A very interesting article as it basically clarifies the reason I WANT a N900, because its Linux based not merely "Linux Kernel" based.

I got stuck learning to code for Windows Mobile because every time I wanted to do something I found it was not supported in .NET mobile framework, or only half the information I want is in the registry with the other half somewhere else and no common index to tie them together. With a full Linux OS I am hoping things will be simpler, such as using command line tools and/or /proc to get information rather than having to rely on APIs and external libraries.

Of course another benefit is I want to learn Linux programming anyway and anything I write on Linux is easily portable across to Windows, but trickier going the other direction.

I can really see having a Linux PC in my pocket being hugely useful. Just playing with my iPod Touch jailbroken shows potential, but there is only so much you can do without risking breaking it because its not designed to give you access to its BSD innards.

I've written this article

Thanks for your feedback! This discussion, as well as discussions on Reddit and in my blog made me revise some of my opinions, especially my look on Maemo application development. Now it's obvious that Qt should be used for developing new Maemo (and Symbian OS) applications. I've updated blog post to reflect this opinion and listed each platform advantages, extracted from insightful comments here


As a side-note, as much as I like Android development platform (seriously, it's super!), the geek within sympathizes Maemo. The idea of a smartphone, powered by full Linux distro is a pure joy for hard-core Linux user like me.

Still, the ideal situation for smartphone market as a whole, developers and end-users would be healthy competition between a few major platforms, not a single platform dominance. Maemo and Android are both open-source and overly good operating systems, so it will be good if they become those dominating platforms, not killing each other, but competing in equilibrium for years, bringing innovation along the way.