Blog
5 February, 2010
Symbian is the famous operating system that power up most Nokia mobile handsets. This OS was originally developed by Symbian Ltd. but then Nokia claimed it, next to an independent non-profit organization called Symbian Foundation, and implemented it on its devices.
Probably quite a bunch of people, including me, predicted that this would eventually happen and it did, Symbian OS is, technically, now open source after the big boys decided that, after 10 years, it's time to make most of the code no longer proprietary and instead available for free and download i.e open source. What would that result in? Community and developers all over the globe can now participate in further development and better-implementation of the OS on the handsets.
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(CC-BY nDevilTV)
Is Nokia going to lose? I doubt it. If you asked me why? If you read my blog post about Android OS you could imagine my justification as well. The reason of the huge success of Android's is mainly because it's open source. Period. Nokia finally realized that it's actually starting to fall behind, well not in Jordan, after popular makers decided to go with Android and the huge success they had with it.
Kudos to whomever participated in such initiative and decision. I might even consider buying a Nokia handset after that now that I know that the OS is open source.
23 January, 2010
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(CC-BY-NC-SA saifheld)
Probably most of you read the article about Jordan becoming the Open Source hub in the Middle East and also the blog post by Issa Mahasneh about our new minister. I will list below the main reasons, at least in my opinion, why we should also be concerned in such an issue as well.
1. Do your part. Since the government is willing to do its part by concentrating more on open source, I think we should also start thinking in the same way. Why not start using open source operating systems which are totally free instead of the proprietary Windows? Say you can't give up on Windows yet, one could still give up some other proprietary software like Microsoft Office and giving OpenOffice.org a shot.
2. Economy. In case Jordan really became an open source hub in the region, one could imagine the potential of future businesses that would slowly emerge in the market. Add to that careers and job opportunities. Also one would benefit his/her country's economy, instead of having to import non-Jordanians workers or employees, at least we won't be so ignorant in that field and we would be partially, if not almost fully, prepared and ready to dig in.
3. Collaboration. Be a part of an active community around the globe and participate in making better products. Again collaboration.
4. Better chances in the real world. Having open source / Linux experience greatly enhance the "power" of your CV, especially IT students.
5. No waste. Maximize your hardware true potential, since most open source software or OS won't eat up your RAM nor your CPU, slow or outdated machines could still be useful. Little waste of money and resources.
6. No more viruses. I'm almost positive that most of desktops/laptops running Windows got viruses, spams and worms. By using Linux that issue is solved, and so one would minimize the damage done. You won't be having more fears by getting your machine infected and the aftermath that follows.
5 January, 2010
Android is an operating system mainly developed for mobile devices but also has been seen on different internet tablets. This OS is built using the Linux kernel and is totally open source. It has been at first developed by Android Inc. but Google has purchased it and continued the development later on.
The main discussion here is the fact that such an open source platform evolved and actually made a huge success and what such thing tells us. I do believe that such projects incorporated with open source can deal massive damage to other proprietary platforms and software. For example the Apple iPhone was a huge deal and is so to this particular moment but since Android emerged, Apple has been on its toes since then.
The collaboration of a huge community worldwide, bugs tracking and continuous updates and fixes are the main pillars that supported such an open source idea to become what we see right now. Open source can and will succeed at the very end.
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(CC-BY-NC-SA samuraispy)
Major mobile manufacturers have chosen Android just because of the simple fact that it's open source, what does that mean? It simply means that they can download the source code, manipulate it and do further developments and totally make it their own, and then simply put it on their mobiles. Just like that. HTC has done it first and then other major players joined; Samsung and Motorola. Sony Ericsson shall also join as well pretty soon. For those who don't know this, Motorola has been losing money for a while and, in my opinion, Android has saved them from taking more damage. They released couple of handsets which operate on Android and are receiving huge attention. Who would've thought that an open source OS could do such a thing for such a hug company as Motorola?
What amazes me though is, why wouldn't huge manufacturers such as HP, Dell, Acer, Toshiba and so fourth do the same? I know I know hardware limitations and probably because it's free too. But can you imagine having a modified Linux distro just for your MSI laptop? Wouldn't that be great? It sure would, especially that you won't be spending as much as you would spend on Windows and the software that should follow.
26 December, 2009
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(CC-BY-NC-SA -= Treviño =-)
ULPCs or Ultra low-cost PCs are currently dominated by Linux operating systems and so Microsoft is planning to grab that market as well. The idea is to implement Windows XP Home with those PCs as an alternative to whichever Linux distro because let's face it, how much should such a low-end operating system, Windows XP, be sold for? And since those PCs barely have specifications, XP should be able to run them as well as a Linux can. Surely with so much more flaws.
[Source]
Well if I may comment on this, it's pretty obvious that Microsoft fears that in case more people got their hands on Linux and understood the whole concept of open source, they will eventually lose more people using their OS. Having said that I do believe that the minority of us realize how can Linux be better than Windows in general in so many more aspects and it's just a matter of time until the minority becomes a majority.
16 December, 2009
Almost more than one year ago I was in Germany as a guest student at Wismar University. I was taking a lecture and the professor was giving a presentation using OpenOffice.org which was kinda weird for me to be honest since the program I'm used to see getting used by almost everyone around me was Microsoft Office plus me of course. I was even more shocked that the operating system that he was using is something different than the usual Windows. It was openSUSE.
The 1st idea that came to my mind since that very moment was; Why using something different than usual? Why is he different? I wanted to be also unique! I started digging more and more about this issue, I surprised myself actually thinking that it's just sudden curiosity and will fade. Apparently not. I already knew to be clear that there exist three major operating systems; Windows, Mac OS and Linux but it never crossed my mind that even Linux comes in different versions and openSUSE was one version - distro - of so much many. I've tried a bunch of these but settled with Ubuntu since it suited me perfectly. It has been a challenge for sure, though worthy.
This experience taught me a lot. For starters accepting the change, one shouldn't be hard-headed about his/her opinions and should always search for the ultimate best. Secondly it does feel awesome to use free/open source software all the time since it's FREE after all and the fact that it's open source inject the idea that it will always develop without any constraints. I don't have to look for shareware and stolen serial numbers all the time and it did give me a piece of mind in this particular issue.
Linux and open source together can be very beneficial for my family, friends and surely my country Jordan, the IT sector in Jordan is suffering and bleeding money that is sometimes justified though not always. Some proprietary software can be easily replaced for free such as OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office, NetBeans instead of the pricey Microsoft Visual Studio, Linux instead of Windows and not having to pay extra for an Antivirus software. The list goes on.
I feel responsible to deliver the vision of open source to anyone around me, because I do feel that the majority lacks the motive to think open - open source. Although my major isn't IT by any means but such case should be the concern of everyone who has the will to change and make a difference. This issue won't just help cutting down some pointless expenses, and these expenses can be spent elsewhere needed, but will also create and broaden much more collaboration between youth and industry. Collaborative work is in my opinion the work that will fruit faster and more efficient and the results satisfy both sides.
