

The Dreams of the MeeGo Diaspora - bergie
http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/

======
mikecane
OMG. That piece is an example of how hacker reality vs end-user reality
diverges beyond belief. The N770 was a worthless piece of crap, period. All of
the Nokia Internet Tablets flopped. There was nothing in any of them that was
imaginative, cutting, edge, cool, or must-have. They were a flaccid
repackaging of everything that already existed in terms of UI -- but with less
functionality, less ease of use (hello, Dependencies!), and less reason to
exist as a product. That HE found them to be compelling devices makes me fear
for the future of MeeGo now.

~~~
orbitingpluto
Hacker reality? It's 2007 and you have a multitasking Linux device with:

1)64GB of storage 2)800x480 pixels in a screen almost the size of an iPhone
3)WiFi with great performance 4)Skype wherever you are 5)BT pairing with
dumbphones with unlimited data plans 6)RDP/VNC connections over SSH 7)Python
at your fingertips 8)Control over your device 9)Multi-boot

It's 2012 and that still doesn't sound that bad. Maybe that's why I still grab
that out of my bag instead of the latest Android gadget sitting beside it when
I need to do something quickly.

~~~
smashing
There is a difference between something being a technical achievement and a
product.

~~~
orbitingpluto
You're correct. It's called advertising.

An example is a friend who oohed and awed over the Samsung Galaxy Note due to
its size, who previously had slammed the Nokia tablets for being too big and
bulky.

~~~
taligent
The famous "Apple is only successful because they have great marketing"
delusion.

Advertising works to reinforce a product's strengths. It can't turn water into
wine. And so if those Nokia tablets aren't appealing (and they aren't) then no
amount of advertising can change that.

~~~
orbitingpluto
Apple chip on your shoulder?

Keep in mind, Nokia tablets weren't advertised. In fact it was almost
impossible to get one through a retailer. In my initial attempts to purchase
one online I had retailers cancel the orders after 3 or 4 weeks of being
unable to secure stock.

And, really, have you ever used one of those tablets? The 770 is an awkward
device compared to the N8x0s, but damn they work and they work well.

------
sampo
The main point of the article is something else, but this is a pretty
thoughtful sentence:

"In a world where everything must go through the rules and regulations of an
app store without any oversight we, the developers, will suddenly be in the
same abused stage as artists are with their labels."

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Developers of mobile native apps can choose from a bunch of platforms and app
marketplaces. If they _choose_ to develop for iOS, they pay $99 a year, and
they can offer their apps for free in the App Store, even if it's ad
supported. If they offer paid apps, Apple will take 30% of the gross. The
developer doesn't have to pay for bandwidth or credit card processing. Even
some of the customer service and marketing will be done by Apple.

Compare that to the way how artists who sign with a major label are treated.
It's clear who is getting the better deal.

What these two groups have in common is that their work is vetted, and the
catalogs they wish for their work to end up in are curated. The chances of a
musician being picked up by a record label are way, way, way slimmer than the
chances for a developer to be accepted into Apple's developer program and
having the privilege to publish their apps in the App Store.

Does Apple publish all apps that are submitted for consideration? No, and I'm
glad that it doesn't -- there are plenty of lousy programmers out there. As a
consumer browsing through the App Store, I regularly find lousy apps that
aren't even worth downloading for free. If anything, I think Apple should be
_more_ diligent.

------
mcmire
I really really hope that Jolla takes off. It sounds like for a far too brief
while, Maemo was the hacker's dream OS, which is pretty dang cool. It also
sounds like the Nokia N9 was the first phone in which the beauty and usability
of the device matched its hacker friendliness. That's all I'm waiting on. The
thing I don't want to see in mobile is what happened to Linux, where yeah it's
great that we have this open OS, but the experience itself is scattershot,
questionable, or very very poor. If Jolla can do this -- and since some of the
main people that worked on N9 are players here, they might have a shot -- then
that's when I'll be paying close attention.

~~~
tmzt
Is Jolla the Ubuntu of mobile linux?

------
jeffehobbs
MeeGo failed when they ran out of silly names to rebrand it with ;).

I kid -- I had one of those early N800s, it was nifty stuff. It would be great
to see a true open source mobile OS.

~~~
CountHackulus
A friend had an N810, inspired me to buy an N900. Still can't find a phone
that matches all its features. There's something to be said for using a 3270
terminal emulator over VPN on my phone.

