Task:Texts for maemo.nokia.com
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''"So what?"'' you might say. Well, all of this does matter if you wish to go beyond the role of a customer, of a pure user. | ''"So what?"'' you might say. Well, all of this does matter if you wish to go beyond the role of a customer, of a pure user. | ||
| - | In 1991 a young developer called Linus Torvalds started a software project in Helsinki (Finland), coincidentally the same city where the Maemo headquarters are located. Yes, that project was called Linux and one interesting aspect of it was that the software created was free. Other developers could look at the code, improve it, adapt it to specific | + | In 1991 a young developer called Linus Torvalds started a software project in Helsinki (Finland), coincidentally the same city where the Maemo headquarters are located. Yes, that project was called Linux and one interesting aspect of it was that the software created was free. Other developers could look at the code, improve it, adapt it to specific purposes, redistribute it... |
| - | All this process was and is still nowadays done in a transparent and collaborative way, mostly via Internet. Freedom, transparency and | + | All this process was and is still nowadays done in a transparent and collaborative way, mostly via Internet. Freedom, transparency and on-line collaboration defined the way of working of this successful project. Free software had existed before Linux but then over the years became a global phenomenon, an industrial trend and a source of inspiration for many other projects around the Internet: Mozilla, Wikipedia, BitTorrent... Maemo is part of this tradition, and actually most of the software is made of comes from several open source community projects. |
| - | + | You feel this as soon as you land in http://maemo.org. The Maemo community is a place for everybody to share, discuss, get help, improve and enjoy. No matter what is your background or your motivations, the chances to find peers to meet and have fun are high. This is how anybody can get involved in open source collaboration, even without having a clue about programming. Give it a try. Download and rate some applications. Share your first impressions in the forum. Suggest one improvement or two. | |
| - | + | Be careful, you may learn more things than you expect. You may get more involved in exciting discussions than you think. Your community karma might go beyond your expectations. And one day you might find yourself meeting other Maemo peers face to face, till late in some city you had never visited before. Feeling happy for having gone beyond the role of a demanding customer of an interesting product. | |
| - | + | Yes, all these things might happen to you after opening a Maemo box. | |
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== Further Development Needed == | == Further Development Needed == | ||
Revision as of 15:45, 31 July 2009
maemo.nokia.com will contain two pages related to the current scope of maemo.org. Here we will draft the text for both. Quim has to deliver a first complete draft by 2008-11-18.
Software freedom, open communities and you
Maemo devices are all about choices. Users can choose to enjoy a variety of features and services that come out of the box. Additional software (in most cases for free) is always available to download and enjoy. This is how a device becomes a good product that satisfies demanding customers.
That said, if you want more... there is a lot more.
Maemo is an open platform running in open devices. It has Linux at its core, but also plenty more software components maintained by communities of open source developers. The platform is based on well known technologies widely used in the free software community.
"So what?" you might say. Well, all of this does matter if you wish to go beyond the role of a customer, of a pure user.
In 1991 a young developer called Linus Torvalds started a software project in Helsinki (Finland), coincidentally the same city where the Maemo headquarters are located. Yes, that project was called Linux and one interesting aspect of it was that the software created was free. Other developers could look at the code, improve it, adapt it to specific purposes, redistribute it...
All this process was and is still nowadays done in a transparent and collaborative way, mostly via Internet. Freedom, transparency and on-line collaboration defined the way of working of this successful project. Free software had existed before Linux but then over the years became a global phenomenon, an industrial trend and a source of inspiration for many other projects around the Internet: Mozilla, Wikipedia, BitTorrent... Maemo is part of this tradition, and actually most of the software is made of comes from several open source community projects.
You feel this as soon as you land in http://maemo.org. The Maemo community is a place for everybody to share, discuss, get help, improve and enjoy. No matter what is your background or your motivations, the chances to find peers to meet and have fun are high. This is how anybody can get involved in open source collaboration, even without having a clue about programming. Give it a try. Download and rate some applications. Share your first impressions in the forum. Suggest one improvement or two.
Be careful, you may learn more things than you expect. You may get more involved in exciting discussions than you think. Your community karma might go beyond your expectations. And one day you might find yourself meeting other Maemo peers face to face, till late in some city you had never visited before. Feeling happy for having gone beyond the role of a demanding customer of an interesting product.
Yes, all these things might happen to you after opening a Maemo box.
Further Development Needed
Ideas to develop, keeping them simple and short. More catchy than accurate or explained in depth.
- Why being able to look at the source code of software is relevant to normal people.
- No licencing costs
- Freedom to use (No constricting EULA)
- Freedom to share (pass copies around)
- Developing software in the open permits peer review (more secure software)
- Development by community - the doors are open, come on in!
- How normal people benefits from software freedom.
- Every user is a potential contributor.
- How Maemo benefits from the work of other projects, and viceversa.
- Sharing infrastructure - collaborate on higher quality building materials to make better houses
- Collaboration on what's shared, competition on what's different
- Short history and trends.
- maemo.org entry points to get started.
Links to know more:
- FSF philosophy
- Why Open Source? (from David Wheeler - numbers based argument)
- Why Open Source? (from Red Hat - more emotional argument)
- Open Source on wikipedia
- ...
- propose URLs
Introduction for developers
Ideas to develop, keeping them simple and short. More catchy than accurate or explained in depth.
- Basic platform description.
- Intro to the offering in a sensible way: Mozilla add-ons, Python, C/C++, GTK+Qt, SDK, SDK+, Eclipse plugins (do we need to digest all this or make a tighter selection).
- Specific message to Linux ports.
- Specific message to Symbian and .NET developers.
- Highlights on open platform development.
- Introduction to Forum Nokia: official & stable.
- Introduction to maemo.org Developers corner: community & unstable.
- Links to Quickstart Guide, Reference Manual and Training Materials.