Yeah, but I don't see it getting any easier for a "normal" person.

Yeah the problem with donating on the Internet is it first requires setting up an account, which always takes a few steps. No way to get around that issue sadly.

Please paste your Ovi publishing related questions at http://wiki.maemo.org/Ovi_Store_publishing and I will do my best getting official answers. Thanks!

i liked that tag "one billion dollars!".
Srsly, don't make it worse, this is no funneh.
The Ovistore team should really rethink some of their strategies & keep in mind, that It's not a shame to copy something that works somewhere else.

The wallpapers fall directly under the fair use laws in the US. I had no idea that my wallpapers were already on Ovi though. No one told me about that.

Actually no. With Paypal the recipient will need an account, but that's no big deal. But people sending money don't need an account. They can just enter payment card details like on any site.

So it looks like all this huge discussion started with a misunderstanding. Ovi publishing for Maemo is still unreleased and this is why Debian packages are not in the current list of formats supported in the list of 'plain' formats. Hense the confusion that it must be part of the Premium supported formats. From that point you are directed to the Premium, the extra liability insurance and so on.

Coclusion: if you are interested in Ovi publishing for Maemo please wait until the service is released. Then we (and Ovi itself) will explain you how to join etc.

The experience of code177 has been interesting and we are trying to be helpful with him because of that. Other developers like him, please get familiar with Forum Nokia since this is the natural Nokia platform for commercial developers. And next time you know that there is a right time for everything.

I think the Confirmed/Caution part of this thread title should be removed since it has been unconfirmed since Code was reading details not related to the N900

To be fair, here's the last email I received from Ovi:

So I do not believe this was a misunderstanding or an inaccuracy.

However, I cannot speak for the Open Source aspect of the Ovi Store because that is not my realm of knowledge (emphasis needed). For the time being it is very clear that commercial (for money) applications must currently go through the rigorous process that has been outlined previously.

As Quim has mentioned, this forum isn't actually the place to debate the policy changes or try and influence anything regarding commercial application development. My intent in proffering this information at this juncture is only to give a heads up to the other potential commercial developers who may be lurking here (of which there are more than a few).

I believe the Extras / Maemo Select is probably the best route at the moment for anybody wishing the publish open source applications. I feel that the difference between Open Source and Free in this context is trivial, as most people offering a free application - unless it is under the guise of a promotional offering ('try our lite version!'), are not going to be concerned about source obfuscation.

So from a free / open source perspective, Ovi's side of maemo (Maemo Select) and the integration with extras that we've seen so far ("from the community") appears to be working quite efficiently - I apologise for the confusion between the two, but at the very least we now know that there is a difference.

Interestingly it seems as though me and Quim have differing ideas on what the current process is, so I'm not sure which is correct, but I am quite certain as this information becomes available and more clear someone will clarify it

That said, I believe this thread has been a valuable weather meter (hopefully someone is paying attention) and there's been a lot of unique and interesting suggestions put forward, which generally speaking is never a bad thing.

Hope this helps and makes a little sense

There are some fascinating tidbits of information there...

Only premium publishers can publish for the N900. I wonder why that is? They only want "safe" or "trusted" publishers on the new device? They couldn't handle the capacity if "regular" publishers could publish for the N900?

There's a "huge" queue of developer applications wanting to become premium publishers. I wonder if that huge queue is due to general, regular bureaucracy at Ovi (the queue has been there a while, and it is getting longer rather than shorter because the processing capacity is much smaller than the new application rate), or specifically due to the launch of the N900?

Anyway, thanks for this thread, code177. It really has given us all an insight into the schizophrenia of a huge company with lots of semi-autonomous units, and the problems of a small commercial developer trying to get onto a playing field usually reserved for "the big boys".