The first leg of MozillaPH HTML5 and Firefox OS roadshow kicked off last August 22 at the Valero Telepark, Makati City. Leading telecommunications provider Globe Telecom extends its support via Globe Labs, an innovative community composed of dynamic and vibrant IT professionals, students and business managers, with primarily focus on mobile and future technologies which can be later on deployed to the market.

We’re building a better Internet

Community Manager Eusebio “Jun” Barrun Jr. gave us a run through about who Mozilla is as a non-profit global organization, the Mozilla Manifesto, what composes the Mozilla community, and the other products and projects of Mozilla aside from the popular Firefox browser.

Different activities and localization efforts of the Mozilla Philippines community, as well as the on-going recruitment for Mozilla Reps (ReMo) and Mozilla Student Reps were also discussed by Sir Jun.

“Small contribution makes a big difference.”

Read the Mozilla Manifesto here.

To know more about or sign up to be a local Mozilla Rep, click here. For aspiring Mozilla Student Reps, click here.

Quick Facts:

• Mozilla is the organization, Firefox is the browser.
• The Mozilla community is composed of core contributors, active contributors, casual contributors, support and you – the users. Yes, when you use any Mozilla product, you’re already part of the community.
• There are four types of releases for Firefox:
  • Nightly (updated, well, nightly. perfect to those who want to play around Firefox functionality and plugins)
  • Aurora (“the browser tomorrow that you can use today”)
  • Beta (the version due to release in the next cycle)
  • Stable (current version of Firefox most people use).
• You can run all four releases simultaneously.
• The release cycle is six (6) weeks.
• There is also an Extended Support Release (ESR) that is best suited for organizations, companies, schools, government offices and the like.
• Some of the people behind Netscape are the people behind Firefox.

The Firefox OS — Booting to the Web

Boot to Gecko (B2G), now known as Firefox OS, was presented to the crowd by Mozilla Representative and Regional Localizer Lead Robert “Bob” Reyes. This mobile operating system is Mozilla’s solution to a complete, standalone operating system for the open web.

The program was launched 2011 and was first presented to the public at the Mobile World Congress last February 2012 held in Barcelona, Spain.

Mozilla Fennec (Firefox for Mobile) is the inspiration of this project. The OS has three layers:

• Gonk – low-level OS
• Gecko – application runtime
• Gaia – user interface

With HTML5, which is the backbone of the Firefox OS, developers like me will be able to develop cross-browser apps without needing to learn a specific skill set and for a specific platform only. Also, existing HTML5 apps can be ported with ease.

Firefox OS vs iOS boot time. Guess who won 😛
Sorry for the crappy photo x.x

Targeted for smartphones and tablets, to date, Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S II, ZTE Skate and cheap China-made phones can run Firefox OS. You have to compile it yourself for now though. According to Sir Bob, as far as he knows, the OS has yet to be tested on an actual tablet. To quote him:

“It’s rather hard to install Firefox OS to an Android tablet, fearing that one may actually brick the unit.”

Telefonica will be the first to carry the full version of the OS, set to launch in Brazil (January 2013). Alcatel and ZTE also expressed their interest in using the OS in their upcoming devices. Locally, we’ll be able to see phones loaded with Firefox OS in stores 1st quarter of 2013, if everything goes according to plan.

Learn more about the Firefox OS project here.

Slideshow for Firefox OS used in the event can be viewed here while the slideshow for Mozilla and the New Web Challenge can be found here (Fact: both are made in HTML5).

Globe Telecom Supports MozillaPH Roadshow

“Globe Labs is always in a lookout for innovations in the mobile space in view of advancements in the delivery of mobile products and services. Thus, we continuously engage the IT community by offering various trainings and workshops and entering into partnerships with third-party developers and communities such as MozillaPH which hold similar activities,”

– Anne Michelle Santos, Developer Relations Manager of Globe Labs

As Ms. Michelle said in a press release, Globe Labs has been in partnership with MozillaPH in various initiatives since 2009. She gave us an overview on what Globe Labs is and how they can assist developers from further expound an idea, develop it and aide into how they can monetize their apps. Globe Developer APIs such as Messaging (SMS/MMS), Location-based services and Voice API were discussed.

Visit their website at globelabs.com.ph to know more. I invite you to sign up too and get the latest community event invites right at your inbox.

Touchpoint Channels

Mozilla Philippines

Visit the Mozilla Philippines website: http://www.mozillaph.org
Like them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mozillaphilippines
Follow them on Twitter: @mozillaph
Mozilla Firefox Brand Toolkit: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/brand

Email Contacts

Eusebio “Jun” Barrun Jr. – ebarrun@mozillaphilippines.org
Robert ‘Bob’ Reyes – bob@mozillaph.org
General Press Inquiries – press@mozilla.com

Globe Labs

Website: http://www.globelabs.com.ph/
Twitter: @globelabs

Event Pictures here.

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The event was attended by guests composed of members from different print, radio, television, and internet media outfits; selected technology bloggers; and friends from the different sectors of the IT industry.

Thank you Sir Bob for the invite and congratulation to the MozillaPH community for a succesful event!

Thank you for the swag! ♥

MozillaPH HTML5 and Firefox OS Roadshow