Panasonic Deploys Mozilla’s Open Source Firefox OS on Latest Smart TV
Mozilla appears to have hit a dead end in its bid to distribute its open source Firefox OS on smartphones, but the Linux-based operating system still has a future on Panasonic smart TVs following the announcement this week of new models running the platform.
Mozilla appears to have hit a dead end in its bid to distribute its open source Firefox OS on smartphones, but the Linux-based operating system still has a future on Panasonic smart TVs following the announcement this week of new models running the platform.
Launched in 2012, Firefox OS is an operating system based on Linux for use on smartphones, tablets, TVs and other embedded hardware applications. Although it has never come close to contending with iOS or Android, it saw moderate success in the mobile phone market until December 2015, when Mozilla announced that it would no longer be developing Firefox OS smartphones.
But doubts about the platform’s future on other devices were put to rest this week following Panasonic’s announcement of a new smart TV, the DX900, that will run Firefox OS.
Panasonic has been using Mozilla’s operating system since 2014. The new offering will include features not available in earlier products, however, Mozilla said in a statement about the new release.
But new features aren’t the important part of the story. This deal is mainly important because it shows that Mozilla is still finding a way to squeeze revenue out of its operating system. That is an important part of the organization’s strategy for funding development of its flagship product, the Firefox Web browser, which costs no money.
The news is also a reminder that Firefox OS remains a contender in the smart device market, which is important as IoT continues to grow.
The new “send to screen”
The new “send to screen” feature sounds like Chromecast to me. Requiring Firefox on Android is too limiting.
The send client should be developed with Electron for example so deployment to any screen or desktop can be used to send to screen.
I hope you’ll be able to
I hope you’ll be able to eventually flash it with a REAL system someday, once FirefoxOS gets abandoned by Mozilla like so many other half-baked projects they start and never finish. Or is this part of Panasonic’s “planned obsolescence”, in that you’ll be forced to buy a new television when this one no longer interfaces with anything.
Thanks, but I think I’d rather stick with “dumb” TVs, that I can hang a RaspeberryPi, Roku, or other media-interface device to. Then you don’t have to throw away the whole big screen simply because the management software is NFG.
Dude, how long do you hang
Dude, how long do you hang onto TVs? All you did is make the case against paying extra for a “smart” TV feature, not against the Firefox OS or Panasonic branded sets. “Planned obsolescence” is built-in to (almost) all electronics by enhancing technology offerings. Assuming you keep a TV for 5 years (2 at the most for me) and Mozilla disco’s the OS in 3, so what? Your TV won’t stop working if you want to keep it, but there are plenty of people who will use that as their excuse to upgrade to 12K or 4-D or hologram television, or whatever the newest technology is at that point. I have 3 Rokus, 2 Fire Sticks, 1 Chromecast, 2 Ras-Pi’s, 1 Kodi box, 1 HTPC w/Win7 MC, 3 ‘smart’ DVD or BluRay players, and 2 more video game consoles that can stream. I couldn’t care less if Firefox stops production in 2-3 years, TV’s are practically disposable at this point anyway.