What's new in Linux Mint 9 Isadora?

Based on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx, Linux 2.6.32, Gnome 2.30 and Xorg 7.4, Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" features a lot of improvements and the latest software from the Open Source World.

Featured improvements in this release: 30,000 applications catalogued and reviewable both online and in the new software manager, brand new incremental backup tool for both data and software selection, menu transparency and editable items, USB and Windows installers, 3 years support, look & feel improvements.

LG E900: spotted running Vodafone 360

The LG E900 that leaked just a day or two ago has been spotted running Vodafone 360. In the bottom left hand side of the screen on the blurry LG E900 image leak there’s a red tile, which says 360 My Web. Vodafone said that it does not comment on any speculation, and that they could not confirm or deny the leaks. That’s not to say they’re being evasive and holding back information on whether the LG E900 is getting Vodafone 360, as the Vodafone 360 software is often loaded onto handsets as part of Vodafone’s decision making process. A spokesperson said: “It’s not uncommon for us to load Vodafone 360 on to devices as a test, to help us make a decision on the devices we choose.”

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Multi-touch Support Lands in Maverick

Canonical is pleased to announce the release of uTouch 1.0, Ubuntu’s multi-touch and gesture stack. With Ubuntu 10.10 (the Maverick Meerkat), users and developers will have an end-to-end touch-screen framework — from the kernel all the way through to applications. Our multi-touch team has worked closely with the Linux kernel and X.org communities to improve drivers, add support for missing features, and participate in the touch advances being made in open source world. To complete the stack, we’ve created an open source gesture recognition engine and defined a gesture API that provides a means for applications to obtain and use gesture events from the uTouch gesture engine.

Our multi-touch work began in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, when we worked to get additional touch hardware supported in the Linux kernel, particularly the Dell XT2, HP tx2 tablets and the Lenovo T410s laptops. With that in place, and active development in X well under way, we reviewed our options for gesture recognition in Linux. The Maverick cycle has seen us produce several prototypes for gesture recognition software and the Ubuntu archives now include the results of that effort.

The world’s expectations of software experience are being raised by advances in mobile computing. We are bringing that revolution to the Linux desktop: for window management and applications. Though our work at the application level has only just started, we are certain that multi-touch and gestures will be central to the way we use Linux applications in future.

The success of touch in applications depends on several key factors:

* toolkit integration of gesture APIs
* touch support for legacy applications
* designing new applications for finger-based interactions

Work has begun on all three fronts in Ubuntu, and we expect it to remain an area of active interest over the next few releases up to 12.04 LTS.

Ubuntu is the fruit of collaboration across the huge Ubuntu community, and also the amazing work of many other communities that form around individual projects and initiatives like Debian. The uTouch framework enables work to begin across many of those communities to make touch a first-class interaction model in open source desktop and mobile software.

Existing contributions in other projects have provided fertile ground for uTouch. To name just a few:

* Stéphane Chatty at ENAC has lead much multi-touch hardware support in the kernel
* Peter Hutterer at Red Hat defined multi-pointer X and proposed a multi-touch protocol for a future version of X
* Carlos Garnacho of the GNOME community has done multi-touch work in X and GTK

We’re look forward to continued collaboration, ensuring that Linux remains the preferred platform for people building cutting-edge devices and software.

Canonical is working with manufacturers of touch-enabled products and those of their underlying technology in order to bring innovations in user experience to a broader audience. Our aim is to bring the natural, tactile experience of the world to the desktop, window manager, and applications you value — all the software that you depend upon to get things done and have fun. Touch will be part of the Ubuntu Netbook, Desktop and Light products from 10.10 and beyond.

Maverick Meerkat Alpha 3

Introduction:

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. The Maverick Meerkat Alpha 3 is the third alpha release of Ubuntu 10.10, bringing with it new features for the next version of Ubuntu.

This is an alpha release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 10, 2010.
Upgrading from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

To upgrade from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '10.10' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade -d; and follow the on-screen instructions.
New features in Maverick

Feature development for Maverick has started. Please see the Maverick blueprint list for details.

Please test and report any bugs you find:

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http://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

Updated Packages

As with every new release, packages--applications and software of all kinds--are being updated at a rapid pace. Many of these packages came from an automatic sync from Debian's Unstable branch. The period of automatic syncs has stopped now, so from now on there will be fewer changes.

For a list of all packages being accepted for 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, please subscribe to maverick-changes:

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https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/maverick-changes

Ubuntu

The GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.31 versions. This particularly includes the new dconf and gsettings API. Evolution was updated to the 2.30 version, which operates much faster compared to the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.
Ubuntu Netbook Edition

The new Unity interface is now the default in Ubuntu Netbook Edition. This includes the global menu bar as part of the default interface. The date/time indicator now has a real calendar widget.

The standard photo management application has been switched to Shotwell.
Kubuntu

KDE Platform was updated to the 4.5 release candidate. The standard web browser is now Rekonq, a KDE browser based on Webkit.

Qt was updated to the current 4.7 beta release.
Xubuntu

Xfce4 was updated to the current 4.6.2 release. This fixes many of the bugs and updates the programs used in Xubuntu.

New default applications: Parole (Xfce4 Media Player) replaced Totem Movie Player, Xfburn (Xfce4 CD/DVD burning tool) replaced Brassero, and xfce4-taskmanager (Xfce4 process manager) replaced Gnome-Task-Manager.
Edubuntu

Edubuntu changes include the changes from Ubuntu. The edubuntu-artwork package has been split into smaller packages to improve future updates and reduce download sizes.
Software-Center

The software-center got a "Featured" and "Whats New" carousel in the Frontpage. It is faster and more responsive and contains a "History" feature that keeps track of what was installed/removed/upgraded. Plugin support is added and technical items will not be shown by default
Linux kernel 2.6.35

Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.35-14.19 kernel based on 2.6.35 final.

This kernel includes new security enhancements. Of major note is the change the default behavior of PTRACE which is used by gdb, strace, ltrace, etc. The behavior for 10.10 is that only child processes can be PTRACEd, due to the default value of "1" in /proc/sys/kernel/ptrace_scope. This value may be inappropriate for some development systems and servers with only admin accounts. If using "sudo" for PTRACE is not desired, please change this value to "0".
Ubuntu Server Cloud images

cloud-init, the configurable initialization process for Ubuntu Server cloud images, has gained new features in Maverick Alpha 2, including pluggable hooks, ebsmount, ext4 support, and new stanzas in the cloud-config format.

Starting with Alpha3, cloud images instances can now manage their own kernel, and can upgrade kernels with apt. This is done by utilizing pv-grub provided by Amazon.
Installation

The new btrfs file system may now be used during installation via manual partitioning, as long as /boot is on some other file system.
Download Alpha 3

Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

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http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Netbook)
http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Ubuntu Server for UEC and EC2)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Kubuntu Desktop and Netbook)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/maverick/alpha-3 (Edubuntu DVD)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Ubuntu Studio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-netbook/ports/releases/maverick/alpha-3/ (Ubuntu ARM)

Known issues

As is to be expected at this stage of the release process, there are several known bugs that users are likely to run into with Maverick Alpha 3. We have documented them here for your convenience along with any known workarounds, so that you don't need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

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OEM mode installation fails when you do not have an internet connection, due to a failure to install the oem-config package from the installation image. If you need this for testing, please ensure you have a network connection all the time. (613008)
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The Wubi Windows installer was reported to fail. Investigation of the problems are ongoing (600578, 613288)
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Ubuntu Netbook Edition with Unity does not currently provide a fallback for systems without a 3D capable video driver, such as NVidia cards. (600567)
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On systems with very little memory (256 MB and below), ureadahead causes out-of-memory conditions, which may break booting. (600359)
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Applications using sqlite3 encounters a lot of performance issues and query accuracy, like in banshee. (612370)
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A pre-release version of Eucalyptus 2.0 was included for alpha3, and it still has rough edges. In particular, registration after installation is currently unreliable (609112), and complex topologies (separating the CLC from the Walrus, for example) are not supported yet (613033). When Installing a 'node' system, expect 2 x grub issues that can be safely ignored. (613463).
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KDM times out when starting from the Kubuntu live image, following the prompts from failsafe X should start the session (613574)

Reporting bugs

It should come as no surprise that this alpha release of Maverick Meerkat contains other bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. Please report bugs using the tools provided.

If you want to help out with bugs, the Bug Squad is always looking for help.
Participate in Ubuntu

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

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http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

More information

You can find out more about Ubuntu on the Ubuntu website and Ubuntu wiki.

To sign up for future Ubuntu development announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu's development announcement list at:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Skeletons Hidden in the Linux Closet: r00ting your Linux Desktop for Fun and Profit

A couple of months ago, while working on Qubes GUI virtualization, Rafal has come up with an interesting privilege escalation attack on Linux (a user-to-root escalation), that exploits a bug in... well, actually it doesn't exploit any concrete bug, which makes it so much more interesting.

The attack allows a (unpriviliged) user process that has access to the X server (so, any GUI application) to unconditionally escalate to root (but again, it doesn't take advantage of any bug in the X server!). In other words: any GUI application (think e.g. sandboxed PDF viewer), if compromised (e.g. via malicious PDF document) can bypass all the Linux fancy security mechanisms, and escalate to root, and compromise the whole system. The attack allows even to escape from the SELinux's "sandbox -X" jail. To make it worse, the attack has been possible for at least several years, most likely since the introduction of kernel 2.6.

You can find the details of the attack, as well as the discussion of possible solutions, including the one that has eventually been implemented, in the Rafal's paper.

One important aspect the attack demonstrates, is how difficult it is to bring security to a desktop platform, where one of the biggest challenges is to let applications talk to the GUI layer (e.g. X server in case of Linux), which usually involves a very fat GUI protocol (think X protocol, or Win32 GUI API) and a very complex GUI server, but at the same time keep things secure. This was one of the key priories for us when designing Qubes OS architecture. (So, we believe Qubes is much more secure than other sandboxing mechanisms, such as BSD jails, or SELinux-based sandboxes, because it not only eliminates kernel-level exploits, but also dramatically slims down GUI-level attacks).

The kernel-level "patch" has been implemented last week by Linus Torvalds, and pushed upstream into recent stable kernels. RedHat has also released an advisory for this attack, where they rated its severity as "high".

ps. Congrats to Brad Spengler for some good guessing :)

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Axon Logic Hackintosh Tablet May Just Out-iPad The iPad

Back in April we heard word of an affordable hackintosh tablet called the Axon Haptic. We were skeptical, since all we had was an anonymous tip and a render — something any 3D concept artist could have cooked up in an hour or two. But now we know that the Axon Haptic is real, you’ll be able to pre-order it this week, and yes, it runs OS X.

Let’s just get right to the juicy part, shall we? The Haptic is designed from the ground up to be compatible with any Darwin OS. That includes several UNIX distributions such as PureDarwin, and of course Apple OS X. Of course, installing OS X on anything other than Apple hardware is a breach of the license agreement, so Axon Logic (the company that makes the Haptic) strongly urges you not to do it, though of course they are not responsible for how you use the open-source software they include. I, on the other hand, think it’s a great idea.

According to Axon Logic:

Besides using only quality components, they are specifically chosen to be compatible with Darwin. That gives you the freedom to run, in addition to Windows and Linux, any* Darwin OS. Darwin and all of its required components such as the mach_kernel and kexts are on an EFI partition to make it effortless to install your favorite XNU/Darwin OS. Just pop in the disk, and follow the directions.

Sounds simple enough. But what are these components, exactly? Keep in mind that some of these components are user-replaceable.

* 1.6GHz Atom N270 (other trims will be available)
* 10″ 1024×600 LED-backlit LCD
* Resistive touchscreen w/ built-in stylus
* 2 200-pin SO-DIMM slots (2GB standard)
* 2.5″ HDD bay (320GB standard)
* 1.3MP webcam
* Wi-Fi (A/B/G/N)
* 3G SIM slot (AT&T or Verizon)
* Built-in speaker
* 3x USB, Headphone, mic, ethernet, VGA ports, card reader
* On-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition
* Removable battery (3000mAh, ~3hrs)
* 0.9kg (just under 2lb)

Basically you’re looking at a slightly overachieving netbook. Impressive in some ways, disappointing in others. The cost will be $800, or $750 if you get into the beta. To those of you who want to draw comparisons to ModBooks: yes, you can do that, but you’re looking at twice the price or more. That’s not trivial.

Obviously we would all like a better processor; there are plans to make a “Pro” version that runs on the MacBook Air logic board and a better processor, and of course you should be able to install anything compatible with the socket. But recall that hackintoshes on netbooks last year ran very well on more or less this exact setup. I’m concerned about the weight, but I don’t think there’s any risk people will use this as an e-reader.

As for the touchscreen, I am told that a capacitive one is not a good match with OS X. Maybe so with iOS, but with OS X you want to be able to write, draw, click this pixel and not the one next to it, etc. We’ll see.

Here’s a sneaky shot of the device in real life, and what appears to be a screenshot of the desktop. Nice multi-boot setup; with 320GB, you’ve got enough to have a decent-sized partition available, and this might be a great IT carry-around tool.


The question is, will people find this useful? Personally, I think a full-on OS X tablet would be more useful than a Windows 7 tablet. It’s just my opinion, but it seems that OS X has a more friendly interface for non-mouse interaction. But is it something that is useful at all? Obviously the keyboard will be less useful on the Haptic than on an iPad. Capacitive definitely has the lead there. But if the handwriting recognition is tolerable, that could be a great way of inputting your occasional login, search terms, or quick email. As with the iPad, it’s amazing what you can get used to. One might be tempted to suggest that this will be useful for artists, but Photoshop and other media-heavy programs will chug on that Atom N270. Even on a MacBook Air they’re not the swiftest.

I think that by searching for specific things the Haptic will be good at, we’re losing the forest in the trees. It runs OS X! Hello! You have an entire operating system. Browsing and email won’t be much better than an iPad, probably not as good, in fact. But what about all the other stuff you do on your Macs and PCs? You can plug a keyboard into this if you need to write a paper, or a gamepad to play SNES games. You can install Chrome, watch YouTube, whatever.

Ultimately, of course, it’s up to the user whether this is something for them. For some, it’s an unnecessary complication of a simple tablet. For others, it’s too much of a step down from a “real” computer. If an iPad is enough for you, get an iPad. If you need more power, get a MacBook Pro. If you want Windows, get an Lpad. This is just another option in the sea of options out there right now. I’m pretty sure it’s not the solution for me, but I guarantee there are plenty of people out there who are going to love this thing. Head over to Axon Logic (still very much under construction, they tell me) to see more and maybe even pre-order.

Update: it does appear to share its form factor with this tablet. It’s not clear just how much they have in common, though.

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Open Compliance Directory and Rapid Alert System

Many times, open source developers need to contact companies to discuss compliance issues but cannot find the appropriate party. The Linux Foundation has created a directory of compliance officers at companies using Linux and Open Source software in their commercial products so communication can be eased, information related to open source licenses can be easily disseminated and actions can be coordinated.

The Linux Foundation can also use this list for rapid alerts of changing legal landscapes and to coordinate actions in the community and industry.

Open Compliance Program

As the use of Linux and other open source software has exploded in recent years, especially in mobile and consumer electronics products, the need has arisen for a trusted, neutral, non-commercial compliance program that offers a comprehensive offering of compliance training, tools and services. To address that complexity, The Linux Foundation has developed a set of open source tools, training curricula and a new self-administered assessment checklist that will allow companies to ensure compliance in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Open Compliance Program also includes a new data exchange standard so companies and their suppliers can easily report software information in a standard way.

The six elements of the Linux Foundation’s Open Compliance Program are:
Tools

While there are many commercial and open source scanning tools available to identify the origin and license of source code, the Linux Foundation has developed complementary tools needed to help companies improve their open source compliance due diligence. The Linux Foundation has released initial versions of these tools as open source projects and urges other developers to contribute to them. They include:

* Dependency Checker: capable of identifying code combinations at the dynamic and static link level. In addition, the tool offer a license policy framework that enables FOSS Compliance Officers to define combinations of licenses and linkage methods that are to be flagged if found as a result of running the tool.
* Bill of Material (BoM) Difference Checker: capable of reporting differences between BoMs and therefore enabling companies to identify changed source code components and to better report included open source components in updated product releases.
* The Code Janitor: This tool provides linguistic review capabilities to make sure developers did not leave comments in the source code about future products, product code names, mention of competitors, etc. The tool maintains a database of keywords that are scanned for in the source code files to ensure code released is safe and ready for public consumption.

Click here to view all of our Open Compliance tools.
Self-Assessment Checklist

The Linux Foundation has developed an extensive checklist of compliance best practices in addition to elements that must be available in an open source compliance program to ensure its success. Companies are invited to use this checklist as an internal self-administered exercise to evaluate their compliance in comparison to top tier best compliance practices. The checklist will be formally launched in q4 of 2010.

Learn more about the Self-Assessment Checklist.
The SPDX™ Standard and Workgroup

Enables companies to standardize their bills of material to ease the discovery and labeling of open source components in their products; this is especially important for consumer electronics manufacturers who assemble parts from a variety of suppliers into their shipping products. The end result is companies using free and open source software will all be following the same reporting method. More information can be found at http://www.linuxfoundation.org/workgroups/spdx/
A Compliance Directory and Rapid Alert System

The Linux Foundation has created a directory of compliance officers at companies using Linux and Open Source software in their commercial products so communication can be eased, information related to open source licenses can be easily disseminated and actions can be coordinated. This is a huge need in today’s market where it’s often times difficult for open source projects to identify the correct people at companies using their software to address issues of concern. To add contact information for compliance purposes or query the directory: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/programs/legal/compliance/directory/
Training and Education

The Linux Foundation now offers the industry’s more comprehensive compliance resource for training and informational materials. Training modules cover the fundamentals of open source licensing and compliance activities and can be tailored for audiences ranging from corporate executives to working professionals. Training will be offered live on-site or online. Information assets include free white papers, articles, and webinars available from noted compliance experts.

Learn more about our Training and Education programs.
Community

The above resources join the existing FOSSBazaar workgroup which has a thriving and informed community of software and compliance professionals. As the open source ecosystem continues to evolve with new opportunities and risks, this community will focus discussion on how the industry can best adapt to the changes. The Linux Foundation welcomes all interested companies to participate at http://www.FOSSBazaar.org.

Training and Education

The Linux Foundation offers a variety of free informational resources including white papers from noted industry experts.
Open Compliance Training Courses

The Linux Foundation offers hands-on training from compliance experts for individuals and companies responsible for achieving compliance with open source licenses and establishing an open source compliance program, as well as for those who simply want to learn more about compliance. Options available include live onsite training in addition to instructor-led live remote training.
Course ID Title Duration Details
LF488 Implementation and Management of Open Source Compliance
Adapt compliance activities to your organization's needs with this comprehensive course that provides in-depth guidance on implementing an open source compliance program. Topics include: disclosure obligations, source code distribution mechanisms, corporate code contributions, adaptation of existing processes, compliance tools and automation and much more. Two Days Learn More
LF384 Overview of Open Source Compliance End-to-End Process
Prepare your organization to implement an open source compliance program by learning about the fundamentals of open source development, licensing principles, compliance obligations, and the contributions needed from the various functional groups; such as Executive Management, the Law Department, Supply Chain, Technical Documentation and Configuration Management. One Day Learn More
LF281 Executive Review of Open Source Compliance
Learn about the framework for an open source compliance program, including: open source licensing basics, compliance requirements, and the consequences of non-compliance. In addition, organizing, managing and staffing for the compliance effort will also be discussed. Half Day Learn More
Open Compliance White Papers

Here you will find in-depth information on open source compliance from noted industry experts.
Free and Open Source Software Compliance: Who Does What Free and Open Source Software Compliance: Who Does What
Author: Ibrahim Haddad (Ph.D.), The Linux Foundation
Ever since companies started integrating FOSS in their products, there has been the need to ensure compliance with applicable FOSS licenses. Different companies have used various ways to structure their teams responsible for fulfilling this function. Other companies have opted for a cross functional team that consists of a dedicated Open Source Compliance Officer who has access to various individuals and teams that contribute to the compliance effort without being part of a centralized team. In this paper, we examine the latter model of FOSS compliance team and discuss the roles and responsibilities of individuals and teams involved in the compliance process.
August 2010
Download Now
Establishing Free and Open Source Software Compliance Programs: Challenges and Solutions Establishing Free and Open Source Software Compliance Programs: Challenges and Solutions
Author: Ibrahim Haddad (Ph.D.), The Linux Foundation
This white paper is a second in a series that focus on the practical aspects of ensuring free and open source software (FOSS) compliance in the enterprise. The first paper entitled “FOSS Compliance: The Basics You Must Know”, available from the Linux Foundation, provided a discussion on the multi-source development model, the need for compliance, objectives and benefits, the consequences of non- compliance, possible compliance failures, how to avoid them and lessons learned.
August 2010
Download Now
Free and Open Source Software Compliance: The Basics You Must Know Free and Open Source Software Compliance: The Basics You Must Know
Author: Ibrahim Haddad (Ph.D.), The Linux Foundation
This white paper is a first in a series that will focus on the various practical aspects of ensuring free and open source software compliance in the enterprise. This paper provides basic discussion on the changing business environment moving to a multi-source development model, the objectives of compliance and the benefits resulting from having a successful compliance program and much more.
June 2010
Download Now

LiMo frustrated, may have to merge with Linux Foundation, say Taiwan handset makers

As Vodafone has decided to forgo the planned launch of the LiMo-based 360 H2 and will not offer any LiMo handsets, the future development of LiMo has turned pessimistic and the best choice for the LiMo Foundation is to merge with the Linux Foundation, Taiwan-based handset makers have commented.

Vodafone launched two customized LiMo-based Samsung Electronics handset models, the 360H1 and 360M1, in the second half of 2009, and sales performance has been unsatisfactory, the sources said.

Of the LiMo Foundation's six founding members, Motorola has withdrawn, while Samsung and Vodafone no longer show much interest, the sources said, adding it remains to be seen how the other founding members, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic and NEC, as well as other partners, can promote the LiMo platform.

Linux - out-of-memory (L-OOM)

Linux - out-of-memory (L-OOM) Whilst researching on mobile phones using Linux OS I came across a report on guidelines for creating robust embedded systems (published in 2009). The report's discussion arrived at the topic out-of-memory (OOM) and perceived flaws with Linux overbooking the kernel. The report calls this 'OOM Killer' The report noted:"One Linux detractor says this about the

Nokia, the OS company

Nokia bought Trolltech for about $150 million, and there's all sorts of speculation online about what it means. Before I get to that, let me quickly summarize what Trolltech does:

Trolltech is a Norwegian company that makes development tools and Linux software. Its best-known products are Qt (a software layer and development tools for writing applications that run across multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux), Qtopia (a user interface and applications layer for Linux), and Qtopia Phone Edition (a Linux software environment for mobile phones).

In the mobile world, Qtopia Phone Edition has been the company's best-known product, although it hasn't exactly been a commercial success. Motorola uses a version of Qt in its Linux mobile phones, but not all of Qtopia. The Sony Mylo mobile device uses Qtopia, as did the Sharp Zaurus PDAs. But Trolltech had so much trouble getting a mainstream phone licensee for Qtopia that it created its own hardware prototype, the Greenphone. (Out of fairness, I should add that Trolltech has a lot of other tiny licensees you've never heard of; you can see the full list here.)

The obvious assumption would be that Nokia bought Trolltech for its phone technology, but that's not what Nokia says. The company's press release says Trolltech will help advance its "cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop applications, and...Internet services business. With Trolltech, Nokia and third party developers will be able to develop applications that work in the Internet, across Nokia's device portfolio and on PCs."

All About Symbian reinforced that message, reproducing a slide from the Nokia press briefing that showed Qt layered on top of Nokia Series 40, S60, and a variety of desktop PC operating systems (link). The Guardian quoted a Nokia spokesperson as saying the emphasis of the deal is development tools: "This is about Trolltech's fantastic tools. You can much faster develop programmes which can work on multiple platforms." (link).

Vnunet quoted an analyst saying that Nokia will use Qtopia to help deploy its Ovi Internet services cross-platform (link). I don't really see the Internet connection; Qtopia has not been a contender in the net applications world the way that Flash and Silverlight are. But maybe Nokia wants to build it into a contender.

Other analysts suggested other motivations for the purchase. Some of the commentary on Slashdot suggested that Nokia is investing in Linux to counter Google Android (link). ArsTechnica suggested that Nokia might be planning to replace S60 with Qt (link), while others suggested that Nokia plans to use Linux instead of Symbian. Richard Windsor of Nomura pointed out in an e-mail analysis that the purchase of Qt rips the guts out of Motorola's Linux plans, although he guesses that's more of a happy side effect for Nokia than the primary motivation.

But an unsigned article on ZDNet UK had the most sweeping interpretation, basically saying that this spells certain death for all proprietary operating systems (link):

Nokia's bet is that the sheer size of the Qt 4-based market will be a decisive inducement for everyone else, handset makers, operators, and pure applications players alike, and that the explosion in compatibility will amplify the market for everyone much as happened on the desktop when MS-DOS anointed the PC architecture. But unlike then, Qt 4 will break forever the idea that one part of the market can seal itself off as a profitable mini-universe, an idea as archaic in the 21st century as the feudalism it so closely resembles.

As we say here in California, I want some of what he's been smoking.


What does it really mean?

We're all assuming that Nokia actually has a coherent master plan here. Although $150m is a lot of money to me personally, it's mouse nuts to Nokia. Maybe Nokia bought Trolltech just as an experiment, or to keep it from falling into some other company's hands. The fact that Nokia's going to continue to develop its Maemo version of Linux, which is not based on the Trolltech technology, suggests a certain amount of incoherence.

If you want to be really Machiavellian, you could speculate that this purchase is the Nokia mobile phone organization's answer to Maemo -- "you tablet guys keep your version of Linux, now we have our own."

But let's assume there really is a plan, and it's aimed at competitors. About six months ago, I wrote about Nokia's ambitions to be a computer company (link). Now we see them dealing themselves into the operating system competition as well. No matter what you think Nokia's motives are, the fact is that it's now the owner of a respectable cross-platform software layer that runs on PCs and mobile devices. Nokia is now a software layer company, in very direct competition with other layer companies like Microsoft and Adobe and Sun. The deal also makes Nokia a much more important player in the open source community. And it puts Nokia in more direct opposition to the companies with their own operating systems -- Apple and Google and (once again) Microsoft.

That's a huge potential change. I say "potential" because Nokia has a lot more to do if it really wants to compete. The Trolltech team will need more investment (they have been losing money) and Nokia has a lot of work to do in developer evangelism and support to make the challenge real. But the potential is there.

I think that as the implications of the deal become clear, Nokia may have trouble continuing to partner with some of its new competitors. For example, it has spent a lot of time positioning itself as a partner to Adobe Air, but it's hard to see the evolved Qt as anything other than a competitor. Same thing for Google.

As for how this fits with all of Nokia's other products, I'm having a lot of trouble understanding how Qt will cohabit with S60 and Series 40. What exactly are developers supposed to develop for, and which user interface will the phones feature? If Nokia tries to keep all of them going, its phone software is going to look like a petit four, with layers stacked on layers stacked on layers. That makes for a nice pastry, but in a mobile phone it's a recipe for bad performance and short battery life. It's also a certain way to confuse developers.

So a lot depends on Nokia's next steps. Does Qt replace Series 40 and S60? I don't know which group within Nokia made the Trolltech deal, but I wonder if the biggest competitive battle might end up being the one inside the company, between its competing software standards.

Linux mobile software firm plants flag in China

A design center in the South of France specializing in Linux mobile phone development has opened offices in Beijing. Purple Labs's China office will be headed by newly appointed GM of Asian sales Gordon Tsang (pictured at left), formerly of Openwave.Based in Chambery, France, Purple Labs is said to offer "one-stop" services "from hardware reference design to a complete customizable Linux software

Linux mobile software firm plants flag in China

A design center in the South of France specializing in Linux mobile phone development has opened offices in Beijing. Purple Labs's China office will be headed by newly appointed GM of Asian sales Gordon Tsang (pictured at left), formerly of Openwave.Based in Chambery, France, Purple Labs is said to offer "one-stop" services "from hardware reference design to a complete customizable Linux software