Survey about the Touchscreen

Anton Persson don.juanton at gmail.com
Sat Nov 22 11:28:21 CET 2008


On Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Stroller
<stroller at stellar.eclipse.co.uk>wrote:

> > I would like openmoko to do bold steps.
> > But they should also be careful.
>
> Introduction of a multi-touch screen would only fragment the userbase.
> 10,000 Freerunner owners would be bitching that they can't run
> $new.app because it requires the new screen type; owners of the new
> device would be bitching that existing apps don't use the cool new

interface.
>

Well, that might be true.. But the case might also be that the userbase
will shrink if nothing is done. That depends on what people want from
their hardware. The lack of a new type of user interface which some of
us believe is far superior on a hand held device will at least make me
think twice before buying a new OpenMoko.. I bought the GTA02 since
I found what OpenMoko was doing a great thing and I wanted to support
that good effort.. But if the hardware is always a couple or more
generations behind the leading pack then it's not much use, then I'm just
trying to help
a hopeless cause. The phone is a hardware disabled toy.

I certainly don't speak for everyone, since there are plenty of voices for
the
current solution as seen in this thread, but I think the user base will
shrink
steadily while the use of multi touch gets more and more users on the big
platforms. It's the future as I see it, and either we place us in the
future, or
we place us in the past... With a platform as the OpenMoko we have that
choice.


> Hardware decisions are best made by those who actually have an insight
> into ALL the variables of the planned hardware. The whims of you & I
> are simply irrelevant if Openmoko / FIC are unable to purchase multi-
> touch screens. In case you're not aware, hardware decisions have
> already been constrained by an unavailability of parts in such small
> quantities as those used in Openmoko devices - you might have to buy
> 100,000 or 1,000,000 units before the vendor will talk to you.
>

Yes, that's makes it a catch 22, because if you don't put together a
hardware solution that is good enough, then the amount of people
buying it will be small... And if you can't sell enough then you can't
buy the good parts.. If that makes you aim low, then why bother at
all?


>
> Besides that, GTA03 is no longer subject to change - isn't it stupid
> to be making plans (especially when you're not in a position to do so)
> for GTA04 or 05, when the hardware available by that time might be
> quite different from what is on the market now?
>
>
I know that the GTA03 is probably all decided hardware wise... But I think
this might be a good discussion anyway. And the market is big, apple has
shown
that... And note that Apple doesn't have it's reputation since they make
poor
hardware decisions, but the opposite. There's still a future out there
tomorrow
and if we want to we can be part of it too.

     Best regards
       Anton
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