Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Oh, please:

So:

Maemo: 1 or 2 apps per task
Others: 500 applications that make your device fart in stereo

What did I misunderstand again?

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

This is a case of can't see the forest for the trees. A media player will be very popular as it appeals to everybody, same goes for the other stuff you mention. This doesn't mean there are no interesting apps, but that they simply won't be shown on the top of the pile (mentioned liqbase being a good example of this). Take a look on the AppStore top 100, it's the same situation. Just how many revolutionary things do you see there ? Very, very little. I mean, really, Tetris ? Frogger ? Solitaire ? Bejeweled ? Scrabble ?

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

You don't understand that it's completly unrealistic to expect more than 1-2 apps per task for a niche OS like Maemo. (Maemo <=4, that is.)
That, in fact, it exceeds expectations to have these 1-2 applications per task at all. (I mean: eCoach, Carman, a bible reader (!!!), easyChem,... who would have expected things like these when the 770 was introduced?)

(Or maybe you do understand and just keep it going...)

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

I think it's you who doesn't seem to understand what I was talking about, go back and read the messages. Take it easy. It's your point about what the other platforms have available that I have an issue with, quite conveniently you seem to NOT comment on that. Go on, tell me about the 500 fart apps now. I'm listening.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

It's not as much a question of a niche as in difference in philosophy. With Maemo, as most OSS, it's about an itch being scratched. With Apple/Android, it's about a developer believing that HIS implementation will the the next best thing and not the other 499 developers who attempted to address the same issue. In more economy-oriented terms, on Maemo development is driven by DEMAND, while in appstore oriented OSes, as awkward it may seem at a first glance, development is driven by SUPPLY.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

See? And suddenly we agree.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Right, that's the second factor I wrote about in my post:

This is expected to change, of course, with M6.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Highly interesting point of view. But I believe true innovation cannot occur based on DEMAND, because the user doesn't know what may lay around next corner - innovation is driven by SUPPLY because of the need to supress one's competitor in the market place.

Laugh as you want at the fart / I am rich apps on the store, but I believe they are highly innovative in terms of user experience - nobody before the iPhone conceived Joe User might want his expensive smart phone to fart, but it seems the user wants this !

Now, I don't want fart apps on the phone, I want innovation in both technological and user experience sense; but we must ask ourselves: when photoshop.com releases a highly succesfull free app for the iPhone, what would take to have it released for the Maemo too ?

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

Don't forget that in the OSS world (unlike the AppStore equvalent), developers/hackers play a huge, if not determining factor in DEMAND, and that's where most of the innovation stems from.

It would take X millions of people willing to pay for it. Nothing to do with technology or distribution channels, appstores, etc.

Re: why doesn't maemo get traction in the market
 

But is there a reason why the community couldn't create an OS 'photo-shop' equivalent, which would do graphics editing beyond the pre-installed photo tolls and call it 'maemo-shop'?

Would this be impossible? Would the very idea pf a graphics editing tool imping on Adobe's licence?