minimo

Minimo was an early Mozilla project aimed at delivering a full Mozilla-based web browser and application runtime on mobile devices. It sought to extend the Gecko rendering engine and the XUL-based user interface to handheld hardware in a way that would be usable on devices with modest resources.

Technically, Minimo used the Gecko engine for rendering and a compact, modular UI built with Mozilla's XUL framework. The design emphasized portability and a lightweight footprint, with the goal of enabling a range of native mobile applications beyond the browser.

The project targeted several mobile platforms and devices, including Linux-based handhelds and Windows-based mobile devices, through porting and cross-platform build work. It represented Mozilla’s attempt to apply desktop-era web technologies to the mobile space in a cohesive package.

Development slowed in the mid- to late-2000s as Mozilla redirected effort toward other mobile initiatives. Minimo did not achieve broad consumer adoption, but it contributed to the understanding of running desktop-style web technology on mobile hardware and influenced subsequent Mozilla mobile efforts.