N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Will there be a device program for N900?

Thank you!

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

I thought all of us had received their free promo-devices meanwhile? slha89, are you sure you gave the correct address in your profile?

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Yeah, I'm not sure what he's on about. I've had my N900 and a debug board for a while now.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Wow, guys. So helpful.

No announcements about device programs for the N900 have been made yet.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Oh come on. Next thing you do is complain we're getting off topic and this thread should be in "community"... ;)

No announcement, but hints dropped like

(emphasis added)

So the answer is yes. 99.9% yes.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

I don't think the N900 will be the first Maemo device without a developer device program. How long before the official launch was the N810 developer device program announced?

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

This question was asked by Detlef on the Maemo-developers list. Quim Gil replied, explaining:

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

you mean, developers can get free n900 devices??
i can make apps for n900 too.
somebody please let me know if it is possible
i know python programming language
i made two apps for s60v3 phones.
it has been just 3 three months that im using n810. but i made a simple app. which is called Degcal not very useful , but works :D :D

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

In the past, under previous Maemo device programs, it has been a significant discount that has been extended to key developers and contributors, not straight up, free devices. Nokia has not yet announced the scope or terms of the N900 device program though.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Sorry, I've read this in the mailing lists, but I'm away next 2 weeks and don't want to miss the opportunity to promote N900.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

hmmm... i hope it can be possible. cause otherwise i'll have to wait a year atleast for n900 to get cheaper.
i cant afford a phone that expensive, as i am a highschool student

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Settle down now... or there will be no soup for you. :eek:

Perhaps then the question should be: When will Nokia stop giving/lending out and/or hinting about giving/lending out N900 devices?

That way we can stop acting all nice and everything and get back to acting normaly. :rolleyes:

I suppose for some it's like having to wear their church going clothes all the time. :p

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

you wouldn't be so cruel? please! please! i need my soup!

i don't even have church going clothes... which is only partly because i don't go to church.
you know what i meant though.... this place used to be fun in the old days. it used to be like a pub... you'd come here in shorts and flip-flops and chat along and what started as a talk about my new gadget soon turned into something completely different. and everybody was cool with that. it even was a bit like these places on the internet... how'd you call it? a forum i think...

now sometimes it feels like a conference with suits and ties and people barking at you because your comment was off topic and had nothing to do with the perfect, colorful slides... i don't think flip flops are popular these days.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

I have a proposal: why don't we vote for those who deserve a complimentary or discounted device? There are at least 3 or 4 guys who definitely have to have a n900 asap, for the community to enjoy the fruits of their good work.
At least a percentage of those machines should go where the community elects to.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Why not. We can't promise anything but it's good to hav collective feedback, generally more useful than individual self-promotion. :)

And yes, please move this thread to the Community forum. I really can't follow everything anymore so if you want a reply from Nokia in talk.maemo.org on community related topics just post your threads there. Simple.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

In those days, we had a lot less people around and a lot less that really needed to be discussed in any real depth... whereas now we've got a lot more people (especially with N900 soon to be released) and more stuff to talk about.

No one's going to yell at you for making a joke or whatever, but having people just attempting to derail topics gets in the way of actual progress/getting stuff done.

There's always the Off-Topic portion of the forum for those times that you want to wear your flip-flops all day long and you won't hear anyone complain or say anything against you for it.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

I once caught a really big fish and it ruined my lure.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

... and i'm happy and thankful for all that. it's just that i wouldn't have chosen the pub as a location.

anyway. we're way off topic. i like debernardis' proposal. as an addition to whatever nokia would have planned. you know... there's the regular device program, and then there's 2-3 "community tickets". sounds nice.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

VOTE CHRISTEXAPORT FOR "GUY DEFINITELY DESERVING OF N900!!"

I'm no developer, but I used to program scripts with BASIC on my TRS-80 as a 9 year old. Maybe developing was the calling I never answered. A complimentary developer device would sure reignite the fire to get the apps you guys will really benefit from. I'll start by porting Nuendo and Avid for the N900. (yeah, that's the ticket...) SO HURRY WITH MY N900

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

A joke, guys...

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

While I think the device program is a nice thing, I also thinks that nokia has it backwards: they should get the device in the hands of the developers before its general availability.
Also I don't think that bloggers or compulsive posters should get a discount, the formers should have enough with a loaner device to make a review, and for the rest, well, look at the buzz right now and the device is not even available.
Anyway, being neither a developer, a blogger or a compulsive poster, I'll see if my karma will let me apply :D

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

I suggest a developer should get the device for $100 (or better $0) and promoters for $300. Nokia needs good developers for this great hardware.

I'd go the way beeing a promoter :)

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Unlike Texrat's phishing story that flipped and apparently flopped. ;)

As for putting hardware in worthy hands, I agree with luca. it is a bit odd to have the impression some of the folks in the Maemo community who have obviously put blood, sweat, and years into pushing apps/ports/ideas into being for the platform and show promise as future version developers who'll be on the roadmap until it ends did not receive actual hardware for testing purposes prior to any announcements. I of course may be completely in the dark in this regard. it is a bummer that the SDK has been the only option for the community to work with, but it can't be changed now. Saved on NDA 'suits. :)

I can only speculate a time-crunch was at hand. With an October release month, you push it too far beyond that and it might miss the holiday boat this year.

I agree that putting names up for recommendation would be an admirable way to approach a potential Nokia-issued gratis device program. We all want one at no cost, but realistically it's those that are competent, capable, have the time, energy, and historical proof that they can put code into a final form as a stable app/port for the masses that deserve to be handed a device. Just my elaborated opinion.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

The fact is that we have distributed developer units to community developers, starting with the selected Fremantle Stars.

For most developers the SDK is enough to get you started and also well down the path. The proof is in extras-devel and extras-testing.

Whenever there is a new devicde announced you get a remarkable amount of people that tell us 'if I had a device I would work on A B C'. Well, it doesn't go like this. First you work on something because you wish and you have an interest, and then we try to help those working on something good and needing help.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

It's kind of a "chicken and egg" scenario, but Quim has a point: some started early with the API and came up with solid ideas that in my opinion merited a device at least at discount. Good to know that's underway.

I also agree with a tiered program, with greater discount percentage for hands-on developers and perhaps 1 or 2 more levels after that decreasing somewhat. Reflects reality.

Meanwhile I need to start re-establishing contact with my Salo friends and see if my N800 work warrants more than an N810... :D

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

In my opinion, the past should mean more than sudden current activity. I think the developer discount should be more of a thank you for work done for the previous platform. I'm sure that would keep the few developers we have happy and on board. A new device brings new ideas after all.

I find it a little troublesome if someone who compiles a game for Fremantle with minor changes has a better chance of a developer discount than people like fms, who probably needs the hardware first. (not sure if he has the developer unit though)

There should be some exceptions of course, but in my opinion this would eliminate the people who are not really interested in the platform from getting the device for cheap.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Of course previous experience is important. This is why we think maemo.org karma is relevant and this is also why we are proposing looking for better ways of measuring developer "relevance" at http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...their_software

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Good! :cool:

This didn't seem to be the case in the past. I remember active threads on iTT months after the release of the N800 with posts from people selected for the developer program who had not received their devices yet.

I believe I openly asked what Nokia's return on investment was when the N810 developer program was announced. That is, how many N800 apps were actually developed on the original developer program devices?

Word of the developers program is what attracted me to the N800 in the first place… Not because I wanted to be in the program,
I paid full MSRP on the first day of the N800’s availability, but because Nokia impressed me with their commitment to the community with the programs announcement,
I had already owned other manufacturers devices that had been orphaned by lack of development or loss of interest by the community and wanted to minimize the chances of that happening again.

When the N810 program was announced I applied because I now was a member of the Garage, maemo.org, Bugzilla and/or any other website or organization I had to register with to report and track a bug that prevented me from using the N800 as it was intended. I wasn't selected but I wasn't expecting to be, I really just wanted to see how the process worked.

It began to appear* to me and others that the developer program may have actually been used to placate the more vocal members of the community or to “pay off” those who may have invested a lot of their time and effort in providing support to new users of the device… an area where Nokia seemed to be lacking. *(I said appeared. I actually don't believe this to be the case.)

I am glad that Nokia has gotten new devices in the hands of productive developers before the products release. I am also glad that the decision as to who received one was made by Nokia and not by a committee that had no monetary investment in the original products R & D.

***

With all that^ said… If there is still budget available for promotional devices it should be spent for just that… promotion.

I propose that one third of these devices be given to maemo.org members based on karma or some other member determined metric to reward those (some providing new user’s support for many years now) who have played by the rules here and haven’t even received even a free dang t-shirt. This I believe will promote active involvement in maemo.org.

I propose that the other 2 thirds be given away by drawing with the only requirements being that you must be a member of maemo.org and not be employed by Nokia. There should be no time requirement. That is, if you join today and the drawing is tomorrow, you could be a winner. This would promote membership in maemo.org.

I further propose that there be enough time before the drawing to focus the “community involvement” message as the purpose of the promotion and to get the word out. Regard, before the trigger is pulled on the drawing these promotional devices should be ready to ship without delay.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

You might be remembering my situation which I was very vocal about at the time. I was an exception to the general rule. Most people received their developer device promptly.

While I understand what you're trying to say, I feel that this would only hurt in the end. Bloggers would pick up on this and suddenly we would have 20 thousand new users with absolutely zero interest in anything except potentially getting a new device free and would go away again afterwards. I'm not sure exactly how that would help our community one bit.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

"starting with the selected Fremantle Stars." Does this mean there will be more people able to get into a device program, or is this an unofficial program based on internal discretion?

Lets be real I am NOT a developer although I was able to deliver things to this platform that nobody else was. (or at least in some cases before anyone else was) QT, KDE, Printing, CD-Burner support and software, many revisions of tools to setup partitions and bootmenu, and many many more. I honestly cannot test or deliver software without a device to run it on, its just the way things work for me. I compile 100+ packages move them to the device and start and fixing problems. Especially without a system to test, I cannot determine if when I stop matchbox if it will work. There are just several things that make it impossible for me to turn out a working window manager alternative without a physical device. My hackings will never be in extras. Unless I were to support 100+ packages separately, and then, I never would have been able to put out the working software I did. Alone I cannot support 100+ individual packages.


Additionally this goes to the Karma conversation.

I guess if I don't use maemo correctly maybe I don't deserve any maemo karma. I enjoy the REAL karma from my hackings, and I think that's good enough for me.

I am just saying that the majority of the work I have done on this platform has resulted in very little maemo karma. It's really not that important to me, I could care less about maemo karma. But then if you say this is the criteria that would be used to determine a developer device program, maybe I should care.

Perhaps because I don't use maemo correctly, maybe I don't deserve any to be part of a maemo device program. Although in the past this has not been an issue.


I feel like I have proven over time to be a supporter of Nokia platform and I have proven to be an asset to the community and I feel like I have proven that I will continue to put out my "hackings".

It seems like I was eagerly invited under the 810 device program as well as an additional "free as in beer" device. Perhaps, I did not continue to do what was expected of me? Perhaps there is no longer a place for people like me on this platform? Perhaps I am being considered? Perhaps I need some coffee?

I will just put it this way, unless my carrier or another carrier offers me a cheap one to sign a contract, or if there is a developer program (I would request to be part of it), I don't see myself running out to spend $650 for "this device". So this may be the end for ole pb on the maemo ride. I feel sad actually, but at the same time, its almost like losing your job. Suddenly this whole world of options and ideas comes flowing in. Where will I be 6 months from now? Will I be hacking on a maemo device, a pandora console, maybe its time for a true MID?

The unknown is always exciting :D:D:D

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

penguinbait & co: relax and concentrate on the real stuff. Everything will be fine. :)

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

It's not always all about you z... :D
I'm serious about the threads and the device codes. Please don't make me search to prove you wrong. :)

...and yet we have multiple threads with many posts about marketing and how to make word of the N900 go viral. :rolleyes:

What I am trying to say is it is a dang lottery now anyway if the way karma is calculated keeps changing. :eek:

What I am also trying to say is that we now have or will soon have many more members. Not all of them will be developers. I also suspect, from my casual observations, that perhaps some recipients of previous developer devices may not have developed a dang thing... again a lottery for Nokia and this community over intended results.


BTW, I betcha everyone of those new members who happen to snag a free device will keep coming back. And if the device is as hot as those who got a free one so far say it is, I doubt all but the winners will go away.

I guess its time to figure out what we want this community to be... a secret club house with shibboleths and pressure to maintain the status quo or an inclusive group that represents the vanguard of a movement that may effect the users of many future devices.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

It's fun how you're desperate to get new device for doing software. I thought that the whole idea of open source is to make software for fun, improving skills and for peace on the planet. But it seems that inside each oss desperado there is good'ol commercial developer with strive for money and then more money.
Nokia doesn't owe you anything and you're ****ing poor Quim's brain, asking him and nokia to give you new n900 for some reason. Cool down, people, if there is a chance to give developers discount - ofcourse Nokia will use it.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

OSS isn't only for free software afaik. Nothing wrong with wanting to sell something. Its about agility and common interest of making something work well.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Apparently worth repeating.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Good, that ship has sailed away long ago and no longer needs to be brought up.

Maybe I didn't notice it but I don't remember it changing anytime recently. Please point it out to me if it has.

Despite the name, not everyone handed a device was expected to develop something but they are expected to continue to contribute in some positive manner to Maemo, be it through testing/bug tracking, feedback, being an idea person, etc... Not everyone has to be or is expected to be a developer.

But the goal isn't to just simply get people to simply come back but to get them to contribute positively to Maemo. (Maybe that's what you mean when you say "coming back", it's not easy to tell. If so, ignore the above.)

First, you're complaining that we're changing things too much, such as karma calculations and now you're complaining that we're trying to keep everything the same... in the very same post. What?

Nothing secret's going on. Everything's out in the open as far as we know. Some currently serving council members are purposely stepping down to allow new blood to come in. Council meetings and agendas are posted to the wiki, completely open to one and all. How exactly is that being "a secret club house" applying "pressure to maintain the status quo" in any way, shape or form?

This is all getting absurd.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

First off I'm not complaining... just stating what I think would be obvious to a casual observer. (we have many of them now, BTW)

Second off... I could give a rats *** for a free device. I paid my money and believe I got value for my purchase. :)

...and BTW changing the rules in mid game to ensure a predetermined outcome IS protecting the status quo. (Take it from someone who grew up with older brothers :p )

... again, I do not know if this is the case, I have only stated how I beleive it may appear.
How I see things may be different then the way you see things.

Also... I'm not getting heated here and I'm not trying to protect anyones position...

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Yeah, you probably do have a completely different viewpoint here because I haven't even got a clue who you're even refering to when you say someone's trying to protect the status quo.

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Nokia PUSH N900. Now open for submissions..

http://blogs.nokia.com/pushn900/

Re: N900 device program / developer, promoter discount?
 

Then you shall remain clueless if after rereading my posts in this thread you still believe I'm somehow referring to an individual...:cool: