Mozilla Bids Farewell to Firefox Reality

pcmag.com:

Mozilla is pulling the plug on its Firefox Reality browser.

Firefox Reality is an open source web browser designed for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices that debuted in 2018 for Oculus, Google Daydream, and HTC Vive devices. It's also available for Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality devices.

"Since its launch," Mozilla says in its announcement, "Firefox Reality offered users a unique browser in the mixed reality space. It was the first cross-platform browser built by a trusted company, Mozilla, and quickly adopted by companies for use in their hardware devices."

Yet the company plans to remove Firefox Reality from all software marketplaces—including the Microsoft Store, Viveport, and Oculus—"in the coming weeks." (Although the Firefox Reality website still claims that it's "coming soon" to Pico Interactive's platform.)

The underlying technologies will live on, however. Mozilla says that "the Firefox Reality browser technology will continue under Igalia where they will uphold the same principles we started when we created Firefox Reality — an open source browser that respects your privacy."

Igalia will use the Firefox Reality technologies in a browser called Wolvic that, according to its website, is expected to be released to the Huawei AppGallery and the Oculus app store "very soon" with the promise that "more options will follow" at a later date.

"Firefox Reality was an interesting and important development that began in Mozilla Research while XR devices were still quite young," Igalia says on the Wolvic website. "Since then, more mature standalone devices have entered much wider consumer markets and the Firefox Reality Browser project needed new investment, updates and nurturing."

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