[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Maemo 2.0 API changes, signals and properties (was: ANN: Eagle)

Wed Apr 19 22:39:38 EEST 2006

Hi,

On Wed, 2006-04-19 at 12:10 -0700, Shawn Gordon wrote:
<snip 770 praise>

> I've got to say that this review 
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/15/AR2006041500125.html 
> is pretty much spot on, much as I like the device, from a reviewer 
> perspective there is nothing I disagree with in this review, I had 
> all the same experiences other than the network connection one.  

There are indeed very valid points mentioned in the review. However I
think we need to change something in the attitude that is taken towards
this product. This is meant to be an open device, so some compromises
had to be made. AFAIK it would be impossible to distribute the device
with wmv codecs without some complicated agreements/demands from MS. And
honestly I really want to avoid any DRM stuff.

Also his complaints about flash are annoying. Nokia cannot help it that
Macromedia is plain evil and writes hugely inefficient software. Their
flash plugin eats up to 90% of cpu on my old P3 800Mhz laptop, which is
absolutely horrible for the amount of displaying it needs to do. Also
they do not support recent flash for GNU/Linux. It even gets worse if
you look at flash support for ARM. I don't even think the reviewers
websites would be viewable on a normal PDA either. On top of that I
recommend anyone to read the EULA that comes with the flash plugin.
Personally it kept me from installing the bloody plugin, and I probabely
never will again unless I really need too. I hope that GNASH will be in
working order soon.

> With 
> the lack of software, it's really not clear what you should do with 
> this device.  Nokia (or maybe it was just the press) has made it seem 
> that things like VoIP will be coming any day now, but they 

Also I don't know if expecting a PIM suite was realistic on a device
called Internet tablet. Nokia never marketed this as a PDA. Though the
reviewer did look at it as it were one. And who needs a PIM now that we
have google/yahoo calendar... For the rest it is perfectly adequate as
an internet device (at least for me). I would just love official ogg
endorsement.

> haven't.  My company has all sorts of cross platform VoIP solutions, 
> I would have ported it to the 770 months ago but I didn't want to 
> compete with a free solution included with the device, but nothing 
> has come out yet.

Well that was your choice. And you can hardly blame Nokia for you not
porting that application. And to be honest bringing out one of these
solutions might have been beneficial for the whole development story. 

> My whole intent in getting involved with the conversations today is 
> to try to do something productive because I'd really like to see the 
> 770 (or its offspring) succeed.

Well I think everybody is waiting for some constructive action. I think
there has been enough conversation. This is an open device, with a
starting community. So if you come with a good idea, a tech-demo and a
clear plan I am sure you will find people supporting it to make it a
success.

Regards,

Philippe

-- 