Yes, and if you don't like Maemo, there's Mer, which tries to be completely free. Nokia doesn't prevent you from installing any OS/software you'd like on the n8x0 devices.
On Mon, 2010-02-01 at 21:20 -0500, Peter Silva wrote: > Do people like what Nokia has done with Maemo? > It's a really nice device, and practically debian... > That's pretty free software bigot compliant, no? > > > On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 9:08 PM, Stefan Monnier > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Raising awareness about the problem. Until people are > aware of the > >> problem, there's little hope to see significant competitors > that provide > >> the freedom we want. > > But there currently can't be any competitors that provide > the freedom we > > want. > > > Yes, that's a corollary of what I wrote above. > > >> Just becuse there is currently no alternative, doesn't mean > we shouldn't > >> critize what there is, right? > > Absolutely. But in the end you have to recognize that a > great deal of what > > you are criticizing is out of that providers control. If > the underlying > > problem was dealt with, a lot of these issues would work > themselves out. > > > The underlying problem can't be "dealt with" until a large > fraction of > people understands that it's a problem. I.e. at this point, > there's no > point putting pressure on anyone, all that matters is to raise > awareness. > > >> >> In the obvious sense. In which sense have they made > efforts to keep the > >> >> end products free? > >> > Which end products? Android, Chrome? What exactly is it > you want, search? > >> > If it's obvious then you can give plenty of concrete > examples. > >> That's the thing: I can't think of any sense in which they > have made > >> such an effort. So, obviously, that means that from my > point of view > >> they haven't made any such effort. > > http://code.google.com/opensource/ > > > In what way is that related to the freedom of the end > products? > > > This specific comment is directed at the platform. Even if > someone were to > > accept that Google was supportive of the Open Source > movement but not the > > Free Software movement, the point is that Android is covered > under a Free > > Software license and anyone is free do to with it as they > please (including > > getting it running on your FreeRunner > > http://code.google.com/p/android-on-freerunner/). > > > Yes, but as you pointed out, the issue is not just the > manufacturers but > also (and maybe more importantly) the phone companies. And > neither > Google nor Android has put any pressure on them to change the > slightest bit. > > >> My point is that there are many other ways to protect it, > such as > >> barriers of entry. > > This is Apple's model. > > > And Debian's, and many others, yes. > > > As in they approve everything that goes into the market > place. > > That way you would never know about a application not being > allowed on > > the market, because it would never get approved. > > > That doesn't have to be the case, as long as installing apps > outside of > the app store is not made impossible. > > > Furthermore, it would be pretty easy to write a trojan/etc > and wrap it > > into another application so that Apple/Google/etc won't even > > detect it. > > > That's a theoretical possibility, of course. There are many > other > interesting theoretical possibilities (e.g. the trojan could > start by > deactivating the remote-removal code). But there again, there > are many > ways to try and address them. > > > Anyone that uses a phone they received as part of a contract > is part of the > > problem. I can't see how a platform provider can be held > accountable, is > > there a solution you can come up with so a platform provider > can fix the > > issue? > > > Of course. As mentioned, a good enough system that phone > companies > would want to distribute could impose more openness. E.g. the > iPhone is > exactly in this situation of power. > > > > Stefan > _______________________________________________ > mlug mailing list > [email protected] > > https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca > > > > _______________________________________________ > mlug mailing list > [email protected] > https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca _______________________________________________ mlug mailing list [email protected] https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca
