

Firefox OS: System wide orientation lock in 45LOC - janjongboom
https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/pull/10129

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sergimansilla
Yeah, reminds me of [http://sergimansilla.com/blog/swipeselection-in-an-
afternoon...](http://sergimansilla.com/blog/swipeselection-in-an-afternoon/).
Development of new features (and bugfixing) in the core of Firefox OS is
bliss.

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kGrange
Come now, let's not editorialize titles.

From <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html> :

 _Don't abuse the text field in the submission form to add commentary to
links. The text field is for starting discussions. If you're submitting a
link, put it in the url field. If you want to add initial commentary on the
link, write a blog post about it and submit that instead._

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midnitewarrior
I guess Microsoft has been spending months writing KLOC trying to accomplish
the same feat. Those silly people in Redmond!

Or, perhaps, their designers have decided that an orientation lock doesn't
create the experience they are looking for. Just because you can have a
feature doesn't mean you should have a feature.

~~~
randomchars
The point is that MS didn't write a single line of code for this feature in
the past years even though the users want it. But as th system is closed
source, there's nothing to do about it.

With FOS, you can modify the OS.

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acc01
Off-topic, but I always wondered why both on iOS and Android some built-in
applications (notably program selection screen) are always portrait-locked?

As a Nokia E70 (Symbian) user, this always buggers me. What if I want to
search for something (and for that, use the long-edge keyboard)?

What is the rationale here?

~~~
randomchars
What's the program selection screen?

~~~
acc01
The one with icons you use to start programs. Probably "main menu."

~~~
randomchars
Ahh! On Android that's called the _launcher_. The part where you can put
widgets and shortcuts is the _home screen_ and where your apps are listed is
the _app drawer_ (it literally used to be a drawer.) On iOS it's SpringBoard
or home screen.

I can only speak about the former, but If it rotated it would screw up the
layout pretty badly as normally the screen is taller than it is wide, so
widgets would be truncated and icons wouldn't fit either.

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Toshio
I don't understand the "eat that" part of the title.

Android and iOS are the de facto standards against which Firefox OS should be
measuring its progress.

Other than that, winphone will never be the third ecosystem.

~~~
midnitewarrior
You may not want Windows Phone to be the third ecosystem, but it's got the
best chance of the players currently in the market to be that third player.

Blackberry isn't going anywhere, and the other choices are simply upstarts
with little (if any) commercial backing.

Microsoft has a critical enterprise presence in many large companies, and CIOs
like the idea of a mobile platform that ties in elegantly to their other
systems. Nokia's brand has a global reach and is helping Windows Phone outsell
iPhone in 7 markets and Blackberry in 26 markets (
[http://www.zdnet.com/windows-phone-outsells-iphone-in-
seven-...](http://www.zdnet.com/windows-phone-outsells-iphone-in-seven-
markets-blackberry-in-26-7000013236/) ). Windows Phone also has a huge
developer base, as it uses the same tools that millions of .NET developers
already use. IDK if they will be "the" third ecosystem, but they aren't going
to be going away any time soon.

Finally, Windows Phone is well-designed and easy to use, much easier than
Android to manage. There's always a market for well-designed, easy things to
use, especially with older people.

~~~
sigzero
"There's always a market for well-designed, easy things to use, especially
with older people."

Apple has that market. Windows doesn't bring anything exciting to the table.

~~~
midnitewarrior
"Windows doesn't bring anything exciting to the table."

Sounds like somebody who has never used a Windows Phone.

This guy has used a Windows Phone before, and he has some things to say about
it -- you might have heard of him, some Wozniak guy? (
[http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/28/2983312/steve-wozniak-
wind...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/28/2983312/steve-wozniak-windows-
phone-android-comparison) )

Yes, Apple has that market -- for people who have $549 to spend, or spend
money on some bloated post-paid contract.

iPhone 4s - non-contract price, $549 (previous generation)

Nokia Lumia 521 - non-contract price, $149.99 (current generation phone)

------
blahbl4hblah
yeah, suck on that body of work by a bunch of people that I don't know. screw
you consumer product...how dare you not be 100% what I want 100% of the time.
Luckily, every other cell phone NEVER LETS ME DOWN IN ANY WAY.

