Mozilla has announced plans to launch its own mobile operating system. Tentatively called "Boot to Gecko," or B2G, the OS is based from Mozilla's open-source "Gecko" layout engine that is already in use with other Mozilla apps like Firefox.

The proposed OS is designed for tablets and smartphones and will be a complete system for the open Web.

"Mozilla believes that the Web can displace proprietary, single-vendor stacks for application development," Mozilla researcher Andreas Gal said about the B2G OS. "To make open Web technologies a better basis for future applications on mobile and desktop alike, we need to keep pushing the envelope of the Web to include -- and, in places, exceed -- the capabilities of the competing stacks in question ...

"To that end, we propose a project we're calling Boot to Gecko to pursue the goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open Web," he added. "It's going to require work in a number of areas."

The company also plans to release the source code for the OS in real time in contrast to the delays prevalent in Google's own Android OS. Mozilla also wants to build new web APIs and even a prototype for a low-level substrate for an Android-compatible device.

The Boot to Gecko OS is still very much in its development stages, and there would be a while to go before release. Mozilla says it is talking about the project to get input from people who aren't part of Mozilla.

It also remains to be seen whether this new OS will make an impact in a market already saturated with such players like Apple, Android and Windows. Even the open-source feature Mozilla wants to use in the B2G OS has already been employed by Android. Vendor support is another factor that Mozilla needs to address before it starts releasing its own OS.