Mobile Open Source: Better lucky than smart

Every so often I get inspired by a random blog entry, and Fabrisio post gave me pause. Firstly, I have admired the Funumbol project and its very slick syncml application. Anytime you can have the ability to sync your smartphone to the server that _you_ own without any proprietary middleware, I must simply rejoice.

I have been pseudo-ranting about the state of Linux based smartphones. Most of my angst comes from the lack of competition in this space. I don't happen to be an Android fanboi, as I struggle with the tracking that GOOG has deployed in their default software stack. Sure, I know that most of the stuff can be disabled at the shell level, but I'm paranoid. He highlighted an alliance of sorts with Intel and Nokia - MeeGo project. I will have to learn about more about this MeeGo project, perhaps it could be something that bares watching. At least from the stand point of challenging the GOOG, people that profess to love free markets should be grinning from ear-to-ear. Geez, just 3-5 years the mobile OS market was quite stagnant. You had Symbian, PalmOS and crappy Windows Mobile. I suppose some might argue outside of iPhone's BSD with thin layers of proprietary paint and Android not much has changed. Well I suppose you might be correct if you were just looking at smartphones. The entire world of MIDs has really taken a leap forward in the last 3-5yrs. Outside of Apple Newton (device that few folks understood) which was peaked much too soon, and Palm devices there was not much innovation on tablets.

Somehow, I wish that Palm ALP could seriously challenge Android and offer consumers more choice. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking. I suppose time will tell.

FOSS Mobile - Better Lucky Than Smart

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