OK, let's limit it to end-user installable applications through the system's own package management which act as the native applications look.

So, on Maemo if you want to include a port it has to be Hildonised, power mgmt aware, installable from Extras and have a UI suited to the form factor of a Maemo 5 lead device.

...but it is only €5, so I'm not too worried about getting the terms exact ;-)

Self-hosting certainly has lots of hack value (I remember salivating years ago when reading about OpenBSD hackers running "make world" on zauri in their pockets), but not exclusively please. In most cases your development workstation will be much more powerful than the target device so cross-compilation is more desirable. Also, an x86 target is still essential for some things (you can't run valgrind on arm for example).

I noticed the scratchbox2-based SDK+ released 1.0 a month ago, anyone tried that yet?

I hope you note my sense of humor when comparing the Palm Pre App Store with Maemo 5 extras-devel. As said, you can't compare.

My point is that 'ease of development' is one important factor to get a big amount of applications, but not the only one. Sales volumes and the existence of a payment system count as much.

I won't take your bet since it's an unfair one: the Palm Pre is already selling while a Maemo 5 device hasn't been launched. I'm happy inviting you to €5 of your preferred drink in Amsterdam while we keep this conversation going.

More this Saturday.

Indeed. However, I think it's an attitude that's been seen a bit too often (not from you): "Maemo's too different from iPhone OS/Android/webOS for the situations to be comparable". They have better (or certainly seem to have better) development tools. This makes them attractive platforms as a developer.

Fortunately, we're relying on you to take care of the increase in sales volumes; but there's a two-edged sword here. Apple are now advertising their devices on the basis of the additional applications, after all.

I look forward to reading about the details afterwards.

I remember developing for the Zaurus using QT and PyQT more specifically.

I think that was a killer development platform - giving a wide variety of IDE support and - even if the target was a Linux machine (the Zaurus), you could still develop in Windows or Linux. So this argument that a a Linux target requires a Linux dev environment always doent hold. I understand for Maemo, being GTK based and to write native apps that is a plus, but to make any development platform ubiqitous, it should allow to develop in a cross-platform way.

Of course the final compile has to be for the target platform.

I would be very happy with Maemo to have a way to develop and run on a cross-platform supported system - so as to write and develop on Windows on which I am on most of the day. At the end of my development, I switch all my files to a linux machine and compile and build the stuff for the target environment. That would be a great solution.

And this is what PyQt allowed. I am looking forward to when Harmattan release will have QT support.

The other thing that I enjoyed with the Zaurus was that I could write an app for the Zaurus in Python and QT and a "sister" app for the S60 using Python for S60 - such that the two complimentary apps could "talk" and exchange data (it was a travel app). So on the bigger screened handheld you could have edit and additional functions, while the smaller phone app periodically read the latest data (over BT) from the handheld system and worked as a instant display app on the phone (when you are running to catch a train, better to whip out the phone rather than the handheld).

That is where I always wanted to go with app development - make complimentary apps for mobile needs with extensible function on different supported platforms. Where is that dream possible with Maemo ? Maybe Harmattan ?

Edit :
And to note : I see myself as a hobbyist developer for Linux, wioth most time spent on Windows (like Texrat) - not too knowledgeable on the innards of GTK/GObject and all such environments, but again interested enough to learn something a bit easy and fast. So this simplistic wish as above is all from that viewpoint.

Doesn't Palm distribute a VirtualBox copy with each SDK? That'll take care of Windows, OS X or the rest of obscure x86 operating systems users.

What it needs (IMHO) is a good, well documented in-built language which comes with the machine. E.g. like OPL on the Psions.

Python is the best bet for the tablets, with a link to a nice how to get programming page or the like, which explains how to create basic GUIs, how to access databases, etc. (/me remembers the stuff that people used to use OPL for).

Great comment.

Tim

Maybe nokia could fund a maemo widgetset for lazarus (like it alread has a windows ce/mobile one), so I could finally play with the tablet, and using a sane language and a wonderful ide to boot

No need to wait for harmattan. You can do PyQt on the NITs today ! Diablo is unfortunately a bit of a stepchild in that regard, but PyQt *is* available for it (for users willing to clone to SD/internal). But from Fremantle/Mer on, it's plain sailing.