Jolla Announces Sailfish OS 1.0
An anonymous reader writes "Sailfish, the Linux-based mobile operating system developed by Finnish devicemaker Jolla, has reached version 1.0. Sailfish arose from the ashes of several failed and interrupted projects to bring a new, major Linux-based platform to mobile devices. It's already running on phones sold in India and Russia, but more importantly, Sailfish was designed to be easily ported to existing Android devices. It's also built to support many Android apps. Jolla will begin providing complete firmware downloads during the first half of the year."
No, they will begin selling into those regions. They're already shipping to much of Europe.
You know, regions that don't have problems with patent trolls tearing at companies with worthless software patents.
The obvious question that everyone will be asking is "why should I install this rather than cyanogenmod, firefox OS or replicant if I really mistrust big business?
Honestly, from a technical perspective it's cool that people do this.
But realistically what are the chances that another mobile OS is going to displace IOS or Android? Very VERY low.
I hear ya!
Oh.. Wait...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Clearly the people who made the OS and the people who voted the story up cared, as well as a substantial portion of the people commenting.
I care. I'm actually pretty excited in both the phone (HW) as well as the OS. Personally I really like the idea of being able to ditch Android for another, possibly better software platform which doesn't have all the google hooks.
Personally I really like the idea of being able to ditch Android for another, possibly better software platform which doesn't have all the google hooks.
There's already Replicant, an AOSP branch that runs any Android application that doesn't critically depend on Google Play Services.
I care. I'm actually pretty excited in both the phone (HW) as well as the OS. Personally I really like the idea of being able to ditch Android for another, possibly better software platform which doesn't have all the google hooks.
I'm ready to switch to a platform that isn't any better so long as it doesn't have the google hooks.
I always care about having more choices. Why do you hate our freedoms?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I almost don't care how buggy it will be, as soon as Jolla or someone else will release a fully functional image for my Nexus 4, I will flash it.
I am already running CM10.2 without a Google Account or any Google Apps for that mattet, and source all my apps from f-droid. So in my case the tether has been cut about 4 months ago, and I do not miss Google one bit.
Switching back to Sailfish, having used Maemo and Meego in the past, will be awesome. Looking forward to it.
Does anyone care ?? NO !!
Err I do.
I was excited at reading about this a while back. Too bad that you can't have Android apps on N9 ports due to liscensing. =( Still excited for when they relase hardware in the US.
I am mostly interested on when the phone will be released for USA markets and what bands it will support.
That's not what I meant.
I think the people commenting that this will not replace iOS or Android are missing the point. Phone users care less about OS choice then desktop users. They see a phone as one unit. A iPhone is not a phone running iOS and a Android phone is not a phone running Android OS. Just talk to many consumers about who own a Samsung or Motorola phone and they often times have no idea what Android even means. Installing Linux on a desktop is difficult enough. No standard consumer is going to install it on a phone. I believe the point of creating this is to offer a choice to those who want it. At least I hope the developers aren't hoping to one day take down iOS!. Consumers buy a phone and use it because of the features the OS has, They don't separate the software from the hardware when they think about it.A choice for those who want it though is never a bad thing.
Sent from my TARDIS
Replicant is a really cool and useful project, however it doesn't run on most phones and doesn't have a phone manufacturer behind it. With Jolla you get the same low level freedom but you get a standard manufacturers warranty and it's all pre installed and just works. It's a much higher level of convenience even than Cyanogenmod.
Personally, use all of them and see them as complementary. Replicant is most important for it's non restrictive SDK. The other two are great in practice and I couldn't line without both
I'm ready to switch to a platform that isn't any better so long as it doesn't have the google hooks.
You should try a new BlackBerry. I've been using my Z10 for a year now and am very pleased with it. On top of being fast, efficient, and very productive for day-to-day tasks, the browser is the best on the market, the company has a proven track record of top-of-class security, and the hardware is very well made. It also has the best virtual keyboard I've ever used, and the latest version allows for direct installation of Android APKs, if you're in to a boatload of apps. (I've installed a couple, they work perfectly, but on balance, the core apps are simply top-notch and tend to be what I use day-to-day.)
Of course, it can work with Google Calendar, Contacts, etc, but you are in no what stuck with Google's hooks. It also works well with Microsoft/ActiveSync/whatever else you'd want.
All of that said, as an operating system junky, I'm very interested in try Sailfish. I have a Nokia 770 and N810 in a drawer. This is the continuation of that line and I'd love to see what the great engineers have come up with now that they're free of Nokia.
Jolla is Finnish, the first device sold was in Finland, it's being sold in Finland...
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
I like the idea of being able to switch to a better OS where I can use all the Google hooks.
Laudele lor desigur m-ar mahni peste masura.
The only unfree blobs CyanogenMod comes with are for drivers that have no open alternative, generally for GPU. Flashing gapps is optional when you install CM.
Just to add it cause it's not said so, you can also get it in entire EU, not just india and russia :)
Can anyone clarify the extent of the Android app compatibility?
I understand it is using AlienDalvik to emulate the JVM so will at the least support all Android java apps fairly well, what i would like to know is whether it supports android apps with native code like most of the larger games? I assume as the hardware is the same the native code portion of the android apps should run fine but I haven't seen anything confirming this.
I haven't tried a whole lot of games yet, as I don't often play games on my phone. The only "large" games I've tried are a few of the Angry Birds games, all of which worked fine. If there's something specific (and free) you'd like me to test for you, let me know and I'll check it out.