So far, it sounds like there's not much out there to
start with. Why would this be? It's an odd situation.
Well, here's my diagnosis. It's a diagnosis from a distance,
since I've done relatively little hacking in this area, sad to
say. And it might be a view through the wrong end of the
telescope.
It's this: Data is not enough. Nor are tools in themselves
enough. The right license might be important, but it's
just meta-data about the system. An open source solution
has to incorporate tools, plus data --- phone descriptions --
that other (perhaps proprietary) tools can get started
with quickly, under license terms and under a source
management regime that doesn't inhibit or intimidate
people from using it or contributing to it.
You can't execute data. It doesn't do anything for you.
It doesn't solve any problems. It just sits there. It doesn't
commit you to anything. Open source development is
driven the way all development is driven after the initial
stages: finding bugs, fixing them, adding features that
cause more bugs; all of that requires commitment. Data
can have inaccuracies, but not bugs or features. So of
course it's just consumed, and not contributed to.
Tools themselves are not enough. A zillion little ad hoc
hacks in a tool, such as in an iAppli game developer's
system, for example, do not form a useful description
that can be exported to other systems.
GPL? BSD? Artistic License? If you don't have a
simple, open architecture, it might as well be 6502
machine code. More important: If you don't have
someone willing to ride herd, do the librarian scutwork,
the thing is dead.
So: committed developers, user-driven data, data-driven
code, all on the same page. A simple formula, perhaps,
but not an easy one.
-michael turner
leap@gol.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Juergen Specht" <js@nooper.com>
To: <keitai-l@appelsiini.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 10:55 PM
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: open source keitai tools (was Re: Re: western phone,
imode sites...)
>
> > Nik Frengle expressed the dilemma pretty well in a recent CODEJ [1]
> > presentation.
> > I asked him about device characterization, and whether Intadev's [2]
> > mInt had much in the way of diagnostics about content that wouldn't
> > play on certain idiosyncratic phones.
> > Nik replied: "It would take three people working full-time to cover
> > all the issues." (My paraphrase.) That might overstate the situation,
> > I don't know -- I'd ask those Nooper [3] guys. It is a problem,
> > though.
>
> Actually it takes 3 extremely lazy guys working full-time to
> cover all the issues. Lets separate the issues:
>
> 1) Screen resolution (pixel size, text rows and cols,...)
> 2) Screen behavior (color issues, rendering,...)
> 3) Sound behavior (different soundchips,...)
> 4) Handset specialties (special key combinations,
> configurable cache, different fonts, new firmware
> versions in newer handsets of same series, URL behavior,
> different Java behaviour...)
>
> There are quite a lot of companies out there which collect the
> information 1+2 and offer a actual database on a subscription base.
> This is not cheap.
>
> There are also some websites out there which provide these
> information for free. At least information 1 and sometimes
> also 2. These information are not very reliable and often
> people stop updating, because everybody just sucks the
> information without adding to it (I guess this will also
> be Nick's problem).
>
> There are not very much companies out there, which also keep
> a list of 3 and there is almost no public information about
> the different wave tables of different handsets and I never
> saw a complete and up-to-date one.
>
> I don't know any company which offers a complete list of
> number 4. But the Java issues are well known thanks to
> Gigahertz and because of the low number of handsets which
> actually support Java yet.
>
> So it really depends which handset information are necessary
> for the specific project, but all information are out
> there...I recommend deep pockets or http://google.co.jp.
>
> Juergen
> --
> Juergen Specht CTO, Nooper.com - Mobile Services Inc. Tokyo, Japan
> i-mode/FOMA consulting, development, testing: http://nooper.co.jp/
>
>
> This mail was sent to address leap@gol.com
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>
>
Received on Mon Feb 25 14:10:21 2002