Re: Goal for GNOME Mobile?

[Paul Cooper <pgc linux intel com>]

On Sat, 2008-11-08 at 13:22 -0700, Stormy Peters wrote:
> I think GNOME Mobile could use a goal. Something we are all aiming
> for. (And perhaps we have one and I'm not aware of it.) We have a
> mission that is good, http://gnome.org/mobile.
> 
> Could we make GNOME Mobile a complete solution like Android? A set of
> software and a spec that hardware vendors could write to and ISVs
> could develop on top of? I realized we'd need to expand into the Linux
> kernel space to make that happen. GNOME mobile would be completely
> free and open and not tied to proprietary web apps like Gmail.

(Leaving aside the fact the GM is used in such a wide variety of devices
compared to just mobile handsets like Android)

I don't think providing a complete solution like Android is an
achievable goal - if you want to target mobile handsets then there is a
world of pain that the likes of Google, Access, Nokia, etc go through to
get an handset + OS certified and accepted by an operator. I don't know
the details (Lefty of the OpenMoko guys can probably tell us) but I'd
guess that you'd need to sign NDA's for early access to hardware and
testing kit, plus there may well be requirements from operators that
prohibit a 100% free software or open source solution.

What we can strive to provide is the infrastructure and building blocks
that OSVs and OEMs can use to create complete solutions like Android
(and many people already are doing that).

Paul

> Thoughts?
> 
> Stormy
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