Symbian open-source completed
Now that the entirety of Symbian is available under open-source licences, one question remains: will devs defect from Android?
The project to release the Symbian code under an Eclipse open-source licence has been ongoing since June 2008 when Finnish mobile giant Nokia announced its plans to buy Symbian from the other shareholders of the Symbian Foundation and release it for free - spending an estimated €264 million in the process.
The surprise announcement was seen as a response to the release by Google of the Android platform, a fully open-source Linux-based smartphone operating system which has seen increased interest over the last year with several companies pledging to create largely Android-based handsets - leaving the once market leading Symbian out in the cold.
Nokia clearly hopes that the permissive licensing for its Symbian platform, coupled with a more modern UI, will help save it from a demise at the hands of Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. How successful the up-take of Symbian will be under the new licensing system remains to be seen.
According to a PC Magazine article on the release, the head of global alliances at the Symbian Foundation Larry Berkin has categorically stated that the new licensing system is a precursor to an attempt to break into the US market - somewhere that Symbian has always been a bit-player, despite its popularity in Europe. In a statement, Berkin claimed that "you will see Symbian-based devices from U.S.-based carriers coming in 2010."
Are you excited to see what the open-source community can do with the Symbian platform, or is this merely its swansong as everyone concentrates on alternative platforms - and even Nokia looks towards Maemo Linux for its future smartphones? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyHowever, I must say that I still love Nokia phones and will most likely be picking up the N900 in the next few weeks.
Recently got 1 myself, truly awesome phone. People moan about the resistive touch screen but i havent had 1 problem with it yet.
The only downside is the current small selection of apps. Hopefully with it finally becoming fully open source more apps will appear
Maemo =/ Symbian
They're two totally different OSes altogether.
Neither of us said there were the same. I admit nukeman8's last comment can lead to confusion but I do believe that Maemo is fully Open Source, correct me if I am wrong though. Its because the N900 runs the Linux based Maemo instead of the Symbian OS that the N96 runs that I decided to go this model instead.
I was referring to nukeman8's comment.
He said that he hoped, with the introduction of Symbian becoming fully open source Maemo would have more apps.
They have a tough competition and need to push the envelop more than ever and it seems that they aren't doing it
Remarkable? In places the Blackberry OS looks even more spartan and something out of Win 3.11 than even WinMo 6.1, much less S60, which most reviewers gave them hell for, mostly because they expected tons of eyecandy. S60 was already much more capable than BlackBerry, sans the functions of the BB service.
You are aware that Maemo is Debian based and running any GNU/Linux app is just a simple matter of compiling it for ARM?
So you never actually had any Nokia, but you don't like them? That's idiocy in my book.
As a S60 user (E72, but I also use N900 and Motorola Milestone), I say: More s60 non-touchscreen phones! I love the flexibility of Maemo, but touchscreen interfaces are something I can't stand.