Is it portable? [scanned]

Richard Franks richard.franks at drdc-rddc.gc.ca
Tue Dec 5 20:28:37 CET 2006


On Tue, 2006-12-05 at 19:37 +0100, Robert Michel wrote:

> Explain me - what would be the long term benefit to run OpenMoko on a
> THC device in the next month?

I'm not a corporate marketing-ologist, but surely the more hardware
platforms OpenMoko runs on, the more credibility it will receive.


> Do you just like to have a "toy" for yourself or do you like to 
> revolutionise? What will be your aim?

I want a sexy toy which I can whip out of my pocket in the street, show
off, and do wonderful revolutionary things with.

Oh wait, wrong list.

The distinction I make is suggesting the lack of distinction between toy
and and revolution - in that the revolution will be 'playing' with small
application components (toys), to create flexible component networks
dynamically without fear of 'breaking' anything.

Sure - LEGO comes with instructions and guides, but the fun is the
unlimited potential - because the hard work was already done by the LEGO
designers to abstract the nuts and bolts of a car into reusable
components.. you can make a car or a plane or a...? You're only limited
by your imagination.

There doesn't exist a platform today which you could just play rather
than work with, in the same way.


> Why wasting time with reverse engineering - when we now have a hardware
> producer we can talk with *directly*?¹

Does FIC produce hardware components, or package them together/send to
manufacturing? I assumed the latter, although, you are right - corporate
weight behind a friendly ear to the communities desires.. a good thing.


> So hacking OpenMoko solutions to a HTC device would be a cool hack,
> but *not* smart it would *not* power up OpenMoko - it would weaken OpenMoko/FIC
> and delay or risk a next Neo version with Wi-Fi and camera.

It's a strong statement to make - I recall reading somewhere that a goal
of OpenMoko was to encourage many different vendors to implement it on
their hardware? Certainly, that was one of the positive points which
drew me to the project, having never before heard of FIC.

I think maybe it's unwise to spend too much time second guessing FICs
business strategy - we have an open communication channel with FIC now,
and it can work both ways if required.

Richard




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