Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

I think at about 9:28 he mentions a "break" between Maemo 5 and Maemo 6 related to Qt. hmmmm perhaps I heard him wrong.. :mad:

http://www.maemo-guru.com/2009/09/vi...dr-ari-jaaksi/

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Well it kinda makes sense, since the UI in Harmattan will be based on Qt and not GTK+ as is in Fremantle. It doesn't mean however that you won't be able to port old GTK+ libs from Fremantle to Harmattan and use existing GTK+ applications.
The reason Nokia is doing this is because they're trying to unify the development process on different software platforms they now have.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

If you see the entire video he says that QT will be supported soon and then developers can start developing with QT and continue on to the next release. But why i am confused is that we already have some apps with QT for example digiascene afaik is AT based. Ofcourse i do not know anything about developing so i may be wrong.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Is it just me or does it seem that there seems to be a corporate policy in Nokia to play down the N900, and be as cagey as possible about it? It's almost as if they've been told, "You can praise the N900, but don't get too excited and don't praise it too highly."

The keynotes really spent only the most minimal time on the device, and Anssi Vanjoki actually seemed to almost insult it... Extremely weird!

For example, Jaaksi purposely lets a great opportunity slide past right near the beginning. The interviewer praises the N900, and Jaaksi replies, "I'm glad you like it. (pause) I like it too." And then he moves on.

It appears that I'm not the only one noticing the strange underemphasis on Maemo and the N900. As I was writing this, I googled, "Nokia World N900" and this was my first hit: Did Nokia Underestimate How Good the N900 Really Is?

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Remember what I said about the N800's success surprising many in Nokia?

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Probably warrants it own thread....

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Just a quick follow up... When I said that Vanjoki insulted the N900, I meant when he called it "step 4 of 5".

And jandmdickerson, I'm sorry. You're right, that turned into a bit of a thread hijack. That's just what I was thinking as I watched that video with Jaaksi.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Sorry I'll keep this off-topic still..

I watched that interview too, and mostly it sounded like he was just carefully trying not to play down Symbian. At one point near the beginning(maybe the one you're talking about) the interviewer went on about how crappy Symbian is and how great N900 is, and obviously a Nokia exec can't publicly give the impression that one of their major platforms is somehow inferior.

It's also pretty clear from that interview that Maemo is still much work in progress and hasn't reached feature parity with Symbian devices yet while the UI is miles ahead. These things are something former Symbian users notice and that might be one reason they're trying to be modest about it(In addition to the general Finnish mentality :))

Then there was this Anssi Vanjoki incident. I saw the fourth step mention more as a hint of what's to come. NW as far as I understand is quite B2B in nature and future prospects are something businesses and the stock market(?) etc. care a lot about.

These are just my pseudo-analyst theories and I absolutely see why one would think Nokia underestimated the reception. It's completely possible it did.

It has also been speculated that the N900 was supposed to be announced at Nokia world but because of the leak they had to launch it a week before thus leading to less coverage in NW.(I can't assess if this is really plausible.)

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Not only from this interview. Just look at the facts. As a "phone", the N900 can't do much but voice calls and text messaging.

In one of Eldar's first statements about the N900 he wrote something like "... it won't be a hit because it misses certain features...". This is exactly it. It will attract people who fall for eye candy, but it needs at least feature parity with my 2 year old S60 phone until it should be considered the next big thing inside Nokia.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Couldn't help but recall this speculation from a while back:

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

wait, so, are you saying i shouldnt get the N900 lol ? :(
and when will Maemo 6 arrive?

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

We're saying it's exactly clear just how mainstream Nokia wants to make the N900 (which shouldn't influence your mind about buying it, unless your top criteria is how many of your buddies have it and not technical merit). As for Maemo 6, probably somewhere around 2011-2012.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

To me it sounds a bit like harmattan is THE thing and they dont yet want to put all hype around Maemo 5. Or Nokia might be still a bit sceptical? Thought some how i dont believe it as harmattan is rather close and they seem to be shifting more people to the maemo side.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

@attila77: what's wrong with using market penetration and availability as part of your purchase decision? It relates to :

- potential industry support\compatibility with said platform.
- number of potential 3rd party apps and accessories available for it.
- number of devices you can 'surely' interoperate with.
- size of audience, if you're a developer.
- potential lifespan of the platform.
- etc.

Unless all linux users are antisocial hermits, I think it should be obvious that popularity isn't bad.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Get what device suits your needs, wants, and wallet.

Rumor is, toward the end of 2010, with one other Maemo 5 device appearing before then.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

ok then, thanks!
yea, the N900 suits me in all ways, its great. But you know, i don't understand Maemo that much (more of a Symbian guy), so i just don't want to make a mistake in the sense that i would get the N900 and then in 1year Maemo 6 comes out with some super cool features and the N900 would be more less useless..i watched the interview with the guy, but still... that's the only thing im worried about.. i dont understand the upgrades much with Maemo devices...so im sorry if i sound silly...but still, to me it as it is looks better then Symbian...Symbain imo reached its limits. And about one more Maemo 5 device...in what can it be better then the N900? A N910i? Also id assume it would arrive sometime in summer 2010?

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Quite frankly I don't get this thinking behind waiting for something better when talking about gadgets. Sure, there will be more and different and probably even better gadgets (not talking only about phones here...). It's just Moore's law. But if we just keep on waiting for something better to come, I sure wouldn't have bought my first computer/cellphone/HD TV yet.

I already pre-ordered my N900 because I know it is the best phone out there for me right now.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

You got it a bit backwards. I was saying (or at least trying to say) it might be a good choice even if it's NOT as popular in the mainstream as it perhaps could be based on what it brings to the table.

I'm quite skeptical about that. Nokia folks are swearing that Harmattan development will be far more transparent (by decoupling the hidden parts better than the outright chopping of the Fremantle SDK). Yet, there is nothing to see yet from Harmattan, and the switch from GTK to Qt is certainly a Herculean task. I wouldn't keep my hopes too high on seing Harmattan in just a little over a year from now. All this of course strictly IMHO, and I'd be glad if Nokia disproved me with at least a ROUGH roadmap we always bi*ch and moan about :)

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

yea, i understand, you are right...for me the N900 is the best too..but you know, i always am curious to know what's planned... coz sometimes it happens that a company releases something and then suddenly in several month the real big thing comes out..i was just making sure this isnt the case and that the "something" was the N97 and the "big thing" the N900...not the other way around by "something" being N900 and "big thing" being "N ???" :p

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

One thing to remember in this case is that the whole point of Qt is to simplify cross-platform development between Symbian and Maemo. And this also applies to internal Nokia development. As you probably know, Symbian^4 with it's renewed-from-ground-up Qt UI is also slated to be released around the end of next year. And I think building the new UI/app suite for Symbian is even more herculean a task than that of Maemo which is why I assume they will share as much code as possible. The point I'm trying to make is that there might be both the Maemo developers _and_ the Symbian developers working for the same goal.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

that sounds possible and wouldn't actually surprise me that much... depends how much Symbain 4 will be similar to Maemo 5/6 and vice-versa, but all in all, trying to develope efficiently cross-platform for these two would be a great addition and perhaps in 5-8 years from now (when the new nanotechnology generation arrives) all Nokia phones will be using only one same shared OS...although, Nokia tends to be variable with devices to apply to the widest range of users possible, so who knows how it will end up...

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

quick question still regarding to what Dr ari, is N810 upgradeable to Maemo 5? will it be the same case as from Maemo 5 to Maemo 6 ?

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Posts like that tell me somehow we need to reeeally elevate the awareness of Mer...

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

okay i just read about Mer in wiki, still because i just got here, and don't know anything about programing and developing =(, i don't understand please tell me if i'm wrong..
so this is what is understand,

OS2008 cannot be upgraded to Fremantle?
That's why the community create Mer that is an upgrade for Diablo?
so the Fremantle also cannot be upgraded to the future Maemo 6 but the community will develop some kind of Mer for Fremantle?

i'm sorry if i sound stupid.. but really i don't understand..

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

The N810 and previous hardware just don't have what it takes for many Fremantle features. Mer is the community-led solution. I don't know the full extent of its future.

And you don't sound stupid... it's just that this subject keeps coming up again and again and again...

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Nokia will not be releasing Maemo 5 for the 770, N800, or N810, correct.

Some folks in the community started the Mer project because they felt Maemo could be redesigned and rebuilt in a better, more open way. This happened well before Nokia announced Fremantle and its lack of support for older hardware. So, continued support for old hardware is a benefit, but wasn't the impetus.

Nokia has made no announcements regarding Maemo 6 for Maemo 5 devices. At this time, it appears unlikely that Maemo 6 devices will bring the same sort of performance leap as is keeping Maemo 5 from older devices, so it seems probable Maemo 5 devices will be upgradable to Maemo 6. No one is promising anything though.

As explained above Mer isn't "Fremantle for older devices". Mer is another OS, compatible with, and developed alongside, Maemo, but in a more open way. Currently, Mer targets Fremantle technologies, but as Nokia releases details of what Harmattan will bring, Mer development will adjust to match it.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Best post ever! This should be a sticky somewhere.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

The biggest thing I took from Nokia World, which I covered in my last article on this whole Maemo/Symbian thing, was the Ovi SDK. We won't have Maemo developers and Symbian developers in the case of Nokia devices. We'll have Ovi developers, and the apps will be adaptable for all Symbian AND Maemo devices.

I think that itself will put Nokia in the driver's seat for becoming a standard platform. If Maemo or even Symbian^4 netbooks make it on the scene, or Nokia produces a dual boot Maemo/Symbian smart tablet, Nokia is poised to be the Microsoft of the next 20 years.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

i keep thinking that nokia is making a mistake not launching a tablet next to the N900, or just a N900 minus the mobile radio.

i du want to keep up with the maemo world, but i have no need for two phones, nor any need to replace my current phone.

right now we are (again) looking at a developers platform, not a general customer product...

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

The other IF being, of course, getting Ovi itself usable... (sorry for the dead horse)

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Maybe they are launching, but they like the suspense. Or reading the speculation threads on t.m.o. :D

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

fat chance, i suspect they have seen their voip push (they have had sip ability built into symbian phones for a while now) get stonewalled by the carriers, and so need products that can do both mobile and wifi for a while...

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

This is followed up with a mysterious comment from Dr. Jaaksi via his twitter account

http://twitter.com/jaaksi

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

One fix to your final statement. Nokia isn't looking to become the next MS, they are looking to be more RedHat.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

The article he links makes many assertions, the last being: "Could it be that Nokia was taken completely by surprise by the reception N900 got? And now, like that dear caught in the headlights. watches the oncoming demand freight train, unsure which way to move?"

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

His comment is more deflection than anything else. There are many inside of Nokia who knew very well that the N900 and Maemo 5 would be the ideal sell for them. The problem comes with those who are also inside that have strong ties to Symbian... they still have trouble navigating those waters.

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Actually, yes, Symbian has all kind of little small features you'd miss in Maemo or some other smartphone OS.

Taking a look at http://wiki.maemo.org/Task:Maemo_roadmap/Harmattan

These 3 features are relatively simple under the hood, yet exist in Symbian.

Why would one downplay Symbian then? This kind of feature is solid in Symbian. It had years of development. Ari also said he wanted to talk about Maemo, not Symbian.

OTOH as for downplaying own product by announcing the next one already (_software_ wise, after which the hardware is build). He did not announce ath else planned hardware wise. He could have said RX-71. He said _nothing_ else was planned for now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Seems more you want denote the advantages of Maemo 5 with a flamebait comment like "it will attract people who fall for eye candy" just because you're not getting your N800 sequel for stylus thats really telling. :rolleyes: truelly an insult to anyone who recently joined t.m.o or who is interested in Maemo 5.

Eye candy, you say. I don't see much Compiz stuff, or silly games. N900/Maemo 5 can do things your 2 year old S60 phone cannot do. It is a big math of + and - and some things your current device can do better, others not. Ofcourse it misses certain features. (It'd be nice to note which btw.)

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Oh, he's getting worse than I ever was. :D

Re: Video Interview With Dr. Ari Jaaksi
 

Oh interesting. I wasn't hijacking the thread after all. He's saying what I thought he was saying. Well, saying it without actually saying it. Because you don't get to be VP of Nokia by actually saying those things.