[maemo-developers] Hello Maemo - CFSONID 2008

[From: Quim Gil]

ext Kees Jongenburger wrote:
> The community itself is not organized in "what can we do to achieve xyz".
> they and I expect zyx to be maemo.org. They might even think : if
> maemo.org behaves like xyz
> THEY would be doing the right thing. it is not exactly easy to
> currently do anything for maemo.org
> (rember the bus where you are not the driver?). Are we missing a
> strong community leader?

There is something missing, but I think it is more a matter of common
understanding.

It would be silly from Nokia's side to push business reasons in the
maemo project without considering a sustainable approach to the free
software community needs.

But it is not much more clever from the community side to push software
freedom reasons without considering a sustainable approach to the
business company needs.

maemo is expected by some people to be 100% free, and this is a fair and
challenging goal.

maemo is also expected by some people to beat the competition so the
coolest OSS developers decide to invest their time, skills and attention
in this project - which is also a fair and challenging goal.

In addition to this, Nokia expects to make a sustainable/profitable
business around the maemo platform and compatible devices.

It is perhaps just a coincidence that those betting on 100% of software
freedom as a guarantee of commercial success are not the ones making the
big investment hiring a team and shipping devices. It's always easier to
say "change your business" when you have no money invested in it.

So please, relax and try to understand also the other side. Nokia is
betting more in open source today than yesterday, and tomorrow more than
today. Glacial speed? Depends how you look at it. A lot has been done
between the 770 launch 3 years ago and today, even in terms of open
source strategy.

Unsatisfied about the speed and/or about the lack of a 100% freedom
software delivered by Nokia? You can provide the speed and full scope
yourselves, asking Nokia to remove any obstacles in your way. In the
meantime we will keep trying shipping software, development platform and
devices exciting not only the open source community but many more people
out there. In fact you also want us to do so.

-- 
Quim Gil
marketing manager, open source
maemo software @ Nokia