![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerDuring my discussion of mobile phone options I was pointed at OpenMoko, a project to create an open-source phone. It looks intriguing, but I have to say that I have concerns.
Firstly, my experiences with open-source make me rather wary of what using such a device will be like. A mobile phone is a consumer gadget, and one that it's easy to become very reliant on. If it crashes or misbehaves, I don't want to be told that there's a user forum where enthusiastic geeks can help me diagnose the problem. I want the phone to work, to stay working, and to be returnable to a dealer for replacement if it stops working.
Secondly, what about security? Not so much of the phone itself - I acknowledge that open-source systems can in fact be more secure than proprietary ones - but of the network. If the phone is open and hackable, how long before hacks start appearing that fiddle around with elements of its configuration that network providers are usually very keen stay set to predetermined states? In the short term, users might get better call quality, but how long will a cell network stay up if this sort of abuse becomes common?
Finally, what I know about the mobile phone industry suggests to me that it is an extremely technically sophisticated area. I don't doubt the enthusiasm of the OpenMoko developers, but are they biting off more than they can chew? Looking at the project wiki, some four months after development phones became available the latest news is as follows:
The Openmoko snapshot from 20071113, when employing a few steps, can sometimes (depending on the moon) make and receive calls but the dialer is in early alpha-testing state! Also note that there NO graphical frontend for handling SMS is included. Power management (suspend) is still flaky.
This for a product that is allegedly going to user release early next year!
Say what you will about the iPhone; you can at least use it to make calls with.
Firstly, my experiences with open-source make me rather wary of what using such a device will be like. A mobile phone is a consumer gadget, and one that it's easy to become very reliant on. If it crashes or misbehaves, I don't want to be told that there's a user forum where enthusiastic geeks can help me diagnose the problem. I want the phone to work, to stay working, and to be returnable to a dealer for replacement if it stops working.
Secondly, what about security? Not so much of the phone itself - I acknowledge that open-source systems can in fact be more secure than proprietary ones - but of the network. If the phone is open and hackable, how long before hacks start appearing that fiddle around with elements of its configuration that network providers are usually very keen stay set to predetermined states? In the short term, users might get better call quality, but how long will a cell network stay up if this sort of abuse becomes common?
Finally, what I know about the mobile phone industry suggests to me that it is an extremely technically sophisticated area. I don't doubt the enthusiasm of the OpenMoko developers, but are they biting off more than they can chew? Looking at the project wiki, some four months after development phones became available the latest news is as follows:
The Openmoko snapshot from 20071113, when employing a few steps, can sometimes (depending on the moon) make and receive calls but the dialer is in early alpha-testing state! Also note that there NO graphical frontend for handling SMS is included. Power management (suspend) is still flaky.
This for a product that is allegedly going to user release early next year!
Say what you will about the iPhone; you can at least use it to make calls with.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-11-27 10:01 pm (UTC)Clearly, as with anything (music / fiction ) there is the problem of finding the good stuff.
It is not the one developer one user ones that I mind. It is the ones where there are a lot of blowhards on the mailing lists talking about their wonderful plans for version 2.0 which lead one to download it only to discover that essentially it doesn't sodding work. And, of course, they have the perfect right to do this, my objection is primarily an aesthetic one about the tragic waste of human effort and ingenuity.