09-22-2008, 07:12 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,432
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Mozilla's Firefox Mobile Expected in 2010
"Well the mobile browser world will likely be in for some serious churn now that Mozilla's Firefox, codenamed "Fennec", is throwing its hat into the ring. Mozilla's Tristan Nitot commented that not only is the mobile browser in the works, but that its expected to arrive for Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Linux. Though, the rub here is that we'll need to wait until sometime in 2010 to see this live, and honestly, we may have HTC handsets integrated into our minds well before then." 
It amazes me that we have been hearing about a mobile Internet browser from Mozilla for years and the soonest it will be available will be 2010! By that time Opera and all the WebKit variants will have a strangle-hold on the mobile browsing market – at least on the Smartphone side of things. There might even be a sliver a hope that by 2010 Microsoft would have already released Windows Mobile 7 and be on the way to announcing Windows Mobile 8 which hopefully will have a new and improved browser. 2010 is a little late to be jumping into the mobile Internet ring in my opinion but who knows, there is still a chance they might come out with something incredibly awesome and do to the mobile world what they have done to the Desktop world.
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09-22-2008, 08:34 PM
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Swami
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,396
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What About IE 6?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto
There might even be a sliver a hope that by 2010 Microsoft would have already released Windows Mobile 7 and be on the way to announcing Windows Mobile 8 which hopefully will have a new and improved browser.
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You shouldn't have to wait for WM 8. Microsoft is supposed to be releasing their Windows Mobile version of IE 6 later this year (in the 3rd quarter), presumably for inclusion in WM 7 (and, with luck, AKUs for WM 6/6.1).
Steve
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09-22-2008, 09:39 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389
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So the race is on, huh?
Who will win?
Mobile Firefox? Or Opera 9 out of beta? I think 2010 might be pushing it a little.. How about 2023?
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09-22-2008, 11:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Sheesh...no offence to the Firefox crew (I'm a big Firefox fan), but 2010? That's just silly. That says to me that they haven't done any serious work on it over the past, oh, five years while this whole "mobile browsing" thing has been getting more and more popular...
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09-23-2008, 03:13 AM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,503
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Hey, sure beats squeezing IE6 into next year's Windows Mobile...
__________________
Baka. Soku. Zan. - The justice behind the dysORDer.
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09-23-2008, 03:23 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 86
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Whether or not you are fan of Firefox, Mozilla, or even mobile browsing, look at it from this perspective: it's never too late to throw your hat in.
Microsoft isn't even in the browser race. They never have been. I think they've been all too comfortable to let the likes of Opera cover their butts.
After a year with my iPhone, Safari is starting to wear out it's welcome. I don't know if it's the lack of Flash or how it crashes all day long.
I used mobile Opera for about the last year I bothered with my iPAQ. Wasn't a fan then and I don't really care for all of the other iterations I've run into either.
Maybe by the time 2010 rolls around people will be clamoring for some comfort food (Firefox). And I can remember quite well using half baked search engines for years. I held them in the same esteem as my insurance company - you need to use one but they all stink. Then out of nowhere, to me anyway, Google appeared. For something a little more familiar just look at PPC/WM itself. Microsoft conquered the mobile market hands down. The iPhone completely changed all that and I would even say that the iPhone was the catalyst for Android as well.
2010 is later than I would for sure, but I wouldn't count them out.
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09-23-2008, 10:10 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 281
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Maybe it's because Windows Mobile is going nowhere fast also and maybe even in it's last throes. 
Last edited by stevew; 09-23-2008 at 12:12 PM..
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09-23-2008, 03:09 PM
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09-24-2008, 04:35 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,432
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pony99CA
You shouldn't have to wait for WM 8. Microsoft is supposed to be releasing their Windows Mobile version of IE 6 later this year (in the 3rd quarter), presumably for inclusion in WM 7 (and, with luck, AKUs for WM 6/6.1).
Steve |
That is the exact reason I am waiting for WM8. As a web developer the news that Microsoft was squeezing IE6 into Windows Mobile was incredibly disheartening. IE6 was nothing short of a failure for developers and users a like and this is a huge set back for Windows Mobile in general. This means that when a developer builds a mobile site they will have to essentially create a version that works with the Apple iPhone, Google Android and Opera browsers and then a hacked together one to make up for IE6's sever lack of standards compliant rendering.
As a user you should probably never notice a difference unless the developer doesn't go through to make sure the site is IE6 compatible. As a developer I just want to hang my head and cry.
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09-24-2008, 09:37 PM
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Swami
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,396
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Pocket Internet Explorer
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogueSpear
Microsoft isn't even in the browser race. They never have been. I think they've been all too comfortable to let the likes of Opera cover their butts.
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When somebody makes a statement like that, I ask one question: Before 2006 or so, what was a better mobile browser than Pocket IE? If you can't name one, then Microsoft was certainly in the game.
Historically, Microsoft had a web browser back on Handheld PCs in the late 1990s, and Pocket PCs have always had one. Microsoft has certainly been there; they've just rested on their laurels too long.
Plus, on the Pocket PC at least, there are add-ons to get some of the functions Pocket IE is missing, like tabbed browsing. And WM 8 might not support IE 7 or IE 8 anyway. 
Steve
Last edited by Pony99CA; 09-24-2008 at 09:54 PM..
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