[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] Lovin' the Maemo Community

[From: anthony.hand at nokia.com]

Hi, folks!

 

I'm a user interface designer in the Enterprise Solutions unit in Boston
- far away and removed from the folks who are in charge of the Nokia 770
somewhere in Finland. (Unfortunately!) I _personally_ love the device
and think it's wicked cool. A handful of my co-workers here in Boston
are also big fans.

 

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I'm so glad there's such a great
community of talented people working to improve the Maemo OS and create
compelling apps to run on it. I wish I could contribute more myself, but
although I'm a hobbyist programmer in my spare time, I only know C#.
Perhaps someday the Mono project can get ported to Maemo, too - wouldn't
that be cool?

 

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but is there someplace where
projects post talent needs? Perhaps I can still contribute in some way
with my user experience design and usability skills - unofficially and
in my spare time. (My day job is related to designing software for
Eseries phones.) If you need a helping hand, please give me a buzz
directly.

 

BTW, and again, this is my _personal_ opinion, but I think it's great
validation of this market space that Sony has released the Mylo and
Microsoft is releasing the Origami. I think the Maemo platform has
greater potential and is more exciting because it's open that those
guys. The goods news is probably that Sony and Microsoft will do a lot
to help develop the market overall for Internet tablet/PDAs, and the
Maemo platform will surely benefit. 

 

Another comment regarding recent requests for more transparency from
Nokia on the roadmap. Note that I have *NO IDEA* what's going on because
I'm far, far away from things here in Boston and this is my _personal_
opinion... 

 

Upstairs they're developing the new Open Source browser for the S60
release 3 devices. The core of the OSS browser is the same as Apple's
Safari, as most of you probably know, and it's wicked cool. It's a
quantum leap forward for browsing on the severely resource constrained
mobile phones. Folks should keep in mind that Nokia has been gingerly
stepping up to take active roles in more open source projects, the OSS
browser and Maemo being two prime examples. With the OS browser, Nokia
is deeply committed to developing the project and honoring the spirit of
the open source aspect of it. But given the company's general lack of
experience with big OSS projects like this, I think you'll hear OSS
browser leaders talk about the learning curve involved. Part of what
those folks are trying to do is get the OSS browser to a suitable level
of maturity before opening up the OS portions - and then working with
Apple to manage/coordinate/nurture the community contributions, which is
also a big effort. (BTW, I think the OSS portions were recently
published.) 

 

I think I've heard on this board, also, that there's been a learning
curve for the Nokians involved in Maemo. I think the community should
definitely continue to push Nokia on issues that are important to the
community. That pressure is a key channel for how Nokia as a company
learns to be a good OSS community citizen. But also keep in mind that
Nokia feels strong competitive pressures and is still a BIG COMPANY that
can sometimes act very slowly. Remember the shiny new Mylo and Origami
products mentioned above? Nokia has to walk a fine line between
transparency and tipping off the *evil* closed source competitors too
early. (Just kidding on the evil part!) Nokia probably won't always find
the right balance there, but that's why it's important for the discourse
to remain _open_ and _civil_ on all sides... 

 

Anyways, thanks again to everyone involved on this project. I love
dropping by the Applications page on the wiki from time to time to see
what's new! It's really exciting to see a young platform like this get
stronger and more compelling every day...

 

Cheers,

Anthony Hand

 

 

 

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