No, it was "dropped" because Nokia's internal politics damaged the company enough that they stuck an ex-Microsoft executive in the CEO slot who promptly killed off the winner they managed to create in the N9 and forced Nokia on to WP7.
But please, blame the core OS for political and managerial failures.
As far as I can see, this is a port of QT embedded (QT with a framebuffer backend).
Everything I've seen indicates that it will be an Xorg based port. Certainly, if it ends up using Mer as the backend, it'll be X11 with some forward-looking towards Wayland. I've certainly not seen anything using QT Embedded come out in recent years.
Do keep in mind that they're distancing themselves from MeeGo because Nokia managed to squeeze out permission to use the name for a not-quite-MeeGo device only to have Elop come and say "no matter how successful it is we're going to drop it." This painted MeeGo as a dead end, despite it not truly being possible to kill an open source platform. And MeeGo was backed by the Linux Foundation as well, so there's no real change in that aspect.
The Linux Foundation has already proven that they can't develop shit.
Pretty much. They do a decent job with the conferences though.
OK, so you decided to cancel development of an unfinished project and radically redesign it and start over from scratch.
Actually, we know little to nothing about Tizen at this point other than it will have a focus on HTML5, and have other FOSS APIs to go along with it.
The question is, why do we need Tizen?
Vendors want it, because it's not tied to Google. Right now Google does all the development on large chunks of Android, with little to no interaction with the wider open source world. They hold all the chips and if they dropped it it'd probably die. They also have a vested interest in pushing the platform as it lets them ride on the brands of others.
With Tizen, existing frameworks are leveraged and changes go upstream. Like the kernel, you don't have to be a member of some insular organization to have input in the way things progress. And everything (done right) is done in the open (once Samsung and Intel stop dicking around behind the scenes.)
webOS is now a mature, complete, functioning system running on big name hardware
Except for the fact that you can't buy it anymore except via eBay or random, short-lived sales in randomplaces. Of course, there was rumor that HP was going to sell webOS. What if Samsung/Intel bought it and opened it up as part of Tizen?
In the mean time, Android is pretty much unstoppable.
Tragic, ain't it? Google single-handedly managed to heavily damage interest in truly open platforms in the mobile space, something Microsoft could never have hoped to do.
Actually it doesn't cost any money or add any complication. That comes into play when they start adding DRM and lockdown, or removing these features since this behavior is virtually ingrained into things from the ground up then stripped out.
None. Every tablet with Android has to be rooted and vendors are working very, very hard to fight the small percentage of users that do root. The closest you can get are tablets that don't sign the kernel and allow you to customize the OS (load cyanogenmod or something) but increasingly vendors are on the attack against that (B&N clamping down on the Nook Tablet, Samsung pushing out an update that locks down the platform.)
Tizen-based devices will, thus far, simply allow for a more standard *nix platform and other ready-made and compatible distributions, but that still requires you work your way through the first line of vendor hostilities (platsec misused against you) and then the second line of vendor hostilities (proprietary, signed bootloader and possibly a checksummed kernel.)
It's extra shitty in the mobile space these days, especially for those who like to do a little more than blindly consume.
Oddly, I've seen more people in the US with N900s than I have with WP7 devices. The caveat is they all live in Northern California, with a handful of outliers on the east coast.
Hey look, it's a stupid and invalid point. But that's why you're posting as an anonymous coward.
we expect them to subsidize a product
I sure don't. I expect them to charge a reasonable price, then GTFO once the transaction is completed. It isn't my problem if they subsidize the product, and even if they did and I bought it, I'd still complain if they crippled it. Just like everyone who has ever bought a Motorola handset that is now no longer under contract or was bought unlocked (i.e. Europe.)
Well, the Nook has technical hurdles to overcome. That may just be a matter of waiting till someone cracks it.
The security mechanism is the same as the one Motorola has employed on all of their OMAP based devices. At most, kexec may be available to try something, however you're still stuck bending over backwards and twisting yourself to get around an extremely punitive security system that won't hesitate to brick your system.
Of course, I don't look at these devices for how effectively they can try and stick their fingers in my wallet, but how effectively I can make them do what I want them to, which is one reason I ruled out the Kindle Fire as soon as I learned it had no SD card slot.
So in other words, neither device is optimal for the standard tablet use case. My interest in the NT stemmed from the NC, mostly as an OMAP4 hack target that was still usable as a portable device, alas I shall stick to working on my Nook Color.
If I where to look for a low cost tablet to root and mess around with the Nook is leaps and bounds better and worth the extra 50$
From the analysis of the Nook Tablet thus far, it's actually less capable than the Kindle due to the signed bootloader and checksummed kernel and ramdisk. As a result it's likely that the Kindle will see CM9 and ICS, while the Nook Tablet will be perpetually stuck on Gingerbread.
Unless something changes drastically on the Nook Tablet, B&N have done a complete 180 on the hackability of their Android-based devices this go around. Damn shame, but that's how dickish companies are these days.
That may be, but why is it always implied that silly access to apps is mutually exclusive to having a nice back end infrastructure with access to a repository? Not that this is the kind of thing that your average Android user is going to buy.
Certainly it's mutually exclusive with Android, as Google has worked hard to fail to include any of that.
And if the vendor is forthcoming and supportive, it could readily be made to run a regular Linux distro. If they're worthless like most handset/tablet vendors, then they'll not help and possibly set up security to hinder your ability to do so.
In both cases it seems like "rooting" it is a simple case of installing Cyanogen on a SD card and plugging it in, something i think most people on Slashdot can probably handle.
Sadly, it's unlikely Cyanogen will happen for the Nook Tablet as they've put in the effort to cripple the device with a signed bootloader and checksummed kernel. Much like all the crippled Motorola handsets, the best you'll be able to do is workarounds and half solutions.
Nothing about computing is intuitive, it's all learned. When people say "intuitive" they tend to mean "works like Windows." And Microsoft has enough of a hold on the desktop space to make Linux's entry virtually impossible, whereas fields that MS doesn't have any hold (mobile, supercomputing, embedded) it has a commanding presence (note that this is referring ONLY to the kernel, much of what we call "Linux" is not present in most Mobile or Embedded spaces.)
Your points are basically stating the obvious, but there is one I have to call out:
Extensive hardware and driver support. The current state is not good enough.
Fine, get the hardware vendors to start playing ball and we'll talk. So long as data sheets are held as trade secrets and drivers are kept proprietary there's little the Linux community can do.
just make it work like Windows!
See, called it before I read it. My response: go use Windows.
For all it's flaws, Windows is the standard in the industry. If Linux deviates too far away from this, it will forever remain a fringe option for technical or very determined users.
Or instead of letting Microsoft dictate how computing is done, do it differently and don't let the complaints of the technically ignorant hold you back.
Slashdot Mirror
No, it was "dropped" because Nokia's internal politics damaged the company enough that they stuck an ex-Microsoft executive in the CEO slot who promptly killed off the winner they managed to create in the N9 and forced Nokia on to WP7.
But please, blame the core OS for political and managerial failures.
Everything I've seen indicates that it will be an Xorg based port. Certainly, if it ends up using Mer as the backend, it'll be X11 with some forward-looking towards Wayland. I've certainly not seen anything using QT Embedded come out in recent years.
Life cannot be made safe. What do you suggest we do?
Do keep in mind that they're distancing themselves from MeeGo because Nokia managed to squeeze out permission to use the name for a not-quite-MeeGo device only to have Elop come and say "no matter how successful it is we're going to drop it." This painted MeeGo as a dead end, despite it not truly being possible to kill an open source platform. And MeeGo was backed by the Linux Foundation as well, so there's no real change in that aspect.
Pretty much. They do a decent job with the conferences though.
Actually, we know little to nothing about Tizen at this point other than it will have a focus on HTML5, and have other FOSS APIs to go along with it.
Vendors want it, because it's not tied to Google. Right now Google does all the development on large chunks of Android, with little to no interaction with the wider open source world. They hold all the chips and if they dropped it it'd probably die. They also have a vested interest in pushing the platform as it lets them ride on the brands of others.
With Tizen, existing frameworks are leveraged and changes go upstream. Like the kernel, you don't have to be a member of some insular organization to have input in the way things progress. And everything (done right) is done in the open (once Samsung and Intel stop dicking around behind the scenes.)
Except for the fact that you can't buy it anymore except via eBay or random, short-lived sales in randomplaces. Of course, there was rumor that HP was going to sell webOS. What if Samsung/Intel bought it and opened it up as part of Tizen?
Tragic, ain't it? Google single-handedly managed to heavily damage interest in truly open platforms in the mobile space, something Microsoft could never have hoped to do.
Actually it doesn't cost any money or add any complication. That comes into play when they start adding DRM and lockdown, or removing these features since this behavior is virtually ingrained into things from the ground up then stripped out.
Sure, but you'll never get the sources for the kernel so you'd better -really- like the software that comes on it by default.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-1196125.html
Granted they haven't locked the kernel, but showing a willingness to clamp down on a platform after release is untrustworthy at best.
The downside to the G-Tablet is the older, broken revision of the Tegra 2 silicon and the low quality TN-panel.
None. Every tablet with Android has to be rooted and vendors are working very, very hard to fight the small percentage of users that do root. The closest you can get are tablets that don't sign the kernel and allow you to customize the OS (load cyanogenmod or something) but increasingly vendors are on the attack against that (B&N clamping down on the Nook Tablet, Samsung pushing out an update that locks down the platform.)
Tizen-based devices will, thus far, simply allow for a more standard *nix platform and other ready-made and compatible distributions, but that still requires you work your way through the first line of vendor hostilities (platsec misused against you) and then the second line of vendor hostilities (proprietary, signed bootloader and possibly a checksummed kernel.)
It's extra shitty in the mobile space these days, especially for those who like to do a little more than blindly consume.
Oddly, I've seen more people in the US with N900s than I have with WP7 devices. The caveat is they all live in Northern California, with a handful of outliers on the east coast.
Hey look, it's a stupid and invalid point. But that's why you're posting as an anonymous coward.
I sure don't. I expect them to charge a reasonable price, then GTFO once the transaction is completed. It isn't my problem if they subsidize the product, and even if they did and I bought it, I'd still complain if they crippled it. Just like everyone who has ever bought a Motorola handset that is now no longer under contract or was bought unlocked (i.e. Europe.)
The security mechanism is the same as the one Motorola has employed on all of their OMAP based devices. At most, kexec may be available to try something, however you're still stuck bending over backwards and twisting yourself to get around an extremely punitive security system that won't hesitate to brick your system.
Of course, I don't look at these devices for how effectively they can try and stick their fingers in my wallet, but how effectively I can make them do what I want them to, which is one reason I ruled out the Kindle Fire as soon as I learned it had no SD card slot.
So in other words, neither device is optimal for the standard tablet use case. My interest in the NT stemmed from the NC, mostly as an OMAP4 hack target that was still usable as a portable device, alas I shall stick to working on my Nook Color.
From the analysis of the Nook Tablet thus far, it's actually less capable than the Kindle due to the signed bootloader and checksummed kernel and ramdisk. As a result it's likely that the Kindle will see CM9 and ICS, while the Nook Tablet will be perpetually stuck on Gingerbread.
Unless something changes drastically on the Nook Tablet, B&N have done a complete 180 on the hackability of their Android-based devices this go around. Damn shame, but that's how dickish companies are these days.
What, do you seriously think that Fox isn't sponsoring the bill AND getting money from this resurrection?
I'm allergic to giving money to corporations that sponsor bills like SOPA.
Yes, I can't wait to install Windows 8 on my device and artificially restrict my sources of software to the Microsoft web store.
That may be, but why is it always implied that silly access to apps is mutually exclusive to having a nice back end infrastructure with access to a repository? Not that this is the kind of thing that your average Android user is going to buy.
Certainly it's mutually exclusive with Android, as Google has worked hard to fail to include any of that.
And if the vendor is forthcoming and supportive, it could readily be made to run a regular Linux distro. If they're worthless like most handset/tablet vendors, then they'll not help and possibly set up security to hinder your ability to do so.
Sadly, it's unlikely Cyanogen will happen for the Nook Tablet as they've put in the effort to cripple the device with a signed bootloader and checksummed kernel. Much like all the crippled Motorola handsets, the best you'll be able to do is workarounds and half solutions.
Because this was not a program put in place to increase traveler safety.
This was a program put in place to shove money into the pockets of Michael Chertoff, the former head of the DHS. It is doing remarkably well at that, and the TSA is appropriately doing its damnedest to cover for the fact that they owe their existence to a scumbag with a horrible conflict of interest who is continues to take this country for a ride.
I'd spit in this man's face if I met him in person.
A walled garden would not have prevented this.
Google or the device vendors selling directly to end users and not being forced to route through the carriers probably would have.
So now other sites are spamming the /. comments sections with their own drivel?
Nothing about computing is intuitive, it's all learned. When people say "intuitive" they tend to mean "works like Windows." And Microsoft has enough of a hold on the desktop space to make Linux's entry virtually impossible, whereas fields that MS doesn't have any hold (mobile, supercomputing, embedded) it has a commanding presence (note that this is referring ONLY to the kernel, much of what we call "Linux" is not present in most Mobile or Embedded spaces.)
Your points are basically stating the obvious, but there is one I have to call out:
Fine, get the hardware vendors to start playing ball and we'll talk. So long as data sheets are held as trade secrets and drivers are kept proprietary there's little the Linux community can do.
See, called it before I read it. My response: go use Windows.
Or instead of letting Microsoft dictate how computing is done, do it differently and don't let the complaints of the technically ignorant hold you back.
Steam on Linux is one thing. Proper driver support from the hardware vendors and a functional port of the game are necessary as well.