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Open Source Phone on the Way
prostoalex writes "Dr. Dobb's Journal reports on GPE Palmtop Environment's aim to create a full stack of open source software for mobile phones. Mobile operator Orange and France Telecom are contributing to the project. The goal is to have a fully featured mobile handset with applications like instant messaging and email, with only a portion of the price."
I'm curious - would it be possible to tweak something like this to do end-to-end encryption? (To make sure certain government agencies with three letter acronyms aren't listening in). Something like fast symmetric key encryption, using Diffie-Hellman key exchange?
Yeah, I'm sure the NSA has nothing better to do but listen to your phone calls.
Seriously, I had no idea that half the population works for the NSA. They must because it would literally take half (or more) of the population to watch the other half. When do we get the half time show and switch sides?
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
But I'm a really interesting person!
i.e. who just happens to run a company competing with some company in some powerful senators state.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I'm not really sure an "open source" phone is possible. These things are too miniaturized to be able to build in your garage. There are guys out there who build their own GSM phones, but these things are not something you can carry around in your pocket.
Hopefully, Open software for phones will fall a "build it, and they will come" path. Coming from the US, I hate how every phone is branded to a particular company. You have to jump through hoops to unlock it to use with another provider, if it's even possible at all. The phones are almost always crippled, too - Verizon disables a lot of the Bluetooth functions on their phones unless you pay to unlock them. If you want a new software Feature X on your phone, you pretty much have to throw it out and buy a new one with Feature X on it. Buying a phone is a game where you have to choose between what you want and what you can live without. Choose carefully, because you're going to be stuck with the phone for two years unless you want to pay $500 for it to go month to month. It's total bullcrap.
It'd be really nice if companies would start rolling out phones designed to work on an open platform, like what FIC did with the Neo1973.
-R
For me IM, email, has nothing to do on a phone. I want a phone to make phone calls, that's all. This device will be at the same time too big for a phone annd too small for a device with hand entry and screen to read.
the fact that it uses free software is irrelevant. But it is the big trend with some free software projects (gnome, GPE being some of them) to just copy, add no innovation but just say "hey we're free". A free copy of a bad idea will still be a bad idea.