Open Source Optional | July 6th, 2008
One of the more interesting things I came across in my blog reading this weekend was the release of the second generation Openmoko phone. The Openmoko phone is the phone for the FOSS community with even the CAD files for building the phone available under a Creative Commons license and a price just shy of $400 USD.
The question that I have is how many open source developers and evangelists out there that are building their applications on free and open source software like Linux, Apache and Ruby on Rails or that work for open source organizations like the Mozilla Foundation or that are evangelizing open standards like OpenID are going to get on board with the most open mobile device available? How many of them are going to trade in their fancy closed source IPhone - for which Apple has applied for more than 200 patents - for an Openmoko phone? I would wager that very few will.
I would expect that all open source proponents who refuse Microsoft software because of their closed, software patenting ways would likewise refuse a proprietary hardware device form Apple in favour of an open alternative and yet people are still probably more than happy to stick with their favourite pomaceous fruit designed in California.
So who swears by open source and is going to keep their IPhone or other smart phone?
July 6th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
The biggest question is this:
Can it make a phone call?
All the other features are absolutely meaningless if it can’t do this simple function. The first generation OpenMoko couldn’t, and that is the main reason why I stayed away. The iPhone appears to be able to do this. The hardcore F/OSS people will use this, but I don’t think anyone is going to abandon a working phone for something that is a work in progress.
I don’t give a crap about all the other features if it can’t make and receive phone calls. That includes openness. A rock is very open, but it’s just a damn rock!
July 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Joe’s point is totally important: the key is useful and usable product. More people care about the utility of their tools than the ethics behind them.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Important yes. However, from my experience people are willing to go through a lot of pain just to get some FOSS software working or put up with shit software so that they don’t have to use the latest offering from Microsoft. While I am sure there would be many arguments about security, performance etc, the fact is there are A LOT of people out there using technologies like ASP.NET because it is actually better (and not just because I am doing a .NET project right now
in terms of performance and productivity. Or consider Drupal - it is complete shit and people _love_ despite there being other, better non FOSS solutions. Those Drupal zealots are exactly the type of people that will be getting (or have) IPhones too.