Gecko is the essential part of the system, as the name implies: it plays a role similar to that of WinRT for Metro and provides the API to display the interface of the applications. Unlike Webian (again according to the FAQ) which is an desktop designed for the Web, Firefox OS Web applications will provide the same functions as local applications (especially full access to the file system). However it uses the drivers of Android, and therefore by installing the Dalvik virtual machine, you can run Android applications on Firefox OS, although it is designed to run HTML + JavaScript applications. According to the FAQ, it shares 95% of its code with Firefox.įirefox OS is like Android, but it's a different project. Linux is used to start the system which then relies entirely on the browser. Compatible with Androidįirefox OS is a kind of operating system, a pair made of Linux with a set of APIs to form an interface between hardware, peripherals and applications. The idea at the base of Firefox OS is the same as that which inspired the creation of Google's ChromeOS: go from local applications, specific to a system, and we need to install on the computer, to web applications, independent of the system because operating in the browser and based on Web standards.Īlthough Firefox OS provides an alternative to Chrome OS, it is not necessarily a competitor to Google, which finances the Mozilla Foundation, at least until 2014: while the search engine is installed by default on the system, it is rather a complement to Google. The question that arises is: Does it help to make these devices a compact alternative to conventional desktop computers, for the ordinary user (not the gamer)? Mozilla intends it more toward mobile devices, tablets and smartphones.

In fact it make use of the Gecko rendering engine that has all the interface elements needed to run an application online or locally.Īpplications of this system are made in HTML 5 and no longer use XUL. Firefox OS (formerly Boot to Gecko), the web without Windowsīased on Linux and other open source tools, Firefox OS is a Mozilla alternative to Chrome OS or Android, or Tizen.

Firefox for chrome os