4 ms·
This is a project I followed pretty closely at the time and I always felt it was doomed. There were probably 100 reasons it failed that I wasn't aware of but i
by eagsalazar2 9y ago
This is a project I followed pretty closely at the time and I always felt it was doomed. There were probably 100 reasons it failed that I wasn't aware of but it seemed at the time like people really wanted the open software and platform but OpenMoki got religious about hardware which no one really wanted or cared about. Ultimately this was the route Android went and we see the results.
It is classic for FOSS wonks (I am one!) to forget that most people don't care about the principles of FOSS, they just care about the practical implications of FOSS which aren't always the same thing.
- wolfgke 9y agoI see a contradiction in your arguments: > it seemed at the time like people really wanted the open software and platform vs. > It is classic for FOSS wonks (I am one!) to forget that most people don't care about the principles of FOSS
- eagsalazar2 9y agoHow is that a contradiction? My point is that open software has large and immediate positive implications for end users but hardware does not.
- wolfgke 9y agoIf you really want an open software and platform (statement 1) you care about the principles of FOSS (a contradiction to statement 2), since if you only want some specific side benefits that FOSS provides, there exist "better" (quotes because as an FOSS fan these are note better) options.
- micahbright 9y agoNo true Scotsman fallacy. "If you really want an open source platform" is interpreted to mean different things to different people. Open source may literally mean "open source" without the associated zealous frothing at the mouth RMS association. No contradiction here.
- Qwertious 9y agoThere's the community and then there's paying customers. The former want open software and platform, the latter want a functioning phone. They're both "people", but they're not necessarily the same "people".
- wolfgke 9y agoBut if > it seemed at the time like people really wanted the open software and platform is true, there should nevertheless be a sufficiently large audience. The product will perhaps never become mainstream, but the audience should be sufficiently large that a company can survive on them as customers.
- problems 9y agoYeah, Android put the effort into software and let manufacturers deal with the hardware. It's sad that their approach failed though, I'd really like a modern device with something like OsmocomBB available right about now...