[maemo-developers] Maemo & Linux mainstream (was Re: Projects Nokia should support (yours?))

[From: jamie at linuxuk.org]

Quoting Quim Gil <quim.gil at nokia.com>:
> ext Neil Jerram wrote:
>> 2. The timescale is too short.  Either people already have most of
>> their time committed for the next few months, or they don't.  I would
>> venture that those with time on their hands are mostly unlikely to be
>> people who could pull a project together in this timescale, and to the
>> quality that you are looking for.
>
> Short time and shortage of resources for impressive native applications
> developed from scratch on a volunteering basis? Probably, yes.

I think I'm with Quim in saying that if the desire is strong enough  
then the timescale is more than realistic.

<off on a related soapbox rant>
I want to see app's using the capabilities of the next Nokia based  
hardware platform to their fullest. I'm full of idea's (its part of my  
job) but why not :

* Location based geo tagging of *people* and *places* - take a photo  
(with the high res camera of your Maemo 5 based device) and with the  
use of pattern and face recognition it automatically tags not just  
your location, your subject matter too depending on your past log  
history! THEN uploads it to your favorite online photo sharing site  
(ovi, flickr, e.t.c) AND why not mesh it with others ala photosynth[1]  
for a community mapping of the given site?
* Use the GPS to 'navigate' you to 'like minded' people. People with  
the same tastes in music (I've got nothing to do tonight, I like indie  
music, where is everyone else with that profile?). I'm a Maemo  
developer attending the summit and lost on the U-Bahn in Berlin and  
would like some help? (It definitely happened to me!).
* Give a complete and immersive media environment. Full on Music (geo  
and last.fm integrated), videos, photos (tied to other peoples photos  
of the same location), ... (see one of my other projects at  
http://www.entertainer-project.com).

I could go on for a long time.

The fact being, all these apps, all these ways we use our future  
tablets, could be a reality and in the right hands, 3-6 months of  
development time is all you really need to make a splash!
</off on a related soapbox rant>

I think it is possible but I would hope that Nokia look 'outside the  
box'. There are great applications that will port to the next  
generation of tablets that could of never been considered before. The  
current crop could also be there but will they really 'shine' when you  
have high-definition video playback, fast processing speed, more  
memory, more CPU, more expectations? I would be willing to put myself  
out on a limb and say that many of the current offerings, if ported to  
a beagle board [1] today, would not make the grade. Don't get me  
wrong, they may be useful, but will they showcase what WE have to offer?

We need something more, something that showcases the platform's  
capabilities and takes it further. I hope 'future' apps (and I really  
want to see new and exciting/ingenious apps) takes not only Maemo  
forward, but also Linux in general.

Regards,
Jamie.

[1] http://beagleboard.org/
[2] http://livelabs.com/photosynth/