It's funny for me to see someone cite context when opposing Ari's remarks, given that they are apparently overlooking the most significant context of all: Nokia's direction.

Where has the momentum been the past few years? Moving TOWARD openness, not away from it!

Nokia is not solely responsible for the proprietary hurdles that OSS runs up against when trying to embrace mobile devices. We didn't invent Flash, iTunes, or even all of the hardware that goes into our products. And the current paradigms beholden to intellectual property management are not going to vanish overnight. Ari is just alerting OSS developers to the collision between their idealism (nothing wrong with it per se) and the harsh realities of commercialism... and suggesting they try to work within contraints that cannot (yet, if ever) be changed.

I expect Nokia to improve its products, and to me that means more open . If they aren't interested in making an improved product, when upgrade time comes around, I'll look elsewhere.

Unbelieveable.

I seem to be typing coherently, yet the responses appear to ignore what I say.

Ok, let's troubleshoot: does everyone see US English in my posts?

No puedo hablar inglés

sprechen ze deutsche mb?

<Insert witty one line comment that doesn't further the debate>

As dsg haFdhds yghYrs ujh65ez5 wR5ewaY HA Shsgfdj JSysryZ ?

Kein aber babelfish tut

Thanks for the link.

Mr. Perens is clearly a teacher. We have heard more of this approach during the last decades. Bright lines are simple, they clarify and consolidate the standing situation on a given (technological or functional) level. Fixed ! Thank you very much Mr. Consultant. Excellent Job done.

Reality has learned however, certainly in governments, that stagnation is too often the result. Governments have been too late with regulations, for example, during the last decades. That’s what Bright Lines can do.
Industries have tried very hard last years to innovate the way their companies work: These days every worker in this industry (electronics) understands that he has to educate and innovate himself every single day: or else ….. Long Life Jobs: not anymore !

I also know from my own experience that Standardization Organizations (both institutional or not) are loosing ground rapidly. The links and relations between standards and/or technologies are getting more complex every day. Standardization is still usefull but also incomplete. Developers of new technologies in new countries (Asia) don’t bother very much about authorization from the other side of the world. (How could they: If they are calling a US or EU company, they will be answered by a Call Centre next door! All languages and dialects included even for TexRat: Howdie ???))

We all learned long ago that complexity should be put in models, mostly in boxes in layers and lines. Makes the challenges (US) or problems (EU) and the respective solutions easier to understand and to manage.

However Change is needed. The challenges are too complex these days and can’t be put in boxes with bright lines. Also globalization really exists: See the Standards and Call Centres above. I am sure China and India will have their own standards soon. And the market will use them !

I think Mr. Jaaski understands that we have to overcome those lines and layers.

A new approach could be found -as far as I understand the Mr. Jaaski’s Walkaround Internet – in “the bringing together” (combining not linking) of technologies (all layers) and capabilities (all “functionalities / usabilities”) in an open environment. Downside: Difficult to manage and difficult to control.

Therefore we need to change to a new creative environment where several distinctive communities cooperate as close (or as loose) and as long as they each think is practical, useful or achievable.

This is where the Open Source Community comes in.

Working under Architecture and guided by commonly agreed Rules or Standards, but with its own free trial and error mentality (find better words please).
Open Source means (hopefully) more creativity and the quality can be as good or even better than in a “rigorously controlled” commercial environment. Control is and has always been limited by definition.

As far as I read from Mr Jaaski's scrutinized speech (from the ZD Article) he was trying to say :
Ok OS guys and girls: Now we know its' difficult .. . we have to educate each other.
Nothing more. I think educate is the right word here. Please note: the educating is bi-directional.

I think he also tried to emphasize that cooperation requires a common ground and an ‘agreed way ahead’ and finally he tried to spell out that somebody has to buy all this: the main stream customer.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen (Senior or not ): Cooperation means compromizing : Are you prepared ?????

Abel.

PS: Maybe Mr Perens is a nice guy, but I wouldn’t hire him if I wanted to innovate an industry or government. Innovation –not stagnation - is The Word today.
…. On the other hand: I am sure Mr. Perens does very well what he is paid for (...could be useful in the Tablet Team).


….. (Tablet Team: heard that before ?)

I don't think that people are ignoring you (or the context). It the perception that this as a desire by Nokia to slow down that progress towards OSS nirvana so that the OSS community can meet Nokia half-way so that the existing industry doesn't have to change. That is unpalatable to some (most?) OSS advocates and you can expect them to pull that old-and-comfy-business-model-donkey forward fairly forcefully using whatever tools they have at their disposal (rants, threats to buy elsewhere, etc.). I think the following quote is applicable here:

Nokia's customers have both a carrot and a stick but the only forewarning of a bad decision is the stick (rants) whereas Nokia doesn't get the carrot (people's money and kudos) until it is far too late to do anything about it. So it is in Nokia's best interests to listen to those "unreasonable" people.

If Nokia had less inertia, they wouldn't have to pull so hard. I think it is understood that they are a big company and with that comes a lack of agility. However, that is no excuse to pull them less. It is a reason to pull *harder*.