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On 01/07/07, Adam Bogacki <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:afb@paradise.net.nz"><afb@paradise.net.nz></a> wrote:<br>
><br>
> detail. Recently the main developer admitted he had been avoiding
it<br>
> for other reasons - commercial espionage by competitors<br>
<br>
<br>
How does that work, for an Open Source product?<br>
I mean, they have to distribute the source when a unit is sold, so it
can<br>
all be read at that time ...<br>
<br>
-jim<br>
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<big><big>Sean Moss-Pultz is the moving force behind the concept of an
open-source<br>
customisable / hackable phone, which was taken up by the Taiwanese
company<br>
(I think) TFC. Googling by his name and 'OpenMoko' should lead you to
more relevant<br>
material. <br>
<br>
He (AFAIK) was behind setting up ' <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:community@lists.openmoko.org">community@lists.openmoko.org</a>' and
was for a long<br>
time an active participant, but recently had gone quiet until the final
release announcement.<br>
There has been a lot of publicity about Jobs and Apple coming up with
similar but proprietary<br>
capabilities in iPhone, and also Nokia. The Taiwanese company is not
wedded to<br>
open source, but seems happy to use it as an alternative business model.<br>
<br>
The big question at the moment is whether there is a large enough
critical mass<br>
of developers who will get behind the project to make it viable in
technical and commercial terms.<br>
<br>
It's price should drop with mass production, but the big unknown is
whether it can get to the next stage.<br>
It might be good if various institutions acquired one or two and used
them as test beds to drive <br>
student projects in developing interesting and creative apps.<br>
<br>
A phone which walks the dog and gives you a wet smooch behind the ear ?
Perhaps not.<br>
But it could morph into a mobile computing / multimedia device,
assuming the power to cost ratio<br>
of microprocessors keeps increasing.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Adam Bogacki,<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:afb@paradise.net.nz">afb@paradise.net.nz</a><br>
<br>
'<br>
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