Slashdot Mirror
Openmoko Phone Not Dead After All
In response to the report I posted a few days ago that the Openmoko FreeRunner phone had been discontinued, Pat Meier-Johnson writes on behalf of Openmoko to say
that this isn't so. "Some bloggers have been misinterpreting a presentation by Openmoko CEO, Sean Moss-Pultz last week in Switzerland to think that the company is getting out of the phone business. That's not true. In fact, the Openmoko FreeRunner (their current model) is alive and well. (Also in Switzerland, Sean announced another project — not a phone — that they are calling 'Project B.' No details yet.) The next version of the phone, codenamed GTA03, has been suspended and there were some associated layoffs, but the GTA03 was in constant flux as a design. So the company is being prudent and focusing on the FreeRunner which has lots of open source community and most recently, embedded developer support." Glad to hear this, because the FreeRunner is an interesting phone.
Considering the chaos in the software end, the only really interesting aspect of it was that you could get a debug board that plugged right into the thing. Other than that the only notable aspect was the fact that the schematics and mechanical designs were open, which is nice but largely only interesting to other corporations with the resources to spin and assemble PCBs.
Maybe if the company had better direction, they would have been able to forge ahead to the GTA03 instead of it constantly wobbling. With focus they could have pushed the software stack to stability and usability, as well as solve the power management issues and gotten an actual 3G radio into the thing. Instead they've shrunk and moved on to some unnamed project.
Sad, but not suprising. Glad I kept my $400.
OPENMOKO
Google PageRank: 7
Google BackLinks: 526
Live Search BackLinks: 6
Technorati Links: 1,230
Compare that to http://code.google.com/android
Google PageRank: 8
Google BackLinks: 1,880
Live Search BackLinks: 164
Technorati Links: 7,980
And... the google site has been replaced by http://developer.android.com/, which will soon capture the original's statistics, and then some.
So did Infineon (behind the Phantom console).
I'm sure we could all come up with a ton of other examples.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Google is touting it as an open-source platform. However, as we saw last week about tethering, Google and device makers may be beholden to the interests of service providers.
The platform is still open source, and although Google has unfortunately pulled apps from the Android Market (as seen by T-Mobile users, at least), you can still download and run them, because unlike the iPhone, Android doesn't force you to get all your software from a central repository.
Android is in the same situation relative to phone manufacturers that Linux is relative to TiVo. You can recompile the open source code that TiVo is based on, but you can't install it on your DVR without significant hacking. Just because Linux is open source doesn't mean everyone who sells you Linux-based hardware has to give you the ability to install your own distro, because Linux isn't GPLv3 (and neither is Android).
This isn't Google's fault any more than the TiVo situation is Linus's fault. Blame the manufacturers and carriers who insist on locking down their hardware. Nothing is stopping other manufacturers or carriers from selling hardware that isn't locked down; let them know you're willing to pay for it.
The best chance of an open software platform for a phone is for manufacturers to all jump on the Android bandwagon but allow 'unlocked' phones to be bought in stores as with traditional GSM phones.
"Unlocked" in that case would have to mean more than it does with traditional GSM phones. You can use an unlocked phone on any carrier, but that doesn't mean you can flash whatever firmware you want.
By the way, if you want an Android phone that you can flash with whatever firmware you want, you can buy one today. It's called the ADP1, and you can get it for $400 after signing up as an Android developer ($25).
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
So your point is that a very popular non Free Software phone, backed by Google and major phone makers has more fame? You just won the Sherlock Holmes award!
BTW, OpenMoko is the first Free Software Android Phone....
The public just isn't ready for it, yet.
The public will never be ready for a phone that doesn't make phone calls properly. If instead of working on various UI toolkits and abandoning them they focused on making the phone work maybe they could sell a few more.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Interview with Steve Mosher from Openmoko about current state of things (7 minute video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8Tsvj2TdQ
Sean Moss-Pultz's presentation at openexpo (30 minute video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFuwhPXYxxI&NR=1
Head FreeSmartPhone developer, Mickey Lauer's take on things.
http://www.vanille-media.de/site/index.php/2009/04/04/back-from-switzerland/
LinuxDevices article: Openmoko: Next-gen phone bites the dust, FreeRunner lives.
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8568412362.html