Mozilla taps crowd for concepts: Will the browser usurp the OS?

Mozilla Labs has launched a casting call for concepts for the successor to Firefox and after watching a few videos it's striking how a common theme emerges: The browser could nudge the operating system out of the way.

Mozilla's concept series is really a crowd sourcing effort (Techmeme). The idea: Collect the best prototypes, integrate them and cook up the successor to Firefox. The rub is that some of these concepts may not be technically ready. But that's what a casting call is for: Big ideas.

The Aurora mockup by Adaptive Path simulates and interactive browser where there's voice and collaboration mixed in. Sounds and looks like an operating system in many ways. Check out this video:

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Other concepts like this bookmarking concept by Wei Zhou also cribs from the operating system look.

Bookmarking and History Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

The larger question is whether the browser can really usurp the operating system. It's possible. Personally, I see virtualization taking over for the operating system. The OS--Windows, Mac OS and Linux--will become plumbing. You will manage that plumbing via a hypervisor. What's needed is the front end. The browser could be that interface and in many respects it already is.