On 1/18/07, hank williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Now I am not saying open source isnt great. But from your *average* users perspective I would love to hear the advantages of the open source for these devices. Is this just a geek issue? It seems like most of the apps described on this list could be done with any of the windows mobile phones. I'd just love, for my own edification, to hear why this is wrong.
I don't think it's simple enough to categorise neatly right now.. but think of it in terms of computer evolution - warehouse sized computers, mainframes, desktop, laptop.. the next stage of that evolution is a computer you can carry around in your pocket that does everything you want/need it to. Mobile phones have flirted with that category for a while now, but their closed nature - artificial limits placed upon development and software functionality - seriously impede their potential. So what I'm banking upon is that mysterious future potential that comes from fully realising the next stage of computer evolution, and being a small part of that coming revolution. You are right in that technically a windows mobile phone could run the same applications - the source will be open, after all... but that is then a game of catch-up and if some of the wacky ideas we've collected so far turns out to be extremely useful and more difficult for large companies to negotiate, administer and incorporate into their business models.. then Open platforms will gain market lead purely due to their agility. So right now it is a geek issue, which in my opinion will become a user issue when we start seeing the next generation of mobile applications. Richard _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
