770, N800, Gp2x, etc.

[Ted Gould]

On Thu, 2007-01-11 at 12:17 -0700, der.hans wrote:
> Didn't realize there were binary blobs for the kernel. They have Opera and
> some other proprietary software, but that should be easy enough to
> replace. Kernel blobs are a different issue.

Yeah, I'm not sure how many are Nokia's fault, and how many are the fact
that they really tried to use hardware already in use inside Nokia to
build the device originally.  It wasn't quite a skunkworks project, but
it seems that it wasn't exactly one that encouraged breaking new ground.
I'm hoping the N800 will be better, but I haven't looked at it yet.

> > Overall, I think Nokia is trying, but they still really haven't figured
> > out how to release a free product and get that in sync with their internal
> > development models.
> 
> And they are doing a better job than most. If we prove there's a market
> for the reliability and adaptability of Free Software we will have more
> companies happy to work with Linux.

I hope so too, but Nokia is feeling some pain right now.  Basically in
the N800 announcement they orphaned the 770 like they always do to cell
phones.  The maemo community is pretty pissed.  I'm hoping they're
learning a little bit about what consumers really want, and no, buying a
new cell phone to get software features is not it :)

> > If you want lots of details, read the maemo-developers list and watch
> > people complain and discuss it (a lot) :)
> 
> I might actually start doing that.

It's definitely interesting.  But, currently there is
bitching/discussion about the N800 that is dominating the list.  It
should get better in a week or so.

		--Ted