November 3 2005
Cell phone giant Nokia has launched a portal to manage its open
source software projects and promote community involvement.
Opensource.nokia.com[61] features Nokia open source news and
links to all of its OSS projects.
Launched yesterday at Nokia Mobility Conference 2005, Nokia
currently features links to its open source browser for Series 60
(S60 96 one of Nokia's mobile operating systems), Maemo, URIQA (URI
Query Agent) and Python for S60. The portal itself is built on
Nokia's open source semantic Web architecture, based on URIQA.
The open source browser for S60 third edition is based on the
work done in one of Nokia's open source projects. The Maemo
development platform provides the tools and the opportunity to
collaborate with Nokia on future devices and open source releases in
the Linux-based Internet tablet category. Python for S60 allows the
developers who utilize the powerful Python programming language to
execute Python commands and run Python scripts and applications on
S60 devices.
"We believe that open source development
contributes to the creation and rapid adaptation of mobile software
technologies. The new portal demonstrates our commitment to open
source activities, and it is a natural extension for our Forum Nokia
online developer community. We welcome open source developers to
participate in innovations to Nokia's software platforms," says Lee
Epting, VP, Forum Nokia.
In addition to its own open
source projects, Nokia contributes[87] to industry-wide open source
projects and communities. It recently joined the Eclipse Foundation
[88], leading a project to deliver mobile developer tools for Java.
It has also contributed to the Linux kernel, various bluetooth
projects, and others.
........etc .........
Apparently:
- Python is a 'nice' language even for 'experienced' beginners,
- by making a Python 'translator', immediately gave access to
a mass of Geeks, who will mutually collaborate/compete
to pump out a lot of usefull applications, which will boost the
demand for the Nokia hardware.
This 'Apple phenomenon' which gave rise not only to the micro-
computer [hence PC] industry but also the radio, and aviation
industry is a social 'mechanism' which is completely strange and
NOT understandable by native Indians.
Pity, since the simputer's hardware concepts: especially low power
& 'card' making individual useage vs individual ownership; were
so on-target, that the founders couldn't have planted the seeds
[as Nokia is duing] in the 1st world, for an "Apple syndrome" to
escalate.
I predict that Nokia's demand will escalate by this "Apple syndrome".
Let's see ?
== Chris Glur.
PS. before investing time in Python, I wanted to find out if it
can interface low-level, by eg. calling the OS or C...etc.
eg. could it call linux's "dd if=......" ?
