[Disclaimer: This was written bitter, sad and depressed about the current state of s/w on the N810]

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my N810 and I think this is a great community but after having been a NIT user for 2-3 months now I can't but to feel the below...

We all love free. Community driven development. Sense of self-empowered and independent from the big, evil corporations.
Thing is..when it comes to a technical device like the NIT that derives its value from functionality from software applications I feel that it may well be a failing strategy.

Individual development is fail?
The vast majority of applications for the NIT seems to be developed by individuals.
While passion and being part of a community is wonderful - a single developer for an application is also a recipe for disaster.
The person gets bored, moves on to something else, 'real life' takes over, he has to sell his device, freemantle looks shiny - you name it - and poof...the development is in 9/10 cases now dead.

Forget about future enhancements, upgrades, support when issues comes up.

As a user I get frustrated and have to spend time looking for another solution, if I can even find it.
In the end, with enough such experiences the feeling that the device is made up of amateur (as in non-paid), unsupported and aging applications may very well be enough to drive current and future users away.

I can't count the number of times I've come across a user-developed application that seems really great...but where the development was abandoned a long time ago.

Had the application(s) been developed by a company/organization that have a contingency plan for the applications (and developers) in their portfolio it might not had been free - but it may have made for a much better user experience.

So where is Nokia?
I love(d) Nokia and it hurts me to see how, at least to me, they have failed to support the NITs. I can't see how they have not continued to keep up relationships with the software developers of pre-installed applications that in way were selling points of the device (Skype just being one example) so that new releases of these applications are made available.
If the manufacturer of a product tells me to F off for long enough, I may well say the same right back at them and take my money somewhere else - and that goes for future products as well.

So it's all bad huh?
No of course not.

I love seeing - and in some cases using - the amazing applications that some very smart people have come up with here. The latest Google Voice application is a great example of that.

Thing is, I have already fallen into a mindset of that;
a) I am beta testing any application I install,
b) Developers are really enthusiastic - but in x months they'll be on to something else and the app will fade away.

So what to do then Mr Smarty-pants?

1) Put pressure on Nokia to support the base applications that were part of the reason we [I] bought the device in the first place (Skype just one example).

2) Be open to selling/purchasing applications. There are tens of iPhone applications I can think of that I would pay for to have on my NIT.
People should be more willing to sell their applications. If you have committed to accept payment for your development three things can/will happen;
a) The developer, gains a sense of responsibility to maintain the application and not drop it as soon as something seems more fun,
b) If the application is good and gains a user-base it may very well be possible and even desirable to hand it over/sell it to someone should the initial developer have to phase out,

3) Nokia should provide incentive to companies to develop [and sell] applications running on the NIT. I really feel that Nokia has let the device and its users out in the cold.

4) Specifically to developers here: Once you have a sufficient user-base - meaning a lot of people that really enjoy and use your application. Start taking some responsibility if you are the only person developing it. What is your contingency plan if you get bored with the application/NITs next week?
I don't know the answer to how to accomplish this but I feel that if the maemo.org community/board embraces user-developed applications some of the responsibility goes back there as well.
Maybe once an application has reached a certain popularity/download count it gets 'tagged' as a 'continuity application'. Source-code is shared and another developer gets tasked with being the 'support' person for that application should it be needed. I really don't know, all I know is that right now it's not working with the approach of;
[Developer]: "Look what I did!"

[Users]: "Oh man this is great. I luv it!" [Clicks thanks]

[Developer]: "Thanks! I'm working on SO many cool additions to it!"

[Users]: "Hey, it's been two months since I saw you post. Any news?"

[Developer]: [offline]


Things doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Enthusiast-driven freeware applications can co-exist with company owned and sold applications. The way it is now, is honestly a frikk'n mess.


Hey, bring that up on the Maemo summit

The NITs to this point haven't really been meant for mainstream audiences, so yeah.... you're going to have those issues.

The Fremantle device is the real test now. There's a lot more people excited for the next Maemo device than I've ever seen before. If there's a time for a Maemo device to go mainstream, this is it.

The contingency plan for when a developer is bored and moves on? Open source. If you want an app updated, go ahead and start working on it, or try to find someone that will.

(By the way, there's nothing wrong with not working on a program anymore if there's nothing else the developer wants to do with it. A program doesn't have to be new and still updated to be useful.)

Tell you what... the next application that stops being updated... you're going to be responsible for it. Oh, that's not fair? Well, it's not really fair to expect infinite support from the developer either if he's not interested in working on it anymore.

Let me ask you a similar question, but in reverse. Does non-(beer)-free fail for the same reasons ? Both commercial and free software development act/work differently on large projects, but surprisingly, for small applications, the two are quite similar in that regard (just replace 'get bored' with 'doesn't earn enough money'). There is no more guarantee you'll get a next/improved version of iTrinket no matter how much you liked it than there is guarantee to get a next version of a free mTrinket.

Actually, I think being opensource has one thing on its side. Time.
I think Maemo will snowball slowly into its major existance,.. like firefox, android, OO.o, Linux.. and the rest.

About that moving from enthusiastic start to boredom and lack of support...
From my point of view - take navicore for example... as I've seen the demo I'm not going to pay for it... it's simply not enough for me to be worth payin g for but - there's no update.
On the other side look at PC scene... did NERO came to the point of being "all included" suite because of user needs? I don't think so. They gained from their product and had to do something not to loose money. BUT - hey ... the first nero wouldn't be so popular if it was simply broken. And that's the way I see many (in general) OSS applications. The first release is far from being useful and - when it's "one man show" - the story ends.
Some say "do it yourself or find someone who will"... wake up - it's been long ago when users were all programmers.
I simply can't fix it and I don't know anybody who could do it for me (please John do it - a great number of people will PROBABLY be thankful). It's simply not that easy.
As some justification - try to convince Adobe to release PS for linux just because You want to use it on this OS.

Thanks, that's exactly my point.

Programming ISN'T easy, so I don't understand the "take, take, take" attitude some users have. If you want program X to be updated and the programmer isn't interested in doing it anymore (because, as you said yourself, programming just isn't that easy), either learn how to do it yourself or find people that will. And if you won't bother doing that, you probably don't really need that update that badly after all, do you?

If you are getting bored with your tablet, it's most likely because you bought it to be excited for the updates and new features rather than... you know... USING it.

Photoshop being commercial software pretty much invalidates your point. (By the way, how do you think we got official Flash Players on our tablets and on Linux and on FreeBSD? We asked Adobe.)

Form my experience the problem is that both models are treated as uniform and excahngeable, when, in fact, uniformly, they're not. A consequence of what you say can be seen exactly from this - server related stuff THRIVES in OSS, exactly because a comparably large part of the userbase IS able to contribute. But when your user audience is a group that has very low potential contributor density, you're in trouble.

I've said it before: the lone cowboy coding efforts are great for quick-and-dirty little apps that make something nicer or easier-- but they don't cut it for mainstream use. That requires TEAMS. Not necessarily teams of coders, but cross-functional teams that include some sort of official Maemo interface.

This is part of my proposed presentation for the Maemo Summit, which I will release whether I get sponsored to go or not. But not until October 10.

I don't think we should discuss this at this forum. It's up to Nokia executives to find out if it is or is not a failing strategy. What do we care if it is a failing strategy? Do you intend to "save" us by warning that it will fail, and we should get off the boat? Save yourself first then.

If there wasn't anything good about the NITs you wouldn't be here at this forum talking. Let's focus on what is good then...

The idea that a software needs to be always evolving with more and more enhancements and in a continuous development is a marketing trick. Programs can be a single tool that does a certain job and never changes much. Look at xchat for example. Conboy is an application I like much, and I don't expect to see any changes in it. What updates does Hex-a-hop need? Skype itself. It already calls. Great! No video... But that is not "our" fault.

The epitome of the frozen but still useful software is TeX, which received only bug fixes after the version 3.0... We need more durable software like this.

You should, that is good for the economy. Viva el mercado libre!

You think you can easily put pressure on a multi-billion dollar international corporation? And just because you bought am obscure product and some years later there are no cool upgrades? When you bought it, did they give you some kind of certificate that there would be new applications? Did they do anything illegal?

iPod owners are seeing their devices explode in their faces. Theses users are already having difficulty to put pressure on Apple over the subject. I don't really think we can complain much.

Can you even speak Finnish so we can try to swear them in their native language?

Is it forbidden to sell things for the NITs? There is a mapping application that is paid for, isn't it?

So you would be happier if Nokia put lots of restrictions in the development, because it would (in theory) attract professional "mercenary" developers? It looks to me a bit like making a step behind to give two steps ahead... Will it really work?

It's quite easy to receive donations via PayPal.

I don't think so, specially if he considers the money as a payment for the work he did, and not as an investment for future work... If I had a program, and people gave me money because of that program, I would not feel and kind of obligation to continue development, perhaps even to fix bugs... It's different, of course, from an actual software development contract.

BTW, look at the Apple Store, I've heard that some developers are having difficulties at publishing improved versions of their software!... I'm sure this is making some of these developers to become less concerned about making upgrades. So it's not that simple.

As I said before, sometimes a good program with a good user base means actually that there is no need for more development, because the application is simply "ready". A new version will become a new application that will have to conquer its new users...

Unless you are Micros~1 and you devise smart ways to force people to migrate to your new products (obs: the fact it didn't work well with Vista doesn't mean they didn't try!)

The world is a cold place. Living hurts. And few places are colder than Finland!!

They gave us a forum!... They give us employees that talk to us. That is a big deal. What else exactly can they give?... Create an app store? ok... But make the whole system as close as a Kindle that they can go inside and remove content sometimes? I am sure lots of mercenary developers would think that is cool, but that is not what I am looking for personally.

[QUOTE=silvermountain;311779]
[Developer]: "Look what I did!"
[Users]: "Oh man this is great. I luv it!" [Clicks thanks]
[Developer]: "Thanks! I'm working on SO many cool additions to it!"
[Users]: "Hey, it's been two months since I saw you post. Any news?"
[Developer]: [offline]
I think this complaint is quite fair, actually. But I don't think there is an easy solution to this. The FLOSS projects that overcome this problem do it a bit by luck, I think. The big free softwares out there survive by a natural selection, because they can gather enough resources to keep going... It would be great if we had a nice strategy to catalyze the resources and make more free software survive. But I don't know any concrete strategy for this. It's not money, the money thing only works when you have tons of users, and you manage to force them to give you the money (e.g. it's almost impossible to buy a computer without windows, and it's almost impossible to open certain proprietary file formats with no problems.)

Sorry for long post!

As members of a community, yes, we care. It isn't 100% up to Nokia.