Tag Archives: Microsoft

Aiming Towards FirefoxOS

Firefox Marketplace on the Geeksphone

It seems to be some kind of tradition here at MMM to poke a look at mobile devices, services, or experiences that are a bit more on the fringes of what’s possible, what’s happened, or what’s coming. In that light, I think a small look at FirefoxOS, and its aims for those markets/regions where there isn’t that much in terms of smartphones makes for an interesting perspective.

What is FirefoxOS?

For those familiar with the web browser Firefox, there’s a good bit of similarity happening with FirefxOS. The former (browser) was a chance to unseat the incumbent and dominant web browser (then Internet Explorer) by offering a standards compliant, fast(er), and more expandable (through the use of extensions) web browser. In part, the goal was to disrupt Internet Explorer by making it be what it wasn’t trying to be – the center of one’s web browsing environment. FirefoxOS is going a similar route but from the perspective of being a mobile phone platform. And what it aims to disrupt are (a) the route of development, and (b) the use/marketing of the top smartphone platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Disrupt the Route of Development

One of the fabled innovations of the last half-decade of mobile has been the rise of the “app economy” and the ability for those with the time, patience, and funding to get into a platform and design some kind of unique experience within it. This is nothing new to the MMM audience – from as far back as the original Bible Reader on PalmOS Classic devices, the idea of a few people learning a platform then making content or services available made a lot of sense. Over time, this evolved into offerings a places such Handango/PalmGear, Nokia’s Download! service (the first manufactuer-pushed app store), iTunes App Store, and now every other app store imaginable (seriously, look at just the list of places you can download a bible). The problem is that it left the ability to build into a select group of folks who would have a particular motivation to continue. All the while, a place to produce with a lower barrier to entry, i.e., make a webpage, continues to sprawl at an amazing pace.

FirefoxOS aims to disrupt in this wise first: if someone can make a webpage, why can’t they make an app?

Disrupt the Top Smartphone Platforms

What’s also quite true about mobile now is that for the greater majority of those who use a mobile device in developed nations (please note all of the qualifiers that I just used), when asking the question “what is a smartphone,” or, “what is your preferred smartphone device or platform,” there are only two answers: Apple (iOS) and [Google] Android.

In the midst of such an answer are the incumbents whom are older: Microsoft ( with Windows Mobile then, Windows Phone now), Nokia (with Symbian, S40, and Maemo/MeeGo then, Windows Phone now), and Blackberry. And then there are those whom are looking to jump into the scene: Samsung’s Tizen, Jolla’s SailfishOS, Cannoical’s Ubuntu Mobile, and Mozilla with FirefoxOS. The former are more or less looking not to become unrelevant. While the latter platforms are looking to grab a slice of the mobile pie inside of a world context that has shifted the priority and profitability of mobile from a Western European/USA audience to an Asian and South American one.

FirefoxOS wants to be embedded into these newer regions and environments but to do so, it has to also disrupt the attention that the leaders and incumbents have towards their platforms. Disrupt doesn’t just mean attention though, it also means shifting the conversation from what has been possible to what is doable.

Phones for Apps for FirefoxOS

Part of the strategy for Mozilla to change the conversation (disrupt the incumbents if you will), is to offer a chance for developers of any skill level to get into the stream of creating apps and services for their upcoming platform that showcase the flexibility of it, but also endear the platform to the context of the markets it will be developed into. The Phones for Apps for Firefox program that’s going on this month intends to do just that.

If your proposal is accepted (and there are still devices left), then you will have the opportunity to create within the stream of some of that disruption that FirefoxOS seems to be aiming for. And even if you don’t get into the program, there’s documentation and software available to help you get started in making this platform something worth keeping into the conversation of what’s available for you or your content.

What that means for us here at MMM is that we could jump into the fray and either develop an app (we’ve got one worth doing) or learning the platform such that we can assist others who might begin considering it. That’s not a small endeavor (we did mention all of the other platforms that are fighting for attention these days earlier). Still, it makes sense that at the intersection of faith and mobile tech that we look at what’s prime to disrupt the status quo, and then ask the question “what makes the most sense for those folks coming online, specifically through their mobile devices, as devices become more malleable and personal?” We think FirefoxOS is one of several ways to go about answering that. We’ll see what the future of mobile looks like when we design it.

OTG Mobile Tech Options

Mobile Office (Nokia N950 and N9, Amazon Kindle Fire HD w/stylus, and USB memory key

It only took a little more than half-a-decade for some pastors to realize that the tech in their hands enables them to have an office that can be nearly anywhere. But, knowing that you can get away from the office and be productive isn’t the same as knowing what options you have out there.

Over at Church Tech Today, two articles have gone up talking about mobile tech options for pastors. The first edition talked options for those in the Apple camp, the second talked options for those in the Android camp. Here’s a snippet of the latter:

If you add up all of these items, along with the tablet, you come to a cost of only $341.07. First off, that is less than half the cost of the iPad solution from last week and while it is smaller, this may be the exact pitch you need for your church. That also leaves a great budget to pay for a couple of years of 3G service so that you can email, check Facebook, and get online anywhere you want as well as many different applications from Google Play.

Its a solid enough list, and well enough to get started (whether you use online services to find the recommended accessories or not). For a bit of an appendix, I’d like to throw out there some additional options to consider whether you are a pastor, student, or just interested:

  • Carrying both a phone and a tablet might be a bit much, so the Galaxy Note 2 (or the first Galaxy Note if you can find one that’s not too well-used) would be a suitable option. Combine it with a prepaid MVNO (non-major phone carrier), and you score with a very versatile communications and productivity center; if the idea of a larger tablet is your thing, check out the Samsung Tab models and Asus FonePad and combine that SIM card with that
  • I’m always a fan of having external storage that serves for backup and additional materials; in this light the AirStash is an excellent choice for that kind of additional storage (add your own microSD memory card), with an ability to share content with others too
  • The Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard is impressive (am on my 2nd one), but I was also tipped to one from Microsoft, which turns on automatically when its pulled from its case (that’s also a tablet stand)
  • I don’t prefer to put a case on my device, instead I like the idea of making a custom skin using the SkinIt service; on my mobile I’ve got a QR code of my contact card alongside a personal logo. Easy branding exercise for any pastor, school, or ministry to do something like this that protects the device, will offering some piece of personal style to it

Personally, I keep things very minimal, even to the point of the software that I keep near my devices in order to be productive. What about you? What do you look for in your OTG (on-the-go) or mobile office solution? Or, if you are already in a good groove, what’s missing?

Learning Life From…

AT&T Terms of Service Screenshot from Apple mobile deivce

When talking to a friend about a new computer for one of his kids, I stumbled upon an analogy that I think really fits how we need to consider the choices around computing that we need to take these days:

…which version of the Internet do you want your son to learn life from Google’s (we will index/organize everything, monetize your connection to it w/o necessarily giving you back the money) or MS’s (3 screens and a cloud, we make money when you purchase from us or our approved partners, your limits on creation is what you can build w/our tools/methods)

I mean these as blanket statements, but these are also the lenses at which we have in front of us. Let’s expand on that a bit more.

When I was coming up into computing, I had to learn DOS in order to wrangle Windows 3.1 into subjection; I had to learn what and how MacOS and Windows were and weren’t compatible with one another, and the tedious nature of making sure that I didn’t lose anything in the process; I had to learn how to design with tables, and then relearn how to design websites without them; and so on. Today, the question of learning life can start from the Internet. And if you do so, then there are many competing voices, and a few loud ones in which we need to consider if they are suitable teachers for whatever comes next:

  • If your lens of the Internet is that you mostly interact with it through Facebook, then can you speak to what happens outside of that network, what happens if/when that point of connection is no longer available, the reliability of security controls, and the value of reading and understanding terms of service agreements?
  • If your lens of the Internet is that you only use Google to search for content, can you speak to what other search engines can/do uncover that Google doesn’t (for whatever reason), what happens when Google’s results are limited to you because of regional, commercial, or governmental interests, the positives and negatives of a single-sign-on system across multiple devices and what kinds of data is collected, analyzed, and monetized through those connections?
  • If your lens of the Internet comes first through Microsoft products such as SharePoint, Internet Explorer, Windows Phone, or XBox, then you can speak to other ecosystems that combine hardware, software, and subscription services; what does it mean to have an open programming environment; do you understand how past market and governmental systems shaped the current software or services’ functions, and what freedoms does your region or the terms of service allow in that?
  • If your lens of the Internet comes through Apple, how do you convey design and aesthetics when it isn’t within Apple’s style-guide or an approved developer’s highlighted application; how do you discuss the impact of logistics and planning on the final product (do you recognize how much Apple does here), and there’s that terms of service again – what are your rights as prescribed by a document you can’t append?

There are other companies with which we’d have to consider their lens as well – Samsung, Amazon, Logos, LifeChurch.TV, etc. – all of whom have differing viewpoints as to how Internet, mobile and other media are best used to forward their aims, and to help enable (or disable) yours. Are you ready to learn from life this way, or is there another solution on tap?

Open Source as Ecosystem not Just Platform

Thanks to the announcement of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, I’m getting another one of those chances to think about open source and closed (curated) platforms and ecosystems. There’s always rumblings in the digital faith space about open source and how it can play a role as the/a answer to issues and reach, but too often, I’m hearing open source pitched as a platform solution, when the issues with evangelism, missions, etc. have more to do with ecosystem impacts than just platforms.

It is my opinion that the shift that the Nokia/MS partnership heralds is this acknowledgement that ecosystems are the next playing field for mobile, not platforms. Not that platforms (and the developers that come with them) aren’t important, but that their role isn’t any more important that issues of access, logistics, and flexibility to response.

When it comes to digital faith, we have several platforms (electronic bibles and music to name a few), but very few real ecosystems (the function and nature of Bible societies, and to some extent publishing companies, fills this view nicely). Centering just in on Bible societies for example, it isn’t just the distribution of Bibles, but the curation of faith through social programs, translation services, assistances to for- and non-profits, policy management/lobbying, and (hopefully) the sharing and maturing of believers who define faith first by belief in Jesus Christ. In a sense, they are a hub of several types of activities – so just advocating “go open source” doesn’t meet how they can respond.

Going open source with the disemenation and distribution of Bible texts could be part of their solution – when the matter of network assets, logistics, printing, and analytics has been answered. Going open source where the text (video and audio) can be structured and openly built up can be a solution – when the matter of monetizing the work so that those translating and making those structures can feed their families has been answered. Going open source with the hope of participation isn’t the same as already having community involvement in other aspects of fellowship (digital or otherwise) and opening up a further work doesn’t stress community threads. If you will, open source anything doesn’t matter – its how going open (shared duty, accountability, and responsibility) effects the other spokes of the wheel.

As I tweeted recently, “mobile open source initiatives need to not just answer the platform questions, but ecosystem relevance (whether tied to others or on it’s own).” In respect to digital faith initiatives, we’ve not only got to be able to say “go open source,” but identify the impacts that doing so will endear to current ecosystems. It might be the case that going open source for a platform in the chain will disrupt the entire sea – knowing this, and then helping individuals, ministries, and organizations navigate life afterwards is not just a mobile opportunity, but a key to displaying service as technology’s fingerprint to ministry intiatives.

Carnival of the Mobilists #242 at Blog.AntoineRJWright

Carnival of the Mobilists (logo)It is always a good thing when the Carnival of the Mobilists (CoM) is published. A collection of the past week’s writings on mobile, the CoM is a chance to spread some of the wealth of thought and application occurring in the mobile space.

This week’s CoM is hosted over at Blog.AntoineRJWright and features pieces on recent stats, user interface/experience with tablets, and several things happening with platforms and carriers.

There’s always room for new contributors – so if you are doing anything related to mobile ministry, here’s a platform to get the word out about another influential area of mobile. Read the submission details and post schedule over at the Carnival of the Mobilists website.