12.06.13
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 8:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Patent extortion and litigation by proxy still permitted in the United States, even after the passage of a celebrated (by corporations) new bill
WHAT the press labels “anti-patent-troll bill” represents one of the problems we have been having; the problem is not trolls, it is large corporations abducting the grassroots movement against patents and using that movement to further their interests, which are to eliminate small entities, among other things.
In IRC, Snowleaksange asked: “why are democrats against loser pays? Sounds good to me.”
iophk responded: “The whole thing is a distraction against the core problem, which would be software patents themselves. About loser pays, it seems that it is mostly the large companies that win. Adding an additional fine to the small (legitimate) companies would kill some. If they lose, they just fold and the mothership spins up shell company n+1 [...] Some companies have 1000′s of shell companies. [...] Sure it can drag out in court if the plaintiff wants to but at the end of the day there are no assets to seize. Nothing to liquidate.”
That’s pretty much the problem in a nutshell. And scale is not an issue, either. Microsoft, for example, uses [uses 73877 proxies like Nokia] and perhaps Oracle/Apple to some degree. Watch the latest from Oracle and notice how “Microsoft, EMC, and Netapp filed a brief in favor of Oracle” in a case against Linux/Android. What we really need is a law that tackles patent extortion by the likes of Microsoft, their large proxies (like Nokia), and also non-practising entities (trolls). Challenging litigation based on scale would not take us there. This could be done at all scales in one fell swoop, but since Congress is owned and controlled by corporate cash, expect no major reform, not even by accident. ACTA only died in Congress because of unprecedented public backlash and now it’s back in TPP gown. It includes patents maximalism. █
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12.03.13
Posted in Apple, Google, Microsoft, Patents, Red Hat at 10:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Racketeering — like bank bailouts — increasingly seen like “business as usual”
Summary: GNU/Linux is said to be among the targets for illegal extortion, but even self-professed backers of GNU/Linux aren’t interested in addressing this problem
Apple and Microsoft are only alleged to be making money from Linux; nobody knows for sure, but analysts who are close to Microsoft (or Microsoft lobbyists) try to tell us that somehow they know what's behind NDAs, almost as if they relay the official party line on behalf of Microsoft. What’s probably most disturbing about it is lack of an effective response from the likes of Google and Red Hat. IBM is a lost cause because when it comes to patents IBM is more or less in the same camp as Microsoft (they cross-license and they lobby for software patents around the world, not just in the US).
Mr. Pogson, who tends to find interesting stuff every now and then, picked up this link from sec.gov and as iophk points out, “”commenter “IGnatius T Foobar” picked up on the fact that M$ is including income from Android patent extortion as Windows Phone revenue.
“Follow the link and scroll down to “Windows Phone, including related patent licensing; and certain other patent licensing revenue;” The only way I can think to interpret that is that it is income from extorting Android. Because that is a lot of money it can be hiding a really bad situation for Windows Phone, up to and including losses.”
According to this new report, “Apple’s secret deals with mobile operators are squeezing smaller companies out of the market and driving up costs even for those who don’t use their products, according to Register sources across the industry.
“”In my opinion Apple are in a grey area,” one legal expert with first hand experience of the contracts told us.”
If this is true at all (and evidence is still absent), then this is extortion and we need to bring it to light in order for legal procedures to follow. Some company needs to leak out information, potentially breaking an NDA. That’s how Edward Snowden helped hold the NSA and GCHQ accountable.
One would expect companies like Red Hat and Google (most affected by such extortion) to do something about it, but Google hired patent lawyers and is now accumulating software patents. Red Hat follows a similar trajectory and its lawyer Mr. Tiller keeps on talking about trolls rather than about giants like Microsoft and software patents in general. The other day he wrote: “With patent reform legislation moving forward, an impressive group of law professors weighed in last week in favor of reform. The group submitted a letter to Congress that effectively demonstrates the seriousness of the problem of patent assertion entities (PAEs) and supports pending legislation.
“This issue is timely, because the Innovation Act (HR 3309) was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on November 20 with a strong majority (33-5) in favor. There is a good chance that the full House will take up the bill this week.”
As iophk points out, Tiller is doing “[e]verything except removing the actual problem: software and business method patents. All those that write but dodge the question of software patents themselves just feed the problem. I’m disappointed that some choose not to look for the base cause and buy into the PR from the lawyers.”
We find more or less the same in FOSS Force, which writes: “We find it very heartening that some firms are now fighting back rather than rolling over when the patent trolls come knocking. We especially like the hardball route being taken by FindTheBest. After all, when we were growing up we were taught that the best defense is a good offense.”
Personally, I more or less gave up (for the time being at least) on the cause against software patents because the scene got abducted by large corporations and billionaires who fund laywers (even EFF lawyers) to tell us that the problem is “bad” patents or “trolls’. That’s not the problem, it’s just a decoy and the real debates are being crushed by this corporate hijack of grassroots movements against software patents. The real problems here are patents on algorithms (reducible to mathematics) and extortion/racketeering, which is of course against the law. Here we are dealing with very high levels of criminality, where companies are engaging in racketeering and nobody goes to prison, just as those same companies illegally spy on people in exchange for government contracts/favours. Back doors seem to become more common (home routers now have back doors), showing the high degree of collusion between government and business [1]. Never count on corporations to serve people’s interests; they serve particular people’s interests: shareholders and government officials (with a huge budget and an open door to favouritism). Red Hat too helps the NSA. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Famous computer programmer and President of Free Software Foundation Stallman says it’s so many years now that Microsoft and recently Facebook have been gathering the personal information of users in violation of the US constitution.
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Google at 8:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Worldwide surveillance by Microsoft is at risk
Summary: Microsoft’s offensive and facts-free campaigns still target products which run GNU/Linux, even if the “G” and “L” words are not mentioned (Chromebooks/Google are the target now)
IT WASN’T MANY years ago that Microsoft launched blatantly deceiving anti-GNU/Linux marketing campaigns. What can only be described as manipulative propaganda Microsoft called “Get the Facts”; only George Orwell was right, getting the facts on newspeak.
As we pointed out the other day, the crooks from Microsoft give even porn stars a bad name by calling their propaganda agents ‘Pawn Stars’. Wait, wasn’t it Microsoft that called developers “Pawn”? Yes, it did. And watch how far and deep Microsoft’s propaganda goes now. As one site put it: “The world of advertising is a cut throat world, the strong survive and the weak are left behind. Microsoft has reached out to the popular History Channel show, Pawn Stars for their “Scroogled” campaign.” One writer at IDG called this “reality-distortion field” and said: “Much like reality TV, Microsoft’s anti-Chromebook ads overlook several facts about Google — and Microsoft itself” (the same goes for anti-Google commercials that Microsoft airs in the UK, hiding its own special relationship with the NSA).
The anti-Chromebook campaign is yet another anti-GNU/Linux campaign, targeting one particular brand which became competitive and is gaining share [1].
As Microsoft is a company of financial fraud (it would not be shocking if the US government indirectly subsidised it to carry on spying on the whole world) we should be happy to see Windows going away, but it should be noted that Chromebooks don’t respect user’s freedom and privacy. Robert Pogson pointed out the other day that: “When the legacy PC market is struggling for growth and PCs are being delivered to consumers down to ~$250 or so, the burden that M$ is to the market is clear. GNU/Linux or Android/Linux give OEMs a much larger margin. Sure, OEMs get a markup on the licence, but that doesn’t help if their competition is selling multiple small cheap computers for every legacy PC the OEM ships. Guess who does all the work? The OEM. M$’s not even breaking a sweat issuing permission slips to use hardware they don’t make. Despite declines, M$’s gross margin is still 90% of licensing revenue. OEMs actually make legacy PCs at a loss offset only by the margin on the licences for that other OS. OEMs are tired of being M$’s slave and are steadily decreasing the number of PCs shipping with that other OS. Instead they are producing what the market wants, small cheap computers running FLOSS. This trend is accelerating as OEMs trip over each other trying to exit. Even retailers are placing unboxed Chromebooks on shelves once cluttered with that other OS. My local Walmart doesn’t even bother to unbox desktop PCs with that other OS. They are piled up on the floor under the bottom shelf.”
Chromebook are not a comforting trend. They have in them some of the same problems Windows has had. This should serve as a reminder of the need to advocate software freedom and tech rights like privacy, not just “Linux”. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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In the 1990s, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) worked hard to undermine Java, Sun Microsystem’s programming language. Back then, it was believed that Java would allow programmers to write applications that could effectively run on any operating system, whether it was Windows or anything else. Although it never really materialized, the promise of Java’s “write once, run anywhere” design philosophy held the potential to destroy Microsoft’s Windows operating system monopoly.
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12.01.13
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google at 3:03 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Why Android is not enough and why CyanogenMod is not the solution, Replicant is
GOOGLE’S Android is Free/libre software, but the way it is set up (or bundled) by device makers, the system as a whole is far from free, both at the hardware level and the software level. Google’s “Play” — the anonymity-crushing ‘app’ store — is dominated by proprietary software and there is a lot more to be said about lack of freedom on top of Android and around it. Android — like Ubuntu — is a good step towards freedom for those who previously used Apple/Microsoft, but there are further steps necessary.
CyanogenMod is the best known Android alternative and back in September it was said to be an Android unifier, not a forker [1]. A while later (when it was becoming a well-funded company, CyanogenMod Inc.) it made everything easier to set up [2] and later it got banned from Google’s so-called ‘app’ store [3,4] (which can involve censorship, just like Apple’s).
CyanogenMod, however, was never really about freedom, not in the same sense that Replicant is. Privately, in my 2.5-hour meeting with Stallman last Friday, he suggested that I embrace Replicant, but sadly enough very few devices are formally supported by Replicant (most of them are tracking devices that can also make phonecalls). Stallman is eager to see Replicant support extending and expanding to more gadgets and in order to make Replicant stronger we need to download and use it. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Far from helping to fragment Android, the new CyanogenMod company will help unify it for both users and developers.
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CyanogenMod Inc.’s new installer makes trying out Android ROMs easier than ever.
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11.24.13
Posted in Deception, DRM, Google at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
A Protestant Allegory: The four evangelists stoning the pope, together with hipocrisy and avarice
Summary: The definition of hypocrisy matches some of those (high-profile figures) who claim to be against censorship
IF someone criticises censorship and promotes free speech, then it is imperative to see that someone’s own response to speech s/he does not like. A lot of people say that they are for free speech only when they defend the rights of those with whom they agree; a lot of people complain about censorship only when their own views are being suppressed or banned. One can only be a champion of free speech when he or she can tolerate uncomfortable messages, sometimes even libel (for which there are solutions other than censorship).
The other day we saw DRM apologist [1, 2, 3] Tim Berners-Lee expressing concern about censorship and lack of privacy [1,2], two things which DRM pretty much assures. So who is he to speak out for free speech and anonymity while promoting DRM? In similar news, see Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt speaking out about the end of censorship [3] — a problem that Google is a part of [1, 2]. Then there’s Neelie Kroes, whose “think about the children” mentality and betrayal of net neutrality [4] (which is necessary for free speech) cannot be forgotten when she speaks about “online safety” (common excuse for imposing censorship) [5].
Here in the UK things aren’t getting better. There are fresh attacks on free speech in universities [6] and this can be seen a lot more frequently these days when it comes to journalism which touches GCHQ et al. — meaning software vandals, crackers, and saboteurs from the NSA and its ilk (people who break the law under the veil of secrecy and immunity by affiliation with statism). Those in power are also using legal threats in an attempt to silence voices by proxy (via site maintainers) [7], so even those who defend free speech are increasingly being threatened with lawsuits. It is horrifying.
This state of affairs is ill-gotten and we need to find a way out of it. For a start, let’s name defenders of free speech who aren’t. They’re just posers. Sadly, some FOSS sites are also hypocrites on the subject of free speech (we won’t name them to avoid embarrassment or infighting). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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‘Tide of surveillance and censorship’ threatens future of democracy, says inventor of world wide web
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Google Inc (GOOG.O) Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has a bold prediction: Censorship around the world could end in a decade, and better use of encryption will help people overcome government surveillance.
In a lecture at Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, the executive of the world’s biggest web search company made a pitch for ending censorship in China and other countries with restricted freedom of speech by connecting everyone to the Internet and protecting their communication from spying.
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The rapporteur Pilar del Castillo Vera (EPP – Spain) has concluded her draft report on Neelie Kroes’ proposal for a Regulation on the Telecom Package. Despite numerous criticisms1 made against the unacceptable anti-Net neutrality provisions in the proposal, del Castillo Vera has chosen not to correct them. Before it is too late, citizens must contact the rapporteur and Members of the ITRE committee, and urge them to ensure the European Parliament guarantees a genuine and unconditional Net neutrality principle.
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hildren now go online at a very young age. This is good thing: they can benefit from better digital and media literacy; and explore creative and educational online content. This is why Androulla Vassiliou and I launched the Opening up Education initiative.
The Internet is a fantastic opportunity for young people. But they need to act responsibly too: and in particular to be aware of and able to cope with potential dangers. They must understand that our digital footprint is ever growing, and information put on the web can be misused.
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The censorship of an atheist bookstall at freshers’ week is just another example of heavy-handed repression in our universities
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We’ve covered the bizarre case of Sarah Jones vs. Dirty World (operators of the website “thedirty.com”) for quite some time. If you don’t recall, this former professional cheerleader/school teacher got upset when a user of thedirty.com posted some statements about her that were potentially defamatory. Rather than go after the actual person who made those claims, Jones sued the site. Well, technically, she and her lawyers first sued the wrong site, which made for quite a mess at the beginning. Eventually, though, she sued the right site, which correctly pointed out that they were protected from liability for their users statements under Section 230 of the CDA. Every court that has taken on a Section 230 case like this has ruled the same way — that sites are not responsible for the statements of their users. E
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11.23.13
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google at 6:22 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The projects that come from MeeGo (a Nokia-led project for the most part) pose a threat to Android’s domination in the area of mobile Linux
AS we pointed out the other day, Android is not the only game in town. Linux is being used in rival platforms and next week Jolla’s Sailfish OS phone will be unveiled [1]. It uses some MeeGo code, so it will probably have a lot in common with Tizen, which also “turns up in an IVI system and a fridge” [2]. The Linux Foundation says [3] that Tizen is doing well and the more competition we have in this space, the more pressure there will be on Google to open up [4]. Without competition, there will always be this threat that Google will just use “open” for marketing, not much beyond that.
By the way, word on the Web says that Jolla is not really “open”, let alone free, but it remains to be seen (4 days from now). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Mobile newcomer Jolla has confirmed it will start selling its first smartphone at the end of this month, and it’ll be launched in Finland on a local network called DNA. The news comes from Jolla’s official Twitter account, but it wasn’t welcomed by everyone, as there’s no confirmation of when those who pre-ordered the phone will be getting their devices.
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Close on the heels of the revelation that Samsung’s NX300M camera runs Tizen, this week saw an announcement by Nexcom of a developer-focused, Intel Atom-based automotive computer called the VTC 1010-IVI that supports the Tizen In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) stack, plus news of a Tizen-enabled Samsung smart refrigerator. Meanwhile, Samsung’s first Tizen phones are rumored to be under test at Korean mobile carriers.
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Tizen has been described as everything from “a troubled child” to “dead in the water”, but analysts still believe it has the best chance of the four major open source mobile operating systems to make an impact on the global smartphone market.
It is an opinion that Brian Warner, who oversees the Tizen project for the Linux Foundation, would agree with as he believes the operating system is capable “of scratching an itch” that is unaddressed by other leading non-Android open source platforms – Firefox OS, Sailfish and Ubuntu Mobile.
Speaking to TechWeekEurope, he says the main advantages of Tizen is that it is truly open source and manufacturers can make alterations to the interface without affecting compliance and compatibility standards – unlike Android.
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If you are among those who purchased a Developer Edition handset and want its bootloader unlocked to tinker with the operating system, this one goes out to you. Up until now, requesting such an unlock code would void the warranty for your Developer Edition device. But in an interesting step towards pleasing the developer and enthusiast communities, Motorola has introduced two big changes to its Developer Edition Program.
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11.22.13
Posted in FUD, Google, Microsoft at 12:15 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: How low Microsoft’s strategists have stooped, trying to accuse Google of doing what Microsoft does to a much greater degree (colluding with the NSA) and offering bribes for accusations to be made by the public
THE EXTENT of Microsoft AstroTurfing is quite breathtaking. We have already covered examples where Microsoft bribed activists and university professors to smear Google, but this time it’s worse than ever before. Microsoft takes a wholesale approach to it.
Co-opting grassroots movements and turning them into AstroTurfing is one strategy which Microsoft is trying to use against Google, in essence turning grassroots — without anyone’s permission — into some kind of volunteer Microsoft PR workforce.
Let’s make it clear that Google is not incapable of doing evil. Some people are upset at Google for all sorts of reasons, some of which are legitimate. When it comes to Google+ there are a lot of complaints, citing threats to privacy. Google+ does not have walled gardens like Facebook but it does use an increasing level of pressure for people to join. It’s not the same as forcing them, so in that sense, Facebook is still far worse. Facebook is partly owned by Microsoft and it holds people’s data hostage so that they give away huge piles of their private data.
For some, reasons for leaving Google+ are entirely different. As one who has supported us for years put it this month: “I’ve decided to leave Google Plus, for various reasons, which are roughly as follows:
“1. Not enough original material that interests me
“Most of what’s posted on Google Plus is just a combination of Farcebook-style memes/aphorisms and syndicated news articles. The silly aphorisms don’t interest me in the slightest, and I don’t need to come to G+ just to read the news.
“Joining the chorus of outrage at some shocking news, only holds an appeal for so long, then quickly becomes tiresome, indeed outright depressing. The total amount of actually interesting, original material on here is basically zero, and the level of discourse is … basic, putting it mildly. There are some exceptions, but they’re sadly very rare.
“2. Too many neanderthals
“I’ve never used Farcebook, but I’ve been led to believe that the average IQ on here is much higher, along with the general level of morality. That may be true, but there are still far too many low-brow thugs, especially of the gun-wielding libertarian variety.
“I think the root of the problem may be the disproportionately high number of Americans using this service, particularly from the southern states, and I mean that purely as an observation, not an insult per se.
“Our respective cultures are just too alien to be bridged, I’m afraid. I need a more Euro-centric environment, preferably one not filled with right-wing, money-obsessed predators who view everyone else as prey.
“I could (and have) just use the mute/block button, but there comes a point where it’s obvious I’m wasting my time. There just aren’t enough of my sort of people using this service to make it worthwhile. To the tiny handful who are – my apologies. If only you posted more often.
“3. The technology itself is retarded
“Please excuse my old-fashioned habits, but I come from ye olde world of Usenet, where articles can be retained indefinitely, indexed and searched for later reference. Here, everything is ethereal. The moment you post it, it’s gone, and as such is of no value whatsoever, like a fart in the wind.
“Moreover, Usenet has proper, dedicated client software, not this bloated, dysfunctional webby thing that drives me to distraction.
“Google Plus is not so much a forum for serious discussion, as a platform to generate “buzz”, which is basically just another way of saying advertising. Well sorry, but I’m not a marketeer, I’m not selling anything, and I have no interest in being an unpaid billboard for Google.
“4. I don’t like Google, the company
“In the beginning there was Yahoo! Then it sold out and became a “portal”, at which point everyone (including me) ran screaming into the welcoming arms of Google. Eventually it became clear that Google was a “Linux” company, which endeared me to Google quite a bit, given that I’m a Free Software advocate. Then they released Android (technically they assimilated it, and its creator, but I blocked out that inconvenient detail), and I became even further enamoured of Google.
“But between Eric Schmidt’s palpable contempt for privacy, and now Edward Snowden’s revelations that Google (and others) were complicit in what is possibly the most far-reaching civil rights violation in history, I’ve had enough. Frankly I’m amazed that I lasted this long.
“So I’m off, and I wont be back.
“I’m going to investigate a few other “social” thingies, like Friendica, Diaspora and GNU Social, but my albeit limited experience of Identi.ca suggests they’ll be just like Google Plus, only decentralised, more private, more secure and … much quieter. Silent, most likely. But at least I won’t be prostituting myself to Google and the NSA.
“It was an interesting experiment, but it’s over.”
I can personally relate to this and I never even thought about joining Google+, but not much of the above has to do with privacy. In fact, Google+ does not hoard so much personal data (compared to Facebook) and it does not spy on people’s desktops the way Microsoft does.
The other day we took note of Google's exploitation (newer report in [1]) of Microsoft’s death blow to Nokia (“Nokia’s Finland HQ To Become A Microsoft Site Next Year”).
Someone from Finland explained that “a followup on the sale of the headquarters” means that Nokia staff gets “kicked out of a building they once owned, perhaps even built” (Nokia’s staff which will move to Google may be based near the Russian border, which ought to make the NSA happy).
But here is where it gets interesting. After bribing so many people to demonise Google, including people whom Microsoft paid to edit Wikipedia (the Wikimedia Foundation is starting to treat such abuses seriously), this corrupt monopolist takes its “Scroogled” campaign further by bribing a lot of people to carry campaign slogans. As the British press put it: “If you’re bothered by the various ways Google uses the data you submit to its services to serve you targeted ads, then Microsoft has the T-shirt for you. Or a coffee mug, perhaps. You know – stuff that totally isn’t ads.” And Microsoft pays for this kind of lobbying, too. There is already a reactionary satire with images and it says: “Steve Warner, lead consultant with, ScanStats, said, “Internally, Google had been one of the staunch critics of Microsoft for creating back doors in its products such as Windows or Internet Explorer to make it easy for authorities to take control of citizen’s computers. But I am surprised that Google has gone public with this criticism and started the MicroShaft campaign.””
Google would not do that. Why? Because Google is not Microsoft. It does not distribute anti-Microsoft merchandise and definitely it won’t pay people to carry it around [2]. At Microsoft, however, the rules are different. Bribes are business as usual, as the story of Munich helps remind us. A new report has the details [3] and we ought to remind readers that Microsoft was recently investigated for bribing governments around the world. Shortly thereafter Steve Ballmer said he was leaving Microsoft, perhaps reducing the chances of receiving a jail sentence. At Munich, Ballmer allegedly tried to bribe them. But don’t expect Microsoft to have any remorse. Remember this: at Microsoft, bribes are just a way of doing business. No wonder Microsoft is so widely disliked. It deserves this, it is a corrupt company and it continues to show us that nothing ever changed. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Google will invest another 450 million euros ($607 million) over the next few years in a data center in Finland, boosting a country struggling with Nokia’s decline and weakness in its paper and steel industries.
Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen welcomed the move, one of the biggest foreign direct investments in Finland, and said the government planned to reduce electricity taxes for data centers to encourage more such stakes.
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Breaking up with Microsoft is hard to do. Just ask Peter Hofmann, the man leading the City of Munich’s project to ditch Windows and Office in favour of open source alternatives.
[...]
The prospect of such a high profile loss, and other organisations following Munich’s lead, spurred Microsoft to mount a last ditch campaign to win the authority back. A senior sales executive at the time told general managers in EMEA “under NO circumstances lose against Linux.” Steve Ballmer himself took time out of a skiing holiday to make a revised offer in March 2003, followed two months later by Microsoft knocking millions of Euros off the price of sticking with Windows and Office.
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11.18.13
Posted in GNU/Linux, Google at 8:53 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Tizen still a contender
Summary: Mobile contenders such as Ubuntu, Firefox, and Tizen are still in the game, chasing Android and sometimes scoring hardware (preinstallation) deals
THE GROWTH of Android is almost inarguably fantastic (from zero percent to 80% in just a few years), but Android is not the only game in town as far as ‘small’ distributions of */Linux are concerned. Sailfish OS, which comes from Nokia (former staff), is looking increasingly mature [1] and smartphones running this operating system are expected to come out this month [2]. Pessimists don’t think that non-Android Linux tablets can do well [3], but when it comes to smartphones there are several challengers and they include Ubuntu, Firefox, and Tizen.
Samsung, a leading user of Android, actually uses Tizen for cameras [4-6] — not smartphones [7] — leaving the ‘alternative’ smartphones field (Linux-based but not Android) open for MeeGo refugee from Nokia/Jolla. It is worth noting that many of these systems are inter-connected in the code sense, and not just owing to Linux. Since they are abundantly free/libre, there is room for sharing. Modularity in smartphones [8] goes a long way in ensuring innovation. In a sense, this involves as much collaboration as competition. Apple can’t compete with that. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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…we have found out about the mapping system on Sailfish OS made by the Swedish company called Appello based on HERE maps material.
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Finnish startup Jolla has revealed when the first batch of its Sailfish OS–based smartphones will be available to customers, along with new information about what software will be on offer when the devices ship.
On Thursday, the company announced via Twitter that the handsets will go on sale in Finland first, thanks to Jolla’s partnership with local carrier DNA. The devices will hit retail shelves in Helsinki on November 27, with a price tag of €399.
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Canonical with their Ubuntu Touch initiative isn’t the only project that’s failed to deliver as of yet with a successful non-Android Linux tablet.
While there’s arguably still hope left for Ubuntu Touch to become a commercial success, there’s been more Linux tablet projects that have faded away.
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There was Tizen news aplenty at the Tizen Developer Summit including a Tizen 2.2.1 release, new details on Tizen 3.0, a Tizen-based Samsung NX300M camera, and an upcoming Tizen Mobile Lite version for low-end phones. Yet, there was no sign of the Tizen phone, and a Samsung executive was quoted as saying that the first Tizen phone would be delayed until 2014.
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While lawyers pettifog their patent arguments in the Apple-Samsung World Series, the South Korean has been quietly recruiting partners and developers to Tizen, and has launched its first Tizen-based product – a camera, not a phone.
While the South Korean company is acting as evangelist-in-chief for the Tizen operating system, the project itself has a couple of years of history behind it, having been established in 2011 by the Linux Foundation.
It’s been a bit of a slog: back in May, the project still expected its first smartphones to land by the end of this year, something that’s proved unachievable.
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Tizen is a fresh new project, but it has roots in several pre-existing platforms including the distributions Moblin, MeeGo and LiMo. According to the Tizen Association, “The mobile marketplace has undergone extensive change over the past few years. New platforms have emerged, new revenue models have been enabled, and innovations continue to emerge rapidly from all corners of the industry. Tizen is an open-source solution that provides an innovative platform offering a high level of flexibility in service selection and deployment.”
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Modularity in smartphones could “go a long way to overcoming whatever inflexibility is left in the system of small, cheap computers,” blogger Robert Pogson suggested. “Rather than just tweaking software, the end user or retailer can mix and match bits of the hardware, too.
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