[maemo-developers] MeeGo, unity or fragmentation?

[From: Ville Reijonen]

Just analyzing the news..

"Many devices" - Tablets, cars, phones, televisions:
* Different screen sizes require different UI designs, and often more.
* On small mobile devices energy consumption is more acute problem than 
on tablet, tv or car. Software originating from other device family 
might suck phone battery dry..
* The devices won't have the same input devices, there might be devices 
without any touch screen or hardware keys.
* Software for one device can not be guaranteed to be ok on another 
device. What will the QA be like, can there even be a single QA? It 
it hard to develop for a device which one does not have. Additionally, 
who even cares about some devices they do not have?
* GTK and QT need to learn to live together even better than before.
* Single software stack will help to convince developers seeking a market.
* Ovi Store and Intel AppUp Center, already two separate places for 
software, what if one more store comes out? How about Repositories?
* Will I be able to move my DRM'd programs and files from Nokia MeeBoo to Intel MeeToo?
* MeeGo GTK will not not compute on S60.

=> code once, use every does not apply? Will it be necessary to port 
software from MeeGo to MeeGo to get it work on different devices? How 
these internal boundaries will be defined and made secure?

Two corporations make better cake than one?
* Does moblin really have "community" or just paid drones? Moblin-dev, 
the only mailing list they have had 3 mails today, yesterday 1, last 
friday 1. Didn't bother to check the irc channel.
* It might be more natural for maemo to swallow moblin, but it seems 
that as there is two corporation in helm, a third instance has to be created. 
(MeeGo even has a dictator duo, that is one "benovolent dictator" per company)
* How much there will be "design by commitee"?
* MeeGo, is it distribution or a platform? Add a lot of old software 
components and few new software components.. rpm faq entry on packaging 
sound more like a distribution than platform.
* Where is the nice and soft .org? Corporations say, community follows?


p.s. "Meego is a short-lived American science fiction sitcom... 1997... 
was canceled half way through its first season."

-- 
VRe