I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I think one day I am going to tell people "I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool..."

...maemo may be the next big thing in the mobile world, and much less community feel with all the potential "fanboys" that may hop on the bandwagon, and perhaps then I may not even like to hang out at maemo.org anymore. Nevertheless, that idea went through my head when I started reading articles today like this and this...

When these articles says things like "the door remains open for new OS entrants, predicting that Nokia's Linux-based Maemo platform is a strong contender to feature in future smartphones" it makes me ponder the huge potential of maemo.

It is funny to me, and at the same time kind of scary, to see that people are expecting such big things from meamo, and for Nokia's future in the North American market. Consequently, I hope Nokia doesn't "nokia" this one up like the N97.

So one day when my friends are just trying out a new maemo device for the first time because they want to be cool and involved in an open source community--- I can say yea...I know...I was there before it all happened...

Now if I could get a meamo.org 2009 summit shirt to prove it!!:D

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Could I add my name to the list before the horde of wannabes come through ? :-)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

April 2009? You're WAY too late, Maemo's been cool from the start! :)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I thought maemo was kinda cool when it started and it's sort of.. fading.. already? :D

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Thats it!!:D you get it...:)

The point is that it is interesting to think some day (and perhaps in our lifetime :p) maemo may be the "in thing" as far as mobile OS's go, instead of just some R&D experiment that Nokia doesn't know what to do with...

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Yes, and Ari also....:D

http://www.umpcportal.com/2009/10/me...dating-maesum/

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

The join date on internettablettalk.com can be used as a badge right :)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Sorry about that...

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I believe it can...

:p

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I was alluding to those anti-mainstream people who likes 'stuffs' simply because they're unpopular\exclusive.. and will probably abandon them when it starts to get mainstream...

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

This gets me some nostalgic feelings
When people were thinking n770 is a phone? and were complaining about it? :)
I still remember the ideas about internet tablets aren't laptops and it wasn't meant for treating it as a laptop (I am sure no one is going to say this anymore :P)

Probably yes, probably no ... I forget what was my user name (I usually pick one of nicks either starts with F,S,E,D and tried many of emails :\ still no luck.

By the way, consider your memorizes as your own badge ;)


Edit: For those whom I give a "Thanks". Please ignore what my signature says :p

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I was already noting a little change in the character of the chatter (not for better or for worse, really... just a change) in general. I think many will show up and in the end there will be a handful of folks who realize what the idea, the "movement" if you will, can mean for all of us... frankly it is very exciting.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Actually, it's becoming quite boring lately, with all the chatter about the n900, maemo5, eldar, etc., and the really helpful content is relegated to a couple of threads.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

The better line would be "I was OS2005 before Maemo took over". The point is that Maemo hasn't developed along a straight line with a clear vision of its purpose and future. There was a break, and from my POV there's two Maemos.

Maemo initially used to sell the idea of a secondary device that does things you wouldn't do on your phone or laptop because of its form factor.
It used to hold a promise of 1:1 desktop like experience, including the complexity and precision required for it, but also resulting in all its endless possibilities.

These were the things that made Maemo and the Internet Tablets cool then. (And that made me buy them.) Maemo sure was cool right from the start.

Then there was the 180° turnaround in 2008 that finally resulted in Maemo 5 and the N900. Primary device with the form factor of a phone, restricted phone experience rather than full desktop experience.
This is cool, too, in some way, but it's no longer what Maemo and the Tablets used to be. It's a whole different game now, recycling the leftovers from the internet tablets.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I couldn't agree with you more. Mind you, I'll still want to get the N900, but I feel like the computer-like ability of Maemo is now fading, at least until Mer takes over.

Hey, I'm a computer nerd, so tablets peak my interest more than a phone. :D

Jesse~

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I wouldn't even say this about me. I'm a computer nerd, maybe, don't know, but I'm extremely picky when it comes to phones. Before I buy one, I spend weeks comparing specs in spreadsheets, running through stores, bugging the droids there until they finally let me try the model so I know how it feels... etc.
And even though I do all this, I never feel like I found the real phone that does what I need.

The N900 has "compromise" written all over it - as all other Icandoallinonedevice-phones. As a phone, it wouldn't even make it to my short list. Size, battery life, screen, lack of real keys... it simply isn't a phone. It was never meant to be one. It was meant to be the computer in your pocket that can also do phone calls.
I need the phone in my pocket that can also do some web stuff and run cool apps.

And then I need a secondary device with a larger screen.
Hey, how about an... how would we call it? - "Internet Tablet" that only connects to my phone but in fact is a small laptop? ;)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Amen to that :}~

Jesse~

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Hey dudes! Maemo has *ALWAYS* been cool!

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Accordimg to Ari Jaaksi, the original idea was to build a pocketable, Linux-based, VoIP device because at that time, the forecast was for widespread, inexpensive-to-free, municipal WiFi networks. Cellular was not long for this world.

Lobbying by telcos ended that, and so cellular has been added to the mix.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Do I qualify to enter this very select club? Hehe.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Do those of us that compiled 0.1 linux and booted it from a floppy on a 25Mhz 386 (with a TURBO BUTTON - remember those?) get a nostalgia award ;)

Although my memories go way back further than that, it has been most fascinating to me to be involved with the evolution of linux from day 1...all the way through to Maemo. That's why I'm so fired up about Maemo...it has such potential to be a significant factor in the 'convergence' of computing technology.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

It's so very easy to tell that you haven't ever had your hands on it, Benny. So crystal clear. :)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

My first ever PC was a Cyrix 6x86 (back in the nineties, with a turbo button) with RedHat 4 operating system. I've ever since been a Linux man to the core and let me say that the N900 is probably the best thing since spliced bread for me :)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Products become well known when people link them to important things they already have in their minds. When you pick a nonsense word, you are voluntarily picking the hardest thing to publicize, because it has no guaranteed mindshare to start with. Congrats, Maemo, you picked the maximum challenge!

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I don't have healing hands, if that's what you mean. :p

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

All of these technical words had to be invented. Netbook sure wasn't a part of the mindshare but they seem to be doing well enough.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Yes but:

Net = internet
Book = notebook = laptop

so its a laptop for the internet..

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

and:

Mobile = pocketable device to use on the go
Computer = computer

So, it's a computer in your pocket. . . .

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

how about you kill yourself lol. Yeah im one of those band wagon guys.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

If it was only added to the mix it was OK. The problem is that cellular took over.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

And it is so easy to tell who has their hands on a Nokia provided one... also crystal clear.

The point Benny brings up is a valid one for all of us who were attracted to the original "Internet Tablet" concept to begin with... for whatever reason.

The fact is that for some, like myself who use an employer or contract provided cell phone on an unsupported network, even if you gave us an N900, it would only be useful connected via WiFi without incurring the additional monthly cost of a new cell service.

Also, those who have spent big bucks on the then "top of the line" cell phone in the past year or two, even from Nokia, would have to forsake this $600+ purchase if they were also given an N900.

Those of us who now use an N8** series and who are hanging around here hoping that at least some development will continue with these devices might feel abandoned by the apparent lack of sensitivity to there plight. :)

And BTW, I have had $700 dollars budgeted for a new device since the beginning of the year and I would spend it in a New York minute on the N900 if it turned out to be the evolutionary device that was conceived by most members of this forum just a relatively short while ago.

Limiting the N900's cellular connectivity out of the box by not providing DUN is not evolutionary... its revolutionary.
Not all revolutions are good things. :eek:



(This post was not meant to disrespect anyone who received a promotional N900 recently. In fact I am happy for you all and now hold Nokia in a somewhat higher esteem. My post was in support of all us who are now economically fated to what is left of the N8**'s developmental cycle. )

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I think he was referring to the word Maemo. I have never used that word in casual (aka talking to non-geeks) speech. In that sense, Maemo is still not "cool," because no one wants (or knows how ;) ) to say it. When people ask what my N810 is, I say it is a mobile computer, and they understand that (somewhat*). But if I say its a MID running Maemo Linux, they are like WTF???


*People don't seem to understand why it does not have a phone, thats the biggest thing

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Well, my join date was in 2004 when Maemo Devices was not yet Maemo devices and Maemo was just one server name (that Jesus had invented with password generator) we were using to flash new rootimages to boards which did not even have any cases yet. My macroboard had a external hard drive and it was booting from it. And back then, there was no Internet tablet talk yet (and the device was not yet called Internet tablet), because it all was a secret. But it was a lot fun.

Carlos had written to job advertisement that needs to master either Gtk or Qt. I was betting on Qt. However, I soon learned that they had chosen Gtk.

And then it was about to become public, and there was a horrible Maemo logo (it was a placeholder), and I went and designed my own. It became the first Maemo logo before the current one (which I think is very cool).

So I think Maemo was very cool thing already in the beginning (the device was not so extraordinary, but the cool part back then was that it was running Linux, today a bit more is required than just running Linux, it also needs to be cool otherwise), and now the N900 and Maemo 5 makes it even cooler. And the Qt will make the UI development easier than ever. There was no way to make the C-based gobject code to become easy and the Qt will fix that issue pretty well. Also there will be better development tools (like Qt creator) than ever before. There is HW acceleration and OpenGL-ES 2.0 support on the device [N900]. I think it is cool and it is by no means fading away, quite the contrary. With N900 many of the wishes I had already when we were doing the 770 materialize.

So status check where is Maemo today:
- N900 is the coolest device out there in this segment
- It runs the most powerful mobile operating system ever made to the date
- It is the most open production phone ever made to the date
- It is the best innovation platform there is currently
- Maemo 5 UI innovates new instead of keeping all the old metaphors. And after getting it, it is really great.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

I also think maemo has always been very cool since, atleast since I bought my n800 in 2007.

The title of my thread is actually based on country music song with a similar title and not meant as disrespecful, in any way. It is actually meant as a compliment. We just need to "maemoize" the lyrics...:)

I remember wearing straight legged Levi's
flannel shirts even when they weren't in style
I remember singin' with Roy Rogers
at the movies when the west was really wild
I was listenin to the Opry when all of my friends
were diggin' rock and roll and rythem and blues
I was country when country wasn't cool
I remember sittin' in the drive-in
pullin' up and turnin' down George Jones
I remember when no one was lookin'
I was puttin' peanuts in my coke
I took a lot of kiddin' cause I never did fit in
now look at everybody tryin' to be what I was then
I was country when country wasn't cool

Oooh, I was country when country wasn't cool
I was country from my hat down to my boots
I still act and look the same
what ya see ain't nothin' new
I was country when country wasn't cool

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

How can you LISTEN to that band? They sold 2 million albums! Huh!

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Wow. You must have been one of the first handful of people working on the NIT! I hope someday you can tell us how the model number was chosen.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

That is a great story from the insiders perspective :). I worked on a software product from its inception as a small database to its current incarnation as a cloud/web based powerhouse, 6 employees and a foosball table to now where there are 50+ and direct phone calls to President Obama in the WH.

I have been following maemo since about 2005 and the 770 and learned about linux and open source ethos through it. It is easily the coolest thing that I have ever been part of.

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Not exactly. There are nonsense words that resonate with other words. Google reminds you of "ogle", for example, and is verbable. Microsoft blatantly aped this with Bing. It can be used as a verb and even people with limited technical knowledge have heard of "ping". But I'm not arguing that Maemo has any of this going for it. It is a bit of a brow furrower as names go. (scans emoticons, finds none appropriate)

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

"Fixed in Fremantle (tm)" :D

Re: I was maemo when maemo wasn't cool...
 

Dudette, I hope you don't use five letter passwords. That could explain the whole Eldar thingie.