2007 & 2008 and Happy Holidays!
Let me highlight a few goodies:
- Nokia N800
- A major sw upgrade to N800
- Nokia N810 + the same sw to N800
- Almost tenfold increase in maemo.org developers during 2007
- Nokia N810 #2 in the Wired shopping list for Xmas ;-) ....
- A lot of new stuff @ maemo.org, like a better maintained bugzilla and many new documents, tutorials and guidelines. Many SDK releases. But even better: cool apps!!! Strong improvements there!
- Forum Nokia supports maemo for business
- 770 hacker editions released
Elsewhere
So what is happening elsewhere? I’ve got a bit mixed feelings.Linux and open source is clearly in the mainstream of consumer devices. We no longer discuss about can or should you build devices based on open source. Instead, we discuss how to do it well. We also see a lot of technologies maturing fast to be more and more suitable for devices and consumer goods.
Also, some killer products, like the Nokia N95, N810 and iPhone, kept us awake. I like them all a lot!
And...
The market share of Linux phones did not grow. I know it is not because of Linux or open source but because of –well- not so good phones. Good products with the right price point sell well regardless of the technology used.
Linux consolidation activities are struggling and I personally do not see their impact. CELF, LiSP, Limo and even GMAE, to be honest. What is happening – anybody home?
So what’ll happen 2008 …
Let me prophesize:
Linux and open source will go to a declining hype cycle – steps 3 & 4 . It is no longer sexy to be open or create products with Linux and open source. That’ll scare honey bees and suits away and we'll see decline in publicity. But, because these technologies are now in the mainstream, open source will have bigger impact on technology and products than ever before. It’s not a Hollywood story any more, though.
Let me hope:
Peace (inside and outside), cool products, happy families, and a proper winter!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
posted by Ari Jaaksi at 8:16 AM
26 Comments:
Alas, let's not forget that the maemo repository and file server infrastructure has been flaky for at least since the latest OS update came out. I can't install the SDK because the apt indexes won't update properly. When the indexes do update properly, the download takes place at dialup speeds, with some files bound to time out before a connection is made, causing the whole install process to fail.
See these comments and bug 2531
Ari, after a LONG wait (still not finished) in order to be able to use my discount code, reading that you are going to get (soon) "Nokia N810 #2" sounds like you are taking the mickey out of me/us.
Thank you for N800, N810, and OS2008.
Hopefully you will handle the release of the next Internet Tablet better than N810. Nokia customer support and Nokia Store gave wrong information about the availability of N810 in Finland. Shops were also very confused about when they will get N810 shipments from Nokia.
PS. Please, fix that awful http://www.nseries.com/ site. It doesn't even work without Flash.
maddler, you misread the post. #2 applies to "Wired shopping list", not "Nokia N810". Ie, it means Wired think it's the second-best thing to buy (after the slinky?! whatever...) and not that there's a 2nd version of the N810.
Ari, for goodness sake, keep quiet about liking the iphone!!! A Nokia man DOES NOT like that device!!! Hates it!!
Joking apart, thanks for all the good work to you and all at Maemo.
Many happy returns!!!
a good year in fact, and I'm thankful for that, but the worse year's end one could imagine: no bandwidth, repositories down, upgrade process painful, my N810 unusable due to lack of properly restored apps due to repositories down, and I could go on....
All in all a bad spot on a good project.
Some bumps in a good ride. My apologies!
doh! didn't noticed that capital "w", which kinda changes the meaning of the whole phrase :)
I don't think you are right about the hype going to steps 3 and 4. Actually, linux palmtops have been on the market for quite a while, the first popular one was the Sharp Zaurus. There is a market for those little devices, as you probably found out, it's just that it is a market that is poorly understood.
And let's not forget the popularity of *two* new BSD-based devices from the competition, not one. ;)
(the second one name ends up in "touch"...)
...and, seeing that people started commenting on the dreadful http://www.nseries.com/ site, do turn off that squeaking sound made when the pointer moves over a button: it took me a few minutes to figure out where it comes from and thus make sure I am not yet going nuts.
Pull your finger out Ari - the project you are responsible for is an utter shambles.
The official release of OS 2008 is a complete and utter disaster - not because the software is bad, but because you and your team have singularly failed in a very public way to manage the problems with your infrastructure that is now causing your users major pain and aggravation.
Your infrastructure has been failing for several days now, and neither you or any of your subordinates are available to communicate the problems to the community, or worse still available to actually fix the problems. This is totally and unforgivably unacceptable project management.
Oh, and merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you too. :)
milhouse ... love y too :-)
I agree. The infra stuff is a bit out of hand. We try to learn from this, too.
OS2008 has I think been a very positive thing especially as it shows that Nokia aren't forgetting their N800 users, hopefully you'll provide assistance to 770HE devs to get it rolled out for 770.
The only downside was the shakey start in not coping with demand for downloads
- why don't Nokia provide a torrent
- why lock the download down to the mac address on the tablet since it's the files aren't really all that use to a non tablet owner.
I look forward to the N810's succesor to build on the achievements of the N800, and humbly offer my services as a beta tester for future devices.
love my n800, BUT FOR GAWD'S SAKES GET SOMEONE AT NOKIA TO FIX THE BORA REPOSITORIES!!!!
if a billion-eura company such as Nokia cannot maintain a correctly populated Web site, we are all DOOMED!
:-)
p.s. any yes, happy holidays!
Thanks, Ari, for a great year and for a project that exceeded all my expectations. Will those of us who (like me) joined the party with a 770 please remember those early days? Who would have believed back then that we'd find Nokia Internet tablets not only in lists like the "Wired shopping list for Xmas", but also in the very top selling positions at Amazon? I still cannot believe Amazons' sales charts, to be honest.
So in spite of all my/our negative feedback during those months (I can't even say "years" here), in spite of the OS2007/770-crisis, in spite of obvious communication problems, in spite of the recent repository debacle,... Nokia must have done something right with the Internet Tablet line, don't you think so? And although I never actively contributed, I find myself being proud of my 770 more and more. ;)
I missed your last shot late last year, but it is not too late to give my wishes for 2008.
iPhone is good, but the Nokia tablet concept is far better. GNOME mobile is very powerful. You can use the platform not only to reduce the cost but also a
platform to differentiate. (the tricky bit)
I played with iPhone, but it has a lot
of space for further improvements at UI.
We all know that GNOME/mobile can reproduce a clone iPhone.
In 2008 we will see more investment in Open Source development, and probably
Non-Nokia tablets and derivative products based on Maemo and GNOME..
Is iPhone a Tablet or a mobile phone?
Ari fit a cellular modem please in our "tablets", the time has arrived! Enable
us to compete for the next jPhone.
Nokia needs more "wow" marketing for the new Tablets
happy New Year!
Just bought the 810 on a whim, and I love the thing.
However, I figured I'd ask you:
I could see these being very popular with executives if they could use them for corporate email access. You know where I am going with this: Is Nokia going beat the fruity competition to market with an implementation of your Mail For Exchange for these devices? I love it on my S60 phone (E65), but M4E would make these absolutely killer appliances for the suits to tote to meetings.
I am the CTO of a systems management/integration firm in the USA and could sell them all day long if I could tell people that they'd be able to have that functionality in a form factor this size.
I know it isn't the core of what you are trying to do with these devices, but is it even on the roadmap?
A public and frank account of the post-OS2008 release c0ck up would be much appreciated sooner rather than later (or most likely, not at all).
Not publishing anything at all (no sign even of an apology after almost a week when everyone should have returned from vacation) does not reflect well on the way this project is run or managed - too much secrecy/oblique communication, and avoidance of responsibility or culpability when things go wrong. And they do go wrong, far too often.
So far we have the email from Ferenc shedding *some* light on what went wrong last December, but it would definitely be nice to be as candid as possible with the community and not only divulge what went wrong but what steps are in place NOW and what is VERY SOON to be done elsewhere. In the spirit of openness (minus the drunk strangers). ; )
Just a question... are there going to be any apps so that I can edit Word and Excel docs on the Nokia N810?
Thanks
Mark Tyler
abukoff@gmail.com
Nokia N95 Video
Nokia N95 Video blog
Nokia N95 spot blog
Nokia N95 - GPS Demo blog
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Thank you for sharing information. It is quite useful for us also. I always love to read such type of things.
2008 was an excellent year to me because I had the opportunity of living some months in a foreign country! Besides I graduated from the university and I met a person who is currently very special to me
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