<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Nadav Har'El <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nyh@math.technion.ac.il">nyh@math.technion.ac.il</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Hi,<br>
<br>
When I heard Apple's announcements yesterday, the thing that worried me most<br>
is "Siri", their new voice interface - which allows users to give their machine<br>
voice commands in free language, and have responses spoken back to them.<br>
<br>
It's still too early to tell whether Siri is the best thing since sliced<br>
bread, or maybe it's the worst UI since Microsoft Bob; But it definitely<br>
has the potential to be closer to the former, not the latter. What worries<br>
me is that the free software world does not have a response prepared for Siri.<br>
Or at least not one that I'm aware of - Is anyone aware of free software<br>
that is capable of something more than robotic speech synthesis? And any<br>
sort of speech understanding? Even if just in English?<br>
<br>
I'm afraid that if Siri becomes an important feature for consumers, then<br>
Android phones and tablets, as well as desktops running Linux, will be missing<br>
this feature. I don't want to see individual handset makers (e.g., Samsung,<br>
Motorola, etc.) developing this feature because that would mean that only<br>
some of the Android handsets will have it, and desktop Linux would not have<br>
it at all.... Maybe Google will develop this for the benefit of everyone,<br>
but then again, maybe one day Google will grow tired of not doing Evil, and<br>
will stop doing the dirty work for other companies for free?<br>
<br></blockquote><div> well, you are right to worry about some features missing open source implementations.<br>however android is a different issue.<br>first of all. google can add a closed app that will give support to phones of htc, samsung, etc ...<br>
of course this will not be part of the open source addition. however android market is not open also ...<br>on the other hand. although android in general is open, but the actual android systems are not exactly free (freedom)<br>
you usually are not able to do what you like with your phone, if it is not rooted, and some phones (e.g. atrix afaik) will only boot to a rom that is digitally signed so you will not be able to burn open source version ...<br>
so android would not be my first worry<br><br>android for me is not that far than what windows used to be few years earlier<br><br>i see resemblance of old pc market - apple(closed) vs microsoft (also close but less restrictive) to today's apple(closed) vs android (not really open practically).<br>
my 2c is that apple didn't learn their lesson from last battle with microsoft, and apple(iphone) will be more of a niche market, which will be taken mostly by android. similiar as what was before apple (mac) vs microsoft.<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Some might remember that this is actually not the first time I mention<br>
this worry. Six years ago, long before Siri (and a couple of years before<br>
iPhone was released), I voiced exactly the same concern when I talked about<br>
the next hurdles for Hebrew in free software:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://linmagazine.co.il/node/view/9973" target="_blank">http://linmagazine.co.il/node/view/9973</a><br>
<br>
(see the last section there)<br>
<br>
Nadav.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Nadav Har'El | Wednesday, Oct 5 2011,<br>
<a href="mailto:nyh@math.technion.ac.il">nyh@math.technion.ac.il</a> |-----------------------------------------<br>
Phone <a href="tel:%2B972-523-790466" value="+972523790466">+972-523-790466</a>, ICQ 13349191 |I don't eat snails. I prefer fast food.<br>
<a href="http://nadav.harel.org.il" target="_blank">http://nadav.harel.org.il</a> |<br>
<br>
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