[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Maemo Alarm/Notifier Interface

[From: Dave Neuer]

On 1/16/06, Igor Stoppa <igor.stoppa at nokia.com> wrote:
>
> That's not really desired in a consumer device.

I can see I'm going to run a risk here of alienating myself early from
the Nokia employees on the list, as I keep coming to this same point
when reading a lot of the posts here, and think it still remains an
open question (hopefully my comments will be received in the
enthusiastic and constructive light with which they're intended):

Is the 770 a consumer device? I mean _right_now_, is it a hit w/
consumers? How many "internet appliances" have made it in the
marketplace? Larry Ellison would be a rich man if that whole paradigm
were as valuable to consumers as tech pundits think ;-)

>
> These small details make the difference between a "device for hackers
> only" and a device that can leverage the benefits of running linux and
> yet provide a good user experience even to the regular users.

Well, 10 years ago, PC's running linux were "device[s] for hackers
only." Now companies run parellel virtualized Linux instances on
massive big iron systems to run their businesses. Did we get to that
point because IBM massively invested early in making the
Linux-on-server user experience good?

It was possible in the firstplace to leverage the benefits of Linux
because it spent a decade as a _totally_ open platform for
experimentation. Those areas where it lagged, it often lagged
precisely because of the closed nature of some piece or other or
hardwre (think winmodems, think graphics, think <ahem> wireless).

If making a device for hackers isn't the "leverage" that attaches to
running linux, what is (besides low cost and OS vendor lock-in)?

I'm really interested in the answer of both Nokia people and other
developers to this question, but since I've brought it up more than
once on this list OT, I'll shut up about it now except to ask, is
anyone else interested in having the conversation, and if so, where?

Dave