6 ms·

Nokia Reportedly Selling Off Qt

88 points by macco 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago
Would it help Google if they bought it as their own dev tool for Android? Something like Apple's own Xcode? Or are the incompatibilities too great to bother with it?
- nabilt 14y ago
  Someone already ported Qt to android along with Qt Creator integration, all-in-one installer, and a Qt library packaging system for your apps. Appears to be in development still. (edit) project page: http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ blog post: http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/28/necessitas/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/28/necessitas/
- azakai 14y ago
  > Or are the incompatibilities too great to bother with it? Yes. Also Google already has multiple development platforms, including one for Android (two, if you count Java and C++ Android development separately, they do have separate development kits).
  - wtracy 14y ago
    Qt could provide a GUI toolkit for C++ on Android. Last I checked, native apps on Android were limited to raw OpenGL.
    - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
      That would still require some sort of NDK backend for the Qt toolkit, since X11 is not compatible with the native Android windowing system. I'd imagine that's no small feat.
      - codedivine 14y ago
        Well Qt doesn't require X11. Qt's backends are actually VERY flexible, essentially all you need to do is provide it with a 2D drawing surface in most cases. There is already an Android port of Qt in progress here, with a lot of things (including Qt Quick and QWidgets) already working: http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ Several apps using Qt have already been published in Google Play.
  - codedivine 14y ago
    Well Qt is simply a C++ API and as such can become a standard part of the Android NDK if Google chooses.
    - pjmlp 14y ago
      Since Google sees the NDK as something that is only intended for legacy code, games or performance hotspots, I doubt that.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
  - stewie2 14y ago
    Why can't, there is already Qt for android achieved by just one guy.
- stewie2 14y ago
  I also hope Qt can get into Android. Qt is the best C++ api.
- bunderbunder 14y ago
  Unless there's some compelling reason to prefer Qt Creator over Eclipse, I'm guessing not. On the other hand, the current Eclipse SDK does have a pretty compelling advantage over Qt Creator: it's already written and working. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    > working From my personal experience, I'd have to say that's highly debatable.
- rdtsc 14y ago
  What are some good examples of successful large framework mergers? I can't think of any off the bat. It all sounds good in theory until you try to look at it in practice. 2 different languages, 2 different ways of doing everything -- graphics, networking, logging, etc. I like Qt and I like Android API but not sure how they two can live side by side without stepping on each other's toes or detracting attention.
  - rimantas 14y ago
    Rails and Merb?
- koraytaylan 14y ago
  qt creator would be a great tool for developing google nacl(native client) applications rather than android I guess. I know there is already some work done for qt to work with nacl apis. http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt_for_Google_Native_Client http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt_for_Google_Native_Client
nicholassmith 14y ago
I wonder who will be a candidate for buying it, depends how much Nokia will want to offload it for.
- ajross 14y ago
  Google has used it for some client apps (Earth, MusicManager). Skype uses it (though post-MS that seems subject to change). Intel already employs some of the senior Qt people. I think the most likely resting place will be a non-profit of some sort along the lines of the Mozilla foundation.
  - sciurus 14y ago
    There is already a nonprofit reponsible for the project infrastructure. http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/09/12/qt-project/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/09/12/qt-project/ And a governeance model that looks open to the community. http://qt-project.org/wiki/The_Qt_Governance_Model http://qt-project.org/wiki/The_Qt_Governance_Model
- hrktb 14y ago
  I'd bet on RIM if they still have enough cash. They also integrate QT for their next platform (if it ever gets to see the light of day)
  - untog 14y ago
    I think they already have their work cut out of their next platform without throwing yet another integration into it.
    - codedivine 14y ago
      Its not "yet another integration", Qt is already the base component of their Cascades framework which is RIM's preferred way of building BB10 apps.
- ericsink 14y ago
  I think Perforce should buy it.
paulbjensen 14y ago
I'm glad that Nokia have decided to do this. I understand that it might be financially motivated, but given that they've made a bet on the Windows platform, it's a nicer move than just mothballing the whole thing and eventually shutting it down.
keyle 14y ago
http://www.phonenews.com/nokia-closing-qt-australia-office-qt-asset-sale-likely-20861/ http://www.phonenews.com/nokia-closing-qt-australia-office-q...
Perceptes 14y ago
I wonder what this will mean for the future of headless browsers built on Qt WebKit, e.g. PhantomJS.
- skeletonjelly 14y ago
  I had no idea Qt was used for that. https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/tree/master/src/qt https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/tree/master/src/qt They didn't mention it in their readme at least.
  - mariuz 14y ago
    I also use it for wkhtmltopdf http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ , is the only decent solution that works with javascript pages and from almost all languages : python , ruby , php
    - bergie 14y ago
      We're also using Qt for controlling our info displays: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/qt-air-cursor/ http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/qt-air-cursor/
slug 14y ago
Do they have any more feet to shoot?
msg 14y ago
Nokia sold the Qt licensing business over a year ago. The remainder was in the offing as soon as the Windows deal went down. http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt/ http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt/
skeletonjelly 14y ago
Had a friend who saw the warning signs and bailed early enough. Queensland (the state Brisbane is in) recently had it's government shed tens of thousands of workers in a bid to reduce debt. Seems to be a great time to be hiring talent in Brisbane?
paines 14y ago
?!?! Didn't this happend already last year or so. They sold it to Digia iirc.
- bergie 14y ago
  They only sold the commercial licensing: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt-licensing-and-services-business-to-digia/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt-licensing-... The actual development of Qt has still mainly been happening at Nokia, though with an increasing number of outside contributors thanks to the new governance model: http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2012/01/10/qt-4-moved-to-open-governance/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2012/01/10/qt-4-moved-to-open-gover...
  - paines 14y ago
    Thanks for clearing things up.
tomjen3 14y ago
Sad qt was a really good framework and excellent use of c++
fernly 14y ago
but, but -- Qt moved to an open-source model a year ago. qt-project.org

88 points by macco 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago

Would it help Google if they bought it as their own dev tool for Android? Something like Apple's own Xcode? Or are the incompatibilities too great to bother with it?

nabilt 14y ago
Someone already ported Qt to android along with Qt Creator integration, all-in-one installer, and a Qt library packaging system for your apps. Appears to be in development still. (edit) project page: http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ blog post: http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/28/necessitas/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/02/28/necessitas/
azakai 14y ago
> Or are the incompatibilities too great to bother with it? Yes. Also Google already has multiple development platforms, including one for Android (two, if you count Java and C++ Android development separately, they do have separate development kits).
- wtracy 14y ago
  Qt could provide a GUI toolkit for C++ on Android. Last I checked, native apps on Android were limited to raw OpenGL.
  - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
    That would still require some sort of NDK backend for the Qt toolkit, since X11 is not compatible with the native Android windowing system. I'd imagine that's no small feat.
    - codedivine 14y ago
      Well Qt doesn't require X11. Qt's backends are actually VERY flexible, essentially all you need to do is provide it with a 2D drawing surface in most cases. There is already an Android port of Qt in progress here, with a lot of things (including Qt Quick and QWidgets) already working: http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/necessitas/ Several apps using Qt have already been published in Google Play.
- codedivine 14y ago
  Well Qt is simply a C++ API and as such can become a standard part of the Android NDK if Google chooses.
  - pjmlp 14y ago
    Since Google sees the NDK as something that is only intended for legacy code, games or performance hotspots, I doubt that.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- stewie2 14y ago
  Why can't, there is already Qt for android achieved by just one guy.
stewie2 14y ago
I also hope Qt can get into Android. Qt is the best C++ api.
bunderbunder 14y ago
Unless there's some compelling reason to prefer Qt Creator over Eclipse, I'm guessing not. On the other hand, the current Eclipse SDK does have a pretty compelling advantage over Qt Creator: it's already written and working. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  > working From my personal experience, I'd have to say that's highly debatable.
rdtsc 14y ago
What are some good examples of successful large framework mergers? I can't think of any off the bat. It all sounds good in theory until you try to look at it in practice. 2 different languages, 2 different ways of doing everything -- graphics, networking, logging, etc. I like Qt and I like Android API but not sure how they two can live side by side without stepping on each other's toes or detracting attention.
- rimantas 14y ago
  Rails and Merb?
koraytaylan 14y ago
qt creator would be a great tool for developing google nacl(native client) applications rather than android I guess. I know there is already some work done for qt to work with nacl apis. http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt_for_Google_Native_Client http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt_for_Google_Native_Client

nicholassmith 14y ago

I wonder who will be a candidate for buying it, depends how much Nokia will want to offload it for.

ajross 14y ago
Google has used it for some client apps (Earth, MusicManager). Skype uses it (though post-MS that seems subject to change). Intel already employs some of the senior Qt people. I think the most likely resting place will be a non-profit of some sort along the lines of the Mozilla foundation.
- sciurus 14y ago
  There is already a nonprofit reponsible for the project infrastructure. http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/09/12/qt-project/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2011/09/12/qt-project/ And a governeance model that looks open to the community. http://qt-project.org/wiki/The_Qt_Governance_Model http://qt-project.org/wiki/The_Qt_Governance_Model
hrktb 14y ago
I'd bet on RIM if they still have enough cash. They also integrate QT for their next platform (if it ever gets to see the light of day)
- untog 14y ago
  I think they already have their work cut out of their next platform without throwing yet another integration into it.
  - codedivine 14y ago
    Its not "yet another integration", Qt is already the base component of their Cascades framework which is RIM's preferred way of building BB10 apps.
ericsink 14y ago
I think Perforce should buy it.

paulbjensen 14y ago

I'm glad that Nokia have decided to do this. I understand that it might be financially motivated, but given that they've made a bet on the Windows platform, it's a nicer move than just mothballing the whole thing and eventually shutting it down.

keyle 14y ago

http://www.phonenews.com/nokia-closing-qt-australia-office-qt-asset-sale-likely-20861/ http://www.phonenews.com/nokia-closing-qt-australia-office-q...

Perceptes 14y ago

I wonder what this will mean for the future of headless browsers built on Qt WebKit, e.g. PhantomJS.

skeletonjelly 14y ago
I had no idea Qt was used for that. https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/tree/master/src/qt https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/tree/master/src/qt They didn't mention it in their readme at least.
- mariuz 14y ago
  I also use it for wkhtmltopdf http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ , is the only decent solution that works with javascript pages and from almost all languages : python , ruby , php
  - bergie 14y ago
    We're also using Qt for controlling our info displays: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/qt-air-cursor/ http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/qt-air-cursor/

slug 14y ago

Do they have any more feet to shoot?

msg 14y ago

Nokia sold the Qt licensing business over a year ago. The remainder was in the offing as soon as the Windows deal went down. http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt/ http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt/

skeletonjelly 14y ago

Had a friend who saw the warning signs and bailed early enough. Queensland (the state Brisbane is in) recently had it's government shed tens of thousands of workers in a bid to reduce debt. Seems to be a great time to be hiring talent in Brisbane?

paines 14y ago

?!?! Didn't this happend already last year or so. They sold it to Digia iirc.

bergie 14y ago
They only sold the commercial licensing: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt-licensing-and-services-business-to-digia/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/07/nokia-sells-qt-licensing-... The actual development of Qt has still mainly been happening at Nokia, though with an increasing number of outside contributors thanks to the new governance model: http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2012/01/10/qt-4-moved-to-open-governance/ http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2012/01/10/qt-4-moved-to-open-gover...
- paines 14y ago
  Thanks for clearing things up.

tomjen3 14y ago

Sad qt was a really good framework and excellent use of c++

fernly 14y ago

but, but -- Qt moved to an open-source model a year ago. qt-project.org