There's a wild difference between "dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator" and offering tiers of capability to the end user from the same platform.

The mobile industry is choosing the first and using various forms of encryption and DRM to enforce it.

I do like GeneralAntilles' way of putting it (paraphrased): "Android is an open source black hole."

Sure, but both iOS and WP7 totally negate the value of making anything for them open source.

Which is neither here nor there.

In the current mobile space, Open Source is the enemy. It defies control by corporate entities and gives devices too long a lifespan. It threatens DRM and makes carriers unhappy.

And who are you to simply accept what is generally just shoved upon the masses? To just accept the way things go per corporate edict vs. actually trying to steer things the way you want?

There is no "adapting" to platforms like WP7 or iOS. Going those ways means that, for many of us who want open, unrestricted platforms, you must give up everything you want and compromise your ideals completely. There is no "open source" on those devices without breaking the EULA and ToS. Open is the enemy on those platforms.

Ok, one quick and last reply here (it's bed time in my time zone...): I agree with all of your point also. That is the sad side of it all: it's not black and white. However, I think sooner or later those commercial multinationals also someday will ease the restrictions. Problem is -as you wrote already- open source and closed platforms see eachother as the enemy. Harsh words are said every time again, on conferences, meetings and in the news from both sides. I think this is short minded, from either side. The truth lies -as always- somewhere in the middle.

What I said before: start some new platform in the spirit of maemo.org. But try to make it mixed from the beginning on. Have representatives from all closed source platforms in it also. Talk about eachothers visions, ideas, wishes. And I am quite sure the differences are not even so big. It's mainly being afraid of the Big Unknown of eachother. Keep in mind that all the big companies are also filled with people who are somehow also enthusiast about what they're doing.

Finally open up, start talking with eachother. I am quite sure 'something wonderful will happen'. Now I go sleep and dream about a good phone with a lot of available software :-)


Regards,

Ronald.

Just buy a dozen today!

@RonNL: you have confused "open" with "free-ride", also mistaken that 'average joe' would not benefit from an 'open' system. I would not be surprised that more than 50% of the people in the so-call 'average joe' group would not even blink an eye, if they were told that they would get more functions by 'jailbreak', 'rooting', or apply whatever method/procedure it is necessary to their device.

by the way, for viewing powerpoint stuff, shouldn't document-to-go be a good choice, even though it costs some money? please keep in mind that you HAVE to pay for such app on other platform anyway - so what is the real problem(ie. both N900 and other offers you solutions to your issue, with N900 you actually have choice of picking open-sourced app)

cheers,

Because people like you (and me) didn't help Nokia's bottom line. If people like you (and me) did amount up to a big enough market, Nokia would have pushed Maemo, finished MeeGo and everything would have been ok months, if not years ago.

It's irresponsible to begin to believe that this community, no matter how vocal and prolific in solving Nokia's problems are honestly a factor in anything that happened in the last few months. If so, explain MeeGo being announced a few months after the N900 was released. Explain how MeeGo hasn't made it out yet. Explain this move to WP7 by Nokia.

You can't. You can speculate, you can fume, you can be all upset as you want to be.

But the average joe just got shafted like this community did.

And now, the average joe has many other places to find their jollies meanwhile we have none (at the moment).

That's how much you (and me) counted. Not at all.

And I already ****ing know you have me on your ignore list. Don't care about that either.

Of course it is entirely possible (as a theory), but first you have to create the phone for many Joe Averages to buy so that it is financially sustainable to continue developing and putting resources in the OS for geeky end users to try and push the boundaries around it.

Understand this - first comes Joe Average (whether we like it or not). They have to pay and buy phones otherwise it wont get done.

I have been seeing this same trend with Linux on PDA's, tablets or phones. Niche products with Linux on it simply die fast unless they is a strong market.

I used the Zaurus (Linux PDA's) and sadly it was the same story. A bunch of geeks and nerds buying a few millions (at best) devices can't sustain the financial viability in corporate companies. Look at it from the company's view - they have to justify the money being spent in returns earned.

I think this week is just a wakeup call to everyone here who thought Nokia cared about them and that the internet tablet line was made for them.

That was all ********. Nokia wants the mainstream crowd, and the internet tablets were ventures to get into them.

Oh sure, Nokia has blown the open source horn for a while, but that was always just a way to get some free software and shoehorn some development off Nokia's clearly incapable hands for a time when they felt ready to launch Maemo. Clearly that launch never happened and now never will happen. They've fallen too far behind and it is, and always has been, their own damn fault for not phasing Symbian out a LONG time ago and putting all those resources into Maemo/Meego variants.

I'm a lover of my WP7 and I use Windows 7 on my desktop, but I still love using linux Mint and I loved my n900 and I was looking forward to a cross-platform Qt future. I'm very upset about the future of Qt.

As for the rest of it, I guess I was never under any illusions.

Nokia doesn't, and never has, cared about some open source handset dream. Quite frankly I'm a little surprised that open source people keep relying on established corporations with proprietary histories to build their dream handsets for them. Get behind the open hardware initiatives, because thats the only place your dream is going to happen.

Its hard, I know, realizing finally that Nokia doesn't love you. Breakups are hard. You just have to realize the special relationship you though you had, actually never was.

I'm with the OP. I think an open source phone with all the abilities of desktop linux would be awesome. I'm not going to wait around for it though at the expense of enjoyment of the, quite frankly, amazing things other companies like Microsoft and Google are making.