On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 12:28:35PM +0100, Aristotle Pagaltzis wrote:
[...]
> Mobile security was one of the core issues discussed at
> [Linux Security Summit] (and during the rest of the week),
> with the year of the Linux desktop now apparently permanently
> canceled due to smartphones and similar devices.
True, but I'm sure the same attention to design and usability will be
transferred to the mobile OSes. I've actually seen and used an OpenMoko
phone. I complained to the owner that it was incapable of making phone
calls, to be told that in fact it did manage to make a call, just didn't
manage to pass any audio. If you want to make a data call instead so you can
browse the web, you need to reboot into the other operating system. And if
you want to use it as a PDA, well, there's a third distribution for that.
I also recently wanted a phone that could sync my address book and make data
calls as my 1990-era Nokia just wasn't quite up to it. The Android handset I
picked for the job went back to the shop after two days because it was
actually more restricted[0] than the iPhone I got instead.
[0] It wouldn't do half of what I wanted unless I gave all of my data to
Google, and the rest would only work under Windows. Since neither of
these was noted on the box, the phone went back as "Not As Described,
Not Fit For Purpose". It also took fourteen days to get my refund.
Coincidentally I gave them a deadline of a fortnight or I'd sue, and I
was already half way through filling in the court forms when I got the
money back.
