I strongly believe that all FirefoxOS devices should be either pre-rooted or otherwise easily rooted. Yes, I understand the security risks posed by someone gaining physical access to the phone but IMHO at this point there is one even more important point:
Early adopters/first-time users tend to be "powerusers" who like to tinker with things. Now, this is a VERY important group, it is those users who will influence others to adopt FirefoxOS by word of mouth. It is the skilled among these users who will first develop apps for FirefoxOS. It is those users who will actively participate in the community, file bugs, try nightly builds and provide feedback. Giving those users a locked and impossible to upgrade device just pisses them off and drives them away from FirefoxOS especially in these earlier stages that features are being added very rapidly and being stuck with an old version means no access to new OS features. Would you expect someone to buy a new device every few months or so just to be able to contribute to the community? Hell no, most would just leave. And when they leave FirefoxOS gets discredited, the vital first-time-user base shrinks and would-be potential contributors are driven away. I know if I bought a phone that was limited in that way I'd probably never again invest in a FirefoxOS device. A platform in it's infancy NEEDS powerusers desperately. Their numbers, contributions and evangelism are what will make FirefoxOS a mainstream OS and get it into the hands of the average Joe. Powerusers need to be able to tinker with things and that requires rooted and easily upgradable devices. Sorry for the long post but these things needed to be said and I hope this will bloom into a fruitful discussion. On Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 9:59:44 PM UTC+2, Ralph Daub wrote: > Hi PR and B2G teams, > > > I'm Ralph Daub, and I work with the User Success team, focusing on Firefox OS > support. > > > > A user in the SUMO forums has made very specific questions about why the > commercial device that he purchased does not come rooted, and I'm hoping to > get some assistance on how to approach answering it: > > > https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1042307 > > > In the past, I was able to deflect many of these types of questions. However, > this user is asking specific questions to which I do not have an answer to: > Why "non-developer" devices come crippled (not-rooted), non-developers don't > have > rights for manipulating with own device? > Why Mozilla participating on > delivery crippled (not-rooted) device? Or why Mozilla recommended crippled > devices on > their websites?I have stored lot of sms/mms in my Firefox OS > "non-devel" phone, how can backup it? (to SD card, to Computer ...) I > read some how-tos but all failed because they need root access. > > This has been an ongoing issue that I've brought up in the past, and I > consider it a sensitive topic. I believe that non-rooted devices go against > Mozilla's manifesto Principle #4: > > > "Individuals' security and privacy on the Internet are fundamental and must > not be treated as optional." > > Using the LG Fireweb device as an example: > > > The device does not come rooted and LG will not be releasing an update. Users > were effectively stuck on version 1.1 from the moment they purchased the > device. No updates means that the users will not be receiving any security > fixes available in future versions of the OS. > > Additionally, there is no way for users to manually root the device - a > workaround that would allow them to manually install new versions of the OS. > > > This is not the first time that Firefox OS users and contributors have asked > this question and it won't be the last - so I'm hoping to get direction on > how to approach these questions, from a PR-perspective, from a product > perspective, from a legal perspective. > > I am open to listening to any insights that we might have on this. > > Please feel free to reply-all, or reach out to me directly via email, IRC, or > vidyo. > > Thanks in advance, > > - Ralph _______________________________________________ dev-b2g mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-b2g
