The more I have been reading about MeeGo, the more I get excited about its potential, but I also am worried about the way its going to be succesful.
The idea behind the MeeGo handset has me hopeful for the future of an open mobile phone operating system. Meego is being developed in the open, with a documented roadmap, scheduled releases, weekly meetings, etc. MeeGo has more of an open approach than Android where the latest code only gets released with major releases, glimpses of each revision and essentially everything is controlled by Google. The MeeGo approach sounds better to me as someone who loves open source and uses it on a daily basis.Philosophical differences aside, both MeeGo and Android have me fearful of running into the same problem. The product of open source software running on closed hardware with closed off access. Sure, we can gain root access by literally breaking into these devices, but we shouldn’t have to do that. The phones I think show both sides are the Nexus One, Nokia N900, and the T-Mobile G2. The Nexus One and N900 for the most part are good examples of what I would like to see with MeeGo. They are given good specs, run stock software without any customizations, but most importantly, give you the option to run whatever you like with your device. On the N1, you can unlock the bootloader, load your own rom, overclock, underclock, even run MeeGo, etc. The N900 follows the same idea as your only limited by time and imagination. With the exception of proprietary drivers these devices run open source software with open access to make changes as you wish. Then we have the T-Mobile G2 that runs Android but has been locked up by the carriers and manufacturers. It runs almost stock Android except for the pieces T-Mobile has deemed to take out. The G2 isn’t the first Android device to be locked up, buts its the most recent and most active in terms of disallowing permanent access to the entire phone. I can imagine that this trend will continue if perceived as a success by the carriers and manufacturers. This is what worries me about MeeGo. MeeGo in its purest form is open to take and do anything you want with it. This is great especially if you manufacture products. In order for MeeGo to be successful on handsets it needs to be in the hands of regular consumer hands, not just the geeks. And what could manufacturers and carriers do with it? Take it, mold it, fix it up, and lock it up, cancel updates, and say live with it. Ultimately, we would be no closer to a truly open handset that is ours. I could be mixing apples and oranges. Granted, the N1 and N900 are unlocked and unbranded. I’m also looking at this from a U.S. smartphone market perspective. Nokia (the main contributor to the MeeGo platform) is trying to catch up in this market and the percentage of users who want this open handset is marginal at best. Will Nokia or other manufacturers bend to the will of the carriers and follow the same path with MeeGo as HTC, Motorola, Samsung and the likes have done with Android to get their cut of the US market? Only time will tell and I’m interested to see how it plays out. What do you think?
