OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/23134/Research_In_Motion_Buys_QNX_Software Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 21 May 2013 08:52:01 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Comment by twitterfire http://www.osnews.com/thread?418099 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418099 Or maybe RIM just throws an GUI over QNX and uses it as a operating system for phones and tablets.

It will be nice to see QNX used in some other fields. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twitterfire) Comments Just thinking... http://www.osnews.com/thread?418111 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418111 What to do with QNX

1) Replace current Blackberry OS with QNX (like the previous poster said).
2) Blackberry should integrate with the car system.
a) Automatic switch to hands free mode if in car.
b) Use car speakers for phone.
c) Use car microphone for phone.
d) Use steering wheel/dashboard controls to operate the phone.
e) Allow the phone to replace the key & remote control.
f) Allow syncing of music libraries between the phone and car.
g) Allow the car to use the phone as an access point to the internet (update navigation system, software updates, etc.) Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JPowers27) Comments It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418113 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418113 OS Wars - The Next Generation

This is a shot accross the bow of Google and Apple. Consider the major mobile OS choices today:

1. iPhone OS
- one vendor who competes with RIM
2. Android
- multiple vendors, no proprietary control
3. MeeGe/Maemo/Minimo - non-Android Linux
- multiple vendors, no proprietary control
4. Windows Mobile
- either partner closely with MS and get screwed later or give up any kind of platform control

(PalmOS, Symbian, etc. are all on the way out, so forget them.)

You can now add one to that list: QNX. RIM is certainly looking for a way to escaping the aging blackberry OS with something that has a chance of competing with the heavy hitters AND controlling its own destiny. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sorpigal) Comments good or bad http://www.osnews.com/thread?418115 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418115 This could be very good or very bad. This will allow QNX to focus more on the OS aspect of things which will be nice.

I hope RIM does for QNX what Nokia has done with QT. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (poundsmack) Comments I dont believe this http://www.osnews.com/thread?418146 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418146 So now can I really see something nice on the GUI end of blackberry. And QNX is one heck of an RTOS. So maybe they will get all the things right now. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ritesh_nair) Comments RE: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418147 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418147 So now Apple is IBM, Google is MS/DR/etc. DOS, Maemo is Linux (well, duh) and Microsoft is the Catholic church. Interesting times, indeed. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (No it isnt) Comments RE[2]: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418151 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418151 The combination of my subject line and your user name make for a hilarious double take. I laughed. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sorpigal) Comments RE[3]: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418174 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418174

The combination of my subject line and your user name make for a hilarious double take. I laughed.

:-)
I can't comment on the 80's ... but the nineties were were the best times in pc's. But I don't think I wanna relive Mandrake's gcc compiler f-ups moving from 8 to 9.
Aah.. the sweet sounds of the analogue modem :-) Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rebel787) Comments Good times, good times! http://www.osnews.com/thread?418188 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418188 I, too, used QNX as my main desktop system years ago. I remember playing Quake 3 on QNX with a voodoo card. Loved the responsiveness of the system. many happy memories there. Go QNX/RIM go! Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SnowBuddha) Comments Comment by Silver Slimer http://www.osnews.com/thread?418194 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418194 If RIM + QNX can knock Apple down a peg, I'll be like a pig in shit. I'm sick and tired of all the media coverage Apple gets for its overpriced, underfunctional products. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Silver Slimer) Comments RE: I dont believe this http://www.osnews.com/thread?418198 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418198 Yeah, just like the vast improvements we saw when Palm bought BeOS. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments RE: Comment by Silver Slimer http://www.osnews.com/thread?418200 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418200

If RIM + QNX can knock Apple down a peg, I'll be like a pig in shit. I'm sick and tired of all the media coverage Apple gets for its overpriced, underfunctional products.

qft Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sorpigal) Comments RE[2]: I dont believe this http://www.osnews.com/thread?418212 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418212 Sadly you are so right on the spot with this history lesson. The OS will not save a sinking/sank ship, only moving to another OS that has a fresh start. Someone once said, its easier to give birth than resurrect the dead. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SuperDaveOsbourne) Comments RE: Comment by twitterfire http://www.osnews.com/thread?418213 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418213

Or maybe RIM just throws an GUI over QNX and uses it as a operating system for phones and tablets.

It will be nice to see QNX used in some other fields.

I am not a OS expert, but I thought real time operating systems and general purpose os are completely different beasts. something about trade offs between deterministic response time vs throughput? Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (razor) Comments RE[2]: Comment by twitterfire http://www.osnews.com/thread?418228 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418228 Ahh, but a phone OS is not exactly a "general purpose" OS. Phones and other portable devices can benefit greatly from features found in realtime OSes. From my own experience, BlackBerry phones in particular need some fresh blood. I played around with the QNX Neutrino desktop OS several years back and I was impressed; from what I've read of the QNX OS itself, it is highly adaptable and customizable enough to fit nearly any situation. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments RE[2]: I dont believe this http://www.osnews.com/thread?418231 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418231

Yeah, just like the vast improvements we saw when Palm bought BeOS.

But the problem with the BeOS buy out there was a huge amount of work that needed to be done not only in the areas where it was week (networking stack etc) but also the fact it wasn't mature platform that supported other architectures besides x86 and PowerPC. QNX on the other had has over 20 years of legacy behind it, it is a mature multi-architecture operating system with a large and vibrant ecosystem ranging from software developers to hardware engineers. The two in other words are incomparable. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kaiwai) Comments RE: Comment by Silver Slimer http://www.osnews.com/thread?418232 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418232

If RIM + QNX can knock Apple down a peg, I'll be like a pig in shit. I'm sick and tired of all the media coverage Apple gets for its overpriced, underfunctional products.

As I've always said, Apple isn't the best, it is just that the competition sucks that makes Apple look good. The best example, how long did it take Microsoft to finally address the issue of Windows Mobile? how long did it take Palm to finally do something about their decrepit PalmOS? Apple is in the same situation that Microsoft found itself in a decade ago; a moderately good product that bet the alternatives because the alternatives were either so utterly horrible or incompetently managed by the parent company. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kaiwai) Comments QNet http://www.osnews.com/thread?418234 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418234 I've always thought that one of the best features of QNX was the network (semi-)transparency with QNet. This could potentially be a game changer when it comes to interacting with different QNX devices, for example your car, phone and gps navigation device. The possibilities are pretty awesome. Using it as an isolated desktop would not, I think, really give you a sense of the overall awesomeness of the technology.

http://www.qnx.com/developers/docs/6.3.0SP3/neutrino/sys_arch/qnet.... Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tchristney) Comments RE: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418266 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418266 i hope it's a joke?

symbian is number 1 in the world.... in the us market is not the same thing....

For USA
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/4/comScore... Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (collinm) Comments Not only http://www.osnews.com/thread?418270 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418270 Not only automotive for cars, it is also used for the ISS robot arm, for medical machines, etc.
And it is fault tolerant too. Not a small thing.
I have looks at it since years, it seems very nice and efficient work for programmers and very powerful and stable OS for users. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sandorfal) Comments RE: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418306 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418306

3. MeeGe/Maemo/Minimo - non-Android Linux

Minimo was the precursor to Firefox Mobile and not an operating system. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fettarme H-Milch) Comments Comment by Heard http://www.osnews.com/thread?418328 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418328 I've recently read a car magazine which has an article about an iPhone app and they were stating that the iPhone will replace car board computers in the future. Could be not to far from reality if you think about it.

This acquirement could be the perfect chance for both QNX holding it's current dominance in the car market and RIM getting a perfect operating system for their mobile devices.

Personally I hope QNX can finally live on to it's full potential. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Heard) Comments Comment by Luca http://www.osnews.com/thread?418456 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418456 It would be nice to see yet another microkernel OS. I hope that RIM will make own device like iPad.
btw QNX was perfect mobile OS http://stoplinux.org.ru/uploads/images/news_2010/eqip/About1.jpg Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Luca) Comments RE: good or bad http://www.osnews.com/thread?418521 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418521 I think this is more on the good end. The two companies should be fairly symbiotic.

RIM has always struck me as a very focused and smart company. I think they've realized they need to move away from Java, and what better way then to use an OS built for limited devices. Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Flatland_Spider) Comments Apple Repellent http://www.osnews.com/thread?418530 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418530 Call me cynical, but I think the true reason for the acquisition is this portion of the announcement:

...adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio...

QNX has some interesting patents and pending applications related to embedded systems, SMP/multi-core OS and voice processing, among others.

RIM, who admittedly has been on the losing end of more than one patent suit, has been trying to build up their patent pool for some time now. Their Nortel bid was rejected, for instance, since it was seen only as an attempt to grab their patents related to LTE (and the outstanding $2B in Canadian tax credits, of course).

RIM could really be interested in the potential QNX offers and is looking to invest in further R&D to bring the market new and marvelous things, but I have my doubts.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Palm was on their target list, as well. Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (elsewhere) Comments RE: good or bad http://www.osnews.com/thread?418543 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418543

I hope RIM does for QNX what Nokia has done with QT.

Hahahaha! Seriously? You have obviously never used a Suckberry. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Soulbender) Comments RE[3]: I dont believe this http://www.osnews.com/thread?418557 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418557 In some projects I've been thrown shit legacy code. Redoing one part from spaghetti crap to clean code can have an amazing effect on the rest of the code. A start from scratch is not always a magic pill but is the thing funniest for the programmers so they always suggest that.

I don't want to imagine what horror MacOS 9 was but I can imagine how much easier it must have been to get out of the pit with a solid unix kernel in the bottom and some likeable Next libs.

This QNX thing must not necessarily go down the drain. It could be good. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (wanker90210) Comments RE: Comment by Silver Slimer http://www.osnews.com/thread?418559 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418559 That won't happen until RIM gets rid of their laughably horrible data plans. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Soulbender) Comments RE[2]: Comment by Silver Slimer http://www.osnews.com/thread?418578 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418578 RIM has nothing to do with data plans. Those are up to the carriers.. and yes, they are horrible. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (iseyler) Comments RE[2]: It's the 1980s all over again http://www.osnews.com/thread?418594 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418594 Quite right, I was thinking Moblin and typed the wrong thing. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sorpigal) Comments RE[2]: good or bad http://www.osnews.com/thread?418605 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418605 i had a black berry curve personally, but i also used ot manage a big BES server for one of the companies i worked out. I hated black berry phones to no end, had issues witht htme all the time. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (poundsmack) Comments Nokia and RIM http://www.osnews.com/thread?418620 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418620 "If Apple or Nokia ever get trigger-happy towards RIM, I'm sure QNX can pull a sizeable number of patents out of its hat Nokia and/or Apple (potentially) infringe upon." Nokia and RIM has had license agreement for many years now, and it was last renew 2008. But maybe their new IP can bring down royalty expenses. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ariarinen) Comments RE: Not only http://www.osnews.com/thread?418745 http://www.osnews.com/thread?418745

Not only automotive for cars, it is also used for the ISS robot arm, for medical machines, etc.
And it is fault tolerant too. Not a small thing.
I have looks at it since years, it seems very nice and efficient work for programmers and very powerful and stable OS for users.

I'm reasonably certain the Canadarm robot arm is using QNX 2 to control it; medical machines are using QNX 4, and automotive systems are using QNX 6... these are all vastly different and complete rewrites of the QNX microkernel. Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (chrish) Comments