ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Luke Bryan <luke32j@xxxxxxx>]

I would really like to see Ubuntu on phones succeed, but if the main phone interface is apps interfacing with the system with javascript on webkit, I wonder how is this much different than going the way of webOS? From what I understand, there will now be three different platforms in the near future that are basically javascript + chrome-privileged code javascript: webOS, Ubuntu+QML, and Firefox OS.

Add to this the confusion of using the standard GTK+ Python/C applications for the desktop when plugged into a screen, but not using it for mobile, would seem to be the opposite of "Unity". Will Ubuntu-phone have Firefox as the default desktop browser, but a separate webkit browser when you unplug it from keyboard and monitor? Evolution/Thunderbird mail when in desktop mode, but a completely different client when mobile? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the development model of Ubuntu-touch, I certainly hope this would not be the case.

I see why Webkit might be considered the best in some circumstances, considering the integrations into GTK, QT, & others. I have written an app embedding a webkit view as the main panel in GTK, it works well, but Firefox is still (in most cases) the best general web browser, and the default on Ubuntu. I do hope this won't lead to more fragmentation of Linux, even within Ubuntu.

best wishes
Luke

Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 10:38:43 +0200
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-phone] browser does not support webgl
From: larsgk@xxxxxxxxx
To: luke32j@xxxxxxx
CC: coder543@xxxxxxxxx; ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WebKit (and now Blink) cover >85% of the mobile browser use - while Firefox seems to be slightly lower (0.01% .. maybe not 100% accurate - but pretty far from WebKit in usage %'age)

1. Any mobile WebApps developer today will target iOS and Android first.  Having a technology that is sharing the code base (qtwebkit) gives a good starting point to make sure webapps are also compatible with Ubuntu Phone
2. Firefox with their upcoming "FirefoxOS" seem to be pushing a LOT of specs - and not all of them make sense .. but they have to be ready for launch (it seems) so there is not much time to "waste" taking a holistic look at the specs to see if they all make sense.  You can be sure that both WebKit/Apple and Blink/Google will *not* blindly implement these things if they don't make 100% sense to them.

I also like Firefox - and it's nice with competition .. but it would not make much sense to select FF as the primary web platform on an OS that *also* has to prove itself with the operators and phone manufacturers before any kind of market penetration can happen.  Selecting WebKit (and potentially Blink later - depends on how that develops) as the base of the core web engine (browser and webview for dedicated apps) over FF can't have been a hard choice to make for Ubuntu ;)

brLars
For reference: 
Mobile/Tablet Browser Market Share (source: http://www.netmarketshare.com/)
May, 2013Browser Total Market ShareSafari 59.98%Android Browser 20.73%Opera Mini 10.53%Chrome 3.22%Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.97%BlackBerry 1.02%
Proprietary or Undetectable 0.52%Symbian 0.50%Opera Mobile 0.40%Opera 0.14%ACCESS NetFront 0.06%Mozilla 0.01%Firefox 0.01%Obigo 0.01%
Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 0.00%

On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 5:58 AM, Luke Bryan <luke32j@xxxxxxx> wrote:




In my opinion webkit would be a fairly buggy base for a JS+QML interface. Even the jQuery folks have said there are more workarounds in their code for odd webkit behavior than other browsers. Mozilla technology is already making great leaps in the os integration area (Boot2gecko, asm.js which optimizes js up to around half the speed of native), which would be very beneficial in a web/javascript app-centered OS.


I do hope Ubuntu phone will be able to run Firefox, or at least the Android version of Firefox?

Best wishes
Luke

Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:06:27 -0500
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-phone] browser does not support webgl

From: coder543@xxxxxxxxx
To: luke32j@xxxxxxx
CC: ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


WebKit is rapidly becoming the standard for the internet, and I'm not sure what quirks you're talking about. However, if they're developing their own browser, then by definition it cannot be Firefox. If someone develops an alternative browser, nothing will stop you from using it.


Right now, no one offers Firefox for mobile through the Ubuntu UI, so making it even optional would prove to be extremely difficult.
Sincerely,

Josh



Please don't tell me default web browser is webkit?
Won't Firefox be default, or at least have an option to install Firefox on the Ubuntu-phone, like the desktop Ubuntu? I've had enough experiences trying to track down weird webkit quirks that I would prefer not to use it exclusively on a phone.



Best regards,
Luke

Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:25:59 -0400
From: pat.mcgowan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-phone] browser does not support webgl


  
    
  
  
    On 06/20/2013 05:07 PM, Zisu Andrei
      wrote:

    
    
      I'm not sure webkit linux supports webgl. 
      
        
          Zisu Andrei

          
        
      
    
    This report seems pertinent, will look into it further.

    Pat

    
    https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTBUG-30405

    
      
        

        

        On 20 June 2013 20:39, Wim de Vries <wsvries@xxxxxxxxx>
          wrote:

          
            Hi,

            Just tested the Web browser on WebGL ... no support.

            Is there a reason for this?

            I would say a basic feature for mobiles.

            

            Thanks.

                

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