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#1
I admit I'm lost. Until only a few weeks ago, Tizen seemed to be more of a theoretical possibility than a real option. Ubuntu for mobile devices was a long-term strategy rather than an operating system. Jolla/Sailfish looked promising, but still vague.

Now there's an announcement that Tizen will come to real commercial products in 2013, Ubuntu has something real to show, and Jolla claims it will keep its schedule.

My question is: Which is the OS for me? (I'm not asking which will be more successful in the market here.)

I'm looking for a mobile OS that's
  • as open as possible (open development, more GPL than Apache or BSD, hackable)
  • as close to my desktop system as possible, meaning not only the Linux kernel but also the whole playground full of udev, dbus, telepathy, bluez, qt and whatever friends I have met on my gentoo box

While I think I know a bit about Sailfish (because it has the Mer background), there's as good as nothing I know about Ubuntu for phones or Tizen. That makes those three difficult for me to compare.

Are there any experts around that can share some information about the two points that are important to me for the three systems?

EDIT: I forgot Firefox OS, which I also don't know much about.... still, it's a competitor in this arena, isn't it? So the same questions apply.

Last edited by benny1967; 2013-01-03 at 11:09.
 

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#2
Originally Posted by benny1967 View Post
I admit I'm lost. Until only a few weeks ago, Tizen seemed to be more of a theoretical possibility than a real option. Ubuntu for mobile devices was a long-term strategy rather than an operating system. Jolla/Sailfish looked promising, but still vague.

Now there's an announcement that Tizen will come to real commercial products in 2013, Ubuntu has something real to show, and Jolla claims it will keep its schedule.

My question is: Which is the OS for me? (I'm not asking which will be more successful in the market here.)

I'm looking for a mobile OS that's
  • as open as possible (open development, more GPL than Apache or BSD, hackable)
  • as close to my desktop system as possible, meaning not only the Linux kernel but also the whole playground full of udev, dbus, telepathy, bluez, qt and whatever friends I have met on my gentoo box

While I think I know a bit about Sailfish (because it has the Mer background), there's as good as nothing I know about Ubuntu for phones or Tizen. That makes those three difficult for me to compare.

Are there any experts around that can share some information about the two points that are important to me for the three systems?
As far as I know, Tizen and Firefox OS will be running (only) webapps.
I don't know how open Sailfish will be...
At the moment, I think Ubuntu is the right decision..

Keep in mind that afaik Ubuntu is software only, so you will need a rooted android phone to use it
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#3
It's still too early to tell all of the specifcs you asking for. But in my opinion atm: Ubuntu os will be the most open option. It will give you great option so sync your mobile with your desktop and so forth.
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Last edited by Dave999; 2013-01-03 at 11:23.
 

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#4
Originally Posted by Dave999 View Post
It's still too early to tell all of the specifcs you asking for. But in my opinion atm: Ubuntu os will be the most open option. It will give you great option so sync your mobile with your desktop and so forth.
I'm not sure about that. Ubuntu One for example shows how closed Ubuntu actually can be.
 

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#5
As I understand it Canonical are in discussions with manufacturers so you shouldn't have to root an Android phone and install it yourself.

I think they said the ETA for devices was either Q3 or Q4 2013.

I was also pondering which I'd go for next; Android, Sailfish, Firefox OS or Tizen. I was favouring Tizen until the Ubuntu announcement yesterday. For me the big selling point is when you dock your Ubuntu phone you'll get a full Ubuntu desktop.

This is really what I've been waiting for.

Also Ubuntu apps are to be created with Qt/QML which I think gives you more flexibility. Personally I like scripting, I would do as much as possible in JavaScript (I actually wish QML was the new standard for the interweb rather than HTML5) but it's great knowing if there's a bottleneck you can drop into C++ to alleviate it. However if you're preference is for creating compiled apps Qt has that covered too.

Your apps can run in phone or desktop mode, you just have to take into account the screen estate. Canonical have tried to help in that regard by allowing you to define the layout of your interface in 'grid units'.

For me Ubuntu is now the front runner by a country mile, I hope they can get a few quality manufacturers on board.
 

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#6
And you forgot KDE Plasma. That might be more tablet-oriented, but with QML a mobile variant of the apps should be relatively easy to implement. What interests me is KDE might cover the entire range from mobile, tablet, laptop up to full workstation. Imagine a powerful mobile running KDE in a way much like Harmattan (also Qt/QML based). Stick it in a tablet-screen device, like the PadPhone or Atrix and you get an instant and seemless upgrade to tablet-use using KDE Plasma. Hookup a keyboard and mouse to it, and you get "normal" KDE with full desktop software.
 

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#7
All we need is a high quality top end open hardware handset and we could distro surf to our hearts content. Sadly niche markets seldom attract that kind of effort.
Concerning the whelter of possibilities, there is many a slip twixt cup and lip so lets see what basis for decision exists 6 to 12 months down the road. But I am hopeful in a way I wasn't 6 moths ago.
@Fuzzillogic : quite right and that seems the goal with Unity too.

Last edited by handaxe; 2013-01-03 at 14:07.
 

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#8
I'd go with Jolla, since they are using Mer that has open development and is innovative. Mer is also shared by Plasma Active as others pointed out.

Canonical is bad at open development aspect, and Tizen is even worse. So there isn't really much of a choice.
 

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#9
Originally Posted by shmerl View Post
I'd go with Jolla, since they are using Mer that has open development and is innovative. Mer is also shared by Plasma Active as others pointed out.

Canonical is bad at open development aspect, and Tizen is even worse. So there isn't really much of a choice.
This is pretty much what I feel - but I'm still looking for more than reputation. Some facts would be cool.

Do you know of sites that list components that the OSs use? Like pulseaudio, avahi, bluez, dbus, qt, blabla... Knowing that they use established technologies at all (rather than homebrew solutions) would at least be a good indication for the "desktopness" of the system, maybe also for the willingness to collaborate with the outside world.
 

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