[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] OS2006 roadmap

[From: Gopi Flaherty]

On Jan 11, 2007, at 3:05 PM, Ty Hoffman wrote:
> Exactly right. I was thinking the same thing...If I do end up  
> buying an 800, I'll damn well try to make my apps run on both. And  
> in many cases this shouldn't be too much of a pain.


It's APIs such as the GPS one that make me fearful. I think that  
Nokia should divide up things into:

1. APIs changes or replacements that fix bugs or missing features in  
pre-existing ones. These should _absolutely_ find their way to the 770.

2. New APIs that add extra features, but aren't really hardware  
related. For example, GPS support was added to the N800. Sure, it's  
an extra feature, but if it's not on the 770, it's going to start  
breaking apps. There's no technical reason not to make it work on the  
770.

3. APIs to support features that simply won't work well on the 770.  
If the newer version of flash is more bloated, that can't really be  
fixed by Nokia. Better video support, if it depends on the hardware  
in the N800 - we can't really expect that. I won't be all that  
unhappy if these features don't make their way to the 770.

I guess what I'm saying is: If Nokia doesn't back-port features to  
the 770 simply because of the amount of work needed to maintain two  
separate trees, I will be unhappy. That's abandoning the 770.

If they don't port something because it's harder to make it work on  
the 770 due to the 770's resource limitations, I can accept that.

If I can't run N800 apps that take advantage of the new hardware, I  
have no problem with that. I expect that - and I actually hope for  
that, because it means that the new gadget is better.

By choosing a semi-open platform, with even some of the core, non- 
application components not being fully buildable, I think that  
increases Nokia's responsibilities to that platform, since we depend  
on them more than on a fully open platform.

I love my 770. I consider it a handheld computer, and hope that Nokia  
treats its software as such, rather than as an embedded telephone.