Foxconn to hire 3,000 to support Firefox OS and software development(itworld.com)
itworld.com
Foxconn to hire 3,000 to support Firefox OS and software development
http://www.itworld.com/361807/foxconn-hire-3000-support-firefox-os-and-software-development
34 comments
EDIT: On second thought, I think what they're actually saying is: "Don't worry sharemarket, our future revenue won't all depend on Apple". At this point the mechanics aren't important.
Agree with your assessment that organizing a team like this inside a hardware company is going to waste a lot of human capital.
Because 3k ppl would be order-of-magnitude size of the Windows 8 team. However Microsoft have decades of experience doing this stuff and frankly they're still the giant that walks, e.g. their organisation is so large it's frankly astounding they manage to ship things.
Ref: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/17/introducing-th... (estimating as (40 devs + 45 testers/managers) * 35 feature groups = 3k, plus tech writers, overhead, usability, localization, etc, etc = 10k?)
Agree with your assessment that organizing a team like this inside a hardware company is going to waste a lot of human capital.
Because 3k ppl would be order-of-magnitude size of the Windows 8 team. However Microsoft have decades of experience doing this stuff and frankly they're still the giant that walks, e.g. their organisation is so large it's frankly astounding they manage to ship things.
Ref: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/17/introducing-th... (estimating as (40 devs + 45 testers/managers) * 35 feature groups = 3k, plus tech writers, overhead, usability, localization, etc, etc = 10k?)
The biggest challenge will be for the HR team who needs to find 3,000 productive new employees. They're not hiring unskilled labor here. When you're hiring that many people, you need to lower your standards and you're going to wind up hiring people who will be a drain on productivity.
Please remember FoxConn has 1m+ employees.
Everything I know about data centres and SOA and uptime is laughable at google or twitter scale. Likewise, everything I know about HR and culture and hiring practises is laughable at "workforce bigger than some countries" scale.
Everything I know about data centres and SOA and uptime is laughable at google or twitter scale. Likewise, everything I know about HR and culture and hiring practises is laughable at "workforce bigger than some countries" scale.
A bizarre number considering that the total number of contributors on the Firefox OS frontend is currently 249 (https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia). No clue on which part they're gonna put these people on.
The phrase "HTML5 operating systems" made my brain explode.
Somebody please send me back to 1996, when the world made sense.
Somebody please send me back to 1996, when the world made sense.
WebRTC, WebGL, Web Speech et al. make today's browsers look like today's operating systems.
So stop making silly jokes and get with the program :p
So stop making silly jokes and get with the program :p
Saying a web browser is an operating system is like saying a car is an engine. Sure, you could put the car on a dynamometer, convert the dyno to an electric generator and use the power to run your home entertainment system. It'd be kind of ridiculous though.
In software its all good.
And that will always be the flaw in this line of reasoning.
And that will always be the flaw in this line of reasoning.
> On Thursday, Foxconn said it was looking to hire between 2,000 and 3,000 people in order to bolster its research into software.
Looks like those 2-3k people might be for a wider effort than just Firefox OS.
I think it is a smart move to make such a big move, as anyone wanted to get in the market needs to do so now. If they continue on their current trajectory, the market is looking very much like Windows/Apple in the 90s (except now it's Google/Apple). If Android becomes the Windows 95/XP of the smartphone world, then it will be very good for some and very bad for others - and it would become increasingly hard to break into the market.
Looks like those 2-3k people might be for a wider effort than just Firefox OS.
I think it is a smart move to make such a big move, as anyone wanted to get in the market needs to do so now. If they continue on their current trajectory, the market is looking very much like Windows/Apple in the 90s (except now it's Google/Apple). If Android becomes the Windows 95/XP of the smartphone world, then it will be very good for some and very bad for others - and it would become increasingly hard to break into the market.
I'm a FIRM believer in quality over quantity, and I feel this large number is just to bolster investment into Foxconn.
I really do hope that this pushes further development into Firefox OS...I remember seeing a demo of the Ubuntu Mobile OS running on an Atrix, that was everything I pictured for the future of computing.
I really do hope that this pushes further development into Firefox OS...I remember seeing a demo of the Ubuntu Mobile OS running on an Atrix, that was everything I pictured for the future of computing.
3000 are many people, I believe that not even google has all those people working on Android.
It's not a lot if most of them will be working on apps to get the infrastructure competitive.
Here's their competition:
Google Play/Android is estimated to have 800,000 apps (Jan. 4, 2013)
Apple iOS App Store recently reported 775,000 apps (Jan. 7, 2013)
Windows Phone Marketplace is up to 125,000 apps (Oct. 25, 2012)
Blackberry World is now up to 70,000 apps (Jan. 30, 2013)
Source: http://www.pureoxygenmobile.com/how-many-apps-in-each-app-st...
Here's their competition:
Google Play/Android is estimated to have 800,000 apps (Jan. 4, 2013)
Apple iOS App Store recently reported 775,000 apps (Jan. 7, 2013)
Windows Phone Marketplace is up to 125,000 apps (Oct. 25, 2012)
Blackberry World is now up to 70,000 apps (Jan. 30, 2013)
Source: http://www.pureoxygenmobile.com/how-many-apps-in-each-app-st...
3000 people on a software project scares me. That's a LOT of coordination and communication. What would Fred Brooks say?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
Could someone please comment on Foxconn's overall strategy here?
They are trying to take on Apple AND Google/Android AND Amazon AND Microsoft?
With no previous experience in the field?
(I'm sure most of the 3000 hires are for app development - that makes much more sense.)
They are trying to take on Apple AND Google/Android AND Amazon AND Microsoft?
With no previous experience in the field?
(I'm sure most of the 3000 hires are for app development - that makes much more sense.)
No previous experience, except for manufacturing the iPhone.
That and nearly every phone/computer. Anyway my guess is they will start by tackling the low end - replacing all those candybar nokia's &c that are still everywhere in Africa and Asia with a cheap, high-quality smartphone.
Not so much manufacturing - the chips/cameras/flex/cases/etc are all made somewhere else.
Foxconn is an army of cheap Chinese laborers who perform the final assembly and testing.
Foxconn is an army of cheap Chinese laborers who perform the final assembly and testing.
Does Foxconn have any similar investment in other OSes? I've never heard of Foxconn-developed apps or UIs, so I'm wondering what sort of software experience they bring to the effort.
Because if you put several thousand engineers on the project they got to do something great, isn't?
This sounds like a plugin in disguise.
I hope there won't be any suicide software engineers...
EDIT: Regarding downvotes - I didn't know so many Foxconn recruiters were sitting on HN...
EDIT: Regarding downvotes - I didn't know so many Foxconn recruiters were sitting on HN...
Honest question:
You know your comment and edit to it makes you really sound stupid right?
Sounds aside. You know your "honest" question shows you're an idiot, right?
They employ a million people. The Foxconn suicide rate is around 7-14% the national average at 1.5 per 100,000 employees per year. Taking on 3,000 extra employees means that statistically they'd see an additional death over a 20 year period.
For a reference point heart disease kills around 800 per 100,000 in the US per year.
For a reference point heart disease kills around 800 per 100,000 in the US per year.
It is not about statistics. It is about the _reason_. We know that suicides were committed _because_ of the employment conditions at foxconn. Numbers are irrelevant in this case.
In a year's time, the commit logs for Firefox will have @foxconn all over weird and wonderful hardware compatibility bugs for Foxconn's big customers.
This is simply a marker, put down to say "if you are a handset manufacturer, and thinking of trying this new OS, then make it with us, because we are investing in it too"
Its a sensible move, covering their bets. And if FirefoxOS takes off (and I hope it does) they can double down next year.