Task:Defining maemo

(Reshaping the page. Is this the kind of structure we want?)
(Discussion)
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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.
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.
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:Who wrote the text above? Only to know who are we discussing with.  :)  Also, I have just posted some ideas about the scope of maemo as a "software platform based mostly in open source components" at [https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=630#c20 bug #630 - Increased Bugzilla transparency - get the developers involved!].
=== Describing the maemo community ===
=== Describing the maemo community ===

Revision as of 05:31, 11 June 2008

Image:Ambox_notice.png
This article is continued discussion from the maemo.org brainstorm
Please see the 100 Days agenda for more.


Contents

Objectives

Feedback needed! Let's agree on the objectives first. --qgil 20:51, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

  • Define maemo, maemo.org and Internet Tablet OS / OS2008.
  • Identify the blocks of the maemo software architecture and the projects behind.
  • Define the roles of Nokia, the maemo community, the open source upstream projects and other organizations related to the maemo platform i.e. companies and universities.
  • Produce an initial Who is Who in maemo.org based on the user profiles, to be expanded in a decentralized way.
  • Produce a list of remarkable maemo projects.
  • Document processes in maemo.org

Tasks

Help is welcome in all of them.

Ongoing

From the maemo.org June sprint:

  • Publish a "Who's who in maemo", including Nokia engineers working with the community, contractors and volunteers. Encourage people to update their information to keep the document up to date - Dave
  • Documenting companies involved in maemo development - Dave
  • Documenting in maemo.org the web development process - Dave
  • User profile improvements defined and started + bug Automatic data in user profiles - Oskari
  • Bug maemo white paper architecture picture needs to be updated

In the backlog

Currently in the maemo.org backlog:

  • Define maemo.org policies for things like editbugs, getting @maemo.org email addresses, and if it doesn't exist, getting svn access - Dave
  • Documenting better Nokia contributions to open source projects, complement of http://opensource.nokia.com

Discussion

What is maemo

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.

Who wrote the text above? Only to know who are we discussing with.  :) Also, I have just posted some ideas about the scope of maemo as a "software platform based mostly in open source components" at bug #630 - Increased Bugzilla transparency - get the developers involved!.

Describing the maemo community

Many people see the maemo community as a group of people having Nokia as a counterpart. A more accurate picture would:

  • Have Nokia as a community player, describing the activities that are done at a community level.
  • Show the relationships with related upstream projects: where the collaboration is happening beyond just using the free software provided.
  • Add the many organizations involved in maemo development or research, from companies to universities.

Also, what about

  • Go a bit deeper inside the "group of people" and identifying core contributors: more work on karma and user profiles would be needed.

Now the most visible are the one shouting louder and more often. It would be useful though to identify key contributors in the many community areas: application development, platform hacking, documentation, support, bug reporting, news, marketing... --qgil 05:57, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

--From a practical point-of-view, isn't maemo pretty much completely dependent on Nokia right now? Are there any viable non-Nokia maemo platforms out there? How much core development is not directed by the Nokia mothership? Claiming independence is counterproductive if it isn't tied to reality. - mee 04:28, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Team

  • qgil coordinates the task and provides the information originated at Nokia.
  • (add yourself)