Print
When it was just Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox on the market, it was hip to say you used Mozilla's browser. Then Google Chrome and its tabs-on-top showed up, and suddenly, Firefox wasn't quite so cool. Mozilla stood by silently – and enabled tabs-on-top themselves – as Chrome's star rose, but apparently the time has come to try and return the hip-leeching favor. Just as Chrome OS notebooks are nearing the market, Mozilla unveiled Webian Shell, a smaller, simpler Web-based interface.
Don't expect the same functionality out of Webian Shell that you get out of Chrome, though. There are some key differences between the two operating systems. Rather than being a full OS, the Webian Shell website calls the software "A full screen web browser for devices that don't need a desktop." Version 0.1 is a very basic prototype that sits on top of your existing OS. The Mozilla Labs team, led by veteran Ben Francis, hope to show off their ideas and garner some feedback with this first release.
You can download Webian Shell, although it's very rudimentary at this early stage – just a Web browser, a clock and a basic desktop. The open-source program is based on the Chromeless project and written entirely in standard web technolgies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. One of the principles of the project is to promote open web standards over proprietary technology. Could that be a jab at the walled-in nature of the Google ID-requiring Chrome OS?
Comments are closed on this article
Holly Golightly
June 07, 2011 at 10:17pm
Wow, I like the cool design. I downloaded it, and upzipped the file onto the desktop, and boy... What a mess. There were 300 icons. I am not sure I unzipped it correctly. The amount of icons was overwhelming. I definitely look forward to seeing the finished product of this as I know Mozilla is the most secured browsing experience. Hopefully though, this can work offline as I like to game on my computers, and not always able to connect online.
Exarkun1138
June 07, 2011 at 5:30pm
Meh, I'll pass, on both "alternative" OS's. Windows 7 works beautifully, and I don't need a stripped down OS to do my work and play my games. Thanks, but no thanks!
someuid
June 07, 2011 at 11:50am
"Could that be a jab at Google's closed-source Chrome OS?"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Chrome OS is built on Linux, meaning Chrome OS has to be open source as well. This, of course, is different from having developed a product and choosing to not release it to the general public.
Brad Chacos
June 07, 2011 at 2:16pm
Ah, yeah, I worded that wrong. I meant the "walled" nature of Chrome, needing a Google ID and all that. In fact, you can download the entire Chrome OS source code.
