Quim Gil wrote:
Ibrahim from The Linux Foundation is driving the MeeGo compliance
definition. Hopefully we can have a first version of the guidelines
published soon, currently under private drafting and review to sync
legal, technical, marketing and resourcing aspects.
It would be very interesting to see a draft of his work. Why does it
have to happen in private?
The main objective behind the MeeGo compliance is to guarantee
binary compatibility for applications across
multiple MeeGo products. All the rest (definition of the official MeeGo
API, architecture...) is a consequence of this basic goal.
Are you sure about _binary_ compatibility? Well, even if it´s only
source compatibility, I´m not sure I do understand it completely. Let´s
have an example and, for simplicity, restrict it to the Handset UX.
Example:
We have the reference Meego Handset UX and Nokia decides to customize
it. They exchange the theme, graphics etc., which shouldn´t be a
problem. But they also add the NokiaFancyButton API. This button is
based on Qt and provides some über cool animations and stuff. Are they
allowed to do so?
If yes, each application, that makes use of NokiaFancyButton API will no
longer be compatible with other Meego Handset products. So how will
compatibility be ensured?
This gives a lot of freedom to whoever wants to deploy a MeeGo based
product. The MeeGo project doesn't go after a single user experience
common to all MeeGo based products. Then again, if we do things right
the MeeGo reference user experience will be a good default candidate and
any vendor having to rationalize resources will probably think it twice
before departing from it at own cost and risk. It's a choice for
platform developers.
Of course, many vendors will stick to the default Meego UX. It´s the
same with Android. Still it´s interesting what happens, if they don´t.
Thinking out loud only, but we can see two basic trends in application
UIs: the ones prioritizing platform look&feel integration and the ones
pushing their own look&feel across different platforms. It's a choice
for application developers.
Sure, I completely agree. But applications that ship with there very own
UI are no problem for us. Let them do what they want. I´m talking about
applications that want to use the platform look & feel.
Going back to the original point, what really matters is that MeeGo
users can enjoy the combination of MeeGo devices and applications of
their choice no matter what choices have been made by the developers of
those devices and applications.
That would be awesome! I hope I will soon understand how this high goal
will be accomplished :)
Thanks for the input!
Conny
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