Mobile Linux Group Releases First Specification

narramissic writes "Google's Android may be getting all the headlines, but the venerable LiPS (Linux Phone Standards Forum), which launched to much fanfare in 2005, is rolling out the specs. The group, comprised of companies including Orange, France Telecom, MontaVista, and Access, announced Monday that it has completed the first release of its mobile Linux specification, adding components including APIs for telephony, messaging, calendar, instant messaging, and presence functions, as well as new user interface components."

So where are the handset companies?

[bn0p]

Reviewing the member list at the Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS) web site [lipsforum.org] I noticed that none of the major handset companies joined this organization. The Open Handset Alliance [openhandsetalliance.com] on the other hand has HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung as members.

Having a standard is all well and good, but it only matters if someone puts it into a phone.

Also, how many development platforms can survive in the cell phone market anyway? Besides Android and LiPS (we'll ignore Microsoft for now), there are Symbian [symbian.com], the LiMo Foundation [limofoundation.org] and a la Mobile [a-la-mobile.com] - all Linux-based. The first two or three to get accepted will attract the developers and dominate the market (unless they *really* bring something new to the game).


Never let reality temper imagination

playing catchup

[SuperBanana]

Google's Android may be getting all the headlines, but the venerable LiPS (Linux Phone Standards Forum), which launched to much fanfare in 2005, is rolling out the specs.

From what I understand, the LiPS had been "stuck in committee" with no real progress until Google announced Android. Then all of the sudden, there was a flurry of activity.

Specs are nice, and it's good to see progress, but the slashdot summary seems to have a distinct "look at LiPS, it's better, it has SPECS!". That's great, but..here's a prototype device running Android [engadget.com], and let's not forget the OpenMoko people, which have not only got a so-close-you-can-taste it physical device, they've got a pretty sorted software package as well, which runs on a couple of existing phone/pda widgets. The OpenMoko stuff and the Palm/HP/etc PDA stuff (I forget the proper project names, sorry!) is quite open and documented. The Linux-on-handheld boys have had working software out there for *years*.

Welcome to the party, boys. Beer's been had, chips are gone- there's some frosting left on the cake platter, though. Same thing to Google- it's nice that they have shiny prototypes, but if they're so open-source, why couldn't they work with any of the existing groups? Ah, I love the open source world: why help someone else, when you can re-invent your own wheel (anyone remember the days of Freshmeat's front page being literally FILLED with mp3 players software?)

Re:Too little, too late

[GodfatherofSoul]

Have you done a lot of development work in C++ and Java? Say what you want about Java performance, but it's a far cleaner syntax than C++ resulting in much cleaner APIs. I don't know the details surrounding Android, but (assuming it is) a Java OS is going to invite quite a lot of developer effort simply because of the lower threshold for becoming competent in the language.

Re:So where are the handset companies?

[DECS]

Your comment makes it sound like Symbian is Linux based. It is, of course, not related at all. Symbian is based on the EPOC OS used by Psion for its PDAs. It's backed by Nokia and Sony Ericsson in the EU and DoCoMo in Japan, although each uses a flavor of Symbian that is really a different platform. Symbian's backers like to group them all together because that gives Symbian an overwhelming share (~70%) of the smartphone market.

In reality, Nokia's S60, and Sony Ericsson UIQ, and DoCoMo's FOMA are about as similar as Mac OS X, Linux, AIX, Solaris, SCO Unix, etc. Imagine if the Unix vendors described their share of the desktop/server market the way Symbian does.

Origins: Why the iPhone is ARM, and isn't Symbian [roughlydrafted.com]
Smartphones: iPhone and the Big Fat Mobile Industry [roughlydrafted.com]

Re:Too little, too late

[GreatBunzinni]

That's funny, as when you write some code using the Qt library things are so clear and concise that you even get the feeling you are using some higher level scripting language. That's not the case with java. Ever.

The C++ programming language may support nice toys like templates and meta programming, which tend to be a headache to deal with and a pain to read. As a consequence, at least to some extent, the same applies to the STL. Nonetheless, who is forced to use all features of a language? No one.

So please don't say silly things. You only end up looking silly.

Re:Too little, too late

[fbjon]

How is Java, as a higher-level language, more complex than C++? What do you mean third rate class library, lack of functionality? And where do these impossible-to-predict gc spikes come from in a custom-made VM?

I'll grant you that handling memory management manually on small embedded devices like phones may seem like a good idea, for now. But not for long.