Nokia Starts Open Source Website 80
X-Fade writes "Nokia launched OpenSource.nokia.com today. It is the first place to look for information concerning Nokia involvement in the Open Source community. The Projects page lists all Nokia developed downloadable code including: Maemo (Development platform for Linux based handhelds), MobileNews (Mobile NNTP reader), Python for S60, Sofia-SIP (SIP User-Agent library) and more. The website also features a list of all projects Nokia contributed to."
Ipso? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Other bits (Score:1, Insightful)
Believe it or not, if you click on the OSS browser announcement, there's a page telling you all about it. Whatever will they think of next?
(And here's the link [nokia.com])
looks promising (Score:5, Insightful)
Python for the S60 is nice, too, of course.
Altogether, I'm wondering whether Nokia is planning on moving their entire phone line over to Linux at some point.
Where are the hacks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Thus not FAT no? (Score:1, Insightful)
Something I just read on AnandTech got me thinking about the way that Linux suits the individual. With Windows, it is very much "one size fits all" and as far as that goes (which I believe is about as far it takes) it is a very nice toy; however with Linux and the other infinitely adjustable OSs, it is possible to get the perfect set of OS and drivers for optimising each individual set up.
But each individual would have to be an expert to get it there.
Some of you are geeks and some of us use Windows and if that is the way it goes it will be ever thus.
Re:Nokia's approach (Score:5, Insightful)
My reason for this is their stance on Software Patents in the EU - they lobbied hard for them. See, for example, The Register [theregister.co.uk] or The FFII [ffii.org]. I contacted them (by email, IIRC) to tell them my position, but never heard anything back.
For them to launch an open-source website is simply an attempt to gain some PR, or, put another way, some community "kudos". And, for goodness' sake, starting a web site does not require a huge investment. This is a PR exercise, through-and-through.
What Google [yahoo.com] did, for example, will probably help a lot more.
Re:nokia is going to loose ground. (Score:3, Insightful)
a lot
hail mary
hedge bets
I'm a zealot but I can't see an attack in your post.
Nokia have people working hard as OSS developers, just like Red Hat et.al.
Perhaps you forget one of the OSS mantra's Release Early, Release Often
I'm not convinced about business users wanting an uber featured handset.
I have a Nokia 6600.
It connects to my IMAP account.
It connects to IM services (SMS, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC etc. etc.)
I can use it as an SSH terminal via Putty.
It has a great camera and MMS services.
I'm not sure what other features you would want on a 240x320 screen. Web browsing is painful.
It is not features here that inhibit takeup, it's the cost of data calls.
In the UK the cost of data ranges from the cheapest at around $100 per month for 1Gb of data up to $3 per Mb.
Re:Where are the hacks? (Score:3, Insightful)
Absolutely brilliant, Nokia PC Suite. This is the one thing that they should product an Open Source version of - but then until recently they didn't even have a Mac equivalent.
The current version, and its 3 predecessors, are the slowest, buggiest bit of crud on any of my machines - Nokia Audio Manager crashes on both my Athlon 64 and Sempron 64 boxes unless I delete cdmgr.dll, and only recognised phones during the install phase on my K6-2 box until I bought an add-in USB card and disabled the motherboard USB controller.
Support are a nightmare too - they were haughty to the point of rudeness, and refused to discuss the issue last November unless I upgraded to Win XP SP2!
Even when it does work (which seems to be random, and varying with versions - 6.6 does not work for me at all), copying between phones and PCs is like watching treacle dry, whether using IR, Bluetooth or the £30 cable I eventually bought after the frustration of many dropped connections with the wireless options.
Despite the phone itself being very nice, I'm never buying another Nokia - they just can't be arsed to provide decent software or support...
Re:Nokia's approach (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nokia's approach (Score:3, Insightful)
Google doesn't have a patent on their software?? They have many (http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jht
Nothing wrong at all with software patents, as long as they are use appropriately (just like non-software patents). You don't like patents? Want to boycott companies that use them? Boycott google. Boycott Microsoft. Boycott your PC manufacturer. Boycott your food makers, electrical devices. Boycott the modern world basically.
Boycott Nokia though. It is your right, and since it is idiological one I fully support it (even if I think the reason is silly). But my suggestion is, treat all companies in the same way. Boycott all companies that use patents. Only thing is, you will be left with a very clean desktop.