Linux has one, last, chance to become the No1 OS in a particular consumer-oriented market (not counting servers): the mobile phone market. The open nature and yes, the hype around Linux has made lots of mobile-oriented companies to consider using Linux for their next-generation cellphones. But there is a major problem on the way to success, a problem which is created not by Linux itself, but by the greed and close-mindness of these same companies that endorse Linux.
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Member since:2005-06-28
CELLphones are not compatible, SMARTphones are. Do you think that Nokia, Palm and MS are stupid for striving to offer their own platform with binary compatibility? For example, Panasonic and Samsung had offered S60 phones in the past too, and they were compatible with Nokia's S60 phones.
This is what people want more and more.
Regarding S60 2nd and 3rd Edition incompatibility this was a consious decision to break compatibility, just in order to fix the broken security model of Symbian 7.1. If Nokia could, they wouldn't break it.
Edited 2006-06-29 02:44
Member since:2005-07-06
CELLphones are not compatible, SMARTphones are.
No they aren't and you even give examples of how they aren't in your own comment.
Do you think that Nokia, Palm and MS are stupid for striving to offer their own platform with binary compatibility?
Which is three different incompatible platforms right there. Lotta good that does you. And Nokia isn't compatible across all their smartphones, Series 30 and Series 60 are not compatible, nor are their Linux devices.
For example, Panasonic and Samsung had offered S60 phones in the past too, and they were compatible with Nokia's S60 phones.
Which aren't compatible with UIQ from Ericsson (also Symbian) or anyone else.
This is what people want more and more.
Right, and that's why Palm is now using WinMob on the Treo, because of good compatibility with PalmOS, right? That's why Nokia uses three different smart platforms, Linux, and 2 Symbian. That's why Ericsson Symbian isn't compatible with anyone else (not to mention Ericsson's other, failed, smart platforms). WinMob isn't compatible with anyone else. Motorola isn't compatible across their phone lines. Heck, JavaME isn't compatible and its Java.
Who are you kidding, this isn't a Linux thing, this is a cell phone industry thing. And seriously, get a grip, no one but you really cares. Most of us are happy to manage to receive phone calls reliably, forget about "smart" features.
Member since:2006-06-30
Regarding S60 2nd and 3rd Edition incompatibility this was a consious decision to break compatibility, just in order to fix the broken security model of Symbian 7.1. If Nokia could, they wouldn't break it.
The only thing "broken" with Symbian 7 security that Symbian 9 "fixes" is the ability of operators to lock down whose native applications get access to what OS capabilities/APIs.
Based on the track record of telcos in innovative software provision, I'm willing to bet real money that this is the beginning of Symbian's end.
Some parallels with Unix vendors' antics in the late 80s/early 90s, while Microsoft was working on/pushing/debugging Windows on the desktop, cannot be escaped.
BTW for real open Linux phones, look for something like this:
http://telefono.revejo.org/
delivered on a cheap Chinese-built hardware platform.
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Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance."According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow."During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.
Member since:
2005-07-06
This isn't a Linux issue, this is the way the cellphone industry works. JavaME isn't compatible across phones. Symbian isn't compatible across profiles and most vendors use a different profile (UIQ versus Series 60 versus Series 30). Heck, unless you're on GSM you don't even get much choice regarding what phones are available. Who cares about compatibility of apps across phones? I'm happy when I have enough of a signal to make a successful call.
And what is the crap with the "one, last, chance" comment? If Linux doesn't take over the cell phone market then suddenly it won't ever take over any market?
What a lame article.
Edited 2006-06-29 02:35