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Palm OS Apps on Linux Mobile Phones
An anonymous reader writes "PalmSource revealed details of its Linux-based mobile phone operating system, Tuesday at 3GSM in Barcelona. Codenamed ALP (Access Linux Platform), the architecture supports Palm OS application binaries, Java apps, and native Linux apps. ALP includes a 68K emulation layer capable of running 'properly written' Palm 68K or 'Garnet' application binaries without modification, PalmSource claims. However, devices based on ALP are not expected until next year -- will it be too late for PalmSource and it's parent company ACCESS to gain a foothold in the mobile phone market?"
PalmSource also open sourced today their Binder technology, now called OpenBinder. This futuristic architecture technology is described by engineer Dianne Hackborn in her interview.
This whole 'Linux phone' thing has, to date, sucked for hobbyists.
With all due respect, with that attitude it sounds like the lack of progress for Linux in this market space has as much to do with the hobbyist community as it does with the manufacturers of these devices. If every open-source-related announcement by an ISV or gadget-maker is met with a response like this from hobbyists there won't be much enthusiasm to keep going down the Free Software path.
Pretty much every company out there in the wireless mobile market doesn't quite "get it" yet when it comes to Free Software, because their legacy and corporate culture is rooted in a highly-proprietary mindset. Normally, everything is patented, encumbered and non-disclosed up the wazoo. It'll take some time for the marketplace to adjust to a modernised business model based on open technology, and Hobbyists, and the Free Software community in general, should offer CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and real solutions rather than just complaining. IMHO, it looks like this new ALP system has a lot going for it, if only it can land the big backers it needs to get adopted.
Pick a toolset and run with it, preferably something that allows for easy porting from existing OSS apps?
Umm...isn't that exactly what is happening here? Yes, they have engineered their own API, but it looks to me that GTK+ and GStreamer are important components of the new platform. The "open source ecosystem" seems quite unencumbered from an IP standpoint and would certainly not present a porting challenge for existing OSS apps. From that standpoint mobile devices based on this platform should be fairly hobbyist-friendly.
But of course, normal people don't buy smartphones, cell companies do. So it won't happen.
Therein lies the rub. Furthermore, even if a "normal person" bought a smartphone directly, that person would have to subscribe to service s provided by a cell company, and cell comanies are in the "content provider" game first and foremost--and smartphones are just delivery mechanisms in their view. Cell companies want the most whiz-bang "content delivery device" money can buy--the one that can push as many bytes per second, has the most toys like cameras, music players, big bright colour screens, etc. They don't give a crap what the programming toolkit is or about JAR files or SIS files or any of that other properller-head stuff. In fact, if an engineer boasted of the ability to allow end users to plug in custom software it would be seen as a liability because it circumvents their revenue-generating content-delivery system, and furthermore they would lose control over the environment (remember the corporate culture we are dealing with here)
I guess the technical aspect is only half the solution. The rest of the solution is to reform the wireless telecommunications industry in north America (I think it is telling that mobile wireless devices based on Linux are a much larger presence in Asia and parts of Europe).