Why Open Source Phones Still Fail

adeelarshad82 writes "Truly open-development, open-source phones like the Nokia N900 will never hit the mainstream in the US because wireless carriers in the country hate the unexpected, writes PCMag's Sascha Segan. The open-source philosophy is all about unexpected, disruptive ideas bubbling upwards, and that drives network planners nuts. So, you get unsatisfactory hybrids like Google Android, which uses some open-source components but locks third-party developers into a crippled Java sandbox. The bottom line is that while Linux the OS, the kernel, and the memory manager are attractive to phone manufacturers, Linux the philosophy — and users banding together ad hoc to create new things — is anathema to wireless carriers."

Comments

Uhum

[Anonymous Coward]

The open-source philosophy is all about unexpected, disruptive ideas bubbling upwards, and that drives network planners nuts.

More like corporate executives don't like competition.

Wow

[Reality Master 101]

I probably should have known this, but I didn't realize that Google Android cripples the phone by requiring Java. I thought it was a truly open environment where you could write native applications like the iPhone.

Well, there goes any chance of Android getting the same level of applications as the iPhone. And no, I don't believe Java apps are ever going to be as fast and good as native apps. I thought I might be tempted to get an Android phone someday, but not as long as they don't have native apps.

(Queue the Javalytes telling me that "Java runtimes are getting really fast, and they'll be as fast as native code <i>real soon now...</i> In fact, even FASTER than native code, because the runtimes are so amazingly smart at optimization...)

Re:Open their blinders with amazing apps

[frosty_tsm]

Get the FCC approve your devices for use.

Get any sort of decent battery life out of a mesh network with no towers while still maintaining access to the PSTN and emergency services.

Hahahahahaha.... that's funny.

Re:It's called "Proper Planning"

[grasshoppa]

So is it your position that finland is actually a harder market to implement in than the US?

And the fact that the government is mandating ANYTHING is a negative in my book. The government can fuck up a wet dream, and has no business making promises for a private company's resources. That'd be a bit like me promising that Windows 7 will cost 5 bucks, and be free to anyone with brown hair. It's not mine to give away.