Foreword:
This is a very long, blog-like message. Thanks to those who read through
it. I am posting here instead of my personal blog as I want to create a
discussion instead of a reaction.
I feel I should explain my thoughts of the Maemo/MeeGo community from
the perspective of a US resident. I realize my opinions are mine and
mine alone. I welcome any response, particularly those who live in the
US. My perception of the Maemo/MeeGo community is that those directly
involved (Nokia employees, Maemo council members, Maemo workers) have a
self-entitled, elitist attitude. I cannot recount any time I have had a
warm, fuzzy feeling from discussions that I have been associated with or
not. Yes, the preceding is a general, subjective comment. Let me break
it down:
First and foremost I wish to comment on the interactions I've had on the
mailing lists. The few times I communicate with Maemo/MeeGo folks it
comes across as hostile. This may be from a native English speaker
talking to non-native speakers. A few examples:
-Posting "wrong list" comments on e-mails who's topics are half-way
between the two Maemo lists. Get over yourself. These lists are so low
volume these kinds of comments are off-topic and are inflammatory.
-Knowing your job title. I don't know the title or position you hold by
just your name, nor should you expect me to. Telling someone "well Bob
Smith told you X, you should believe him". Why? One time in the past I
was given a "Who are you?" type of response, which is obviously very
condescending. The Maemo/MeeGo community is very small and unknown.
Consider the fact that outsiders have no idea who you are.
The general US resident does not purchase a phone that is not sold at a
wireless phone carrier's store. I feel I can speak with certainty that a
super majority of the cell phone owning, US population does not buy a
phone on their own. My friends, co-workers, and family have all
purchased phones from their carrier. I do not personally know of anyone
besides myself that has purchased the phone directly from the manufacturer.
Why is the paragraph above important?
Maemo/MeeGo devices are not sold by US carriers. They will only be in
the hands of a few thousand US residents compared to the millions of
Android or iOS devices. My friends, co-workers, and family will never
own a Maemo/MeeGo device so I can never write an app for them or share
my experiences with them.
I feel any time or effort put into a Maemo/MeeGo device would be
wasteful. After working on a few projects I felt any further time
programming for Maemo/MeeGo would be wasted. I stopped working on a
karaoke app because of it. I do not see any large following
internationally either. This mailing list (including maemo-developer)
has fallen completely silent. I wasn't motivated enough to ask for a
N950 to develop on after seeing the responses to the announcement of the
N9 by US-based news/blog sites, which were mostly negative.
Why have I made this e-mail?
I wanted to have a true Linux phone (kernel + userspace) and Maemo/MeeGo
seemed like the answer to my prayers. I have no certainty of Nokia's
investing in marketing or even shipping a device to the US. I feel my
only move is to reluctantly transition to the Android platform. Does
anyone else share my sentiment or do you have a different perception?
Before anyone pulls out the Angry Birds card they should know that it
does not apply to me. I do not wish to make a cross-phone app. Angry
Birds was only successful when it moved *from* Maemo *to* Android/iOS/BB
devices. Maemo/MeeGo does not even promote cross-phone development.
Using Qt on a phone platform will soon die with MeeGo since Symbian is
dead and WP7, even if it provides a Qt runtime, is a completely
uninteresting platform to me.
Footnote:
Who am I? I'm just your typical, ignorant American. I work in the health
care industry as a software programmer and maintain packages in the
Fedora distribution in my spare time.
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