Jolla has “introduced” Sailfish OS 2.0. It didn’t really introduce it though as it’s not available to anyone right now – it’s only potentially available to OEMs.
The independent Sailfish OS is soon reaching a major milestone as it is scaling from smartphones to tablets with the introduction of the Jolla Tablet. The first shipments of Jolla’s second Sailfish OS product are expected to start in Q2/2015. At this point, Sailfish OS is maturing to the next generation, ‘Sailfish OS 2.0’, and is introducing e.g. a new enhanced user interface, support for Intel architecture, and previously unseen software integration capabilities for partners.
The new interface is interesting – it greatly simplifies all the gestures and seems to function much more like Harmattan on the N9. As awesome as all this sounds, this still doesn’t address the biggest concern: applications. Some may be content running Android applications (poorly) on Sailfish, but I want the real deal. However, without – still – any word on paid applications, it doesn’t seem like this issue will be addressed any time soon.
That being said – I’m an early backer for the tablet, and can’t wait for it to arrive this May. I hope Sailfish OS 2.0 will find its way to my Jolla phone at around the same time.
I am hoping for an open source repo for apps for the Jolla. We have paid apps on iOS and Android, and you can’t use either platform without it spying on you constantly. I want Jolla to be a platform for open source mobile apps. Even if there are paid apps, you should be able to disable that repo and use only open source ones.
You can use the warehouse to install apps.
It works like a traditional package manager, with users being able to post their own repos, that other users can enable for software downloads.
That doesn’t change the fact that they can spy on you.
Or do you plan to learn all programming languages and review all apps before installing them?
Just check the daily exploits of open source applications on CVE database.
Well, I think it does to some degree. First, most apps on Android that spy on you are doing so to make money. Most FOSS projects don’t really take that avenue to survive. FOSS makes its easier to know if the apps IS spying on you and what exactly its doing. And no, I don’t need to check all apps in all languages. Chances are some community member will already have looked through the code and made the observation. Just like now when they disclose bugs.
The difference between an exploit of an open source application and the malware that closed source applications have, is that an exploit is… well an exploit in the code, not intentionally put there. Where as malware was done on purpose.
Is there open source software out there that purposefully has malware in it? Sure. Are there closed source software with exploits in them? Sure is. The difference there is that closed source software has no reason to reveal such things, open source is there for anyone to take a look at. It may not be you, but it could be many other people.
As woegjiub said, there’s OpenRepos if you want opensource apps for Jolla/Sailfish: https://openrepos.net/
Warehouse for Jolla is at https://openrepos.net/content/basil/warehouse-sailfishos
That said, I don’t own a Jolla phone or tablet (I’m not able to buy them from my country, otherwise I would have) so I can’t speak for quantity or quality.
Cheers.