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Nokia's CTO, Rich Green, allegedly leaving Nokia over MeeGo and Elop's strategy

BBC News, amongst many others, carried the news that Nokia's Chief Technology Officer, Rich Green, is no longer working at Nokia: "An official Nokia statement said he had left to resolve a "personal matter" and gave no date for his return. However, a Finnish newspaper quoted sources inside Nokia saying he had left because of differences over strategy and would not return. Mr Green was known to champion the MeeGo mobile operating system which Nokia recently sidelined." If, as seems likely, it is a disagreement over strategy, it is unclear what - if anything - triggered Green's decision now. Recent statements from Stephen Elop, including those we covered last week, pour even more cold water over MeeGo; a move which does not seem sensible when about to launch a MeeGo-compatible device. This has led some to conclude the Harmattan programme - even at this very late stage in its development, and about to launch - may be cancelled.

Such an outcome would be very unfortunate, both for us in the community and those in Nokia who've been working so hard on it for so longer. However, in your editor's experience, it's not unheard of. Acorn's next-generation ARM-based desktop, Phoebe, was cancelled weeks before launch in a strategic shift of the company after a change in the board. After Acorn & RISC OS, Psion & EPOC and Nokia & Maemo, companies should strongly resist having your editor as a champion.

Read more (bbc.co.uk)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Nokia's CTO, Rich Green, allegedly leaving Nokia over MeeGo and Elop's strategy
2. Applications
   • Fixing Twitter authentication in Maemo Conversations app
   • Tweed Suit (Twitter client) now in Extras-testing
   • Got a MeeGo ExoPC? Mong now available in pre-built binary
3. Development
   • Offscreen's cross-platform IDE now available free-of-charge
   • That Rabbit Game running on an ExoPC
   • Maliit, MeeGo virtual keyboard, moves to its own home to target multiple OSes
   • BOSS, MeeGo build workflow tool, development discussion
4. Community
   • Provide feedback on MeeGo Conference
   • "MeeGo Pong" (re)naming competition!
   • Full video feeds for MeeGo Conference?
   • MeeGo Community Office meeting, Tuesday 14th June
   • Stskeeps drops out from talk.maemo.org due to noise & trolls
5. Announcements
   • WolframAlpha front-end
   • ReSiStance RSS client updated
   • Stockona - Yahoo!/Google finance app
   • Mieru - a flexible manga & comic reader

Front Page

The moment Nokia realised MeeGo wouldn't meet their requirements

An article in Business Week, pointed to by Engadget, documents the moment that Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia decided that MeeGo could not provide the future platform for Nokia: "At its current pace, Nokia was on track to introduce only three MeeGo-driven models before 2014-far too slow to keep the company in the game." The problem with the account, which strives hard to present Elop as a considerate CEO with few remaining options besides turning to Microsoft, is two-fold. Absolutely, Nokia needed a shake-up, but Lou Gerstner faced simiar challenges at IBM in the early 90s and solved it by improving cross-company collaboration, reorganising the business and cutting swathes of middle managers. This, combined with the resulting cost savings from cutting headcount, should've meant Nokia were able to release three high-end MeeGo devices by the end of 2013; with Symbian filling in the featurephone market below it.

Ignoring iPod Touches, Apple release 2 iOS devices a year: a phone and a tablet; often with relatively minor improvements over the previous year's model. It's hard to believe that this business model around MeeGo devices couldn't have been similarly successful for Nokia. The organisation and pigeon-holing of devices into N-series for multimedia or E-series for business is the business organisation that needed to be addressed. The iPhone can do multimedia and busines requirements equally well, why couldn't a single MeeGo device from Nokia?

Elop's solution of going to another company to provide their platform fails to address the core issues plaguing Nokia that prevent them from being competitive in the market (namely middle-management bloat and incompetence; a multitude of confusing, unfocused compromise devices; and the inability to ship a quality platform). While, arguably, moving to Microsoft as the platform provider enables Nokia to focus on the hardware that has always been their strong poin; hitching themselves to what's currently not a winning horse (nor likely to be) while eliminating much of their differentiation potential isn't likely to put them in a good position.

Read more (engadget.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • The moment Nokia realised MeeGo wouldn't meet their requirements
2. Development
   • PySide 1.0.3 release officially supports MeeGo 1.2 N900 DE
   • Translation freeze for MeeGo 1.2.1 on 15th June
3. Devices
   • Asus announce MeeGo netbook
   • Acer Iconia M500 tablet runs MeeGo on an Atom CPU
   • Nomovok port MeeGo to Nook Color
4. In the Wild
   • Is one of MeeGo's problems its name?
   • Does MeeGo have a $32 license fee? No
   • Understanding MeeGo
5. Announcements
   • Desktop flip clock
   • Extshortcut - desktop shortcuts in Maemo 5 of any size & icon

Front Page

MeeGo Conference round-up

Last week was the second MeeGo Conference, held in San Francisco. The conference started well, with a two-day warm-up, including live-action Angry Birds with teams building catapults and levels out of balsa wood. However, the conference proper's start marked a low point, with feedback on the keynote almost entirely negative. Your editor, Andrew Flegg wrote:

"Announcing new devices, or freebies for attendees, isn't necessary. However, I did expect the MeeGo Conference Keynote to address the challenges facing MeeGo now; particularly since February 11th there is not a mass-market consumer electronics vendor onboard as a strategic partner. Celebrating the work that has been done to date is necessary for the community psyche. Outlining the next steps, including a roadmap, is integral for the development ecosystem. None of these things were done, and it left a pall over the entire conference."

"" However, the sessions, BoFs, and sense of community still left it feeling like a worthwhile event. No date or location has yet been set for a subsequent conference.

Read more (maemopeople.org)
Read more (flickr.com)
Read more (youtube.com)
Read more (thpmaemo.blogspot.com)
Read more (fastwonderblog.com)
Read more (eopage.blogspot.com)
Read more (meegoexperts.com)
Read more (tabulacrypticum.wordpress.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • MeeGo Conference round-up
2. Applications
   • Mong (MeeGo Pong) development status, 2011-05-29
3. Development
   • Next CSSU testing update to downgrade Qt
   • Porting MeeGo 1.2 to Nook Color
   • Second alpha release of Necessitas - Qt on Android
   • Proposed community quality assurance rules for MeeGo Apps
4. Devices
   • Asus Eee PC X101: newly released MeeGo netbook
5. In the Wild
   • MeeGos hit the big screen
   • What's a PNG? #meegoconf
6. Announcements
   • BeBeCe - a BBC iPlayer app
   • Tweed Suit - a heavyweight Twitter client
   • QNetMan - network monitor
   • N900 wifi hotspot script
   • Windows Phone 7 "Mango" iconset

Front Page

MeeGo 1.2 released, including Developer Edition for N900

MeeGo Developer Edition 1.2 is out just in time for MeeGo Conference, with the N900 Developer Edition also being released for the first day: "This update promises to provide a solid baseline for device vendors and developers to start creating software for various device categories on Intel Atom and ARMv7 architectures." If you'd like to try out the release, bear in mind despite the polish, it is still primarily intended for developers.

Front Page

Nokia Harmattan device getting closer to release?

The FCC approves all telecommunication devices in the US, and has recently approved RM-680 - the codename believed to match that of Nokia's Harmattan device, which has been developed to be MeeGo "compatible". It's unclear how much relation this device might have had to the now-no-longer-MeeGo-friendly N9, but it's likely this is a good candidate for the N950 Nokia CTO Rich Green mentioned during Nokia's Developer Day keynote in February (shortly after the start of the Elopocalypse). The device's radio testing reveals both 802.11n and hexaband cellular (for support for both AT&T and T-Mobile 3G in the US). With previous rumours circulating about the keyboarded version being cancelled, it's very much up in the air as to whether this is "the" Harmattan device intended for the mass-market (or whether that particular possitioning plan even still holds). The device's outline drawing in the FCC certainly bears a strong resemblence to the photos of the MacBook Pro-like aluminum device leaked from China last year (baring small differences attributable to continued prototype development). Nokia has requested a relatively short 45-day confidentiality period on the device photos and user manuals, putting the latest date for some sort of reveal around the middle of June. We'll find out next week whether the MeeGo Conference Spring 2011 in San Francisco will be the date (see you there!).

Read more (meegoexperts.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Nokia Harmattan device getting closer to release?
2. Applications
   • Running gPodder on MeeGo N900 Developer Edition
3. Development
   • Update/RFC on MeeGo Compliance Specification
   • Overview of MeeGo ARM driver support situation
4. Community
   • Second call for papers for MeeGo Conference open for last minute additions
5. Announcements
   • Twitter: Rewritten Khweeteur UI now in Maemo Extras-testing
   • Inner-Spin puzzle game
   • Oculo is now available in Extras

Front Page

Harmattan, Maemo & MeeGo community

Ville Vainio has asked where the natural home of the Harmattan community will be: "So, what's the role of maemo community communication channels (these mailing lists, talk.maemo.org) and Harmattan? Will maemo community embrace Harmattan as "natural continuation" after maemo5? Or should these channels be relegated to maemo5 and older alone, moving Harmattan discussion elsewhere?" With *.meego.com being pitched as a development, rather than end-/power-user friendly environment for specific devices and the outright hostility to Harmattan coming across on the meego-* mailing lists, it seems clear that the MeeGo project won't want to deal with the intricacies of Nokia's Qt Quick Components or Harmattan's Debian packaging when Intel's MeeGo UX Components and MeeGo's RPM formatting hold sway.

The general direction of the thread, including from Quim Gil was "let's see what happens when the device is launched" (or at least the SDK is). Hopefully there'll be enough lead time that open source software can be primed at whatever the end-user friendly download site is, whether it's maemo.org/downloads or meego.com/apps.

Read more (lists.maemo.org)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Harmattan, Maemo & MeeGo community
2. Applications
   • CSSU may be able to support more profiles than General/Silent
   • Putting album art and current track on lock screen
3. Development
   • Qt Creator 2.2 released
   • Branches for MeeGo 1.2 finalisation created
   • Security architecture for MeeGo won't be Harmattan's, but what will it be?
   • ...and 5 more
4. Community
   • Graphics wanted for MeeGo Apps web catalogue
   • MeeGo Conference T-shirt competition winner announced
   • Second Call for Poposals for the MeeGo Conference San Francisco 2011
   • Attending the Intel AppUp MeeGo Conference warm-up events
5. Devices
   • Adapting an N900 to charge via a PowerMat
6. In the Wild
   • Digia is working "full steam ahead" with Qt Commercial
   • Future of Fedora's MeeGo "remix" (i.e. Netbook UX on Fedora)
7. Announcements
   • Socially - a new Facebook client
   • Symbian "Anna" icon modifications
   • MonoDevelop - C# IDE on Maemo
   • ...and 3 more

Front Page

Nokia to lay off 4,000 staff - mostly in Symbian and MeeGo areas

Within a week of Nokia and Microsoft signing their "strategic partnership", the next phase of Nokia's change in direction has been revealed: a reduction in headcount by 4,000 and the move of 3,000 additional staff to Accenture to maintain Symbian:

Front Page

Meet the new (Q1 2011) Maemo Community Council!

Last week, the call for candidate declarations for the next term of the Maemo Community Council closed, resulting in five total candidates. Because of this, the idea of foregoing a formal election and issuing a blanket acceptance of these candidates as elected was posed. This situation had been anticipated when the election process was drafted (as was the possibility of getting fewer than the requisite number of candidates); with the aim to ensure there were either three or five members on the Council.

The community response agreed on allowing these candidatess to step into their elected seats without an election. Tim Samoff, announcing the conclusion, introduced the new Council and reminded us "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." So, please congratulate the five, newly elected Maemo Community Council: RM Bauer, alan bruce, Felipe Crochik, Attila Csipa (aka 'attila77'), and Randall Arnold.

Read more (maemo.org)

Call for papers for MeeGo Conference gets extended period

The call for papers for the next MeeGo Conference in San Francisco in May 2011 has been extended to Friday March 25th, 2011 at 23:59 Pacific Time (2011-03-26 06:59 UTC): "From application developers to platform designers, hardware vendors to open source enthusiasts, anyone engaged in MeeGo is invited to contribute and participate. Much of this event will be the same as in Dublin. There will be MeeGo Warm-Up events on site the weekend before the conference and there will be lots of time to network and talk (the ever important "hall-way track")." Be sure to go to the MeeGo Conference website to submit your talk proposal.

Read more (lists.meego.com)
Read more (sf2011.meego.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Meet the new (Q1 2011) Maemo Community Council!
   • Call for papers for MeeGo Conference gets extended period
2. Applications
   • Use main camera live image as desktop background
3. Development
   • Performance comparison between EDS & Tracker for storing contact data
   • Caller ID daemon to use web to find caller
4. Community
   • Launch of meego-central.org app catalogue for MeeGo
   • Robin Burchell nominated for Maemo Community Council
5. Devices
   • MeeGo Community device programme looking for champions
   • Customising N900 keyboard & X Terminal
6. In the Wild
   • Nokia, Qt and Digia, facts and fiction

Front Page

Nominations open for Maemo Community Council election

The election for the next Maemo Community Council is drawing near, with nominations about to close. Nokia's recent announcements make maemo.org, and the community council, more important than ever in the future of the Maemo Community and N900 owners everywhere. If you've ever had any interest in participating in the council, please consider nomitating yourself. "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!"

Read more (wiki.maemo.org)
Read more (maemo.org)

Nokia appoints new head for MeeGo team

Peter Schneider, Nokia's Head of MeeGo Marketing, has posted an announcement about the replacement head of MeeGo Computers at Nokia: "When Nokia announced its new strategy on February 11th, it also announced that Alberto Torres, the head of Nokia’s MeeGo Computers, would leave the company. I thought you would want to know that Sebastian Nyström has now been appointed to head the MeeGo team at Nokia. Sebastian has been leading Qt at Nokia, making the framework available under open source, free-of-charge LGPL license and now he takes responsibility for our future MeeGo efforts." Peter then goes on to outline the three tasks which Sebastian laid out for staff as part of a memo to staff.

Read more (meego.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Nominations open for Maemo Community Council election
   • Nokia appoints new head for MeeGo team
2. Applications
   • Experimenting with tactile feedback in Maemo Community SSU
3. Development
   • Some upcoming MeeGo architecture changes
   • Proof-of-concept shows a way Qt on iOS might be implemented
   • QML Components for desktop Qt
   • camera-ui2 - a re-implementation of Nokia's closed source camera app
4. Community
   • RM Bauer running in Maemo Community Council election
   • Stephen Gadsby nominated for Maemo Community Council
   • Timo Harkonen nominated for Maemo Community Council
   • Proposed icon for the Community SSU
5. Announcements
   • WebOS Games Manager
   • PhoneStreamer - stream front or back cameras, with audio
   • BounceBounce - a Doodle Jump clone

Front Page

Registration open for MeeGo Conference 2011 in San Francisco

It was announced after the Dublin conference last year that MeeGo Conferences would fall every 6 months, with a community-oriented conference in the Fall and an industry conference in the Spring. Registration has now openned for the Spring conference: "We're looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco for the Spring 2011 conference being held May 23-25!" The hotel situation for attendees requesting sponsorship wasn't completely clear from the forms. Amy Leeland posted to resolve the confusion: reserve your room, input your card (nothing will be charged if you cancel by May 9th) and the approved attendees will have their rooms put on the master account. If your sponsorship request is not approved, simply cancel your reservation before May 9th.

So those of you requesting sponsorship can go ahead and register for the conference and reserve your room. Just remember to cancel before May 9th if you wont be attending.

Read more (sf2011.meego.com)
Read more (lists.meego.com)

Valtteri Halla to join Intel, after leaving Nokia

One of the higher-profile corporate departures after the Elopocalypse was of Valtteri Halla (of the MeeGo Technical Steering Group) from Nokia. We covered the news in last week's issue, but the results of the move weren't particularly clear, particularly where this leaves the TSG. Although things aren't much clearer this week, the situation has become somewhat more interesting. From a recent tweet: "I will join Intel in April - to continue work with Open Source, mobile&computing technologies and of course - MeeGo" Valtteri currently play's Nokia's part in the TSG, which leaves Nokia unrepressented (unsurprising and unworrisome given their recent shift in corporate strategies). More complicating is that it leaves Intel holding complete control over final say in the project. It's unlikely that Intel would abuse this position, but it seems to hold the potential to scare away other companies from the project if it's viewed as a "By Intel, For Intel" operation.

Read more (twitter.com)

In this edition (Download)...

1. Front Page
   • Registration open for MeeGo Conference 2011 in San Francisco
   • Valtteri Halla to join Intel, after leaving Nokia
2. Applications
   • Bookmarking N900 browser's password manager
3. Development
   • Prototype transitions.ini editor for Maemo CSSU
   • Reverse engineering the Maemo 5 dialer app
   • Imad Sousou gives timeline for open sourcing of Tablet UX
   • ...and 4 more
4. Community
   • Community Council elections update
   • Call for Papers for MeeGo Conference 2011 in San Francisco open
   • Birmingham (UK) MeeGo meetup
5. Devices
   • Nokia "N950" will be N900 successor, running MeeGo
   • Developer Edition of MeeGo 1.2 for N900
6. In the Wild
   • Bonuses offered by Nokia to MeeGo-based employees to stay
   • Nokia sells Qt licencing business
7. Announcements
   • The Return of Panucci (0.99.0 for Fremantle)
   • Paper Toss for Maemo
   • Kasvopus, a Facebook app for "the rest of us"