Worst news ever from my perspective. I will never again buy a Nokia phone. I'm going 100% with Android now. Forget Meego. Forget Nokia.

Intel:

http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/2...mod=ATD_skybox

Well, looks like this is the end of the road for Nokia, and a huge step backwards for open computing too. (sigh) The brand will probably be around on ever-more-commoditised devices for a while, but as a meaningful company they've effectively committed suicide. It's over.

As a Finn, it doesn't even matter to me if they stay in Finland or not, because their heart has been ripped out. They are no longer significant.

The most frustrating part is that they didn't go out fighting, they just meekly handed over the keys to a rival, regardless of whether they got any benefit themselves. Microsoft didn't even have to buy them.

We will never know what would have happened if they'd released MeeGo properly, or the first proper updated version of Symbian (without the antiquated Avkon interface that is still in S^3).

So, had to come back here one last time, because Maemo was by far the coolest part of this whole trip.

The one thing I'd like to suggest is this community gets behind some other open source computing platform which is viable (i.e. which has strong and long term support from one or more major manufacturers). This is a very dangerous time for mobile open source, as we may theoretically end up with Windows vs iPhone, two closed source platforms run by companies obsessed with controlling and milking users.

I know this won't be popular, and I really don't like saying it: the only obvious candidate that springs to mind is Android, and that will be my next phone and tablet, the first time I've bought a non-Nokia for my personal use. But whoever you choose to get behind, make sure you get behind something open, as it would be a shame to see all this energy simply vanish.

A lot of people say open source is a geek-only thing, but it is more important than that. Being able to switch off platforms, control content and dictate terms to users is going to become a potentially very dangerous situation for all of us.

We should not have a platform where the platform's makers can remotely control, change or even deactivate software installed by users. Even books are becoming vulnerable on things like Kindle, where Amazon has made titles simply disappear as if they had never existed, all legally and within their terms of use.

Facebook got a lot of praise for its role in Egypt, but it had nothing to lose in Egypt. In other parts of the world it has simply wiped away entire online communities without any explanation, for reasons which we can only guess at.

Closed platforms are dangerous, and the more digital our societies become, the more dangerous these kinds of closed platforms will be.

With all this in mind, as we enter what may be rather dark times for open computing, here are some words to end on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJcAyYc78f8

Nokia has hired Chris Weber, another ex-Microsoft guy, to be their President of Nokia's U.S. division:

http://gantdaily.com/2011/02/11/noki...ivision-chief/

(not to be confused with Chris Webber)

Ubuntu Software Center. That is all. The idea of a unified source for software applications predates Apple's Gestapo like implementation by years. Who cares what the name is. Google and Android didn't invent anything, they just re-branded it.


Sigh...
1. Nokia had more than one choice. They made a poor one by my estimation.
2. They weren't developing any new OS from scratch.
3. They weren't alone in development.
4. They were assembling an ecosystem from pre-existing components. I'm pretty confident that Qt is a superior ecosystem. Universal deployability FTW.

If you really think that Elop has struck gold with WP7, fine. Let's wait a few years and see where Mr Elop works. It either won't be Nokia, or it will be a Nokia that is owned by M$.

my friend made this

What confuses me is what will Nokia have to offer at MWC or for the entire following year? Anything Symbian would be dead on arrival, and Meego is not ready from Nokias standpoint. WP7 is a 2012 event, so now what?

Nokia gets barely anything from this merger, and even though it would be nice to have the Xbox Live support ... it's too much to bank on Xbox being owned by the demographic its expecting to replace from Symbian.

I understand the need for an ecosystem but I also can immediately see that Nokias ethos is incompatible with Microsoft save for Elop. This is not a good move, and sticking it out with Meego would of been the best move at this juncture because they now have nothing worth buying to offer for another entire year. The holdouts like me won't bother holding out for a WP7 phone ... why when I can buy from elsewhere if I choose so. Also another year from hopping to another OS is not a good sign of stability, and that memo was an opportunity to show a new resolve to stick it out but Nokia has done what they always do, cut and run. Nothing ahainst WP7, I have played with it and it does have a certain appeal to it ... but it cannot compete with the likes of Maemo based on merit, and let alone Android or iOS based on marketing.

I also don't buy that the Mobile OS is not open to new entrants ... that is the old way of thinking that created the likes of Apple. It is an active environment and consumers are not loyalists ... they go for what hardware is matched with the best OS and they make compromises based on the balance of those traits. A good useful OS paired with the revitalized OVI ecosystem is all that is required not hand over the keys to MS. Apple doesn't have an email system, a map system, a video sharing system ... some of those are Google Powered others are from else where. Just make a good OS and stick with it is the best course of action. Lastly don't make a market experiment equipment based on Meego, this is not a request but rather a demand. The Nokia consumers are not guinea pigs, keep it in house for all we care ... man Nokia just loves throwing good money after bad money.

I was a fan of Maemo, I wasn't a fan of Meego because of the way it was poorly executed (couple of months after N900 release, no more support, starting from scratch again, dumping a good OS that needed minor updates), I definitely am now not a fan of Nokia for doing the same thing to Meego (I expected them to kill Meego the day they announced it with Intel) and repeating as if history has not taught them to stay firm with a decision. All the sacrifices the last CEO made in transforming this company into a trajectory of having its own ecosystem is flushed down the drain ... he was an idiot and now Elop has repeated the whole transformation thing again wtf is he nuts ... all he had to do was communicate more the media and consumers and keep the ship sailing on the bearing the last captain set it to before the mutiny.

Never noticed that Steven A. Ballmer spells out "Stab" until now.

Look at the bolded parts.

I think you are confusing an intented
plan with actual execution.

The two are altogether different beasts.

that's probably because it doesn't.

however, www.elop.org is truly hilarious.