Community Councilhttp://maemo.org/community/council/2012-02-10T08:56:49+00:00FeedCreator 1.7.6(BH) (info@mypapit.net)Maemo_Elections-September_20112011-08-18T13:31:05+00:002011-08-18T13:31:05+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-52d4e9eac99e11e0a322b5b673143e2a3e2anybauer@gmail.com (RM Bauer)It's been six months which have flown by, but the current Maemo Community Council's term is coming to an end and it's time for the next election.
The next election's voting will run from Thursday, 22nd September to Wednesday, 28th September.
What will be decided
COUNCIL MEMBERS - The council is a body of volunteers taken from the Maemo community that acts as a focal point for the community. Historically, Council's role has been limited to representing developers on, and users of, maemo.org to Nokia (and vice versa). Examples of council activity can be found on the Council homepage or in the blog. However, the governance referendum in this election may change the role of Council.
GOVERNANCE REFERENDUM - Due to Nokia's announcement that it will stop funding for maemo.org at the end of 2012, there will be a referendum and a vote to on the future of maemo.org. There will be an opportunity to vote in favor of updating the role of Council so that it can organize a form of governance for the community OR in favor of winding down maemo.org when the funding stops (thus making the 1st option unnecessary). There have been several related discussions on the forum:
Community members should carefully consider the governance referendum at this time. It must be debated for a minimum of one month prior to the election, and therefore the referendum will not be changed after Monday, 22nd August 2011
Community members should be considering whether they want to stand for Council. Anyone who has karma of over 100 is eligible to stand, including employees and sub-contractors of Nokia. When nominations open, you can nominate someone via an email to the maemo-community mailing list (which they must reply to to accept) or you can put your own hat into the ring by emailing the same list. A further announcement will be made when nominations open, with more information.
The election timescale (all times UTC) is:
Nominations open: 00:00, Thursday, 1st September 2011 Nominations close: 23:59, Wednesday, 15th September 2011 Voting opens: 00:00, Thursday, 22nd September 2010 Voting closes: 23:59, Wednesday, 28th September 2010
How does the vote work?
Each member of maemo.org, who has an account that is more than 3 months old and who has earned over 10 "karma" points on that account, gets an electronic ballot. The election is a "single transferrable vote". They rank their Council candidates in order of preference; if their top candidate cannot get elected with the votes they receive, the votes are redistributed until all five seats have been allocated. The governance referendum vote will be taken at the same time as the Council vote.
]]>It's been six months which have flown by, but the current Maemo Community Council's term is coming to an end and it's time for the next election.
The next election's voting will run from Thursday, 22nd September to Wednesday, 28th September.
What will be decided
COUNCIL MEMBERS - The council is a body of volunteers taken from the Maemo community that acts as a focal point for the community. Historically, Council's role has been limited to representing developers on, and users of, maemo.org to Nokia (and vice versa). Examples of council activity can be found on the Council homepage or in the blog. However, the governance referendum in this election may change the role of Council.
GOVERNANCE REFERENDUM - Due to Nokia's announcement that it will stop funding for maemo.org at the end of 2012, there will be a referendum and a vote to on the future of maemo.org. There will be an opportunity to vote in favor of updating the role of Council so that it can organize a form of governance for the community OR in favor of winding down maemo.org when the funding stops (thus making the 1st option unnecessary). There have been several related discussions on the forum:
Community members should carefully consider the governance referendum at this time. It must be debated for a minimum of one month prior to the election, and therefore the referendum will not be changed after Monday, 22nd August 2011
Community members should be considering whether they want to stand for Council. Anyone who has karma of over 100 is eligible to stand, including employees and sub-contractors of Nokia. When nominations open, you can nominate someone via an email to the maemo-community mailing list (which they must reply to to accept) or you can put your own hat into the ring by emailing the same list. A further announcement will be made when nominations open, with more information.
The election timescale (all times UTC) is:
Nominations open: 00:00, Thursday, 1st September 2011 Nominations close: 23:59, Wednesday, 15th September 2011 Voting opens: 00:00, Thursday, 22nd September 2010 Voting closes: 23:59, Wednesday, 28th September 2010
How does the vote work?
Each member of maemo.org, who has an account that is more than 3 months old and who has earned over 10 "karma" points on that account, gets an electronic ballot. The election is a "single transferrable vote". They rank their Council candidates in order of preference; if their top candidate cannot get elected with the votes they receive, the votes are redistributed until all five seats have been allocated. The governance referendum vote will be taken at the same time as the Council vote.
]]>Council_Update-July_20112011-07-09T17:55:25+00:002011-07-09T17:55:25+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-a0067aeeaa5411e08f5e233d7267cfe6cfe6nybauer@gmail.com (RM Bauer)On July 1, 2011, Maemo stands at an interesting crossroads. In June, Nokia formally announced the N9 Harmattan mobile phone mentioned in Council's previous posting. Although the stage for the announcement of the device was somewhat awkward, being amongst other marginally related news at the Nokia Connections event in Singapore, the device itself was well presented and showed off the design attributes of the N9 admirably. A wealth of product information was promptly available online. Reaction from the general press was positive as well and led to an upswing of anticipation for the phone, which is expected to be released in the next few months.
The device was described at the announcement as the result of Nokia's MeeGo project and is described in specifications as "MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan". As widely expected, it has a Maemo base ("Harmattan") with a MeeGo API. From the perspective of application developers and end users alike, the phone appears as a MeeGo handset although that technically may not be correct. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the lack of technical compliance, the device is widely described as a MeeGo device and hoped to lift the profile of the MeeGo project. Nokia also initiated much activity surrounding the device at www.meego.com, including threads in the MeeGo forum, to describe aspects of the device. As first reported in the previous Council posting, the N9 has both a closed mode and an open (developer) mode. Root access and terminal are available as well. Nokia also announced the availability of a limited number of N950 developer devices in an attempt to increase the number of apps available for the N9 at launch.
Nokia made no outreach to maemo.org during the N9 launch. Although not formally reported as such, Nokia received an "exception" from the Linux Foundation for the N9 and is freely using the meego.com infrastructure to provide community support for the N9. In addition, it was announced that OBS would include Harmattan as a target and that the community apps repository for MeeGo would include Harmattan apps. While there is reason for increased optimisim for the future of MeeGo, the relationship between Maemo, Nokia and MeeGo is left somewhat out on a limb. In an IRC meeting with maemo.org council, new Nokia liaison Matti Arias confirmed that all of Nokia's Maemo/MeeGo related ifs focused on promoting the N9. Such promotion will not involve maemo.org.
The future of maemo.org is uncertain. While there may be a new sub-forum for the N9/N950 devices, it is mainly for organizational purposes as maemo.org is unlikely to be the "home base" for the devices. There are numerous directions in which the community may move. For example, the Swipe UI/UX layer of the N9 is closed source and so there will be interest in developing an open source community alternative. Alternatively, the community can simply continue on with support for previous versions of Maemo. The staying power of maemo.org in the two year interim between the N900 and the N9 has been recognized even by Nokia. There are approximately 1 million downloads per week. A minimal level of support will continue to be provided by Nokia for at least a year. In keeping with its history of open governance, the community itself must decide the best direction forward.
]]>On July 1, 2011, Maemo stands at an interesting crossroads. In June, Nokia formally announced the N9 Harmattan mobile phone mentioned in Council's previous posting. Although the stage for the announcement of the device was somewhat awkward, being amongst other marginally related news at the Nokia Connections event in Singapore, the device itself was well presented and showed off the design attributes of the N9 admirably. A wealth of product information was promptly available online. Reaction from the general press was positive as well and led to an upswing of anticipation for the phone, which is expected to be released in the next few months.
The device was described at the announcement as the result of Nokia's MeeGo project and is described in specifications as "MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan". As widely expected, it has a Maemo base ("Harmattan") with a MeeGo API. From the perspective of application developers and end users alike, the phone appears as a MeeGo handset although that technically may not be correct. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the lack of technical compliance, the device is widely described as a MeeGo device and hoped to lift the profile of the MeeGo project. Nokia also initiated much activity surrounding the device at www.meego.com, including threads in the MeeGo forum, to describe aspects of the device. As first reported in the previous Council posting, the N9 has both a closed mode and an open (developer) mode. Root access and terminal are available as well. Nokia also announced the availability of a limited number of N950 developer devices in an attempt to increase the number of apps available for the N9 at launch.
Nokia made no outreach to maemo.org during the N9 launch. Although not formally reported as such, Nokia received an "exception" from the Linux Foundation for the N9 and is freely using the meego.com infrastructure to provide community support for the N9. In addition, it was announced that OBS would include Harmattan as a target and that the community apps repository for MeeGo would include Harmattan apps. While there is reason for increased optimisim for the future of MeeGo, the relationship between Maemo, Nokia and MeeGo is left somewhat out on a limb. In an IRC meeting with maemo.org council, new Nokia liaison Matti Arias confirmed that all of Nokia's Maemo/MeeGo related ifs focused on promoting the N9. Such promotion will not involve maemo.org.
The future of maemo.org is uncertain. While there may be a new sub-forum for the N9/N950 devices, it is mainly for organizational purposes as maemo.org is unlikely to be the "home base" for the devices. There are numerous directions in which the community may move. For example, the Swipe UI/UX layer of the N9 is closed source and so there will be interest in developing an open source community alternative. Alternatively, the community can simply continue on with support for previous versions of Maemo. The staying power of maemo.org in the two year interim between the N900 and the N9 has been recognized even by Nokia. There are approximately 1 million downloads per week. A minimal level of support will continue to be provided by Nokia for at least a year. In keeping with its history of open governance, the community itself must decide the best direction forward.
]]>Council_Update-May_20112011-05-31T01:42:56+00:002011-05-31T01:42:56+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-4f2929748b2711e0985db30745e1e255e255nybauer@gmail.com (RM Bauer)The maemo.org community council got together during the MeeGo conference in San Francisco and discussed several topics related to maemo.org. Two of these topics are of widespread current interest to the community.
MeeGo Conference. All of the Maemo Council member were able (despite logistics and flight cancellations) to attend the MeeGo Conference in San Francisco on 23-25 May 2011. Nokia was conspicuously absent on an official level despite being a co-host of the conference. Although many Nokia employees attended and some gave presentations on an individual level, Nokia had no part of the conference mindshare. The only session related to Maemo hardware or software was the presentation of the N900 Developer Edition (DE) by Jukka Eklund of Nokia. There were no cellphone devices presented or announced by Nokia, LG Electronics or any other manufacturer. The keynote was largely disappointing except when community member Robin Burchell (w00t) was brought on stage to demonstrate the synchronizing of contact information across multiple devices. In all, despite a visible commitment by Intel, the conference was a sobering experience that underscored the shard and sudden departure of Nokia and a cloudy short term future for MeeGo cellphones.
The Harmattan phone. The runup to the MeeGo conference was marked by several leaks and rumors regarding the harmattan device. Although the formal presentation proposal was not selected, Quim Gil of Nokia still graciously confirmed the device and discussed it and related issues with a handful of maemo.org community members. It was apparent that Nokia had wanted the device to be certified as MeeGo compliant in time for the conference but that discussions on this topic had not been resolved. It became increasingly obvious during the conference that no other MeeGo cellphone was ready to be launched and Quim persuasively argued that certifying the Harmattan device as MeeGo compliant would be largely beneficial to the MeeGo project. Particular details of the phone were not discussed, but it was indicate that the device will generally be "as open as the N900) for those people who wish to use it in that manner. In particular, although the device would utilize the MeeGo app store if permitted, there would also be no restrictions against the side loading of application. It was not clear if doing so would necessarily void the device's warranty or if Nokia would refuse to provide support, but it did seem likely that there would be an open moade and closed mode to the device. It seems that discussions over the device's compliance are delaying the launch that would bring answers to many questions surrounding the device. Unfortunately, the lack of specifices on the device and the current uncertain nature of the official relationship between it and the MeeGo project precluded Council from determining if and how community support would be provided for the device at maemo.org. The issue will be revisited as soon as further information is available.
Coding Competition. Finally, the Council would also like to remind everyone of the community-run coding competition. The deadline for submitting applications is June 30, 2011. There are prizes and some associated events. See the wiki page for more information.
]]>The maemo.org community council got together during the MeeGo conference in San Francisco and discussed several topics related to maemo.org. Two of these topics are of widespread current interest to the community.
MeeGo Conference. All of the Maemo Council member were able (despite logistics and flight cancellations) to attend the MeeGo Conference in San Francisco on 23-25 May 2011. Nokia was conspicuously absent on an official level despite being a co-host of the conference. Although many Nokia employees attended and some gave presentations on an individual level, Nokia had no part of the conference mindshare. The only session related to Maemo hardware or software was the presentation of the N900 Developer Edition (DE) by Jukka Eklund of Nokia. There were no cellphone devices presented or announced by Nokia, LG Electronics or any other manufacturer. The keynote was largely disappointing except when community member Robin Burchell (w00t) was brought on stage to demonstrate the synchronizing of contact information across multiple devices. In all, despite a visible commitment by Intel, the conference was a sobering experience that underscored the shard and sudden departure of Nokia and a cloudy short term future for MeeGo cellphones.
The Harmattan phone. The runup to the MeeGo conference was marked by several leaks and rumors regarding the harmattan device. Although the formal presentation proposal was not selected, Quim Gil of Nokia still graciously confirmed the device and discussed it and related issues with a handful of maemo.org community members. It was apparent that Nokia had wanted the device to be certified as MeeGo compliant in time for the conference but that discussions on this topic had not been resolved. It became increasingly obvious during the conference that no other MeeGo cellphone was ready to be launched and Quim persuasively argued that certifying the Harmattan device as MeeGo compliant would be largely beneficial to the MeeGo project. Particular details of the phone were not discussed, but it was indicate that the device will generally be "as open as the N900) for those people who wish to use it in that manner. In particular, although the device would utilize the MeeGo app store if permitted, there would also be no restrictions against the side loading of application. It was not clear if doing so would necessarily void the device's warranty or if Nokia would refuse to provide support, but it did seem likely that there would be an open moade and closed mode to the device. It seems that discussions over the device's compliance are delaying the launch that would bring answers to many questions surrounding the device. Unfortunately, the lack of specifices on the device and the current uncertain nature of the official relationship between it and the MeeGo project precluded Council from determining if and how community support would be provided for the device at maemo.org. The issue will be revisited as soon as further information is available.
Coding Competition. Finally, the Council would also like to remind everyone of the community-run coding competition. The deadline for submitting applications is June 30, 2011. There are prizes and some associated events. See the wiki page for more information.
]]>Where We're At In April 20112011-04-07T16:41:04+00:002011-04-07T16:41:04+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-d473c54c613511e0b12773faa6277d2a7d2aqole@qole.org (alan bruce)The new maemo.org community council has been installed...
sudo apt-get install council-2011.1
...and we've spent some time discussing what we want to prioritize and accomplish this term.
Now that Nokia has put Maemo into "maintenance mode", with no promises of future updates, we would like to see Maemo continue forward as a community project. And we believe there are two projects that are very promising for the future of Maemo as a community-supported project.
The PR 1.3 release of Maemo was the the last official release from Nokia. But many developers in the community felt we could keep moving forward, fixing bugs and introducing new functionality. "It aims to deliver fixes which would be difficult to deliver through Extras (like core Maemo packages). It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories."
The council wants to see all Maemo devices supported in the future. That's why we're also encouraging the CSSU for older "Diablo" devices such as the N800 and N810, as well.
The council believes these Maemo OS update projects are the best way to keep Maemo fresh and vital, long after they have stopped receiving official support.
The aim of the Cordia project is to get the Maemo 5 UI running on the MeeGo infrastructure. This is important because the Maemo infrastructure has been frozen, and it is ageing gracefully into obsolescence. The MeeGo infrastructure, on the other hand, is using current versions of all the components, and, because it is supported by several large sponsors, it will probably stay current for the next while. The Cordia project gives us hope that the Maemo UI will survive on a new, maintained system.
Coding Competition
The council would also like to draw your attention to the community-run coding competition. There are prizes and some associated events; see the wiki page for more information.
Other Issues
There are three other issues we should mention:
First, the previous council did some more research and digging, and it is now certain that there will be no official Adobe Flash updates for Maemo. The main problem, as we thought, is performance. Adobe has not optimized / hardware accelerated the Flash player enough, and the N900 just isn't powerful enough to run it without acceleration.
Finally, we are also discussing possibilities for continuation of the maemo.org community if Nokia were to stop supporting us. It looks like there's not much to worry about in 2011, and it has been made clear to us that even if things change in 2012, we'll have 6 months to react, but we're thinking ahead anyway. We'll try to take this discussion public in the near future.
]]>The new maemo.org community council has been installed...
sudo apt-get install council-2011.1
...and we've spent some time discussing what we want to prioritize and accomplish this term.
Now that Nokia has put Maemo into "maintenance mode", with no promises of future updates, we would like to see Maemo continue forward as a community project. And we believe there are two projects that are very promising for the future of Maemo as a community-supported project.
The PR 1.3 release of Maemo was the the last official release from Nokia. But many developers in the community felt we could keep moving forward, fixing bugs and introducing new functionality. "It aims to deliver fixes which would be difficult to deliver through Extras (like core Maemo packages). It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories."
The council wants to see all Maemo devices supported in the future. That's why we're also encouraging the CSSU for older "Diablo" devices such as the N800 and N810, as well.
The council believes these Maemo OS update projects are the best way to keep Maemo fresh and vital, long after they have stopped receiving official support.
The aim of the Cordia project is to get the Maemo 5 UI running on the MeeGo infrastructure. This is important because the Maemo infrastructure has been frozen, and it is ageing gracefully into obsolescence. The MeeGo infrastructure, on the other hand, is using current versions of all the components, and, because it is supported by several large sponsors, it will probably stay current for the next while. The Cordia project gives us hope that the Maemo UI will survive on a new, maintained system.
Coding Competition
The council would also like to draw your attention to the community-run coding competition. There are prizes and some associated events; see the wiki page for more information.
Other Issues
There are three other issues we should mention:
First, the previous council did some more research and digging, and it is now certain that there will be no official Adobe Flash updates for Maemo. The main problem, as we thought, is performance. Adobe has not optimized / hardware accelerated the Flash player enough, and the N900 just isn't powerful enough to run it without acceleration.
Finally, we are also discussing possibilities for continuation of the maemo.org community if Nokia were to stop supporting us. It looks like there's not much to worry about in 2011, and it has been made clear to us that even if things change in 2012, we'll have 6 months to react, but we're thinking ahead anyway. We'll try to take this discussion public in the near future.
]]>Public Maemo Community Council "hand-over" meeting, Saturday, 26 March, 1400 UTC...2011-03-22T16:03:15+00:002011-03-22T16:03:15+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-e522e4f8549d11e08b44dd0977bd396b396btim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)Hello everyone,
We are going to be holding a public meeting on Saturday, 26 March, at 1400 UTC. This meeting is intended to allow the community to meet and greet the new Council and take part in a discussion in which the old Council hands-over the reigns, etc.
Agenda: 1. Introductions 2. What was done during last term 3. What was not done during last term 4. Past Council reflections/comments 5. New Council comments/questions
This meeting should take no longer than an hour.
Thank you... I hope to see a lot of the community there!
We are going to be holding a public meeting on Saturday, 26 March, at 1400 UTC. This meeting is intended to allow the community to meet and greet the new Council and take part in a discussion in which the old Council hands-over the reigns, etc.
Agenda: 1. Introductions 2. What was done during last term 3. What was not done during last term 4. Past Council reflections/comments 5. New Council comments/questions
This meeting should take no longer than an hour.
Thank you... I hope to see a lot of the community there!
]]>Meet the new (Q1 2011) Maemo Community Council!2011-03-19T22:05:10+00:002011-03-19T22:05:10+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-f50f4bf2527411e0844f1de8161f2f522f52tim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)After several days of allowing people to offer their opinions about whether or not to hold an election for the five Maemo Community Council candidates, it has become very clear that almost everyone in our community who is engaged in this process will accept the "no election" scenario and grant the candidates full Council-ship.
This being said, it brings me great pleasure -- and pride -- to announce the new, Q1 2011 Maemo Community Council:
As stated plenty of times in the past, these five maemo.org contributors have put in timeless hours supporting our community, Maemo, MeeGo, and Nokia. They are all people who our community has expressed much support for and who will do what it takes to see to it that this community remains vibrant and active.
In speaking for the entire previous Council, of which I was the standing Chair, I'd like to offer a warm welcome (and welcome back to a few of these folks) and wish them a happy and productive term!
Remember, the position of Community Council member is completely voluntary and unpaid. These fine people are serving you, the Maemo Community, in their free time, out of the goodness of their hearts and a passion for what Maemo is and means. Please join me in my welcoming and remember to use the Council as much as you can -- their job is to listen to the community (via talk.maemo.org, the Community Development mailing list, council@maemo.org, planet.maemo.org, etc.) and attempt to coordinate community efforts and communicate the important stuff to Nokia.
Once again, thank you all for the ongoing support. This Council only exists because of you.
]]>After several days of allowing people to offer their opinions about whether or not to hold an election for the five Maemo Community Council candidates, it has become very clear that almost everyone in our community who is engaged in this process will accept the "no election" scenario and grant the candidates full Council-ship.
This being said, it brings me great pleasure -- and pride -- to announce the new, Q1 2011 Maemo Community Council:
As stated plenty of times in the past, these five maemo.org contributors have put in timeless hours supporting our community, Maemo, MeeGo, and Nokia. They are all people who our community has expressed much support for and who will do what it takes to see to it that this community remains vibrant and active.
In speaking for the entire previous Council, of which I was the standing Chair, I'd like to offer a warm welcome (and welcome back to a few of these folks) and wish them a happy and productive term!
Remember, the position of Community Council member is completely voluntary and unpaid. These fine people are serving you, the Maemo Community, in their free time, out of the goodness of their hearts and a passion for what Maemo is and means. Please join me in my welcoming and remember to use the Council as much as you can -- their job is to listen to the community (via talk.maemo.org, the Community Development mailing list, council@maemo.org, planet.maemo.org, etc.) and attempt to coordinate community efforts and communicate the important stuff to Nokia.
Once again, thank you all for the ongoing support. This Council only exists because of you.
]]>The Maemo Community Council candidates (and possibly the newly elected) are in!2011-03-15T20:56:40+00:002011-03-15T20:56:40+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-b998352e4f4611e0b390f94d0fa0c009c009tim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)As of 23:59 UTC last night, we had a total of five people either nominate themselves, or accept nominations for themselves, as candidates for election for the next term of the Maemo Community Council.
This is an unprecedented event and a conversation about what to do is currently under-way on the Maemo Community Development mailing list. So far, the consensus is that we should not hold an election and just appoint these five candidates (all whom are excellent, long-standing community members) as the next Council. But, before making a final decision, it is clear that the rest of the community should have a say as well.
You should recognize some of these names because they were former Council members. Moreover, these are the names of people who have been pillars of maemo.org and of the Maemo Community in general.
To clarify the rules for electing the Community Councils, please refer to the documented Election Process. Since we don't have fewer than five candidates, we are faced with a decision of what to do next. Each of these five people have proven their worth to our community. It is because of this that the current Council (as well as many community members) endorses their election without a vote. If there is good reason to continue to hold the election, please speak up on the mailing list, or comment below.
]]>As of 23:59 UTC last night, we had a total of five people either nominate themselves, or accept nominations for themselves, as candidates for election for the next term of the Maemo Community Council.
This is an unprecedented event and a conversation about what to do is currently under-way on the Maemo Community Development mailing list. So far, the consensus is that we should not hold an election and just appoint these five candidates (all whom are excellent, long-standing community members) as the next Council. But, before making a final decision, it is clear that the rest of the community should have a say as well.
You should recognize some of these names because they were former Council members. Moreover, these are the names of people who have been pillars of maemo.org and of the Maemo Community in general.
To clarify the rules for electing the Community Councils, please refer to the documented Election Process. Since we don't have fewer than five candidates, we are faced with a decision of what to do next. Each of these five people have proven their worth to our community. It is because of this that the current Council (as well as many community members) endorses their election without a vote. If there is good reason to continue to hold the election, please speak up on the mailing list, or comment below.
]]>Maemo Community Council Q1 2011 nomination period soon to close!2011-03-12T15:31:34+00:002011-03-12T15:31:34+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-d00b21084cbd11e0bd9625d7c933711b711btim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)According to the election timetable, there are only two days left (until 23:59 UTC on 14 March) to add your nomination to the mix for the next term of the Maemo Community Council. To nominate yourself (or someone else), please send a declaration email to maemo-community@maemo.org.
This community needs you. Don't wait until it's too late to get involved in this amazing experience!
]]>According to the election timetable, there are only two days left (until 23:59 UTC on 14 March) to add your nomination to the mix for the next term of the Maemo Community Council. To nominate yourself (or someone else), please send a declaration email to maemo-community@maemo.org.
This community needs you. Don't wait until it's too late to get involved in this amazing experience!
]]>Maemo Community Council Q1 2011 nominations are now open2011-03-07T21:05:21+00:002011-03-07T21:05:21+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-9cca5ccc48fe11e0a4c47d9bf4941bf71bf7tim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)Please see this page for more info:
The current Council looks forward to hearing from you!
]]>Maemo Community Council Elections Update2011-03-05T22:28:33+00:002011-03-05T22:28:33+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-e774a562477711e0abca19754d380f490f49tim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)We're still working on getting a published list of eligible candidates together for the next Maemo Community Council election nominations. In the meantime, if you have 100 Karma points or above, you are eligible. This being said, please seriously consider declaring yourself as a nominee for the upcoming election.
Nomination declarationss (usually self-nominations, although if you get approval from a candidate beforehand you may nominate someone other than yourself) should be sent to the Maemo Community Development mailing list at maemo-community@maemo.org. If you'd like a look at last session's nomination declarations, you can see them here:
Again, this is an important role within our community and one of the simplest ways to dive in a support Maemo and maemo.org.
]]>We're still working on getting a published list of eligible candidates together for the next Maemo Community Council election nominations. In the meantime, if you have 100 Karma points or above, you are eligible. This being said, please seriously consider declaring yourself as a nominee for the upcoming election.
Nomination declarationss (usually self-nominations, although if you get approval from a candidate beforehand you may nominate someone other than yourself) should be sent to the Maemo Community Development mailing list at maemo-community@maemo.org. If you'd like a look at last session's nomination declarations, you can see them here:
Again, this is an important role within our community and one of the simplest ways to dive in a support Maemo and maemo.org.
]]>Maemo Community Council Elections Approaching!2011-02-23T00:10:57+00:002011-02-23T00:10:57+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-63154eaa3ee111e0abd6db4e9de9e21ce21ctim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)Time sort of swept right by us during this term of the Maemo Community Council. The Maemo Community has seen a lot happen within the past six months: MeeGo gained its wings (and then had them proverbially clipped); we watched and attended the first-ever MeeGo Conference in Dublin, Ireland; the CSSU has grown steadily and surely and has been gaining more and more traction with casual users... The overall community psyche has had its fair share of ups and downs to say the least. If anything, Maemo has proven that it can stay active despite everything else that's going on around the open source ecosphere.
Now, the time has come to begin work towards the next term (March 2011 - September 2011) for the Maemo Community Council. This means publishing a list of all of the maemo.org members who are eligible to run, opening the self-nomination period, voting, etc. To add to the urgency of these tasks, we are running a little behind schedule as well. But, the Council has developed a timeline and long-time maemo.org supporter, Dave Neary, has accepted our request to assist us in with the technicalities of the election process (this is one of the things that Dave always took care of as a paid employee of maemo.org and he has graciously volunteered to help again). Thanks, Dave!
The timeline breaks down as follows:
2011-02-24 (Thursday): List published, nominations open
23:59 UTC, 2011-02-10 (Thursday): Nominations close
00:00 UTC, 2011-03-14 (Monday): Voting opens
23:59 UTC, 2011-03-20 (Sunday): Election closes
Hopefully, we can stick to the 24 February start-date, but it is all contigent on getting a list of elligible candidates published, etc. So, please allow for some fudging on the dates and time.
If you have been with maemo.org for a while and have over 100 Karma-points, you are elligible to run for canditacy. Please consider doing so, as our community needs the support of a cohesive Council now more than ever.
]]>Time sort of swept right by us during this term of the Maemo Community Council. The Maemo Community has seen a lot happen within the past six months: MeeGo gained its wings (and then had them proverbially clipped); we watched and attended the first-ever MeeGo Conference in Dublin, Ireland; the CSSU has grown steadily and surely and has been gaining more and more traction with casual users... The overall community psyche has had its fair share of ups and downs to say the least. If anything, Maemo has proven that it can stay active despite everything else that's going on around the open source ecosphere.
Now, the time has come to begin work towards the next term (March 2011 - September 2011) for the Maemo Community Council. This means publishing a list of all of the maemo.org members who are eligible to run, opening the self-nomination period, voting, etc. To add to the urgency of these tasks, we are running a little behind schedule as well. But, the Council has developed a timeline and long-time maemo.org supporter, Dave Neary, has accepted our request to assist us in with the technicalities of the election process (this is one of the things that Dave always took care of as a paid employee of maemo.org and he has graciously volunteered to help again). Thanks, Dave!
The timeline breaks down as follows:
2011-02-24 (Thursday): List published, nominations open
23:59 UTC, 2011-02-10 (Thursday): Nominations close
00:00 UTC, 2011-03-14 (Monday): Voting opens
23:59 UTC, 2011-03-20 (Sunday): Election closes
Hopefully, we can stick to the 24 February start-date, but it is all contigent on getting a list of elligible candidates published, etc. So, please allow for some fudging on the dates and time.
If you have been with maemo.org for a while and have over 100 Karma-points, you are elligible to run for canditacy. Please consider doing so, as our community needs the support of a cohesive Council now more than ever.
]]>State of Maemo, Q12011.12011-02-20T16:29:27+00:002011-02-20T16:29:27+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-95b327b23d0e11e0a226fbecbf58ea62ea62tim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)We are Maemo.
This was true at the conception of the Maemo Community, it was true when Maemo 5 was launched, and it is true now. In fact now, more than ever before, Maemo — the devices, the operating systems, and the development platforms — must stand on the shoulders of our community: passionate and dedicated users, hackers, and developers. We are people who are inclined not to believe that new technologies are fueled by corporations’ desire to generate revenue. We agree on an ideal where the freedom of software, not the bottom line, is what allows technology to flourish. We have experienced the fact that voice of the end-user can be more informed than those who choose to live in ivory towers. We have seen the common goal of a purely open sourced existence drive the cutting edge.
Again, I say (and loudly): We are Maemo!
If you think that this sounds idealistically socialist, you are probably right. But, in a world that is governed by corporate takeovers and back room deals, this is what the world of open source software development has become — a refuge for those of us who still think that idea of “we” has a higher purpose than the traditional top-down infrastructure of a capitalist business model.
But this manifesto of sorts is not intended to spread any sort of socio-political ideology. What it is intended to do is remind all of us that our community doesn’t have to rely on those at the top. It is intended to remind us that we are the people who not only made Maemo what it is, but will continue to make Maemo what it can and will be.
It is time to come down from the soapbox to talk about current issues surrounding our community, as well as our child community, MeeGo. As most of you are well aware, some people at Nokia have chosen to make some radical changes in their handheld device strategy. As the Community Council, we can only echo the voice of the community (which doesn’t just include end-users, but many people at Nokia as well) and express our disappointment in the fact that not only has Nokia chosen to veer away from the MeeGo platform, but away from open source as well. Because of this, our communities have become confused, dismayed, and otherwise discontented.
Fortunately for MeeGo, there is still a vested interest from Intel. Maemo, on the other hand, has been a side project for some time. As you may discern, the call from the soapbox had good reason: our community doesn’t have to end with Nokia’s change of strategy and we are the people who are responsible for finding ways to sustain what we have worked for all of these years.
So what can we do?
First, our community must communicate with those at Nokia who still champion Maemo. We need to figure out how the Maemo community infrastructure (code-base, repositories, website(s), etc.) might be maintained. Of course, it would be wonderful if Nokia desires to continue funding our community. If we need to mirror our community resources in order to fund and maintain it ourselves, then so be it. How we fund something like this brings up some completely new questions. (Membership fees? Donations? We can save these questions for another time.) Suffice to say, there are more players than Nokia alone. Maemo currently funds some official employees, as well as contractors that develop and maintain many portions of our infrastructure.
Concerning maintenance, we are still thinking about ways to facilitate a natural workflow for community members to report and fix bugs within the website framework. The idea (forged at MeeGo Summit 2010) was to migrate away from using the Brainstorm process and begin using Bugzilla for reporting website issues and enhancement requests. The Council feels that this is still the right decision; we just haven’t had time to detail the minutiae.
The largest unknown in saying any of this is whether or not our community have enough interested and dedicated members to continue supporting our infrastructure if Nokia ever does back out of sponsorship. The worse case scenario might revolve around completely redeveloping a community portal that accesses tools similar to those in which are currently available to our community. (This is a daunting task that poses questions that — again — we should save for later.)
Just as important as our community’s overarching microcosm (and even more so in some regards) is the act of further developing the Community SSU (CSSU) and finding a way to make it self-sustainable. If you’re a Maemo enthusiast, but don’t know what the CSSU is, here is a description from the Maemo Wiki:
"Community Seamless Software Update (CSSU) is being developed by the Maemo Community, for the Maemo Community. It aims to deliver fixes which can't be delivered easily through Extras, such as core Maemo packages. It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories."
Simply put, the CSSU is how N900 owners will maintain an up-to-date (albeit unofficial) version of Maemo 5 on their device. CSSU is a pet project for several Maemo Community members and they need more help. If you can do anything from write documentation to develop for Maemo (including Hildon Desktop), then please offer to participate.
You can find out more about the CSSU, as well as how to contribute at the following link:
As you might imagine, developing and maintaining a community-driven version of a previously “official” development platform and operating system poses many issues. Because of this, several community members are picking up the task of revamping the Maemo licensing change requests queue (handled at Maemo Bugzilla). This queue contains items that the Community Council can approach Nokia with in order to and argue that, “Because an individual (or individuals) has provided a business case to develop and maintain certain proprietary components the Nokia should open those components for the community.” Our hope is that Nokia will see that certain Maemo core code will be valuable to MeeGo as R&D projects.
The Council brought this up in the previous “State of Maemo” address and we’re glad that some people took up the charge.
You can read more about it at this Maemo Talk thread:
In conclusion, the Council would like to thank you, the Maemo Community, developers, end-users, and Nokia employees alike, for helping to make this a fun ride. Our hope is that the ride isn’t over yet, but it’s up to us to begin to think about providing the fuel. Many exciting developments are still in store for Maemo, so lets not sit back and wait for a supposed end. There are already many dedicated community members who have made the Maemo Community a success. If you’ve never contributed before, think about how you can help: report bugs, edit the wiki, and take part in the Talk forums… Likewise, we’re quickly approaching the next Community Council elections, so please consider your role in Maemo and how you might contribute in a more (or less) “official” role (yes, many of us still think the Council is an integral component to sustaining the Maemo Community). Our community is not ready to die, so be one of the people who provide life to an organism that thrives on personal involvement.
If you didn’t get it at the beginning of this address, remember: We are Maemo!
This was true at the conception of the Maemo Community, it was true when Maemo 5 was launched, and it is true now. In fact now, more than ever before, Maemo — the devices, the operating systems, and the development platforms — must stand on the shoulders of our community: passionate and dedicated users, hackers, and developers. We are people who are inclined not to believe that new technologies are fueled by corporations’ desire to generate revenue. We agree on an ideal where the freedom of software, not the bottom line, is what allows technology to flourish. We have experienced the fact that voice of the end-user can be more informed than those who choose to live in ivory towers. We have seen the common goal of a purely open sourced existence drive the cutting edge.
Again, I say (and loudly): We are Maemo!
If you think that this sounds idealistically socialist, you are probably right. But, in a world that is governed by corporate takeovers and back room deals, this is what the world of open source software development has become — a refuge for those of us who still think that idea of “we” has a higher purpose than the traditional top-down infrastructure of a capitalist business model.
But this manifesto of sorts is not intended to spread any sort of socio-political ideology. What it is intended to do is remind all of us that our community doesn’t have to rely on those at the top. It is intended to remind us that we are the people who not only made Maemo what it is, but will continue to make Maemo what it can and will be.
It is time to come down from the soapbox to talk about current issues surrounding our community, as well as our child community, MeeGo. As most of you are well aware, some people at Nokia have chosen to make some radical changes in their handheld device strategy. As the Community Council, we can only echo the voice of the community (which doesn’t just include end-users, but many people at Nokia as well) and express our disappointment in the fact that not only has Nokia chosen to veer away from the MeeGo platform, but away from open source as well. Because of this, our communities have become confused, dismayed, and otherwise discontented.
Fortunately for MeeGo, there is still a vested interest from Intel. Maemo, on the other hand, has been a side project for some time. As you may discern, the call from the soapbox had good reason: our community doesn’t have to end with Nokia’s change of strategy and we are the people who are responsible for finding ways to sustain what we have worked for all of these years.
So what can we do?
First, our community must communicate with those at Nokia who still champion Maemo. We need to figure out how the Maemo community infrastructure (code-base, repositories, website(s), etc.) might be maintained. Of course, it would be wonderful if Nokia desires to continue funding our community. If we need to mirror our community resources in order to fund and maintain it ourselves, then so be it. How we fund something like this brings up some completely new questions. (Membership fees? Donations? We can save these questions for another time.) Suffice to say, there are more players than Nokia alone. Maemo currently funds some official employees, as well as contractors that develop and maintain many portions of our infrastructure.
Concerning maintenance, we are still thinking about ways to facilitate a natural workflow for community members to report and fix bugs within the website framework. The idea (forged at MeeGo Summit 2010) was to migrate away from using the Brainstorm process and begin using Bugzilla for reporting website issues and enhancement requests. The Council feels that this is still the right decision; we just haven’t had time to detail the minutiae.
The largest unknown in saying any of this is whether or not our community have enough interested and dedicated members to continue supporting our infrastructure if Nokia ever does back out of sponsorship. The worse case scenario might revolve around completely redeveloping a community portal that accesses tools similar to those in which are currently available to our community. (This is a daunting task that poses questions that — again — we should save for later.)
Just as important as our community’s overarching microcosm (and even more so in some regards) is the act of further developing the Community SSU (CSSU) and finding a way to make it self-sustainable. If you’re a Maemo enthusiast, but don’t know what the CSSU is, here is a description from the Maemo Wiki:
"Community Seamless Software Update (CSSU) is being developed by the Maemo Community, for the Maemo Community. It aims to deliver fixes which can't be delivered easily through Extras, such as core Maemo packages. It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories."
Simply put, the CSSU is how N900 owners will maintain an up-to-date (albeit unofficial) version of Maemo 5 on their device. CSSU is a pet project for several Maemo Community members and they need more help. If you can do anything from write documentation to develop for Maemo (including Hildon Desktop), then please offer to participate.
You can find out more about the CSSU, as well as how to contribute at the following link:
As you might imagine, developing and maintaining a community-driven version of a previously “official” development platform and operating system poses many issues. Because of this, several community members are picking up the task of revamping the Maemo licensing change requests queue (handled at Maemo Bugzilla). This queue contains items that the Community Council can approach Nokia with in order to and argue that, “Because an individual (or individuals) has provided a business case to develop and maintain certain proprietary components the Nokia should open those components for the community.” Our hope is that Nokia will see that certain Maemo core code will be valuable to MeeGo as R&D projects.
The Council brought this up in the previous “State of Maemo” address and we’re glad that some people took up the charge.
You can read more about it at this Maemo Talk thread:
In conclusion, the Council would like to thank you, the Maemo Community, developers, end-users, and Nokia employees alike, for helping to make this a fun ride. Our hope is that the ride isn’t over yet, but it’s up to us to begin to think about providing the fuel. Many exciting developments are still in store for Maemo, so lets not sit back and wait for a supposed end. There are already many dedicated community members who have made the Maemo Community a success. If you’ve never contributed before, think about how you can help: report bugs, edit the wiki, and take part in the Talk forums… Likewise, we’re quickly approaching the next Community Council elections, so please consider your role in Maemo and how you might contribute in a more (or less) “official” role (yes, many of us still think the Council is an integral component to sustaining the Maemo Community). Our community is not ready to die, so be one of the people who provide life to an organism that thrives on personal involvement.
If you didn’t get it at the beginning of this address, remember: We are Maemo!
]]>Maemo 5 gets community OS updates2011-01-29T16:27:20+00:002011-01-29T16:27:20+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-a53ad26c2bc411e0952a73c0470877ca77caandrew@bleb.org (Andrew Flegg)The Maemo Community Council and Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh are pleased to announce the launch of the Maemo 5 Community SSU project. It is currently in a testing and elaboration phase, and your help is required.
What is it?
Seamless Software Update (SSU), is the term Nokia used to brand the over-the-air updates of Maemo.
Community Seamless Software Update (CSSU) is being developed by the Maemo community, for the Maemo community. It aims to deliver fixes which can't be delivered easily through Extras, such as core N900 packages. It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories.
It's got a presence in various Maemo forums:
IRC: #maemo-ssu on FreeNode
Bugs: Bugzilla, product: Extras > Maemo 5 Community SSU
Now: power-users, developers, Nokia/Maemo/MeeGo engineers, testers, documentation writers and those willing to risk a re-flash in order to help.
How do I install it?
Make sure you're running PR1.3, Nokia's last official Maemo 5 update. To see if you have PR1.3, go into "Settings > About product", you should see under "Version" it has the numbers beginning with "20.2010.36".
Hildon Application Manager (HAM) will launch and will prompt with you a series of messages and warnings. Click continue and let it install the community package.
Once done, close HAM and go into the applications menu. Look for, and launch, for "Community SSU". This will then automatically run through a series of scripts to ensure HAM will now be using community repository for updates.
HAM will re-open and present a system upgrade called "Maemo 5 Community SSU". Once installed, your device will reboot.
Can you write documentation? If so, it'd be great to flesh out the wiki page with installation instructions (to make it easy for users to install without worrying about missing a step or getting it wrong); explain more about the SSU and generally spruce up the wiki page and maintain things like the changelogs etc.
Were you involved in developing Maemo? If so, with Nokia now looking to Harmattan and MeeGo, we'd love to see your itches addressed in the Community SSU (CSSU). Have you always wanted to implement something in hildon-desktop, but Management stood in your way? We'd love to have it!
Have you written a patch for Maemo? Raise a bug and let's get it in the CSSU.
Are you a developer? There are numerous patches floating around for hildon-desktop; but they can't be included in the CSSU until they are configurable (via gconf) and default to off.
Want to test? Not only testing this release, but writing test scripts so that each release of the CSSU can get sanity checked before unleashing it into a "stable" repo for end-users. How do we do it? What should be tested? How is it organised?
Want to organise? There's still lots of process left to organise; hopefully there'll be bugs and features to triage and manage in bugs.maemo.org as well as communication of the testing, releases and end-user readiness of the CSSU.
]]>The Maemo Community Council and Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh are pleased to announce the launch of the Maemo 5 Community SSU project. It is currently in a testing and elaboration phase, and your help is required.
What is it?
Seamless Software Update (SSU), is the term Nokia used to brand the over-the-air updates of Maemo.
Community Seamless Software Update (CSSU) is being developed by the Maemo community, for the Maemo community. It aims to deliver fixes which can't be delivered easily through Extras, such as core N900 packages. It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories.
It's got a presence in various Maemo forums:
IRC: #maemo-ssu on FreeNode
Bugs: Bugzilla, product: Extras > Maemo 5 Community SSU
Now: power-users, developers, Nokia/Maemo/MeeGo engineers, testers, documentation writers and those willing to risk a re-flash in order to help.
How do I install it?
Make sure you're running PR1.3, Nokia's last official Maemo 5 update. To see if you have PR1.3, go into "Settings > About product", you should see under "Version" it has the numbers beginning with "20.2010.36".
Hildon Application Manager (HAM) will launch and will prompt with you a series of messages and warnings. Click continue and let it install the community package.
Once done, close HAM and go into the applications menu. Look for, and launch, for "Community SSU". This will then automatically run through a series of scripts to ensure HAM will now be using community repository for updates.
HAM will re-open and present a system upgrade called "Maemo 5 Community SSU". Once installed, your device will reboot.
Can you write documentation? If so, it'd be great to flesh out the wiki page with installation instructions (to make it easy for users to install without worrying about missing a step or getting it wrong); explain more about the SSU and generally spruce up the wiki page and maintain things like the changelogs etc.
Were you involved in developing Maemo? If so, with Nokia now looking to Harmattan and MeeGo, we'd love to see your itches addressed in the Community SSU (CSSU). Have you always wanted to implement something in hildon-desktop, but Management stood in your way? We'd love to have it!
Have you written a patch for Maemo? Raise a bug and let's get it in the CSSU.
Are you a developer? There are numerous patches floating around for hildon-desktop; but they can't be included in the CSSU until they are configurable (via gconf) and default to off.
Want to test? Not only testing this release, but writing test scripts so that each release of the CSSU can get sanity checked before unleashing it into a "stable" repo for end-users. How do we do it? What should be tested? How is it organised?
Want to organise? There's still lots of process left to organise; hopefully there'll be bugs and features to triage and manage in bugs.maemo.org as well as communication of the testing, releases and end-user readiness of the CSSU.
]]>State of Maemo, Q32010.22010-11-27T15:47:48+00:002010-11-27T15:47:48+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-af25081efa3d11df9ce0350b6d36899b899btim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)The following address summarizes the Maemo Community Council's take on MeeGo Conference 2010 and Maemo's Role in the Future Development of MeeGo...
The six of us laughed out loud as we filed into the sound-proof broadcast room that peered over the dark green expanse of Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The irony of a private meeting between an otherwise open group of people was understood by all. Still, the only way that the current Maemo Community Council (along with Nokia employee, Tero Kojo) was going to find any sense of relief from the constant conference noise turned out to be in a room designed to keep others out. Privacy wasn't the point of this meeting, though. First, these sorts of events are the only time that the Council is ever able to meet face to face. Second, there weren't a whole lot of people at MeeGo Conference 2010 who would care much about what we were talking about. But, in our opinions the subjects which we discussed were quite important to our corner of the open source world, and may impact the future of Maemo quite extraordinarily. Glasses of wine and pints of beer accompanied a conversation that was both highly interesting and very fun.
Over the next weeks and months, some of the things the Council discussed will be further investigated within the Maemo Community. Other items of interest will just begin to happen. But, the main thing to understand is that Nokia is still very interested in supporting this community and allowing us to carry forward in exciting ways. There are still plans to sponsor the community infrastructure (website, paid employees, etc.), ideas about opening various pieces of Maemo source code that are still closed, and helping us to develop a successful community SSU. Likewise, there are still plenty of Nokia employees -- even those who have been permanently reassigned to MeeGo -- who want to continue helping us to be a world class open source software community. If you're unsure of what MeeGo means for Maemo, understand that the Maemo Community's job is not complete. We may be entering a new phase of life, but there is still more to come.
Initially, the more-than-evident differences brought by MeeGo Conference 2010 were quite astounding to some of us old Maemo hands. The event was part trade show, part conference, and part hackathon -- but mostly, trade show. There were private rooms for companies to make deals in. A large contingent of attendees had probably heard little (or nothing) of Maemo and what Nokia was bringing to Intel's new edition of Moblin. Many people were there to see how MeeGo might impact their bottom lines. But, as the conference proceeded, it became very clear that Maemo's impact on the future of MeeGo would not be lost -- or forgotten -- anytime soon. Once in a while, I would take a moment to survey the crowd in order to pick out those people who were fondling their N900s and smile, proud that Maemo was still important to a few of us. And, as most birds of a feather know, it doesn't take long for flocks to reconnect. That's exactly what happened last week, as most of the Maemo crew found each other talking about Maemo, hacking on applications, and mostly just enjoying each other's company -- like a gathering of chaperones at a high school dance, conversing by the punch bowl as the kids did their thing.
As MeeGo Conference 2010 transitioned from the weekend Early Bird Events to the official conference to the "Unconference" on the last day, many positive things became clear. My own observations solidified the fact that the Maemo Community is still important. Likewise, MeeGo (Nokia, Intel, and The Linux Foundation) understands its Maemo roots. The community who made Maemo what it is garner a lot of respect from those who have followed its story. While MeeGo is most definitely the future of Linux-based mobile computing, it is also the offspring of Maemo. In fact, if Harmattan had remained a Maemo-centric product, this year's Maemo Summit may have looked and felt quite similar to this conference. Sure, us Maemo types might have have known a lot more of the attendees, but the content would have been the same. It might just be time for us to admit that Maemo, as parent, has finally finished the rearing process and it's child's turn to grow and flourish.
But, Maemo is far from dead. In fact, if we continue to look at Maemo as the parent and MeeGo as the child, Maemo will remain very much a guiding authority in the future of MeeGo (and whatever may come after that). Maemo has learned a lot over the years and can lend a lot of expertise to those just now coming to MeeGo and the open source world. And, after having looked at some of the current and future iterations of cross-platform Qt development tools, the fact that GTK+ is still being discussed as a viable solution within MeeGo, and knowing that support for a variety of programming languages is growing, Maemo may be more important that you think. The vision of those who are in control of MeeGo is that applications created for Maemo can work just as well within MeeGo and vice versa -- with very little refactoring. If you're waiting for directions as to what you should do next, stop waiting. Continue developing for Maemo or start developing for MeeGo. In the end, both will support each other.and,
This is what I came away with from MeeGo Conference: the fact that MeeGo and Maemo can coexist in ways that I had never thought of before. Until now -- a little more than one week after MeeGo Conference 2010 -- I was sure that MeeGo was the only future. Now, I see Maemo as something much more than a stepping stone, but that of a parent whose child is ready to leave home and make a name for herself. Yes, it can be sad to say goodbye, but there is immense joy in knowing that we had a hand in the upbringing and we will always be the place that our child comes home to.
Photo (pictured from left to right): Tim Samoff (timsamoff), Andrew Flegg (Jaffa), Kathy Smith (RevdKathy), Tero Kojo (tekojo), Andrea Grandi (andy80). Photo taken by Attila Csipa (achipa).
]]>The following address summarizes the Maemo Community Council's take on MeeGo Conference 2010 and Maemo's Role in the Future Development of MeeGo...
The six of us laughed out loud as we filed into the sound-proof broadcast room that peered over the dark green expanse of Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The irony of a private meeting between an otherwise open group of people was understood by all. Still, the only way that the current Maemo Community Council (along with Nokia employee, Tero Kojo) was going to find any sense of relief from the constant conference noise turned out to be in a room designed to keep others out. Privacy wasn't the point of this meeting, though. First, these sorts of events are the only time that the Council is ever able to meet face to face. Second, there weren't a whole lot of people at MeeGo Conference 2010 who would care much about what we were talking about. But, in our opinions the subjects which we discussed were quite important to our corner of the open source world, and may impact the future of Maemo quite extraordinarily. Glasses of wine and pints of beer accompanied a conversation that was both highly interesting and very fun.
Over the next weeks and months, some of the things the Council discussed will be further investigated within the Maemo Community. Other items of interest will just begin to happen. But, the main thing to understand is that Nokia is still very interested in supporting this community and allowing us to carry forward in exciting ways. There are still plans to sponsor the community infrastructure (website, paid employees, etc.), ideas about opening various pieces of Maemo source code that are still closed, and helping us to develop a successful community SSU. Likewise, there are still plenty of Nokia employees -- even those who have been permanently reassigned to MeeGo -- who want to continue helping us to be a world class open source software community. If you're unsure of what MeeGo means for Maemo, understand that the Maemo Community's job is not complete. We may be entering a new phase of life, but there is still more to come.
Initially, the more-than-evident differences brought by MeeGo Conference 2010 were quite astounding to some of us old Maemo hands. The event was part trade show, part conference, and part hackathon -- but mostly, trade show. There were private rooms for companies to make deals in. A large contingent of attendees had probably heard little (or nothing) of Maemo and what Nokia was bringing to Intel's new edition of Moblin. Many people were there to see how MeeGo might impact their bottom lines. But, as the conference proceeded, it became very clear that Maemo's impact on the future of MeeGo would not be lost -- or forgotten -- anytime soon. Once in a while, I would take a moment to survey the crowd in order to pick out those people who were fondling their N900s and smile, proud that Maemo was still important to a few of us. And, as most birds of a feather know, it doesn't take long for flocks to reconnect. That's exactly what happened last week, as most of the Maemo crew found each other talking about Maemo, hacking on applications, and mostly just enjoying each other's company -- like a gathering of chaperones at a high school dance, conversing by the punch bowl as the kids did their thing.
As MeeGo Conference 2010 transitioned from the weekend Early Bird Events to the official conference to the "Unconference" on the last day, many positive things became clear. My own observations solidified the fact that the Maemo Community is still important. Likewise, MeeGo (Nokia, Intel, and The Linux Foundation) understands its Maemo roots. The community who made Maemo what it is garner a lot of respect from those who have followed its story. While MeeGo is most definitely the future of Linux-based mobile computing, it is also the offspring of Maemo. In fact, if Harmattan had remained a Maemo-centric product, this year's Maemo Summit may have looked and felt quite similar to this conference. Sure, us Maemo types might have have known a lot more of the attendees, but the content would have been the same. It might just be time for us to admit that Maemo, as parent, has finally finished the rearing process and it's child's turn to grow and flourish.
But, Maemo is far from dead. In fact, if we continue to look at Maemo as the parent and MeeGo as the child, Maemo will remain very much a guiding authority in the future of MeeGo (and whatever may come after that). Maemo has learned a lot over the years and can lend a lot of expertise to those just now coming to MeeGo and the open source world. And, after having looked at some of the current and future iterations of cross-platform Qt development tools, the fact that GTK+ is still being discussed as a viable solution within MeeGo, and knowing that support for a variety of programming languages is growing, Maemo may be more important that you think. The vision of those who are in control of MeeGo is that applications created for Maemo can work just as well within MeeGo and vice versa -- with very little refactoring. If you're waiting for directions as to what you should do next, stop waiting. Continue developing for Maemo or start developing for MeeGo. In the end, both will support each other.and,
This is what I came away with from MeeGo Conference: the fact that MeeGo and Maemo can coexist in ways that I had never thought of before. Until now -- a little more than one week after MeeGo Conference 2010 -- I was sure that MeeGo was the only future. Now, I see Maemo as something much more than a stepping stone, but that of a parent whose child is ready to leave home and make a name for herself. Yes, it can be sad to say goodbye, but there is immense joy in knowing that we had a hand in the upbringing and we will always be the place that our child comes home to.
Photo (pictured from left to right): Tim Samoff (timsamoff), Andrew Flegg (Jaffa), Kathy Smith (RevdKathy), Tero Kojo (tekojo), Andrea Grandi (andy80). Photo taken by Attila Csipa (achipa).
]]>State of Maemo, Q32010.12010-10-18T19:11:54+00:002010-10-18T19:11:54+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-9213e0d6daeb11dfb1858d238948647b647btim@samoff.com (Tim Samoff)Greetings, and welcome to another term for the Maemo Community Council. This is the first of what I'm hoping will be an ongoing "State of Maemo" series (that will most likely come out periodically rather than regularly). As we begin our new term, the Council has already come up against a few immediate concerns. Thankfully, those members of the Council who have expertise in these areas have been able to handle most of it from the Maemo perspective (which, of course, where the strength lies in the Council to begin with). Still, there will be times in which we do not have the collective knowledge or know-how to be able to tackle issues sufficiently. As always, we look to you, the Maemo Community, for help in this regard. And, even more so, we look to you for guidance in which items are of interest or at crucial points of development (or break down). This being said, before continuing with this address, I'd like to personally thank you, on behalf of the entire Council, for your diligence and help in making the Maemo Community a world class open source community of end-users and experts.
Another big thanks must also go out to the maemo.org staff for facilitating our elections and spearheading the transition from the old Council to the new one. Without you, our Community would be far less robust and much more prone to failure.
If you haven't visited the Maemo Community Council wiki page in a while, you might want to do so. As you'll see, it has been updated with the latest Council roster (photos included). Likewise, you'll notice that I (Tim Samoff) am the latest Council Chair. The Council Chair's job, as I hope you'll guess, has much more to do with presiding over meetings, organizing certain maemo.org-related tasks, and acting as Council spokesman, than it does any sort of esteem, prestige, or perks. The Council Chair does not receive more information or technology that the rest of the Council (or the Community at large for that matter) receives. In fact, it is sometimes the Chair's main priority to facilitate the transfer of information or technology to others within the community who are much more qualified to deal with it than is the Chair. Because of this, you shouldn't feel obligated to tell me anything that you would tell the other Council members or even the community. In fact, ninety-nine percent of the time, anything that you might want to tell the Council should be done so within the Community forum at talk.maemo.org. This forum is read continually and all important items posed there are acted on very quickly. If you ever need more immediate attention, you can also usually find one of us in the #maemo channel on freenode.net. We are also subscribed to the various maemo.org mailing lists and make a habit of reading and responding to issues there as well. Lastly, if there is ever need to contact the Council privately, you can email us at council@maemo.org. Be aware that his is just a forwarding address that goes to all of our personal email accounts (i.e., a public log of council@ conversations is not kept).
But who is this Council that I've been speaking of anyway? Well, if you took part in the recent elections, I hope you know something about us. Still, it might be helpful to those who are new to Maemo and those who are more casual visitors to know who we are and where we come from.
Since I'm the one who is writing this address, I'll start…
My name is Tim Samoff (timsamoff). I'm a visual designer, musician, and filmmaker (among other things). My interests are vast, which is why I find myself in the open source world. I'm not a programmer and I know little about Maemo's technological guts, but I'm passionate about great user experience and lowering the wall of open source software for casual users. This is my third term serving on the Maemo Community Council.
This Andrew Flegg's (Jaffa) fourth term on the Council (not all consecutively). His main focus is on community relations with corporate backers, the MeeGo transition and, most of all, streamlining processes for developers. Andrew's philosophy is that with developers we get apps; with apps an increased user-base; with an increased user-base, more developers. So far, Andrew's involvement with Maemo (both as a regular community member and as a Council member) has been invaluable. In fact, the Maemo Community Council might not exist had he not proposed the idea to the community years ago.
Attila Csipa (Achipa) is an open source software advocate with a strong developer background and a special focus on the distribution and QA of community developed software. He also follows the evolution of MeeGo with great interest, working on ways to bridge the gap between MeeGo and maemo.org, both community-wise and technologically. Attila has impacted Maemo in many areas, most notably through the creation of a maemo.org Testing Squad, as well as software to aid in testing Maemo-based applications. This is Attila's second term serving on the Council.
Andrea Grandi (andy80) likes helping new users, organizing events, and developing applications for Maemo. As a "Nokia Qt Ambassador," he also gets to spread the Qt message around the development world. While Andrea has been a part of the Maemo Community for a while now, this is his first term serving on the Council.
Kathy Smith (revdkathy) enjoys being a forum contributor both at maemo.org and meego.com. She reads the community mailing lists pretty thoroughly. Kathy wants to work with the community both in terms of making sure it endures for those who stay with Maemo, as well as taking everything we have learned in Maemo forward to MeeGo. Kathy is relatively new to the Maemo Community, but she's already impacted the forum strata quite heavily. This is her first term serving on the Council (and, thankfully, she is the first woman to serve as well).
Again, if you haven't visited the Maemo Community Council wiki page, please take some time and check it out. Along with seeing an impressive lineup of those who have served on the Council, you'll also find our Mission Statement:
The Maemo Community Council is a five-person body chosen by the Maemo community. The Council's mission is to "represent the Maemo community's best interests to Nokia, and to act as a community conduit for Nokia-generated information."
This is true and we expect the community to hold us to it. Yes, you have imbued us with the responsibility of representing you. Don't let this negate the fact that you have the responsibility of supporting us; letting us know what is happening within the community; alerting us about issues that arise; guiding us toward the areas in which you feel would benefit Maemo as a whole.
We look forward to serving for and with you as we strive to continue to make the Maemo Community second to none.
We also look forward to seeing a lot of you at the MeeGo Conference in Dubline Ireland, November 15-17, as all of the Council members will be present. These conferences are great places to meet, catch up, and put real faces to the people whom we communicate with every day. Don't miss it!
Thank you for reading the first address from the latest Maemo Community Council. Keep your eyes open for more posts regarding actual goings on within maemo.org, as well as the greater Maemo/MeeGo universe.
]]>Greetings, and welcome to another term for the Maemo Community Council. This is the first of what I'm hoping will be an ongoing "State of Maemo" series (that will most likely come out periodically rather than regularly). As we begin our new term, the Council has already come up against a few immediate concerns. Thankfully, those members of the Council who have expertise in these areas have been able to handle most of it from the Maemo perspective (which, of course, where the strength lies in the Council to begin with). Still, there will be times in which we do not have the collective knowledge or know-how to be able to tackle issues sufficiently. As always, we look to you, the Maemo Community, for help in this regard. And, even more so, we look to you for guidance in which items are of interest or at crucial points of development (or break down). This being said, before continuing with this address, I'd like to personally thank you, on behalf of the entire Council, for your diligence and help in making the Maemo Community a world class open source community of end-users and experts.
Another big thanks must also go out to the maemo.org staff for facilitating our elections and spearheading the transition from the old Council to the new one. Without you, our Community would be far less robust and much more prone to failure.
If you haven't visited the Maemo Community Council wiki page in a while, you might want to do so. As you'll see, it has been updated with the latest Council roster (photos included). Likewise, you'll notice that I (Tim Samoff) am the latest Council Chair. The Council Chair's job, as I hope you'll guess, has much more to do with presiding over meetings, organizing certain maemo.org-related tasks, and acting as Council spokesman, than it does any sort of esteem, prestige, or perks. The Council Chair does not receive more information or technology that the rest of the Council (or the Community at large for that matter) receives. In fact, it is sometimes the Chair's main priority to facilitate the transfer of information or technology to others within the community who are much more qualified to deal with it than is the Chair. Because of this, you shouldn't feel obligated to tell me anything that you would tell the other Council members or even the community. In fact, ninety-nine percent of the time, anything that you might want to tell the Council should be done so within the Community forum at talk.maemo.org. This forum is read continually and all important items posed there are acted on very quickly. If you ever need more immediate attention, you can also usually find one of us in the #maemo channel on freenode.net. We are also subscribed to the various maemo.org mailing lists and make a habit of reading and responding to issues there as well. Lastly, if there is ever need to contact the Council privately, you can email us at council@maemo.org. Be aware that his is just a forwarding address that goes to all of our personal email accounts (i.e., a public log of council@ conversations is not kept).
But who is this Council that I've been speaking of anyway? Well, if you took part in the recent elections, I hope you know something about us. Still, it might be helpful to those who are new to Maemo and those who are more casual visitors to know who we are and where we come from.
Since I'm the one who is writing this address, I'll start…
My name is Tim Samoff (timsamoff). I'm a visual designer, musician, and filmmaker (among other things). My interests are vast, which is why I find myself in the open source world. I'm not a programmer and I know little about Maemo's technological guts, but I'm passionate about great user experience and lowering the wall of open source software for casual users. This is my third term serving on the Maemo Community Council.
This Andrew Flegg's (Jaffa) fourth term on the Council (not all consecutively). His main focus is on community relations with corporate backers, the MeeGo transition and, most of all, streamlining processes for developers. Andrew's philosophy is that with developers we get apps; with apps an increased user-base; with an increased user-base, more developers. So far, Andrew's involvement with Maemo (both as a regular community member and as a Council member) has been invaluable. In fact, the Maemo Community Council might not exist had he not proposed the idea to the community years ago.
Attila Csipa (Achipa) is an open source software advocate with a strong developer background and a special focus on the distribution and QA of community developed software. He also follows the evolution of MeeGo with great interest, working on ways to bridge the gap between MeeGo and maemo.org, both community-wise and technologically. Attila has impacted Maemo in many areas, most notably through the creation of a maemo.org Testing Squad, as well as software to aid in testing Maemo-based applications. This is Attila's second term serving on the Council.
Andrea Grandi (andy80) likes helping new users, organizing events, and developing applications for Maemo. As a "Nokia Qt Ambassador," he also gets to spread the Qt message around the development world. While Andrea has been a part of the Maemo Community for a while now, this is his first term serving on the Council.
Kathy Smith (revdkathy) enjoys being a forum contributor both at maemo.org and meego.com. She reads the community mailing lists pretty thoroughly. Kathy wants to work with the community both in terms of making sure it endures for those who stay with Maemo, as well as taking everything we have learned in Maemo forward to MeeGo. Kathy is relatively new to the Maemo Community, but she's already impacted the forum strata quite heavily. This is her first term serving on the Council (and, thankfully, she is the first woman to serve as well).
Again, if you haven't visited the Maemo Community Council wiki page, please take some time and check it out. Along with seeing an impressive lineup of those who have served on the Council, you'll also find our Mission Statement:
The Maemo Community Council is a five-person body chosen by the Maemo community. The Council's mission is to "represent the Maemo community's best interests to Nokia, and to act as a community conduit for Nokia-generated information."
This is true and we expect the community to hold us to it. Yes, you have imbued us with the responsibility of representing you. Don't let this negate the fact that you have the responsibility of supporting us; letting us know what is happening within the community; alerting us about issues that arise; guiding us toward the areas in which you feel would benefit Maemo as a whole.
We look forward to serving for and with you as we strive to continue to make the Maemo Community second to none.
We also look forward to seeing a lot of you at the MeeGo Conference in Dubline Ireland, November 15-17, as all of the Council members will be present. These conferences are great places to meet, catch up, and put real faces to the people whom we communicate with every day. Don't miss it!
Thank you for reading the first address from the latest Maemo Community Council. Keep your eyes open for more posts regarding actual goings on within maemo.org, as well as the greater Maemo/MeeGo universe.
]]>maemo.org community meeting (today, 12:00 UTC)2010-09-16T10:31:55+00:002010-09-16T10:31:55+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-a0980038c17d11df95d5d976d676176b176bandrew@bleb.org (Andrew Flegg)For those who missed it, we settled on a time & date for a maemo.org team & community meeting, to set the short term agenda & evaluate progress. The meeting will be held today, Thursday 16th September, in #maemo-meeting, at midday UTC.
The agenda is:
Overview of current paid resources for maemo.org, and current thoughts on roadmap/future (Tero Kojo)
]]>For those who missed it, we settled on a time & date for a maemo.org team & community meeting, to set the short term agenda & evaluate progress. The meeting will be held today, Thursday 16th September, in #maemo-meeting, at midday UTC.
The agenda is:
Overview of current paid resources for maemo.org, and current thoughts on roadmap/future (Tero Kojo)
]]>Influence Nokia by voting in a poll on N900 multitasking2010-09-08T13:33:05+00:002010-09-08T13:33:05+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-9ca82ddabb4d11df9fbdf9f090b6f1d4f1d4andrew@bleb.org (Andrew Flegg)"How do you use multitasking in N900?" That's the question asked by Peter Schneider, head of the Marketing in Nokia's MeeGo Devices team.
"Obviously, multitasking in the Nokia N900 is rather decent (my way of saying it's the best out there). BUT, are you making full use of it? Help me to understand how you use the multitasking feature. Your feedback is appreciated and taken into account in the MeeGo Marketing approach now and in the future."
Participating in this poll could really shape Nokia's vision of multitasking on their MeeGo devices, and it's encouraging to see them reaching out to the power-user, enthusiast and developer community on this topic.
The available options, based on the number of "mini-windows" you see in Maemo 5's task switcher, are:
None. I'm happyily single-tasking
1 to 3 apps
4 to 6 apps
6 to 9 apps
More than 9 apps
Plenty, I never close any app but leave them all open
]]>"How do you use multitasking in N900?" That's the question asked by Peter Schneider, head of the Marketing in Nokia's MeeGo Devices team.
"Obviously, multitasking in the Nokia N900 is rather decent (my way of saying it's the best out there). BUT, are you making full use of it? Help me to understand how you use the multitasking feature. Your feedback is appreciated and taken into account in the MeeGo Marketing approach now and in the future."
Participating in this poll could really shape Nokia's vision of multitasking on their MeeGo devices, and it's encouraging to see them reaching out to the power-user, enthusiast and developer community on this topic.
The available options, based on the number of "mini-windows" you see in Maemo 5's task switcher, are:
None. I'm happyily single-tasking
1 to 3 apps
4 to 6 apps
6 to 9 apps
More than 9 apps
Plenty, I never close any app but leave them all open
]]>Community Council member status/affiliation change2010-08-27T22:22:51+00:002010-08-27T22:22:51+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-a17ce710b22911df8209b77ca62631e331e3maemo@csipa.in.rs (Attila Csipa)The Community elections are already underway, but in order to fully comply with stating affiliation as per the Community Council election rules and in agreement with the rest of the Community Council, I want to state to the wider community that starting with September 2010, I, Attila Csipa, will be joining Forum Nokia's support arm engaging in developer support with a pinch of technology advocacy. This change will hardly affect maemo.org in any way - your maemo.org resident Nokian contact is still Quim Gil (qgil) and I certainly will keep on working on my OSS/community projects and trying to make the Maemo/MeeGo ecosystem a better place for developers and users.
.
]]>The Community elections are already underway, but in order to fully comply with stating affiliation as per the Community Council election rules and in agreement with the rest of the Community Council, I want to state to the wider community that starting with September 2010, I, Attila Csipa, will be joining Forum Nokia's support arm engaging in developer support with a pinch of technology advocacy. This change will hardly affect maemo.org in any way - your maemo.org resident Nokian contact is still Quim Gil (qgil) and I certainly will keep on working on my OSS/community projects and trying to make the Maemo/MeeGo ecosystem a better place for developers and users.
.
]]>Maemo Community Council Elections Q3 2010 Nominations open2010-08-27T10:30:57+00:002010-08-27T10:30:57+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-2de9080ab1c611dfa877a5057b19f3a9f3a9andrew@bleb.org (Andrew Flegg)Dave Neary has continued in his role of handling the election of a new Maemo Community Council, and published the list of eligible candidates. There are over 500 eligibile candidates. To nominate yourself, or someone else, you need to send an email to the maemo-community mailing list:
To nominate yourself or someone else for the council, please email the maemo-community mailing list with a clear email header (something like "Council nomination: Michael Mouse" for example).
People who are nominated should accept (or refuse) such a nomination, if they are not nominating themselves. Apart from that, nominations don't require a seconder.
Nominations are open until 23:59 Wednesday, 8th September; so you have just under two weeks to get your preferred candidates on the ballot sheet!
]]>Dave Neary has continued in his role of handling the election of a new Maemo Community Council, and published the list of eligible candidates. There are over 500 eligibile candidates. To nominate yourself, or someone else, you need to send an email to the maemo-community mailing list:
To nominate yourself or someone else for the council, please email the maemo-community mailing list with a clear email header (something like "Council nomination: Michael Mouse" for example).
People who are nominated should accept (or refuse) such a nomination, if they are not nominating themselves. Apart from that, nominations don't require a seconder.
Nominations are open until 23:59 Wednesday, 8th September; so you have just under two weeks to get your preferred candidates on the ballot sheet!
]]>Community Council September election2010-08-22T10:20:12+00:002010-08-22T10:20:12+00:00http://maemo.org/midcom-permalink-d9662d5aadd611df84853f493a6328172817andrew@bleb.org (Andrew Flegg)It's been six months which have flown by, but the current Maemo Community Council's term is coming to an end and it's time for the election of five people to the council who represent the Maemo community's interests to Nokia and vice-versa.
The next election's voting will run from Thursday, 16th September to Wednesday, 22nd September.
What's it for?
The council is a body of volunteers taken from the Maemo community. It acts as a focal point for the Maemo community, representing developers on, and users of, maemo.org to Nokia (and vice versa). Examples of council activity can be found on the Council homepage or in the blog, but also in the tens of little things that happen in the background of which you may be unaware.
For example, in this term, some of the issues the Council dealt with include:
Cease & desist issues over Chromium distribution
The release of PR1.2
The bundling of Nokia's "MyNokia" service with PR1.2
The pushing of Ovi Store for Maemo, but the limited set of technologies it supports
The Fremantle Developer Device Queue
Improvements to the Extras-testing process
The evolution of MeeGo
The MeeGo Conference (replacing the annual Maemo Summit)
The announcement that Nokia will not be supplying a commercial-quality MeeGo variant to N900 end-users
Implementing a set of rules for talk.maemo.org
A brainstorm on the future of the Maemo community
The increasing move of focus of Nokia from Maemo maintenance and support to MeeGo growth.
What's next?
Community members should be considering whether they want to stand. When nominations open, you can nominate someone via an email to maemo-community (which they must reply to to accept) or you can put your own hat into the ring by emailing the same list. A further announcement will be made when nominations open, with more information.
The election timescale (all times UTC) is:
Voting closes:
23:59, Wednesday, 22nd September 2010
Voting opens:
00:00, Thursday, 16th September 2010
Hust
ings
Nominations close:
23:59, Wednesday, 8th September 2010
Nominations open:
00:00, Thursday, 26th August 2010
How's it work?
The election is a "single transferrable vote". Each member of maemo.org, who has had an account for over 3 months and earned over 10 "karma" points, gets a ballot. They rank their candidates in order of preference; if their top candidate cannot get elected with the votes they receive, the votes are redistributed until all five seats have been allocated.
Anyone who has karma of over 100 is eligible to stand, including employees and sub-contractors of Nokia.
]]>It's been six months which have flown by, but the current Maemo Community Council's term is coming to an end and it's time for the election of five people to the council who represent the Maemo community's interests to Nokia and vice-versa.
The next election's voting will run from Thursday, 16th September to Wednesday, 22nd September.
What's it for?
The council is a body of volunteers taken from the Maemo community. It acts as a focal point for the Maemo community, representing developers on, and users of, maemo.org to Nokia (and vice versa). Examples of council activity can be found on the Council homepage or in the blog, but also in the tens of little things that happen in the background of which you may be unaware.
For example, in this term, some of the issues the Council dealt with include:
Cease & desist issues over Chromium distribution
The release of PR1.2
The bundling of Nokia's "MyNokia" service with PR1.2
The pushing of Ovi Store for Maemo, but the limited set of technologies it supports
The Fremantle Developer Device Queue
Improvements to the Extras-testing process
The evolution of MeeGo
The MeeGo Conference (replacing the annual Maemo Summit)
The announcement that Nokia will not be supplying a commercial-quality MeeGo variant to N900 end-users
Implementing a set of rules for talk.maemo.org
A brainstorm on the future of the Maemo community
The increasing move of focus of Nokia from Maemo maintenance and support to MeeGo growth.
What's next?
Community members should be considering whether they want to stand. When nominations open, you can nominate someone via an email to maemo-community (which they must reply to to accept) or you can put your own hat into the ring by emailing the same list. A further announcement will be made when nominations open, with more information.
The election timescale (all times UTC) is:
Voting closes:
23:59, Wednesday, 22nd September 2010
Voting opens:
00:00, Thursday, 16th September 2010
Hust
ings
Nominations close:
23:59, Wednesday, 8th September 2010
Nominations open:
00:00, Thursday, 26th August 2010
How's it work?
The election is a "single transferrable vote". Each member of maemo.org, who has had an account for over 3 months and earned over 10 "karma" points, gets a ballot. They rank their candidates in order of preference; if their top candidate cannot get elected with the votes they receive, the votes are redistributed until all five seats have been allocated.
Anyone who has karma of over 100 is eligible to stand, including employees and sub-contractors of Nokia.
The PR 1.3 release of Maemo was the the last official release from Nokia. But many developers in the community felt we could keep moving forward, fixing bugs and introducing new functionality. "It aims to deliver fixes which would be difficult to deliver through Extras (like core Maemo packages). It won't, however, bundle software which can be installed through the Extras repositories." 
The aim of the Cordia project is to get the Maemo 5 UI running on the MeeGo infrastructure. This is important because the Maemo infrastructure has been frozen, and it is ageing gracefully into obsolescence. The MeeGo infrastructure, on the other hand, is using current versions of all the components, and, because it is supported by several large sponsors, it will probably stay current for the next while. The Cordia project gives us hope that the Maemo UI will survive on a new, maintained system.
This was true at the conception of the Maemo Community, it was true when Maemo 5 was launched, and it is true now. In fact now, more than ever before, Maemo — the devices, the operating systems, and the development platforms — must stand on the shoulders of our community: passionate and dedicated users, hackers, and developers. We are people who are inclined not to believe that new technologies are fueled by corporations’ desire to generate revenue. We agree on an ideal where the freedom of software, not the bottom line, is what allows technology to flourish. We have experienced the fact that voice of the end-user can be more informed than those who choose to live in ivory towers. We have seen the common goal of a purely open sourced existence drive the cutting edge.
The six of us laughed out loud as we filed into the sound-proof broadcast room that peered over the dark green expanse of 
It's been six months which have flown by, but the current Maemo Community Council's term is coming to an end and it's time for the election of five people to the council who represent the Maemo community's interests to Nokia and vice-versa.