an open phone from nokia ?

[Noam Rathaus]

Hi Shachar,

2009/8/29 Shachar Shemesh <shachar at shemesh.biz>:
> I should make it clear that my previous email was a guess based on my
> experience with mobile platforms. I may well be surprised yet. Having said
> that:
>
> Hetz Ben Hamo wrote:
>
> Also, within the last few days, they signed and sumbitted new drivers
> to be included in the standard kernel.
>
>
>
> The question is whether all drivers running on the machine will be open?
> Will I be able to compile, from scratch, my own kernel and have all hardware
> working? I somehow doubt it, though I would love to be proven wrong.
>
> The technology that they use is open and it's right there on your
> linux desktop: Xorg, gstreamer, pulse audio, bluez, telepathy, they
> use upstart instead of sysinit, matchbox window manager, X terminal,
> busybox, GLX.
>
>
> Yes, that is definitely the case, but how about the core services of the
> phone?
>
> Will it be totally open? I don't think so because they have to support
> their DRM'd music/video which you buy, and their DRM is from ..
>
>
> I'm a bit confused about that. The guy on his blog says you get simple and
> easy root. If I have root, what good is a DRM software, closed source or
> otherwise? I can always just grab the data as it makes its way to the audio
> driver (or connect as a debugger and grab the raw data from the program's
> memory, or any number of other techniques).


This is always the case, even on Windows with the DRM. And even if the
OS doesn't allow it, simple hardware can be used, for example an Audio
sound card with an optical output (quite common on high end systems)
being routed into the optical input of an another Audio sound card
will circumvent the DRM.

The case with DRM, is not whether it can be broken, rather how
difficult it would be for the average guy to do.

I believe the same is here, Nokia is willing to take a chance with
this phone, as they know the average guy, techi or not will be willing
to work with something that is more open than others...

Of course my feel is that simplicity is the best option, and this
phone doesn't look like a simple to use phone :)


>
> writing/porting an app to N900, is IMHO way easier
> then to Android/WebOS/iPhone.
>
>
> I'm not sure about easier, but it is definitely running a bunch of already
> existing applications, and has a huge selection of Linux/Unix applications
> that have an easier port (assuming you don't consider the adaptation of an
> application to the limitations of a phone the hardest part, which I do
> happen to). From my limited experience with the Neo, that is a major
> advantage (not to mention it will natively run all applications written for
> the Neo, as they share 90% of the technology).
>
> Shachar
>
> --
> Shachar Shemesh
> Lingnu Open Source Consulting Ltd.
> http://www.lingnu.com
>
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