my .02usd.
a).There is not ever really going to be a north american linux pda market on any size.
. choice encourages rather than limits development.
The place where linux in handhelds, in the us at least, will prosper imho is either in combination phone/pim --and qtopia has done nicely there--as I assume opie might someday too-- or in tiny laptop replacements like the the z. really--- how many zuggers view the z as an electronic addressbook?
These are 3 very different things.
the phone/pim is not going to be much of a geek/hacker toy I think. I see it as quick easy and basic connectivity and data retreival. But a gadget that goes along with the same demographic as overpriced sedans. This market will be people who want (as d. savard has said in another context) a high batman factor. But these mostly won't be modders or geeks... they will want integrated solutions with simple interfaces that simply work when started. Just like you don't find too many guys modding their lexuses, but lots polishing them. There will of course be a minority who see it otherwise.
There might soon be more of a pocket-laptop martket. I don't know how big it will be, and I think the devices will have to be Z ish or larger-- certainly larger than the standard pda (which will be embedded in phones anyway) and powerful, versatile, etc...
The same will be true of this "micro-laptop" demographic as the pimphone,though maybe more business men on the road looking to minimize the load etc. These guys won't care at all what their device runs so long as it isn't a pain for them to get the job done. ... But there will also be a distinctly larger minority that wants cutting edge and optimized stuff... and to do things their way, or who are IT or other tech pro's, or even students? These folks will be able to deal with variety just fine. .
The different solutions; X, opie, Qtopia, will have different but overlapping clientele.. like now. That the options exist, likely won't slow the adoption of handheld linux in the us anyway. What will do that is Dell. How many of you know people who really beleive thant M$ stuff is "the best" even whein it is hell to maintain, insecure, unstable and in some cases simply doesn't do the job at all--and with closed source, can't be fixed to do the job? People aren't buying axims because they find the opie/qtopia breach disquieting. They are buyning them because they were told they are SOLD them. They are easy to come by and are chock full o familiar logos.
Until the cultural view of technology in the us shifts quite a bit, the only linux stuff in the general market will be there because joe consumer does not know or need to know that that under the shiny buttons is a linux kernel. That is to say because an asian manufacturer didn't want to py ms royalties on a nice new pimphone, or because it was easier and better to use linux for that application. It is the application set that will drive the thing though, and the "shinyness" of it combined with the right promo and logo combo that will move it. Think motorola.
The ability of the community to compare implementations and discuss strong/weak points can only have an eveolutionary, good, effect. Just like it does in the server/desktop world. I don't see any need for anything to be artificially killed off.
We might be better serverd by finding and encouraging an opensource hardware movement, then by bitching about developer not all working on the same projects.
If we are talking about corporate adopters (or producers)of handheld devices having choice, and abandoning linux because their tech dept can work with oe to build seamless nealry identical ui's across mukltiple devices, or can contract with trolltech for the production or modification of a ui and the choice just hurts their tiny brains so much that they flee to windows... welll.. that IS silly.
I could ramble on and on... but I amstill trying to convince public school people that paying for ms office every few years by the truckload is stupid and wasteful-- If that argument isn't over, then the issue of which handheld gui ( I know it is alittle more than that) on linux based handhelds should be our orthodox and dogmatic favorite just stikes me as esoteric in a medieval way.
For the faithful then:
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
adf
oh, yeah.I almost forgot--- in all cases the more gnuish the license, all other things being equal or close, the better for all. Linux works BECAUSE of its open nature. where that is limited linux is ultimately being crippled.
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