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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Cyber Cynic

Mobile Linux has real trouble ahead

8 comments

TAGS:Linux, mobile, Nokia, operating system, symbian
IT TOPICS:Development, Emerging Technology, Linux, Mobile & Wireless, Open Source, Operating Systems

If you had asked me where the mobile phone operating system was heading last week. I would have said something like: "Symbian will continue its gradual decline, Apple's iPhone special mix will continue to grab the headlines, and Linux-LiMo, Google Android, etc.--would continue its slow, but unstoppable, march to victory.That was last week.

This week, Nokia announced that it was buying Symbian. That wouldn't have changed what I saw in my crystal ball. Then, Nokia announced they were going to open-source Symbian OS and its development tools and its GUI (graphical user interface) and, OK, Nokia and its partners were going to open-source the whole Symbian ball of wax.

Ka-Boom! Sorry, that was the sound my crystal ball made made as it fell off its stand and smashed into a million pieces.

An open-source Symbian is going to own the mobile operating system space. I know my way around embedded operating systems. I'm no expert, but I know enough about Symbian to know its a great, matured embedded operating system with powerful developer tools, broad vendor support, and -- this one is important for mobile phones -- it's really easy to put any interface you'd like on top of it.

There's a lot of good stuff in embedded and mobile Linux, but it's scattered all over the place. Getting embedded Linux developers to work together is a lot like herding cats, as the classic advertisement goes, "Don't let let anyone tell you it's easy."

On the other hand, unlike some cats I've known, when something that looks and sounds like a nasty-tempered Doberman appears, say an open-source Symbian, appears the Linux developers and companies can get their act together in a hurry. Say, for example, they might stop some of their moronic in-fighting and join forces.

That's exactly what happened. The Linux Phone Standards Forum has decided to join up with the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation. And, if anyone from Google development circles is reading this -- and I know you are! -- get on the stick and start talking with LiMo about how to co-ordinate Android with the older mobile Linux plans.

As Jack Gold, an analyst with J. Gold Associates, said in a PC World story, "As the Symbian Foundation moves to a royalty-free model, the advantages of Linux become much less clear." He's got that right. Nokia just stoke the open-source mojo right out from underneath all the Linux efforts.

Jim Zemlin, head of the Linux Foundation sums it up nicely in his blog on Nokia taking Symbian open source, "It has been years since we have seen a full scale operating system war. Today's announcement by Nokia that they will be open sourcing Symbian and making it available royalty free is the opening of yet another front in the blossoming mobile OS conflagration."

Looking ahead, I can see some embedded systems winners and losers. Open source wins. That's easy. Windows Mobile, Sun, and what's left of PalmOS? They lose. Linux vs. Symbian? That's the real question.

I hate to say it, but if I were a betting man, and I had to make a bet today, for all that I'm a big-time Linux user, I'd had to bet on Symbian.

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I think that's great news

Submitted by Bráulio on June 29, 2008 - 4:27 P.M.

I think that's great news for Linux and its software! It surely needs more competition of other opensource, boosting the the current FOSS into neverseen level of quality.

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What's the deal for Nokia?

Submitted by Gilles38 on June 28, 2008 - 11:46 A.M.

There's something I don't understand. Google finances Android and we know where it's going to get revenue from. Advertising is going to bring lots of dough in for Google.

How will Symbian pay for the $400 million they paid for Symbian? Selling phones? Its former Symbian partners will be selling phones too...

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Other qualities

Submitted by Ulrik on June 28, 2008 - 4:43 A.M.

Just because something is open-source, it's not necessarily open source. One of the things Sun have discovered the hard way with OpenSolaris, is that just releasing the source code is not the big step towards making an open-source product. The key here is the community. Building up a solid and flourishing community takes a lot of time and effort. You could easily argue that Symbian already has a community of application developers, but the same is of course true of Solaris. The problem pretty much remains the same.

Another strong-side of Linux is that it's well placed for the on-going convergence of internet, PC:s, Multimedia and other types of consumers devices such as cell-phones. While Symbian is strong on mobile devices, Linux holds it's merits on nearly all platforms, and has an edge here.

That said, I welcome Symbian Open Source. A good step from Nokia. More friendly competiton means more real value for all parties but royalty-sucking corporations. And I'm quite happy about that.

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Hello Steven, What's it like

Submitted by Steven needs a new job on June 27, 2008 - 2:49 A.M.

Hello Steven,

What's it like writing article without having any idea what you're talking about?

I won't reiterate what the other posts said. I'll just tell you to do a little research before attempting to write another article.

Thanks.

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ditto

Submitted by stephen on June 27, 2008 - 9:08 P.M.

here! here!

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Where, where?

Submitted by Anonymous on June 27, 2008 - 10:43 P.M.

Where, where?

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Competition is Good

Submitted by Robert Pogson on June 26, 2008 - 8:43 P.M.

Unlike what M$ does on the desktop, what Nokia does with/to GNU/Linux will be the best product based on technology. Competition in embedded systems is good and will make the participants stronger. Let us hope a little aggression leaks out into the wider FLOSS community so that it can finish off M$ on the desktop sooner rather than later. It may mean that real-time stuff will need a specialized kernel. It may mean more/better/faster driver development. It may mean better development tools and documentation. Whatever... It is all good.

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Nokia will not be fenced in

Submitted by Brotherred on June 26, 2008 - 7:59 P.M.

Lets see Nokia:
1. Has a full line of internet tablets and all of them run their own in house GNU+Linux distribution. Those that I know who have the N80 and N810's love them.

2. Nokia bought Troltec which owns Qt and KDE and has built the Green Phone. Both Qt and KDE which is built on it are GPL.

3. Nokia has joined the Limo foundation

4. Nokia has come out and said that Linux developers need to be friendly with Digital Restrictions Managment.

4.5. The greater Linux community (GNU and others) has said via SlashDot that the bigwigs at Nokia must have their "heads firmly rooted some place dark and unnatural". Ok that is just my favorite quote from that discussion.

5. Nokia buys Symbian which they have been usning for ever.

Looks to me like they got their feet thoroughly wet in one form of OSS and now they want another form that can be more easily controlled. Or at the very least they are keeping their OS and hardware options open. Wide open sources for what ever comes up.

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