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There are only two sensible choiceThere are only two sensible choicePosted Oct 6, 2012 0:26 UTC (Sat) by khim (subscriber, #9252)In reply to: MeeGo to return next month with Jolla phone launch (The H) by Lennie Parent article: MeeGo to return next month with Jolla phone launch (The H)
Today's state of the affairs is nearly identical to what PCs had twenty years ago. Remember these days? Amiga, BeOS, GEM (on Atari and on PC), Mac OS, OS/2 and RISC OS (from Acron) - and these are only "big boys"! There were smaller contenders (like DESQview/X or OPEN LOOK), too! All so cool, all so hip, all so promising, all so… dead. After Windows 3.1 release it was only matter of time. They all have died, only MacOS managed to survive (barely) because it was so entrenched and Microsoft at some point become complacent and have not killed it when it had the chance. Today situation is similar. All the systems mentioned are already dead except for Android and iOS. The only hope for Microsoft and others at this point are lawsuits. Nokia had the ability to play this game while Jolla does not have legal resources to survive.
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There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 6, 2012 8:46 UTC (Sat) by Lennie (subscriber, #49641) [Link] It's true, the computing world always wants to move to one system (or only a few at least). Look at standards or even wordprocessing document formats. I agree with one of the parent posts, maybe there is still 2 years tops.
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 6, 2012 22:38 UTC (Sat) by JanC_ (guest, #34940) [Link]
You forget that UNIX/linux + X11 based solutions also survived as a desktop OS, have a growing marketshare nowadays, and actually own certain important niche markets...
Similarly, Jolla can survive if it manages to carve out some niche markets with their phones (and/or other devices) & OS.
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 6, 2012 22:58 UTC (Sat) by Lennie (subscriber, #49641) [Link]
While I'm a Linux/BSD user and love to believe it but a growing marketshare on the desktop ?
That's an interresting statement on what is that based ?
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 7, 2012 7:00 UTC (Sun) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] You forget that UNIX/linux + X11 based solutions also survived as a desktop OS, have a growing marketshare nowadays, and actually own certain important niche markets... Nope. Linux (and to some degree UNIX) survived as server OS, not as a desktop one. Sure it constantly tries to attack desktop but it fails consistently. The important fact is not that it fails (this is to be expected), the important part is that remaining tiny desktop niche does not support it. If you have years and billions of dollars to pour to such adventure then you can eventually succeed (you just need to last long enough till winner will do a major mistake), but the fact is: you can not receive enough money for such adventure from some market niche, they must come from some totally different (hopefully adjacent) market. XBox is a great example: yes, it's quite successful and now even [slightly] profitable, but how many years and how many billions thrown to this hole it took? Similarly, Jolla can survive if it manages to carve out some niche markets with their phones (and/or other devices) & OS. Again: Nokia had a chance, Jolla does not. Nokia had other departments which generated revenue, Jolla is trying to sell it's creation to the tiny niche which is just not big enough to support full-blown operation.
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 7, 2012 10:20 UTC (Sun) by alankila (subscriber, #47141) [Link]
It says they are focusing on China's market. Could the situation on China be different somehow, for instance with respect to how the cake has been divided up so far? In any case even if they were wildly successful over there, I imagine they would still gain no traction in the West for many years, and we should expect android and iOS to become fully entrenched in that time (if they are not already).
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 7, 2012 11:44 UTC (Sun) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] Situation in China is slightly different. Everywhere else people accepts the fact that Android is directed from Mountain View, but China likes Android yet hates Google. They had a plan: make sure Google keeps Android open till China can ditch Google. Google said quite clearly: if you want to go your own separate way then you can do that - but you need to decide to do so from the start: with your own developers and your own OEMs. So yes, this opens the niche which Jolla can exploit (also note that Apple was unable to sign a contract with two biggest China telecoms so far). If they will succeed in China then maybe, just maybe, years later they will be able to attack the rest of the world. The only problem: even if "they may succeed in China" is valid point I doubt we'll see anything in the rest of the world (at least not for a long, long, looong time). Do you know that Nokia produces Lumia 800 clone for Chinese market with Symbian (it's named Nokia 801T)? Well, it's over there, you can buy it in China, but how relevant is it for the rest of the world?
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 18, 2012 19:29 UTC (Thu) by wtanksleyjr (guest, #74601) [Link]
"only MacOS managed to survive (barely) because it was so entrenched and Microsoft at some point become complacent and have not killed it when it had the chance."
Remember that Microsoft didn't "not kill" Apple -- they funded Apple when it seemed like Apple was dying. Perhaps that's complacency, or perhaps it's something along the lines of picking whether you want to fight a small incompatible competitor or the antitrust folks. (Who could have guessed at the time that Apple would produce the iPhone craze.)
-Wm
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 19, 2012 11:42 UTC (Fri) by davidjensen (guest, #87328) [Link]
The game seems to focus on getting the most money, not the most functionality.
Apple started the finger paradigm with the iPhone. It was intended for computer challenged people. That was followed by a similar tablet and the Android OS also using the same focus. Samsung recently came out with a pitiful attempt at windowing on Android. Retrofitting iOS and Android with the keyboard-and-mouse paradigm will be a major overhaul. However, there are three native OS's (not browser OS's) that start with keyboard-and-mouse: Jolla/Meego, a derivative of Maemo, Windows 8, and the forthcoming Ubuntu multiplatform in 2014. These will have the finger paradigm added on and will have more utility because of keyboard-and_mouse.
Meego (which apparently had problems solved by Mer which Jolla is based on) was very open sourced. It used Python, one of the easiest languages and widely used in projects that many end users can modify. It also has massive libraries because of its ease of use. Whether Microsoft or Ubuntu has a similar open source environment is uncertain (they both have strong support for Python).
Software patents have confined innovation but may be coming under attack. Donald Knuth was against them. Open source apparently bypasses IP restrictions. Open source may fit into China's philosophy since it and other Eastern countries have a history of ignoring IP. The question is how to make money on open source.
The open source, keyboard-and-mouse finger systems may end up being the most heavily used in serious applications, which could also demand higher prices.
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 20, 2012 2:44 UTC (Sat) by Fowl (subscriber, #65667) [Link]
Keyboard and mouse actually works surprisingly well on Android.
Try using on of the "Transformer" tablets some time. (I thought it was a gimmick at first too).
There are only two sensible choice Posted Oct 28, 2012 17:08 UTC (Sun) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] The game seems to focus on getting the most money, not the most functionality. Not most money. Most users. There's a difference: Microsoft was much smaller then Apple in in 1992, but by 1995 situation was very different because PC ecosystem was much bigger. We'll see if Apple will be able to prolong it's "much larger profits on much smaller userbase" longer this time. The open source, keyboard-and-mouse finger systems may end up being the most heavily used in serious applications, which could also demand higher prices. Why? What advantage will they have? You've said it yourself: one side (Android/iOS) must add keyboard and mouse support (and this process is well underway as you know). Other side must add decent finger support. Why do you think adding decent finger support is easier? Please take a look on Microsoft Surface reviews! They all say one and the same "nice idea, but it's still undercooked!". My gut feeling is that keyboard and mouse in Android and finger-support in Jolla/Meego and Windows8 (or, more likely, Windows9) will mature at about the same time (I'm not sure Ubuntu will be ready by then). And in about 2014-2015 we'll have few contenders for the throne of about the same quality: Android, iOS, Windows8spX (or, more likely, Windows9), may be Jolla/Meego and/or Ubuntu. With couple of billions active users for Android, close to billion active users for iOS, may be half-billion for Windows8spX, tens of millions for Jolla/Meego (if they are lucky) and nothing for Ubuntu. The only hope for contestants beyond the first two is litigation: they desperately need to stop growth of Android or iOS to have fighting chance at all.
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