Firefox OS

Mozilla

Building a first-class OS for the Open Web

Bocoup engineers worked with Mozilla to stabilize Gaia, the web technology-driven UI of FirefoxOS, and created a contributor on-boarding process and suite of applications to drive the capabilities of this mobile Open Web operating system.

Challenge

When Mozilla announced FirefoxOS, they knew the project would need a strong community of Open Source developers to make the Open Web a first-class citizen on mobile phones. As part of FirefoxOS, Mozilla initiated the Boot 2 Gecko (B2G) project to drive community support and development of Gaia, an HTML5-based UI to run on top of a custom version of the Gecko browser engine. To grow the project, Mozilla wanted to mobilize and empower the community to build a full suite of applications for the phone, find bugs in new the operating system, and improve development workflows. Mozilla approached Bocoup to organize and engage the new B2G community while providing technical expertise and leadership.

Solution

First, Bocoup set to work searching for pain points in the community developer on-boarding process. We created new documentation and "Getting Started" guides so Open Source contributors could easily ramp up on the project and help accelerate growth. We audited code review processes and created screencasts to acquaint new developers with the project ecosystem and workflow, so they would have a holistic understanding of FFOS as they created applications for it. In addition, Bocoup engineers stabilized Gaia by improving application architecture and testing processes, which prevented the introduction of breaking changes. Finally, we worked with Mozilla to design and build a suite of mobile applications, including Keyboard and Clock, which served as examples to developers creating applications for the Firefox Marketplace.

Impact

Firefox OS has taken off—today, FFOS can be found in 29 different countries on 17 different mobile devices. There are hundreds of applications for FFOS, all built using Open technologies that make the web more accessible for people around the world as consumers and creators of the mobile web.

The success of the FFOS mobile device project has empowered Mozilla to bring FFOS to other web-connected devices, such as Panasonic televisions.

We're proud to have collaborated with Mozilla to extend the reach of the Open Web. Our work made it easier for developers to create applications to serve their local communities using the tools of the web with the support of a global team of developers.