If you use the Firefox browser on a PC, you are probably using its "Desktop" application. They also had a version for "Modern" Windows 8.x that could be used from the Start Screen. You probably did not use it because fewer than 1000 people per day did. This is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than the number of users for Desktop's pre-release builds.
Yup, less than one-thousandth.
Jonathan Nightingale, VP of Firefox, stated that Mozilla would not be willing to release the product without committing to its future development and support. There was not enough interest to take on that burden and it was not forecast to have a big uptake in adoption, either.
From what we can see, it's pretty flat.
The code will continue to exist in the organization's Mercurial repository. If "Modern" Windows gets a massive influx of interest, they could return to what they had. It should also be noted that there never was a version of Firefox for Windows RT. Microsoft will not allow third-party rendering engines as a part of their Windows Store certification requirements (everything must be based on Trident, the core of Internet Explorer). That said, this is also true of iOS and Firefox Junior exists with these limitations. It's not truly Firefox, little more than a re-skinned Safari (as permitted by Apple), but it exists. I have heard talks about Firefox Junior for Windows RT, Internet Explorer reskinned by Mozilla, but not to any detail. The organization is very attached to its own technology because, if whoever made the engine does not support new features or lags in JavaScript performance, the re-skins have nothing to leverage it.
Paul Thurrott of WinSupersite does not blame Mozilla for killing "Metro" Firefox. He acknowledges that they gave it a shot and did not see enough pre-release interest to warrant a product. He places some of the blame on Microsoft for the limitations it places on browsers (especially on Windows RT). In my opinion, this is just a symptom of the larger problem of Windows post-7. Hopefully, Microsoft can correct these problems and do so in a way that benefits their users (and society as a whole).
hopefully those 1000 start
hopefully those 1000 start working on the desktop version and move on increasing the testing and debugging. You know, get more done with more people. Just sounds like a logical move they made but really says a lot about Microsoft move into Modern UI.
That’s users not coders, only
That’s users not coders, only 1000 people tried the BETA Metro version, and who can blame them with M$ trying to force everyone to re-engineer the desktop wheel into a metro version with 4 sharp corners! Why make desktop users suffer because of M$’s late to the APP monetization/profit market blunder! M$ thought that they could force their closed APP ecosystem on users, like Apple does. Does M$ not realize that the only reason M$’s OS ever obtained such a market share in the first place, was because its OSs, before 8.*, did not have a closed ecosystem/APP store, or a productivity killing UI! Even Apple does not attempt to force its desktop users directly into an tablet/phone APP store UI at bootup, or force any desktop bimodal madness by mixing 2 entirely different runtimes that operate at the same time, or switch modes without the user’s direct explicit actions to do so. M$’s management was still living in the 1990s, and it still thought it was the only game in town and controlled all the cattle(users) and could lead them off to the processing plant to be ground into jucy fat profits, but iOS and android lassoed in all those runaway steers and brought them to greener pastures, Android more so than iOS! Ballmer turned his nose up at the iphone/ipad, and held out for a continuation of the WINTEL allience, an allience that was brought to its personal computing devices knees by the smartphone and tablet revolution of the past 5-10 years. ARM Holdings’ licensed IP model and Android/chrome/iOS/etc has shown many an OEM that it does not take an x86 CPU, and Windows, to give the majority of people a device for everyday computing needs. M$’s attempt at turning fully functioning PCs into Tablets/phones, is just as big a blunder for Ballmer [his replacment that may continue this blunder] as Ballmer’s original blunder and upturned nose towards the iphone/ipad and other Android devices that have taken the market, to M$’s shock and awe. Its to late M$ them cows have gone to a new home, and there are not but a few lame ones returning to your sand and sagebrush desert.
you need a hobby….something
you need a hobby….something that has nothing to do with tech.
FireFox may be one of the
FireFox may be one of the longest delays of a Windows 8 program, but many more just give up or have taken just as long. Why their are two API’s basically forcing you to take entirely good programs and re-purpose them, is mind boggling. Such a waste of time and effort.
Like Games of Windows, I doubt Microsoft will admit its app market failure and just slowly minimize and then get rid of it with Windows 9/10/11 or whatever else they’re planning on calling it. Might as well get rid of the number scheme, they fucked that up with Windows 8.
I will never use Metro apps,
I will never use Metro apps, they are awful.