[maemo-community] N9 device seeding activity

[From: Quim Gil]

On 04/19/2012 11:53 AM, ext Tim Samoff wrote:
> Hi,
>
> In playing Devil's Advocate, though...

Fair enough.  :)  Let's see.

>
> What will this actually do for Maemo or Meego or Meego Harmattan or
> Nokia...?
>
> I think it's an amazing gesture that will most likely spawn a number of
> community efforts (which is a good thing), but what's the ultimate point
> of the offering?

The two points stated in my first email? More and better Qt 4 mobile 
apps and a first wave of mobile developers trying to compile their apps 
to Qt 5 and see what happens. More apps for current Qt 5 users and 
better quality for the Qt 5 libraries.

Honestly, why is it bad to have ad-hoc action driven by a couple of 
tangible short term goals, executed in a couple of months? Followed by a 
review after the Summer to see what people actually did and how useful 
the activity actually was.


> Will Nokia see a bunch of impassioned developers and change their
> decisions about the future of Meego Harmattan?

Do we need to turn every community activity in a tech blog post 
discussion?  :)  A N9 device seeding program can focus on the N9 users 
out there using the SDK and the store(s) for the N9.

If someone wants to play wider there are other Qt friendly platforms 
around. If someone want to play further there is bleeding edge Qt 5.

If someone wants to simply argue or rant about then s/he is free not 
joining the program and put the energies in some TMO threads, elsewhere 
or nowhere.

The alternative is not doing this program - which I have exposed in my 
first mail.


> I understand the impetus to get people developing with Qt5, etc., but
> will these devices actually do that? Or, will they just get people to
> stick with the Meego Harmattan platform and not think of the future?

The little I have learned about software development is that it is one 
of the best activities to think about the future. :)

Honestly, if you want to be fit for Qt 5 the best you can do is to be 
fit for Qt 4 mobile (Qt Quick / Qt WebKit).


> Qt5+ is, of course, the goal of something like this -- and it helps that
> it's cross-platform -- but what are your device recipients actually
> going to do with their devices? Will they really go whole hog into Qt
> development?

I hope so. This is not a discount shop.

> Remember, I'm playing Devil's Advocate here... Personally, I really like
> the idea -- as ideas like this have always reinvigorated the community.
> But, is it something that will benefit our community in the long-run?

We are getting philosophical here, but my take in long term strategy is 
that a succession of short term successes should lead to a long term 
success. There must be other ways but I'd rather have fun with this 
approach. Anyway, this is an open community so probably the only real 
strategic approach.


> Here's what I would like to see come from something like this:
>
> A certain (large) percentage of community developers become really good
> Qt developers and stop harping on what Maemo/Meego is/was. If this
> doesn't happen, then I think that the offering should be considered a
> failure.

"Now you're talking!" - said the Qt Project guy.


> We don't need more people putting effort into prolonging Maemo/Meego. We
> need people who are willing to put time and effort into forging a future
> for the community, be it linux mobile, or something else.

A future... and a present!

> Yes, I've been ranting a lot lately -- apologies. It's been quite a
> strange experience to see the Maemo community going through what it's
> going through right now... Déjà vu. What I'd really like to see is a new
> direction with new prospects and new community members.
>
> Something like what Quim is suggesting could help. But, it could also
> hinder.

PS: that was my dose of debating with devil's advocates - and only 
because I owe a beer or two to Tim. There are many re-run rants that can 
come in relation to this program but I'm not planning to engage in any 
of those - unless it is a new argument worth addressing. That is why I 
started asking whether you want this program or not. If you want it then 
it's your program. Nokia will fund the devices and their distribution.

--
Quim