Mini Mozilla marches on Windows mobiles
Current versions of Minimo only work on Linux-based PDAs, but a future version will work on Windows CE, which is used on a variety of Pocket PCs and smartphones.
Lead Minimo developer Doug Turner posted the first development build of Minimo for Pocket PC 2003 -- which is based on Windows CE -- on his Web site last week. Turner said he hopes to release a stable version later in the year.
"The first release to the general public will be in about four months," said Turner. "We are hoping to be producing nightly builds starting at the end of March. Nightly builds are... for quality assurance and those that live a bit dangerously."
Minimo developers have already completed the basic porting work, but the project is looking for extra developers to work on improving the user interface, said Turner on the MozillaZine news site.
"If you try the build now you will find there is a lot of Windows integration work that needs to happen," said Turner on MozillaZine. "Another thing you will notice is the UI for the application is terrible. I really need your input and Windows CE coding skills here."
Turner is confident that he will be able to get lots of help on the project from the open source development community. "I have got many responses from very qualified developers that are interested in helping me make a great browser on the Windows CE platform," said Turner. "Based on the feedback, I think that this project is going to do very well."
Although Minimo is not as well know as Firefox, Mozilla's most popular browser for PCs, it has already attracted interest from device manufacturers that need an embedded browser, including two mobile phone manufacturers.