Hi, > Sure. However as for today there is no Ubuntu productized for ARM, so > it's not as easy as it might look like for the average Ubuntu > enthusiast. The Mojo project (funded by Nokia, btw) is investigating > that Ubuntu ARM port. It is probably not very difficult to put a "Maemo > Ubuntu Hacker Edition" in place, but the guys in the know think that > there is a longer way before shipping commercial products on that basis.
I am sure this is pretty widely known but anyway armel is now officially debootstrapable on jaunty debootstrap jaunty <dest> http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports debootstrap --variant=buildd jaunty <dest> http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports > Another aspect to be analyzed are the implications of Nokia relying > totally on a platform delivered (ultimately) by a private third party. This can be achieved by thinking about how *both* sides can gain in the exchange. Ubuntu is interesting to Nokia if (and only if) the community around it gets big enough to support the kind of numbers Nokia deals with and Nokia is interesting to Ubuntu if (and only if) the markets it has access to continue to be available. I'd recommend Nokia hire some people to work on Ubuntu. Dell has a couple of employees who spend all day working on Ubuntu (one recently became core-dev), and so Ubuntu works very well on Dell hardware. Those people could also register specs, argue for them at Ubuntu Developer Summits, etc., and generally ensure that Ubuntu was exactly what Nokia needed. Work on getting patches directly into Ubuntu rather than maintaining a separate flavor. Realigning around a central core would help everyone > Don't get me wrong, we have good relationship with Mark and the > Canonical crew. But what if one day they all go for a new mission in the > outer space? Also, as more companies sponsor people (currently there are about four that have more than one employee working on Ubuntu), the easier it is for them to make sure the Ubuntu Foundation does it's job if Mark does go back to space. Assuming I was completely in charge of Nokia strategy, I'd loosely recommend looking at the internal goals, and thinking about whether you want to engage in a business alliance, or sponsor developers. Doing both is the most expensive solution, but if the volume is high enough, may be warranted. Option 1 ----------- Paying developers means either hiring existing Ubuntu developers, or getting Nokia devs to work through the processes to become Ubuntu developers (this usually takes about six months). The advantage is that you can completely control their targets and direction. The disadvantage is that you have to work within the framework to get the work applied initially. Option 2 ------------ Engaging in a contract with Canonical means that Canonical is responsible for the application of everything. The advantage is that it's not that much hassle, just a bunch of money. The disadvantage is working at a level removed: the basic vendor relationship. What balance of these two options provides for the best expression of Nokia's strategy would require me to have a lot more knowledge than I have at present about Nokia internal strategy etc but as a start it may be worth tracking down some of the other guys from Google, Dell or Sun who work with Ubuntu and talking with them about the costs and benefits of such a strategy however intangible each of these might be Regards, Ian -- http://ianlawrence.info _______________________________________________ maemo-developers mailing list maemo-developers@maemo.org https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-developers
