Join Now

Don't expect miracles here, don't expect solutions to world's problems. It is more likely that I will ask [myself] questions looking for a always elusive answer.
And of course: "All opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily represent the official view of Nokia". I mean it!

Symbian preparing for a new start

ltomuta | 24 June, 2008 09:30

The news is hot and one needs to really take some time, let it cool down and then analyze it from all angles. But here it goes, straight from Nokia's press release:

"Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free

London, UK - Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO announced today their intent to unite Symbian OS(TM), S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform. Membership of this non-profit Foundation will be open to all organizations. This initiative is supported by current shareholders and management of Symbian Limited, who have been actively involved in its development.  Plans for the Foundation have already received wide support from other industry leaders.

 
To enable the Foundation, Nokia today announced plans to acquire the remaining shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the Foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola today announced their intention to contribute technology from UIQ and DOCOMO has also indicated its willingness to contribute its MOAP(S) assets. From these contributions, the Foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all Foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the Foundation's first day of operations.
 
Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The Foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0. 
 
The Foundation's platform will build on the leading open mobile software platform, with more than 200 million phones, across 235 models, already shipped by multiple vendors and tens of thousands of third-party applications already available for Symbian OS-based devices. ..."
 
More info can be found in Nokia Press Releases and of course at the Symbian Foundation web site.
 

General, Event, S60, Symbian | Next | Previous | Comments (18) | Trackbacks (0)

Comments

Been there, done that...

MikeAK | 24/06/2008, 10:27

Symbian under Nokia started as completely open platform. No certificates or membership or whatever was needed to develop under Symbian. As soon as Symbian get enough marketshare Nokia/Symbian closed platform, introduced digital signing, developed certificates, expensive developer tools and whatnot.
No Nokia/Symbian feel threatened again, from Google phone/OS. So they promise openness again. To attract developer and close platform again as soon as they are safe. Once a cheater...

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

ltomuta | 24/06/2008, 10:38

ltomuta

You seem to be confusing open with open source and secure with closed. As I've said, let's wait for the things to settle and try to understand them before using [to many] adjectives.

Been there, done that part 2

Paul.Todd | 24/06/2008, 11:57

Paul.Todd

Personally it looks like a late to market copy of Limo Foundation (www.limofoundation.org)

On a positive side we might actually get to see api's unified across all devices so non UI apps in particular just work (Open C on UIQ anyone!)

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

david.caabeiro | 24/06/2008, 12:02

david.caabeiro

A clear reply to Google's OHA..

Anyway from a developer point of view having S60/UIQ/MOAP converge to a single open source platform is BIG news (think about it, no more devkit, unified APIs, etc)

But as you say, let's not rush and wait for further announcements..

Wow

Sorcery-ltd | 24/06/2008, 12:11

Sorcery-ltd

I know I said I wanted Nokia to be more open but this is going even further than I'd hoped!

The future UI platform seems to be mostly S60 based (shame but probably best for compatibility) but hopefully we'll get Qt everywhere too.

I don't think this is anything like Limo (and will probably kill Limo - why would you use Linux when Symbian is open and free too? - well maybe for very high end devices). Limo wasn't planning to open source the middleware as far as I can remember.

This is a really bold move by Nokia. They are effectively reducing the barriers to entry for lots of competition from OEMs.

Great stuff and exciting times!

Mark

Why use Linux

Paul.Todd | 24/06/2008, 12:39

Paul.Todd

Simple, more embedded firmware developers are familiar with Linux than Symbian so its easier to get developers for it. More tools and boards as well.

From the LIMO FAQ:
"All code and APIs will be made available to non-members once it is sufficiently vetted and tested."

I suspect Symbian will stay at the high end and LIMO at the low end of the market.

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

nigel.brown | 24/06/2008, 13:39

So, does it mean that:
1. Nokia have given up on Linux and have decided to back Symbian OS all the way.
or
2. Nokia have decided that Linux is the way to go, and are giving Symbian OS away.

Either way, I think Symbian had to go open source to survive long term.
Interesting times.

I guess we'll see

Sorcery-ltd | 24/06/2008, 14:49

Sorcery-ltd

I couldn't agree less about Symbian at the high end and LIMO at the low end. A lot of the efforts in Symbian in the last 5 years or so have been about enabling mid-range device usage. A Linux phone currently has to have 2 processors or use a commercial, non-open, real-time variant. Embedded Linux devices also require more RAM than Symbian devices and often a more powerful processor for comparable performance.

Even Nokia's open source evangelist says Symbian will be a better platform for mobile devices for many years to come.

Don't get me wrong, I think Linux on mobile devices is a good thing, its just your average mobile device hardware isn't up to it yet. I'm not so sure we'll see much in the way of open drivers and adaptation software on Symbian for a while. I think this move is more about reducing fragmentation, simplifying device integration and encouraging developer uptake than creating a truly open platform where you can create your own firmware builds.

I'm sure Nokia haven't given up on Linux or Symbian. Linux platforms will remain niche or closed until the network operators can be convinced the security issues are not too great - probably when people start thinking about phones more like computers. Years away yet.

Mark

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

antonypr | 24/06/2008, 20:28

antonypr

May this question is too early, what will happen to Forum Nokia then? Will everything be migrated to Symbian Foundation?

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

Nitin SuperByte | 25/06/2008, 09:35

Nitin SuperByte

haha.. Good question by Antony.!
Well we can't predict so accurately what will happen then.. But at least from developer point of view it's great news. After closing Dev Cer request developers were facing a hard-core headache for 3rd edition application. It is too pitiful to make a ErrorFile for debugging and submit that for Open signed Beta with device IMEI for testing purpose. Really Symbian and Nokia were making development process too typical. I appreciate this bold step. Otherwise there would be chances for developers can avoid to code for This Too Secure and Too messy S60 SDK.
Let’s hope for good…!!!

Open but still secure

Sorcery-ltd | 25/06/2008, 11:54

Sorcery-ltd

I think it would probably be wrong to assume that Symbian becoming open source will mean that platform security goes away...

I think some of what is currently Forum Nokia will become part of the Symbian Foundation but there will still be a Forum Nokia for Nokia specific stuff. That's pretty much what they said in the announcements and webcast.

Mark

Open does not mean No security

skumar_rao | 25/06/2008, 12:13

I donot think so, security might be there but will now be controlled by Devices Manufactures . But still let us see what happens...

Good smell in the breeze

kiran10182 | 25/06/2008, 12:14

kiran10182

If everything turns out to be what have been announced everywhere, then we must hope that we are going to see something really good for developers. Right now we have been seeing quite a mess on SymbianSigned website. People are yelling to get things work. Now they are habituated to see "Network error", "Application is too big" etc.... But i hope if Nokia is going to take over Symbian then we would definitely see some drastic changes in this process. Atleast i hope Nokia may regain confidence of people by sorting out such issues.

Anyways let's hope for the best. My fingers are crossed. ;)

I think signing will still remain

tote_b5 | 25/06/2008, 14:09

tote_b5

I can't see what makes people to think that mandatory signing will disappear any time soon. Opening up a platform doesn't mean that to me. You will be able to check and see how Platform Security enforcement works in real time, however, you will still need to go through the signing process.

open != open and free != free

smancke | 25/06/2008, 14:10

I'm wondering, how open and free this platform will get. Making code OpenSource does not change everything, when the structures and processes are proprietary. Beyond that, I belive they will go the maemo way where they create an open source project with 80 % of the needed things, hold back the rest and ship a proprietary image. I don't believe, that the software of the phones will be shipped with a free licence (the EPL does not force that). So in the end, the customer may not have the freedom to modify the software he had paid for.
(I hope I'm wrong with this and Nokia will refine their Open Source strategy more and more.)

My forecast for Nokia Linux Phones:
At the moment Nokia is not able to produce such feature rich phone based on linux. So they are opening Symbian, porting linux frameworks to it and change their software base to be linux compatible. Then (~ 5 years) they simply exchange the kernel and subsystem.

Re: I think signing will still remain

kiran10182 | 25/06/2008, 17:05

kiran10182

Tote, if you replied to my post then you caught it wrong. ;)

I didn't mean that Signing should be waived off. I wanted to say that people should not face any problem in signing procedure. Read it again. :)

Kiran.

should mobile be more compact&comfortable

vishalpatwardhan | 25/06/2008, 17:13

nowadays mobile with providing more facilities going on large size this thing should minimize

Re: Symbian preparing for a new start

biskero | 26/06/2008, 16:16

biskero

Ciao,

here an interview with Lee Williams, who heads up S60, with some hints on developer programs:
http://conversations.nokia.com/home/2008/06/symbain-foundat.html

Alessandro

You must login to post comments. Login
 
 
Powered by LifeType 
            
            RDF Facets:
            
            
                        qfnZuserE5ftagQSxfoundationX
                        qfnZuserE5ftagQSxsymbianE2DosX