[a2128]

I developed my first Android app when I was around 16 years old and I remember distinctly wanting to publish it on Google Play, but couldn't because they required developers to be 18+, and this was even before they introduced strict identity verification requirements. And iOS was a lost cause as XCode famously requires an operating system that only runs on very specific hardware for which I had no money. No matter, I published an apk on a website and ended up reaching a few tens of thousands of users that way. My app ended up transforming a (niche) industry and making a real impact on the world.

If Android isn't open, we lose the last open mobile operating system, which will have immeasurable negative effects on computing as a whole. People will need permission from either Apple or Google to create any mobile program. If you don't fit into their neat little system, you don't get permission. If I hadn't been able to publish my app for another 2 years I probably would've shelved it, decided it was stupid, forgot about it, got busy with other things, and never published it.

[bloppe]

This is why I really wanted Capyloon to take off [1]. The idea was to build a whole mobile OS around PWAs. App Stores are just CDNs. There are no weird rules about payment processors. The ecosystem did not need to start from scratch.

Unfortunately, it just never gained the necessary momentum.

[1]: https://capyloon.org/

[dude187]

I always wonder how different it would look for the myriad of failed open source projects like that, if they had just picked a more marketable name

[kybernetikos]

I've still got a firefox OS phone in a drawer somewhere. I was disappointed it got discontinued like so many other mozilla projects.

[JoshTriplett]

I was as well. It was very early, but not necessarily too early.

I think part of the problem is that they decided to have the flagship devices be low-end hardware, rather than high-end hardware. They were trying to ensure that development took low-end hardware into account, but they failed to consider that by the time the platform grew, high-end would become mid-range.

[kybernetikos]

It's hard for me to know for sure, but to me it felt like the fact that none of the firefoxOS phones were targetted as devices developers would themselves want to use as their main phone was a big misstep in strategy.