Task:Defining maemo

Cristal clear definitions of maemo, maemo.org, OS2008 and so on.

Many people are confused about what exactly maemo is, and the difference between Nokia's ITOS and maemo.org.

To my mind, maemo is "the open collaboration project which was started by the release of a free software stack which made up part of the OS installed on Nokia's Internet Tablet series". That's a pretty crummy definition, but engenders a number of important distinctions:


 * maemo is not the software running on your tablet
 * maemo is not just the website and tablet user community
 * maemo is not limited to free software
 * maemo is software based in origin
 * maemo is not limited to the needs of Nokia tablets - it can evolve beyond that usecase
 * maemo is, above all, an open collaboration project - community developed software, free software, open access, and all of the infrastructure to support it

The major evolution of maemo should thus be a move to enable the community, to help maemo evolve away from its internet tablet roots. Things which allow maemo users to target other devices, replace "official" software or libraries, and otherwise hack on the maemo platform, are all useful. Discussions about opening drivers for hardware, or adding new applications to the tablets, are not. On the other hand, proposals to open up the documentation and APIs for proprietary components is a community enabler, and might be relevant.