Dear smartphone user, it is time to unlearn

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Tags: firefox os philosophy

Dear smartphone user,

You have been used to sophisticated features and cluttered interfaces for a long time. Remember those days when you had used a smartphone for the first time? Do you recollect that extra cognitive overload you had to face to figure out what each gesture does? Why were there so many round and square and rounded rectangle icons staring at you? That you were supposed to shake and twist your handheld device in a myriad sort of way to get a task done.

All these are cool now. You may have been “the cool guy” among your peers because you owned one of those devices, and you had spent hours mastering those subtle moves that saved some micro-seconds of your life with each swipe.

You may have forgotten the sweet love of internet. Lost the freedom of receiving and sending information, not siloed by any uber technological platform, even before you had started enjoying it. But, then, you probably don’t need that any longer. You have your smartphone. And, then, you were told, for everything else there is an app.

The newer generation arriving on the internet has better options. They don’t have to face that overwhelming load of information. They will go through a shorter learning curve. But, most importantly, they will live on the internet. They will not be forced to choose between a range of closed environments. All the internet will be their home.

Your smartphones have paved the way for something grander. The technologies you use now do have their benefits. They have helped us learn how things can be kept simple and down-to-earth, while still staying close to a smartphone experience. Let me introduce you to Firefox OS.

Not everything is the same here. You have more freedom, more privacy, but we don’t have as many apps you would like, if you count the numbers. But we do have the entire internet for you. Make it your home. You will love it.

And, if you have a friend who wants a smartphone, and if you love the web, ask them to give this platform a try. For you, it may be a bit of unlearning. The things here are so simple, it may seem complex to you.

Sincerely,

An open-web enthusiast.