Slashdot Mirror
Why Open Source Makes Sense For Handhelds
Guylhem writes "Are you still wondering why you should prefer an handheld running free software over one running Palm OS or Windows CE? Here's a short article to explain the main reasons you should consider.
The most important are sustainability and freedom: you don't want your applications to break when you update your handheld OS or hardware, and you certainly want to decide what *you* may do with your data. Palm and Pocket PC's DRM protected and obscure formats stand in your way. That's another good reason to prefer free software: you have the source code so you can develop plug ins to read such obscure formats. Even better - you can stick to standards formats such as divx which are poorly supported on handhelds running proprietary software." On the topic of handhelds, tanmay submits brighthand.com's small chart of some upcoming handhelds and smart phones that may be launched in the coming months.
Let's make a table: Handheld Platform: Porting Effort Linux/X11 (handhelds.org, Yopy): trivial (some layout changes) Linux-QPE (Zaurus): modest (reuse libraries, rewrite GUI) PocketPC: significant (lots of API limitations relative to XP) PalmOS: extreme (can't write all-native apps, memory limits, no file system, no resizeable windows, no layout manager, no multitasking, no standard APIs). Ironic, isn't it, that popularity is inversely proportional to difficulty of software development? Of course, that's a pretty general rule. Now, why is that? Well, look at this news item. When someone ports a Commodore 64 emulator to a Linux/X11 handheld, it's not news because it's so trivial. When someone ports it to PalmOS, it's big news. I once ported a web browser to a Linux/X11 handheld, and that wasn't news either. You still can't get anything of comparable quality for PalmOS, and so every junky PalmOS web browser is a news item. Bad OS platforms make for good press, lots of business opportunities, and lots of PR. Programmers feel proud when they have mastered a bad platform and managed to create the tiniest app for a bad platform. That's why PalmOS and Windows XP keep winning in the market. What to do about it, I don't know.
...arguments that apply equally to handhelds and to full-sized computers. Why should it be any more important that you have the extra control/privacy that OSS provides on your portable than on any other computer?
That's another good reason to prefer free software: you have the source code so you can develop plug ins to read such obscure formats.
Somehow I don't think that 99% of handheld users are developers (or at least develop software for handhelds). Whilst modification is a good reason to use open source for people like myself (who program for a living), it's probably the least compelling reason for most.
Go here for teh [sic] funny.
Just because a Linux-based PDA is not as "friendly" to newbies as PalmOS or Windows CE means nothing. "No software" is just a plain lie, btw. Look here for evidence.
You seem to forget the fact that PDA's are very open to development. There are Divx players for both Palm and PocketPCs. People have ported version's of GCC that run on the actual device. Open Source is one of the greatest achievements of PDAs, how do you think we got quake running on pocketpc's? You also seem to forget that if these closed source Operating Systems never existed, these PDA's would never exist either, You cant depend on Open Source nuts to develop an intuitive User Interface. Look at Mac OS X vs Linux. Yeah, both are just as powerful as each other, but Mac OS X's UI is light years ahead of any GUI for linux, and you know what, Aqua is a closed source GUI developed by a commercial company. For PDA's, The UI is even more important then the power of the OS, people want a UI that allows them to get their work done as efficiently as possible, they dont give a rat's ass if its open source or not. People wouldnt buy PDA's if they had clunky UI's, thankfully because of Palm, they managed to develop a GUI that is semi-decent, yet its not amazing yet. The good thing is though that these companies have money they can burn on R&D to develop the OS and make it more intuitive. Open Source is not the greatest thing for PDAs. Not to mention, there is a Linux port for some PocketPCs, and you know what? It sucks compared to Windows Mobile 2003, in every regard. Open Source this, Open Source that, you people forget why people actually use computers.
All the main advantages pointed out are irrelevent. I buy a new PDA every 2 years minimum and pass my old one to family or friends. They don't want to monkey around with open source. I don't need to be get their phone calls asking for help.
More to the point: How long do people actually plan on using a PDA? Who is still carrying around a five year old Palm?
This article is unabashed ideology over smart tech info. Just more incestous amplification for those socially clueless folk who occupy the open source echo chamber.
Article title: "Why Run Free Software on a PDA?" Article host: linuxdevcenter.com Submitter: The article's author.
Though I can't say that I'm surprised, this story is 100% pure troll.
The article makes some legitimate arguments about the benefits of Linux on embedded devices (not Open Source in general), and though it's definitely written with a bias at least that's not disguised.
I don't think the poster even read the article however; the claim that you can't see the source code to WinCE is incorrect, thinking that your applications are any more likely to survive an upgrade intact is laughable (WinCE & PocketPC go through extensive AppCompat testing, who does that for embedded Linux?)
I know, I know, slow news day and a Pro-OSS post came up on the radar, but for cripes sake if you're going to be brutally biased at least try to hide it, you're making the cause look even worse!
Okay, I haven't yet RTFA but I do have a couple of comments. I went from Palm (a Palm III, then a Handspring Visor) over to a Zaurus and now back to Palm with my new Treo 600.
First off, I loved my Zaurus. Still do. I was a college student and it was like having a small laptop with me at all times. I could jump on WiFi networks, play games, listen to music, whatever. What I couldn't do very well was use the Zaurus as an organizer. Sync support varied and was often horrible for Linux. The standard PIM apps were poor and everyone knows it. It was great having tons of free software and even new operating systems to play around with (Opie and OpenZaurus were great), but the Zaurus ended up just being another hobby and toy, not a tool that I could consistently use and rely on.
I went back to a Palm and the Treo600 because I wanted something that would just work. I work on plenty of other open source software. I wanted something that did it's job well and the Treo is amazing. It doesn't have quite the power of the Zaurus or even the screen resolution, but I'm using it as an organizer more than I ever used the Zaurus.
So in the end, I personally think that open source PDA software is still only appropriate for a small niche of technically savvy users. There's nothing wrong with that, but I know when my sister asks me about a PDA for medical school, I'll be suggesting a Palm, not a Zaurus or other open source system.
Who said Freedom was Fair?
PDAs are all about the UI. Once certain other standards are met (i.e. not losing data, synching ok) then everything else is secondary.
...not sure how the Opensource options are doing, I'm not sure I've ever even seen one in the wild, come to think of it.
Palm realized this, and built a very friendly UI from the ground up. Microsoft tried to capitalize on its desktop monopoly and scaledown its desktop interface, which was a disaster. I think Microsoft finally started doing a bit better by copying Palm...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
No, I can't. I do not "code apps", "develop plug-ins", or otherwise design or build software. Nor do I "compile from source". I, like most of the market, am strictly a consumer.
If you would like to see OSS thrive, you do the work. I guarantee that you will get satisfaction. Double, in fact, because not only will your OSS thrive in a competitive market and reduce the power of CSS, but you and people like you will be able to earn a comfortable living along with a well-earned sense of pride.
Go for it. Just don't expect the Great Unwashed like me to be able to code along with you.Most of the major brands, such as toshiba dont have any decent support for linux or netbsd...
Most people really dont have much of a choice but to take what is already loaded...
A choice would be nice
---- Booth was a patriot ----
When you get a nice application, you don't think about the company going out of business and the application giving up the ghost, but it does happen.
I got an e-mail from a user of a product (an embadded navigation system) that I worked on 10 years ago. They have no way to get their data out of the system. The company went out of business about 3 years ago and they could not find the CTO.
I use Post Road Mailer, which when the company (Innoval) went out of business , they made the program available, w/o source. There are some bugs I'd like to fix, but I don't have the source.
Fight Spammers!
Ok, reasons for using open source are well known, and I use Linux as a desktop both at work and at home, but when I bought a PDA if I wanted a Zaurus I had to expend a lot more money than for my Tungsten T2, but a PalmOS as operating sistem doesn't means I must use propietary software for everything else, it's like using OOo in a Windows, ok, it's not "pure", but it's free software with all it's advantages, open standards and compatibility.
DON'T PANIC
I realize we have to pull out all the possible benefits and drawbacks, but, please, the "your software will break with an OS upgrade" is such a shallow argument.
Of COURSE your software will break if there's a major OS upgrade. Why wouldn't it whether the OS is open or closed. It's a fallacy to think that since PalmOS is closed source this automatically means your software will break and wouldn't if the source was open. C'mon, now.
We've been through many, many major revisions of PalmOS and PPCOS to see that most software developers -- those than plan to make money anyway -- update their software right away or BEFORE the OS update is released.
Sure, there are some software packages that haven't been updated since PalmOS 3, but is this Palm's fault?
m
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
It's mpeg 4. Pretty stardard.
funny munging
I look at what this article and the resulting discussion are talking about, and I can't help but think that I must be crazy. Everyone else seems to want a completely different device than I do.
Playing movies on a PDA? Browsing the Web from it? MP3s? Who cares!? I don't even want to read stuff on a PDA. If I want a book, I'll buy a book. If I want to do just about anything else computer-related, I'll use my computer.
What I want a PDA to do is to remember my contacts, appointments, and lists of stuff (movies I want to see, etc.). THAT IS ALL. I don't want color, sound, video, Bluetooth, or anything like that, and I probably don't even want a keyboard. I just want something with its own rechargable battery that lasts a good long while between charges and syncs to Linux reasonably well.
From what I've seen, I'm going to need to buy an old refurbished Visor Edge, because absolutely no one makes a PDA like this anymore.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
Honestly, I think the *real* question is more about the quality of the "user experience" with a given PDA. On a device that's under $500 or so, and used as a glorified calendar/contact list/address book + way to play with assorted games, calculators, and misc. applets - I'm looking for ease of use, above all else.
If it's open source and has a great user interface, then that's awesome! If it's some commercial, closed-source OS, but still offers the easy to use and friendly UI, plus all the little apps and applets I want, then that's awesome too!
Right now, I find the Windows CE based handhelds to be less desirable than the PalmOS counterparts, but that's really because I've grown so familiar with the PalmOS interface. It does what I want, keeps getting refreshed with new versions, but doesn't make me relearn everything to use the updated devices. If all I owned was WinCE stuff, I'd probably be just as biased towards it.
I'm not opposed to alternatives - but on a PDA, I'm not switching products simply because it offers more "potential" by being "open source". I have to see concrete improvements that are immediately there for me.