have them run on the web*." B2G/Firefox OS was >>> a means to that end by enabling us to prototype new capabilities for the >>> web and to give us a seat at the standardisation table in those areas. We >>> succeeded in building "*prototype APIs for exposing device and OS >>> capabilities to content*", a "*privilege model to make sure that these >>> new capabilities are safely exposed to pages and applications*", a >>> "*low-level >>> substrate to boot on an Android compatible device*" and "*apps to prove >>> out and prioritize the power of the system*". >>> >>> Not all of the new APIs we created went on to become web standards and >>> at some points as the project grew we lost sight of that goal. Also in >>> setting out as a technical experiment explicitly focused on proving the >>> technology rather than providing a compelling end user experience, we >>> probably didn't do the project justice by giving it a fair chance of >>> succeeding as a product. But the fact that Boot to Gecko has gone on to >>> become Firefox OS and shipped on over 15 commercial smartphones in over 30 >>> countries has already completely exceeded my personal expectations for it >>> as a product. >>> >>> Meanwhile there are now over 100,000 cross-vendor web apps on the open >>> web using new standards like Service Workers, Push Notifications and Web >>> Manifest and they're growing fast. Mozilla can not claim sole >>> responsibility for this, but to me this is a much better measure of success >>> against our mission than any over-ambitious sales targets of OEMs or mobile >>> carriers for their own products. The process of creating new web standards >>> might take longer than the lifecycle of some products, but the health of >>> the web is what matters for Mozilla's mission, and is what we should >>> continue to work towards with Firefox OS and other projects in the >>> Connected Devices team. >>> >>> The reason I bring this up is not to defend the B2G project, but to try >>> to set the scene for our work in Connected Devices going forward. In >>> creating a "platform" for the Internet of Things we should make sure not to >>> build a Mozilla platform, but to build a Web of Things built on open >>> standards which can eventually stand up on its own and exist without >>> Mozilla's involvement if it has to. That might involve building some great >>> Mozilla products along the way and by focusing on creating a compelling end >>> user experience we'll greatly amplify the impact we can have with those >>> products. But ultimately we should measure our success by the health of the >>> Internet as a global public resource open and accessible to all. >>> >>> I continue to be excited about expanding Firefox OS into new areas and >>> tackling new challenges in this increasingly connected world, with whatever >>> tools we need to achieve that! >>> >>> All the Best >>> >>> Ben >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> dev-fxos mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-fxos >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Zambrano Gasparnian, Armen >> Automation & Tools Engineer >> http://armenzg.blogspot.ca >> > > > > -- > George Roter > Head of Core Contributors, Participation > > irc: geroter | skype: geroter > Cell - Canada: 416.670.2401 > Cell - USA: 650.485.0079 > <650%20308%208443> > > _______________________________________________ > dev-fxos mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-fxos > >
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