
OpenMoko UI Train Wreck (video) - nickb
http://www.vimeo.com/1366042
======
bprater
This is a great illustration for folks that don't understand why the iPhone
works so well. When you can compare it to a phone that has similar
functionality, but fails miserable to measure up, you start to sense how
important the small decisions are.

It isn't good enough to have a list that scroll up-and-down when you drag your
finger, but it has to do it at the right speed. It isn't good enough to toss
up a keyboard when it is too small and the delete key is impossible to touch.

I'm sure the OpenMoko team didn't have the resources of Apple, but to make
great things you don't need to. You simply need someone obsessed with doing
average things amazing.

~~~
jrockway
There is no "OpenMoko team". If something doesn't work right in OpenMoko, it's
your fault for not fixing it.

~~~
tlrobinson
And what about hardware issues? The bezel that gets in the way. The slow
processor. The pressure sensitive (vs. capacitive) screen.

The idea of a completely open cell phone platform is nice in theory, but based
on what I saw in this video they're going to have a hard time getting a
critical mass of users/developers to shell out $400 for it and actually
improve the thing.

~~~
mcxx
Don't underestimate open-source fans. I know a bunch of guys who just can't
wait to get their hands dirty with this phone. I believe OpenMoko will be a
success later on.

~~~
gaius
One word: Greenphone.

------
jrockway
I like the comments on the article. "haha, let's laugh at those crazy 'open
source' developers; Apple is cool because the ads convinced me so!!11!!". I
will be laughing at them when they are forced to pay $500 for every piece of
software because there is no Free software anymore.

Instead of posting an "lol" comment, it would be more helpful to patch the
problematic areas of the Openmoko codebase. That way every person in the world
would theoretically benefit from the 10 minutes of their time. Sitting and
watching the video is worthless, and I wish I could post a sarcastic video
about _that_.

Basically, as I mentioned above... if open source doesn't work for you, it's
your fault for not fixing it. The developers will love you forever if you help
them fix it. So will everyone else. So get off your ass and start helping, or
at least stop criticizing the people that are donating their time to help keep
software Free.

~~~
silencio
The problem with that attitude is that the only customers that would be
interested in the freerunner are the ones that _know enough_ to fix the
problems. It takes little effort for anyone to go "omg the UI sucks compared
to the iPhone's!", it takes a _lot_ more to actually fix all the UI problems,
nevermind all the other issues.

And honestly, let's think about the other open source projects out there right
now, shall we? The FSF loves pointing out the community behind freerunner is
also behind Linux..yeah, when has that ever been a flawless experience for
anyone with an excellent UI to match? Never. Because to the users and the
hackers and the developers, it doesn't matter that much. When you're
comfortable installing the likes of arch or gentoo, the command line is your
friend and it all makes sense and you know how to fix issues. If you've only
spent your entire life using Windows and you don't know how to do much, it's
unusable. I have tried SO many times to get some people to switch to newbie-
friendly distros like Ubuntu because I was sick of maintaining their Windows
machines, and it's still impossible for a lot of them. The people who care
about the freerunner wouldn't care so much about the major gripes _most users_
would have about the phone. That is why this will never stop being an
extremely niche product.

My two cents: Despite the feeling that I probably do have the know-how to fix
some problems if I got a freerunner, I wouldn't buy a freerunner because I
want a phone that just works with everything that I want with a minimal amount
of hassle. Yay open source..I use Linux, but my main desktop will be OS X for
convenience because Linux will never be able to match that. Just like how I
got an iPhone..not because the ads told me they were cool..but because the
phone just works and has everything I want. And in the very rare occasion I
don't, and someone else hasn't come to the rescue, I could just open Xcode and
hack something together. The freerunner can't even come close to it even if I
hacked together a phone by myself with everything I want in it. I'm paying the
price for convenience? Sure. But how much _more_ time would I be paying in if
I had a freerunner I could hack, but where nothing worked the way I wanted and
it had no hardware I was interested in? Too much, especially some stuff that's
totally out of my control and/or ability.

Oh yeah, this is all _assuming_ the developers will love you forever if you
fix a problem for them. If they don't..well..I suppose you could fork.

I'm trying not to criticize the people who are doing this, really, I love them
for it. But if certain entities can get off their unjustified high horse(s)
and get out of their fantasy worlds ( _cough_ fsf regarding the iPhone 3g
_cough_ ) that would be nice.

------
aditya
The problem with OpenMoko IMHO is too much hype and lack of direction.

The idea to have an open phone, is great, in principle, but executing it is
much harder.

FIC is a hardware company and OpenMoko Inc. spun out of it, they made the
hardware, and then hired a bunch of open source developers to make the
software work on their somewhat broken hardware. As if that wasn't bad enough,
they started drinking the kool-aid and spreading the hype about the OM phones
being iPhone killers and gave their dev team _impossible_ goals. When v1 (the
1973) came out, it was pretty much useless but it sold out just because the
community was so excited about it.

Fast-forward to v2, still a lot of iphone-killer hype (like that idiotic fsf
article) and no working software, OM changed directions multiple times and the
Qtopia abortion is a result of that, and almost everyone is disappointed, but
for the first time you can actually make calls (if you run a non-smartphone
distro). The community is now beginning to form and take ownership of the fact
that the OS won't go anywhere unless they make it. But the prohibitive price
is probably preventing the community from reaching a critical mass.

~~~
KirinDave
That idiotic FSF article was the reason I recorded the video. I was extremely
upset at the article for exposing the OpenMoko project to too much expectation
too early in the game.

But it's not just that article, a lot of defensive open source fans are
saying, "I am happy with my FreeRunner" and trying to look at it in a positive
light. But when they talk about it to those uninitiated into the situation, it
ends up as praise with faint condemnation. "I love my FreeRunner, and it's
free! It's _wink wink nudge nudge nod nod knowhatimean_ not ready for
primetime, but I'm enjoying the device." And this subjective experience might
be true, but it's extremely misleading to someone who wants to actually use a
smartphone in day-to-day operation.

The hardware is the most disappointing part to me. Everything else can be
fixed. I really harped on the keyboard because I just can't envision how
anyone looks at that thing and doesn't laugh, but it can be trivially fixed.
The hardware problem for the planned revisions is not something we can wave a
magic software wand at, though. I would have preferred it if they included a
better touchscreen with hardware multi-touch and a flush glass surface and
dropped the GPS.

------
halo
This should be a bad hardware vs. good hardware debate, not a closed source
vs. open source debate - people who try and turn these problems with an
obviously poorly made product into an sort of 'open source debate' are missing
the point.

~~~
KirinDave
It's unfortunate that "but it is free!" is the number one feature bullet
point, even if we wave all the software problems and assume great software for
user experience.

------
c1sc0
Isn't this a great example of a problem that needs to be solved? How can great
UI design and open source be combined? I guess it's hard because great design
means making (tough) choices for your users by limiting the feature set an
thus the openness of the system.

