Has even one Linux desktop distribution taken greater than 3% marketshare? [...] That is the only way you can pull off what you want to pull off.
Start with getting rid of the BS elitist attitude. That would be step one.
Ah. I think you may misunderstand what many of us 'linux chest thumpers' want to pull off - what I want is a free OS that does what I want, on my machines. I've already got that on servers and on the desktop, and I'm getting closer to having it in my pocket. I'm not sure why it should trouble me if other people choose not to take advantage of it.
Just now I received a call. When I looked at the phone it was a blank screen. It glitched and it took about 5 seconds to show the actual answer button. Do you think people want to deal with this kind of thing?
Ah. I think you may misunderstand what many of us 'linux chest thumpers' want to pull off - what I want is a free OS that does what I want, on my machines. I've already got that on servers and on the desktop, and I'm getting closer to having it in my pocket. I'm not sure why it should trouble me if other people choose not to take advantage of it.
Because if others don't use it, it ceases to be remotely commercially viable, and no-one will actually make your device.
You know, I always though the OS community was fired by altruism, by a willingness to work for free to create something for everyone. This 'pull up the ladder, Jack' approach seems to the exact opposite.
What I find interesting is the insistence everyone seems to have that Nokia will never grab market share with the n900 as it is etc.
To the best of my knowledge Nokia have done everything except bury the n900 marketing under a rock. Any buzz has been generated by the community.
Nokia never intended the n900 to be a mainstream device and if you purchased it thinking it would be then well more fool you for not having done even some basic research into what the n900 was meant to be.
In reality its a techie device and a first run for Nokia before releasing a user orientented device. Think of us as a big old group of first adopters and beta testers. The lessons we learn and the new apps we generate will go into the next phone and that is the one you want if you want a mainstream device.
Just now I received a call. When I looked at the phone it was a blank screen. It glitched and it took about 5 seconds to show the actual answer button. Do you think people want to deal with this kind of thing?
You have grand visions of FOSS changing the world and freeing us of our dependence on money grubbing corporations and proprietary software. I respect that, but seriously you couldn't get people to care unless and until you package it right.
You linux chest thumpers will never understand that. Has even one Linux desktop distribution taken greater than 3% marketshare? Analyze the situation and learn from it if you want FOSS to succeed in the mobile space. Instead of criticizing the user's perspective, understand it. That is the only way you can pull off what you want to pull off.
Start with getting rid of the BS elitist attitude. That would be step one.
I understand that you want everything perfect. If that is what you expect nokia is not for you. The nokia user interface is never perfect and going by the way the company works it never will be. There will be few quirks and bugs in any nokia device you use. But what nokia differs from other companies and apple in specific is that they believe in providing as many functions as any one can possibly can in their devices. Now you must understand that the more functions the more possibility that there will be bugs. You need to make a decision if you want to deal with perfection or more functions. Obviously nokia tries to reduce those quirks and bugs as much as possible and also remember that maemo 5 is in its very raw stage. Even the iphone first gen also had many bugs and very less features which were later updated with firmwares. My friend's iphone 3g even just gets stuck and does not respond sometimes. But if you are willing to work around the early quirks and hold a little while while you pass the learning curve and nokia updates the firmware you will really notice that there is a huge advantage to having functions rather than perfection. Just have some patience. And i bet there will be many workarounds for your problems once more members get the retail units. Just keep following maemo.org and you will notice how dynamic maemo is and you will never get bored with the n900 unlike your iphone.
Exactly Bratag. I think the hangups Nokia is experiencing may be due to that too. They were caught off guard at the popularity of the n900 since they were expecting the next step to be the one that appeals to consumers.
I think Nokia will do okay as long as they are quick to get updates and fixes to major bugs out the door. Not some six month turn around time for updates.
Exactly Bratag. I think the hangups Nokia is experiencing may be due to that too. They were caught off guard at the popularity of the n900 since they were expecting the next step to be the one that appeals to consumers.
So this step is Nokia's learning curve on how to successfully bring a mameo device to the 'consumer'. And it's the Maemo community's learning curve on how to relate to Real Consumers. Because if we don't learn in time for maemo 6 it won't matter how great the software and hardware are, it'll flop. And if it flops, nokia will put it down to experience and move on.
However the e-mail support in this device as you've read is very 2004 ish. If you can't search e-mail you really can't effectively use e-mail in the 2009 era. I know it will come (I don't think even Nokia is too stupid to know that) but when? Even S60 has search feature albeit poor.
Are you serious? You can't search email??? who is designing this stuff??
Can someone please confirm.. is there a fix coming.. this is a show stopper for me.. I have a blakberry with over 1000s emails I need to search quite frequently.. this would be a no go for me..
So this step is Nokia's learning curve on how to successfully bring a mameo device to the 'consumer'. And it's the Maemo community's learning curve on how to relate to Real Consumers. Because if we don't learn in time for maemo 6 it won't matter how great the software and hardware are, it'll flop. And if it flops, nokia will put it down to experience and move on.
Actually its Nokias learning curve on what maemo is capable of when given to a larger tech oriented audience. I imagine the reason behind that would be to do exactly what you mention. Learn before maemo 6 and a consumer device comes out.
Nokia pour by far and away more money into research etc than any other device manufaturer and its obvious the investment in maemo as a future OS for their upcoming lineup is something that is long term and important (see articles regarding Nokias statements about the sunsetting of s60). Maemo 6 will be built on the lessons learnt here and now and will have the advantage of being fully QT 4.6 alowing devs to write once run many places. No other device is even close to that (and please don't say Android does that because it doesn't).
After the debacle that was the last release Nokia could have simply gone back to a boring old safe s60. Instead the chose to go all out and try revolutionise the field.
Remember man. Great innovation takes great risk.
