Yes, and I've seen this. I even commented in your post about it that I like the idea.

Here's my problem: Looking at that there is nothing I can just grab and "do". It's all theory, great theory mind you - but with nothing tangible to actually work on right now.

RPM packaging? Qt? Usability? ... On what? An integrated reporting system - GREAT - integrated into what?

I mean.. currently we have a shells only barebones image released for MeeGo .. but not much else to "integrate" anything into.. there's just nothing there.

So yes - as soon as there is something I can actually grab and do .. I'll be more than happy to help any aspect of MeeGo that I can.. (skills are an expert in system administration/security, some QT development experience (by no means an expert, but I learn quick), and some RPM package management (again, I learn quickly)).

Making pretty pictures, and activating or engaging a community are not in my lists of stuff I do. I watch you do that.. and then I giggle because people suck .

(I think you do an amazing job at community projects Tex.)

My problem is: What I need is someone to point at me and go "You, Install MeeGo on (qemu, n900, whatever) - load software X, and see if you can fix bug Y".. And I'd be off.

Crawling through bugs.meego.org picking things out that I might be able to fix only to then realize it got fixed by an "internal" dev.. meh. I'll wait till there's a more stable base to work from. (Yes, I know, browsing bugs.meego is a perfectly legitimate way to help meego, I'm just somewhat on the lazy side right now and don't know the whose who of every corner of MeeGo).

Anyway: I do love your ideas in that Article Tex, but unfortunately I just don't see anything I can help with yet until things are a little more tangible.

I don't want to peel this too far off topic, so I'll just say that if nothing else anyone contributing to research is highly valuable! A project coordinator can't be everywhere or do everything! And I'd say that 90% of my work has been Googling: hunting up best practices, tracking down synergistic projects, reading whitepapers and extracting useful bits, etc.

And that applies on topic too, I'm sure. No doubt Stskeeps can identify! Although I suspect he knows all, anyway.

And as with every community project, I could suuure use help making things tangible! That's mainly what I'm asking for help with-- and anyone who can google/read/edit can help.

Back on topic... I already have a (mostly silent) place for this discussion...

Are these redistributable?

Will Nokia services work on this "hacker" edition of MeeGo? Ovi, Maps, Messaging, etc?

that is the big question.

the way i understand it is:

wait for nokia to release harmattan

attempt to bundle open meego base with nokia harmattan apps and see if it works.

I don't get why people keep asking about vendor-specific services with respect to MeeGo. If there is a community release of MeeGo that doesn't have the backing of Nokia, then Nokia services probably won't work with it.

If Nokia decides to cooperate, so be it, but like with Cyanogen and Google, if the license disallows it then only people who have the software already will be able to use it.

Because vendor-specific services are what can make or break the experience on the device for end-users.

Services like OVI Maps, Comes with Music (hopefully), Pay-per-view TV (like the N8 is going to have), support in Ovi Suite for easier management of the device, Ovi store for games and software, Nokia Messaging, Mail for Exchange... etc etc...

Then they'll get that support, but only on a device with a vendor-supported install.

Just so you know the difference:
Vendor supported
Community supported

ALL of those are vendor supported. We could jack the code in Android for some Community supported MfE, but otherwise ALL of that is Nokia specific and has -nothing- to do with MeeGo proper.

If Nokia wants to make them open enough that the Community can support (or install) them then sure, but those are not parts of MeeGo. We'll know more once actual, vendor supported MeeGo devices arrive.

You may not like to hear it, but that's how it is.

Unfortunately there are so many things being said/posted today and it is not as simple as black and white.

Here is a post from harry on other thread regarding Meego hardware adaptation for N900.

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=675533&postcount=4

From this post, I tend to believe that some closed-source components might be included in future Meego releases (for N900). While harry and everybody from Nokia/Meego team are trying to give useful information here, people are getting more and more confused with each post.

In terms of "closed-source" components, he is referring -exclusively- to bits for hardware compatibility, specifically the dubiously-closed BME (the specs for the chip it controls are easily available) and the SGX drivers for graphics.

People are somehow building up MeeGo as having support for all of the Nokia services included, which is entirely not the case as MeeGo is not vendor-specific.