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	zerojay	2009-08-15 , 18:23
	Posts: 2,669 \| Thanked: 2,555 times \| Joined on Apr 2007	#50

Originally Posted by GeraldKo

The unique issue here is that if Maemo and the software that runs on it does not attract enough users, then the hardware itself disappears. That doesn't just mean the loss of the hardware but the loss of the ability to have an open-source environment on such nice hardware. There is no corresponding threat to Linux on PCs. None of us are able to build a pocket-sized Linux computer like we can build a desktop PC. As a result, [I]"FOSS purism" is possibly a threat to NITs in a way that it isn't a threat to Linux/FOSS in general.

If, by "the hardware itself disappears", you mean the tablets themselves, yes, that's possible... but ARM has been around since 1983 and is more popular than ever with a good 90-95% of mobile hardware using it. Even if Nokia never puts out another tablet ever again, it doesn't mean Maemo dies. It just means that it'll mutate to work in other places... of course, assuming people are motivated enough to do so.

So while I agree with you, I think you're slightly overstating the threat of that happening.

Last edited by zerojay; 2009-08-15 at 18:33.

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