Back in May, Google surprised a lot of people by unveiling plans to create an app store for the web, which they called the Chrome Web Store. A day later, Mozilla, makers of rival browser Firefox, stated their plans for an Open Web App Store. Mozilla’s post on the matter was clearly a quick reaction to Google’s maneuver and so there weren’t a lot of details. Today, as the Chrome Web Store opening approaches, Mozilla finally has some of those details.
Why does Mozilla care about Google’s store? Because it has the name “Chrome” in it, obviously. But it’s bigger than that as well. While Google says they’re committed to making their Chrome web apps work in other browsers, it’s not entirely clear how that will be possible for paid apps that will undoubtedly have to be laced with DRM. It also sounds as if the store itself will only work through Chrome, and that app shortcuts will only be a part of the Chrome experience. Mozilla wants to take the idea and open it up, creating a standard that will work regardless of the browser.
Here’s their key blurb:
Today, we are releasing technical documentation of the proposed system and a developer preview prototype that allows you to install, manage and launch Web apps in any modern desktop or mobile browser (Firefox 3.6 and later, Firefox for mobile, Internet Explorer 8, Chrome 6, Safari 5, Opera 10 and WebKit mobile). This prototype provides a simple mechanism to support paid apps and authentication features to allow apps to log users in upon launch.
And here are some examples they’ve created: a web app store, an app directory, and self-published apps. And, in true open form, here’s the source code.
Here are what Mozilla considers to be the key part of Open Web Apps:
Mozilla and Google have always had an interesting relationship. For several years now, Mozilla’s main source of revenue has been from Google, which pays for placement of their search bar within Firefox. Of course, at first, Google didn’t have a browser of its own to compete with Firefox. Now they do. And it’s growing quickly.
Both claim to be proponents of the open web, but at least here, it would seem that Mozilla is the one taking the more open approach. I’m sure Google will have a reaction to this shortly.
Watch more in the video below — you’ll notice they never mention Google directly.
More: Version Updates, Extension Prices, Rivals Sweating: Chrome Web Store Nears Launch
Born from Netscape’s 1998 open sourcing of the code base behind its Netscape Communicator internet suite, Mozilla Firefox currently holds approximately 22.48% of the world market for internet browsers as of April 2009. Version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004 after a series of name changes, and within a year close to 100 million downloads of the browser technology had occurred. The following two years saw upgrades to version 1.5 in November 2005 and 2.0 in October 2006....
Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company’s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...
Google Chrome is an based on the open source web browser Chromium which is based on Webkit. It was accidentally announced prematurely on September 1, 2008 and slated for release the following day. It premiered originally on Windows only, with Mac OS and Linux versions released in early 2010. Features include: Tabbed browsing where each tab gets its own process, leading to faster and more stable browsing. If one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn’t go down with it A...
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