Bringing Up Open Source, Part 3: The Mobile Movement

The arrival of Android was a boon for relatively young mobile open source developers like a la Mobile, which quickly changed its business course to cater to Google's handset platform. Other startups have also made headway in the open mobile space.

Part 1 of this three-part feature explored startups that focus on open source software in the enterprise space. Part 2 highlights startups with consumer-oriented open source products. Part 3 profiles three startups with an emphasis on mobile open source software.

Open source is out of the closet and is being accepted as the new kid on the block by mobile device makers. The use of open source products in both enterprise and consumer circles is unprecedented. However, the mobile marketplace, until recently, was more like a wayward stepchild to Windows-based parents.

Despite the growing foundation of the Linux OS in the mobile market, the development of applications to embed in handheld open source development has been sluggish. Last year, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) pledged to open up the Symbian platform. Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) November 2007 announcement of its plan to introduce a new open source mobile platform called "Android" caught the mobile communications industry by surprise. The subsequent absence of any definitive information until recently about this new platform scattered momentum for new products in the mobile space.

While product developers waited for Android to become more than vaporware, a la Mobile, a young startup in the mobile apps space, made a business decision that thrust it into the catbird's seat. It jettisoned the nearly two years of product development it had done for existing mobile phone devices and rushed to develop applications for Android devices that, at the time, it didn't know anybody would want or use.

"We made a very bold strategic decision a month after Google made the Android announcement. On Dec. 7, we switched entirely to Android and left behind everything we had done. At that time, no one knew much about Android. It was just a lot of noise. Some call this a risky move on our part. But today we are very happy with that decision," Pauline Alker, CEO of a la Mobile, told LinuxInsider.

Android Anxiety

As one of the newest technologies in the mobile communications field, Android is off to a solid start. That puts a la Mobile in a very good position, according to Bill Hughes, principal analyst for Instat's Wireless Group.

"I'm very optimistic about Android, but is it a sure thing? The Novus operating system was pretty good, too. There are a number of Linux initiatives out there. So Linux is a platform -- definitely optimistic. Android has good momentum. I think that a la Mobile putting its efforts in Android is a good move," Hughes told LinuxInsider.

As the new kid on the block, Android has generated a decent following. Actually, it's better than what Hughes would have thought, he allowed. On the negative side, Google is coming into this market without a lot of history. In addition, though many big-name mobile hardware makers say they're working to create new Android handset, there is currently only one phone on the market using the software stack.

Superstar Status?

Android is not a quantum leap in the mobile space, according to Hughes; however, considering that Google has never done a mobile operating system before, it will be significant. In fact, he already sees very solid interest among a large number of players.

"The metrics in the wireless industry are different, so it tends to skew what 'successful' is. The net of Google is that people in the industry for a while will work with them to modify their ambitions to be realistic. They will use their market power to change things," said Hughes.

"Android will certainly sell in the millions of units and will be one of the major players. We're certainly tracking them as a major line item in terms of our smartphone OS," he concluded.

No-Man's Land

Founded in June 2005, a la Mobile focuses on developing mobile Linux solutions. Up to November 2007, the task at hand was putting a whole Linux system stack together. At that time, there was no single standard, according to Alker.

"Our job was to step in and put a whole Linux stack together, test it, certify it so it was ready to bring to market for a hardware device," she explained, adding that back then Linux on mobile devices was a niche market.

As a young startup, a la Mobile focused on bringing Linux apps to the small OEMs. Linux was not in the mainstream in the U.S. So the company took it to a market where Linux was much more talked about -- China and Taiwan, for instance.

"We knew until there was some kind of standard around an application framework we would not become a mainstream. We used the time to gather a lot of experience in Linux and got very comfortable working with a lot of different devices," she said.

A Sea Change

By November 2007, a la Mobile was getting traction with several customers. All that changed when Google announced Android.

"We felt good about this. Android was the breakthrough we were waiting for. We knew until something like this happened, Linux would always be a niche for mobile devices," Alker said.

It was still a difficult road to pave. People were very skeptical about it. Google was just getting an SDK (software developer kit) out to developers. So her company tooled around writing apps for it on a PC. No one knew when the first Android device would come out, she noted.

Starting Over

Still betting that the hunch would pay off, Alker made the life-or-death decision to reorganize her company around Android apps development. She put three teams together in key locations based on skill sets.

The biggest team was deployed in China to develop the kernel. She gathered application developers to an office in Belarus and placed the systems architecture team at the corporate headquarters in the U.S.

"We are very comfortable working in different time zones. It gave us the ability to work around the clock," said Alker.

Those efforts produced seven applications built on an old smartphone. The program coders completed this task in one month. In January 2008, a la Mobile made a public announcement about the Android apps' availability.

Frustration Festered

Alker continued to push her programmers to develop applications through 2008. Because Android wasn't happening yet, people were really skeptical.

"We went through a period of frustration. We told people that they didn't have to wait. We could help them get to market very quickly when it happened. But nobody wanted to listen. We continued to develop our core applications," she said.

Last September, the first Google phone -- known as the G1 -- came out, and everything changed. A la Mobile got its apps on the G1 in two days. With the race to market on, the company was ready to go.

Framework Formed

The last few years have seen a battle for a framework standard. Now the lines are drawn -- LiMP, LiMo, and now Android. The fields are cleared up, according to Alker.

"We pretty much stand alone as the full supplier of applications for Android. We have at least 14 applications that we wrote. The momentum for Android is tremendous in the U.S. and the UK," she said.

Vendors have already sold 1.5 million G1 units. The projection for 2009 is between 7 million to 10 million units. For 2011, predictions are for a 20 to 25 percent share of the total handset market worldwide, Alker detailed.

"The openness of Android and its deep branding and customization are its big advantages. The market is changing rapidly. 2009 is a critical year in the adoption of Android," Alker concluded.

Varia Variety

Another newcomer to the mobile open source space is Varia Mobile, which had its birth throes in September 2007. Its founders divested from Tegic Communications, an AOL property, to form this new endeavor. This company is concentrating on Linux devices.

Based in Seattle, Varia made its mark as the developer of one of the first Linux-based cellular phones available in the consumer marketplace. That product is an example of the company's prominence in the mobile space. It's a business-to-business software development company that specializes in developing custom branded Linux-based OS solutions.

Perhaps having an edge over other startups, it forged its own identity from the start with an existing staff that worked together for some seven years. Its software inventory includes a suite of software applications and a significant patent portfolio.

Varia Mobile is pursuing solutions for bringing content providers, mobile operators and hardware manufacturers together to build innovative, content-rich applications for the mobile ecosystem. The company hopes to achieve this goal by making personal mobile devices that are easy to use.

Adhere Ad Platform

Citex Software, based in Egypt, also cut its teeth as a newcomer to the open source mobile space in early 2007. It offers a suite of software products for the mobile advertising community. In all likelihood, its offerings will serve the ad revenue needs of vendors and carriers regardless of the platform embraced.

Its free, open source Adhere Ad Server forms the core of the platform. It supports numerous ad formats, including text, pictures, Web banners, audio and video. In addition, the ad platform supports advanced ad targeting criteria to ensure the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Adhere Ad Server includes the Adhere User Profiles Server, which is key to Adhere's targeting capabilities. The platform also includes sample applications and engines to manipulate various mobile media and to utilize them effectively as advertising channels.

The current release of Adhere includes sample SMS (short message service) advertising applications packaged as a weather forecast service and a currency exchange rates service. The next release will introduce an SMS Tagging and Forwarding Engine (STAFe) and a Mobile Web Ad Serving and Tracking Engine (WASATe).

The company's future product plans will add support for other mobile advertising channels including MMS (multimedia messaging service), audio and video content.

Browser Wars, the 'Linux Killer' and the Free Software Ditty

The Linux blogs continued to buzz about the Wisconsin woman who dropped out of college because her Dell running Ubuntu wasn't meeting her expectations, with rational discussion winning out over vitriol. Meanwhile, Firefox continues to steal market share from Internet Explorer.

Now that President Obama has taken office at last, hopes are high around the globe for an era of recovery and change.

Coincidentally, similar hopes were evident on the Linux blogs in recent days following last week's lambasting of the Wisconsin college student who claimed that Ubuntu forced her to drop out of school. Throughout the blogosphere, Linux geeks not only pondered the ferocity of the verbal attacks that greeted her claim, but also turned their thoughts to related topics such as technology policies in higher education andDell"s (Nasdaq: DELL) apparent open source ambivalence.

"I think that schools should require their vendors to support the big three of OSes... Win, Lin, and Mac," asserted buckrogers1965 on Digg.

On the other hand: "Linux doesn't donate buildings," robrohan pointed out.

Dell (Heart) Linux?

Similar notions were explored over on the Linux Loop in Thomas Teisberg"s post, "Realistically Allowing for Numerous Software Preferences in Education."

Then there was the post, also from Blog of Helios, asserting that "the Linux Community is having an on-again off-again love affair with Dell." More than 700 diggs and 150 comments followed from that one, along with many more on the Helios site, and Teisberg addressed the issue on the Loop as well.

All this controversy, even asbloggers celebrated the fact that Ubuntu 9.04 boots in only 21.4 seconds!

IE's Loss, Open Source's Gain

In fact, more cheerful news emerged recently in the form of a report indicating that internet explorer continues to lose market share to open source browsers such as Firefox and Google(Nasdaq: GOOG) Chrome.

More than 1,700 Diggs and 300 comments greeted the Ars Technica article on the topic, as bloggers cheered Redmond's loss.

"I'm not surprised that IE keeps losing market share," Slashdot blogger Mhall119 told LinuxInsider. "Browsers are a commodity now -- almost every Web site works exactly the same in Firefox, Safari, Opera and now Chrome. If anything, IE just doesn't fit in anymore."

'Not Something to Sneeze At'

Actually, "the only thing that kept IE set apart -- ActiveX -- is now viewed as a blight on the World Wide Web. Its selling point of the past is now considered a defect, even by newer versions of itself," he added.

The lack of "a serious Linux port" makes it hard to think of Google Chrome as an open source browser, Monochrome Mentality blogger Kevin Dean told LinuxInsider.

It's also important to note that "IE still holds an 89 percent share, and that's not something to sneeze at," Dean pointed out. "I think it goes to show just how powerful pre-installation is, and -- more than that -- with all the alternative browsers out there for Windows users, most people don't know they have other options."

Free Software Song

Nevertheless, "it's great to see that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is slipping," he said. "Internet Explorer 7 is actually decent enough that I'm able to use it without trying to claw out my eyes, but that's mainly because it incorporated some features of Firefox."

Firefox is also building on the some of the things that made IE 7 nicer than its predecessor, Dean added. "I love to see the competition: It generates an all-around better internet experience for everyone," he said.

With so much good news and optimism, it's enough to make a geek want to burst out singing a spirited rendition of Richard Stallman's Free Software Song. Go ahead -- join in anytime!

A 'Linux Killer'?

We'd be remiss not to mention, however, a discussion that's been going back and forth on the topic of Windows 7. The debate has been going on for some time now -- but even in the last week or two, it continued unabated.

Specifically, two separate articles on Digg -- one focusing on a ZDNet blog and the other on a NetworkWorld.com article -- pondered assertions that Windows 7 will be a "Linux killer," while the Linux Loop's Teisberg tried to cut through some of the surrounding hype.

"Windows 7 will probably be a good release as far as I am concerned, if only for the performance improvement," Teisberg concluded. "It just won't be the ground breaking, new and amazing release that some people say it will be."

'I Think Not'

Yet there are those -- perhaps most vocally of late, Network World's Ron Barrett -- who believes Windows 7 will "crush" Linux. Them's fighting words, so we here at LinuxInsider belted out one last refrain ("join us now and share the software...") and then took to the streets for some more insight.

"Linux killer? I think not," Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider. "It will take more than a new interface to make Linux users switch back."

In the meantime, "Windows 7 still requires a more powerful system than XP while Linux can manage Vista-style effects on a machine fast enough for XP," he said.

"The Linux folks aren't relaxing, either, and now that they have the pretty graphics they are working to make Linux less resource-intensive -- so expect things to only get better from here," Mack added.

Microsoft 'Is Killing Itself'

"I believe GNU/Linux has been making progress over that other OS since before XP -- only now, in 2009, is M$ beginning to implement some of the security/performance features we have enjoyed all these years," blogger Robert Pogson told LinuxInsider. "Vista was so bloated that even normal users of that other OS were shocked. They were getting performance similar to malware-infestation out of the box."

Windows 7 may be "a service pack of Vista or it may be the result of removing some excess bloat -- a nip and tuck job -- but it will not likely be anywhere as good as what we get with GNU/Linux," Pogson said.

In fact, "if 7 is as similar to Vista as described, there is no need to migrate to it, just away," he added. "I think M$ is killing itself. GNU/Linux does not have to do much except pick up the pieces from the collapse."

Two Markets

Similarly: "I predict that Windows 7 will be spectacular in exactly how irrelevant it is long-term," Dean said. "The general tone of the reviews I've seen so far kind of emphasize that not much has changed from Vista except for performance. Why, then, do the speculators think it is going to do anything significant in terms of attracting users?"

Others saw it differently: "Since Windows 7 isn't designed for servers or phones, it really has two markets: desktops/laptops and netbooks," Mhall119 asserted. "I see it doing very well on the desktop, because of market share and OEM commitment, and it will probably slow the adoption of Linux on the desktop as the remaining XP holdouts will switch to 7 instead of Linux."

'I Don't Think 7 Can Compete'

In the netbook market, however, "I don't think 7 can compete," he said. "As Windows advocates have been saying for years about the desktop, people use applications. Even if 7 will run on netbooks, the applications that keep people on Windows won't."

Vista, and now 7, "come with lots of new features and visual effects, and the computers they run on come with more memory, bigger hard drives and more powerful graphics cards," Mhall119 pointed out. "Windows application and game developers have and will continue to take advantage of them.

"As a result, most Windows applications and games won't be running on a slow processor, small SSD drive and little memory," he concluded. "And without the applications, there's no incentive to use Windows."

Linuxy New Year's Resolutions

Bloggers took a moment to contemplate the upcoming year and what it means for open source software and Linux in particular. There were some New Year's resolutions and a few holiday gifts still floating around in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

So 2009 is here at last, and not a moment too soon! Finally we can put another Holiday Season behind us and get back to work.

Some of us, of course, are still recovering from the seasonal merriment; others are still pondering gifts they received. To wit: On Digg, Rekzai earned more than 3,340 Diggs and 345 comments for posting a photograph titled, "I like Linux, so my aunt sends me this for Christmas!"

No shortage of penguins in that thoughtful assortment -- lucky geek, that Rekzai! We can only assume the aunt in question got some of her ideas from our own Linuxy holiday shopping guide ... always glad to help out!

'10 Coolest Open Source Products'

Also on Digg, meanwhile, some bloggers saw fit to think over the past year and the advances that were made for our favorite operating systems . Specifically, inspired by an article on Channel Web, bloggers contemplated what the article called "The 10 Coolest Open Source Products of 2008."

Many of the 100-plus comments that ensued in the next day and a half or so quibbled with the article's choices, or made suggestions of their own. Others, however, devolved into all-too-familiar terrain as they shifted their focus to the year to come:

"Dare I say it... 2009 will be the YEAR OF LINUX!" quipped reddikilowatt.

Aaaaaah! Not that -- anything but that!

'3% by 2010'

Seriously, though, there were also more substantive predictions on hand.

"OK, hear me out," reddikilowatt continued. "We're going to see more Android phones (if can stay in business), netbooks, media servers and players, hand held media players, the Kindle is set to ramp up, Canonical seems to be getting a lot of mindshare in the blogosphere and MS is chasing Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) instead of putting out product.

"I think the community's slogan should be '3% by 2010'...," reddikilowatt added. "Hey, stranger things have happened," he said. "I'll get working on the T-shirts."

Along similar lines, an article in Open Mode titled "Why You Might Be Using Linux in 2009" inspired quite a discussion on Digg as it outlined some major products and trends likely to attract new attention to Linux this year.

No fewer than 1,036 Diggs and 360 comments met the article's posting on the site within three days, but reactions appeared to be a generally mixed bag.

Noob Majority

"Another year, another 'year of Linux' story," wrote Hellman109. "*yawn*"

On the other hand: "I mean no disrespect to you Linux guys and gals out there, but these sensationalist/speculative articles aren't helping encourage people to switch over to Linux," asserted jaygeeze.

"The normal, mainstream individual does not even know about KDE4, cloud computing, and doesn't care about netbooks," jaygeeze explained. "They care about user interface and not having to install something through the command line and hardware/software compatibility (and yes, using WINE is kind of cheating). They care about customer support and documentation.

"You wonder why Ubuntu is a popular distro (even though we call Ubuntu users noobs, but that's just it, a majority of the people in the market for computers *are* noobs) - it's because they focus on these things," jaygeeze added. "We need more articles that advocate and share these improvements, not a geeky list saying people will be switching over because of the cloud."

Stepping Into Action

All in all, the outlook for 2009 was an overarching theme throughout the Linux blogosphere, as geeks around the world tried their hand at predicting what may come.

Now, we here at LinuxInsider have already delved into what bloggers are hoping will happen for Linux over the course of this new year. What we haven't yet heard, however, are what they're planning to do themselves, whether for the sake of Linux or just in their personal lives.

To illustrate: Thomas Teisberg over at the Linux Loop made some suggestions for how to help the Linux community as a whole in a post he made on Christmas Eve.

On a less altruistic note -- but no less interesting -- LXer bloggers spent some holiday time comparing notes on which sites they think are worth visiting every day. Joining the predictable ranks of Slashdot, Digg, Dilbert and LXer itself were a few interesting surprises sure to help get 2009 off to a good start -- even if LinuxInsider wasn't top of the list. Just an oversight, we're sure!

InaTux, meanwhile, recently posted "20 Early Linux New Year's Resolutions," including suggestions for hackers and companies alike.

New Year's Resolutions

But what kinds of New Year's Resolutions are actually being made by those who participate in the Linux blogs, we couldn't help but wonder? So we took to the streets and asked around.

Some resolutions were universal in nature: "I hope to get more work done!" Monochrome Mentality blogger Kevin Dean told LinuxInsider.

Others were more specific: "My GNU/Linux resolution for 2009 is to introduce as many teachers as possible to GNU/Linux in my last year of teaching," educator and blogger Robert Pogson said.

'The Wonderful World of Linux'

Some were positively sunny about technology: "My personal Linux resolutions for '09 are to spend more time on my blog and to spend more time introducing users in and around my life to the wonderful world of Linux and open source in general," Foogazi blogger Adam Kane told LinuxInsider.

Others were less so: "My New Year's resolution for this year is to spend more time on non-computer-related hobbies," Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack said.

Then, perhaps most admirably of all, was the response of Mhall119, a Slashdot blogger who operates Quinn Co., a charity that uses a version of Ubuntu customized for kids 3 years old and up to help special-needs and low-income children.

Giving Away Computers

"I had been assembling second-hand PCs on my living room floor and an end table, due to lack of space," Mhall119 explained. "However, my wife and I just bought our first house, and it has a _huge_ workshop, with plenty of space to store and work on three times the number of PCs I currently have -- which is good since we've just been offered a dozen iMac G3's.

"So, my 2009 Linux Resolution is to seriously step up my work for our charity," he told LinuxInsider.

Among Mhall119's specific plans for this year are re-basing Qimo, his Ubuntu re-spin, on XFCE instead of Gnome "to get better performance," and then making a PowerPC port of it to run on the newly donated iMacs, he said.

"We've placed a couple of computers in a local preschool already, and have promised 10 or so to disadvantaged students at a nearby elementary school," Mhall119 explained. "I'd like to ultimately give away 100 or more computers in 2009."

What are *your* resolutions for this new year, dear readers -- Linuxy or otherwise? We'd love to hear about them. One last toast to the promise and the potential of 2009!

Can't We All Just Get Along? Q&A With OSA Community Dev Chair Gopi Ganapathy

What the open source community needs is a more streamlined way to bring everyone together to collaborate and ensure interoperability, says Gopi Ganapathy, president and CEO of Essentia and the new Community Development Chair of the Open Solutions Alliance.

The Open Solutions Alliance (OSA), a federated community of open source business and developer communities, opened in early December a community portal built upon technology from one of its newest member organizations, Essentia. The company develops software platforms and solutions for online communities and commerce.

The EssentiaESP is a community-engagement platform designed specifically for commercial open source and taps into the latest trends in social networking to encourage greater collaboration among companies and open source communities.

The EssentiaESP environment supports multiple project types. Some of the core projects hosted there include the Common Customer View (CCV) project; Interoperability projects between OSA member companies like the Hyperic/Jaspersoft integration; and member projects for OSA companies including Hyperic, Ingres, Jaspersoft, Openbravo, SpikeSource and others.

"What the OSA is trying to do is ensure that all of the different companies can cooperate and integrate. And it wants to make sure that there are a set of standards that all companies can publish to," Gopi Ganapathy, president and CEO of Essentia and new OSA Community Development Chair, told LinuxInsider.

OSA's choice of EssentiaESP reaffirms Essentia's leadership in community development, collaboration, commerce and open source development, he said. His company's involvement with OSA will foster deeper interoperability efforts among OSA member company that will be open to the worldwide community of open source developers, he explained.

Ganapathy recently addressed the second annual Malaysian Government Conference (MyGOSSCON) in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. MyGOSSCON is a conference designed to support the Accelerated Adoption (Phase II) of the Malaysian Public Sector OSS Master Plan Program.

He addressed the conference on the topic of Building Vibrant Open Source Communities drawing on his experience from the OpenOffice.org, java.net, NetBeans and JasperForge.org communities.

LinuxInsider met with Ganapathy to discuss Essentia's interest in the OSA and the goals of the new community portal.

LinuxInsider: What sparked your enthusiasm for working so closely with the OSA?

Gopi Ganapathy: Open source has a couple of key drivers. One obviously is the ability to get source code software distributed fast. The second is the supporting community that actually comes together to build the software. OSA is very interested in insuring that open source gets adopted. One of the challenges for OSA is that there really wasn't a deep system integrator that really understands all the options and the offerings and how to put it all together.

LI: What role is Essentia playing with helping the OSA meet this challenge?

GG: The problem for OSA is getting software adopted and building cross-product traditions that comprise a number of member companies' products. This demonstrates how fairly complex this system is to work under a common framework. To make all these things happen you need to have a suitable open source platform or environment where companies can collaborate through the use of a mega community that is basically a community of communities.

LI: How unique is the platform Essentia developed for the OSA portal?

GG: I think there is no other product out there that can actually handle the federation of communities and allow broadening participation of community members from different communities to participate in wide dissemination of knowledge and adoptions of products and be able to create vertical solutions or localized solutions for specific markets.

LI: Is EssentiaESP something your company already had, or is it something you created for the OSA?

GG: We always had a history of working with open source platforms. Back in the 1980s we were involved in developing platforms for fairly large software deployments in OpenOffice. I was personally responsible for running the dream team for developing several products. Since then we have built a couple of generations of community platforms.

LI: What changes in community use are you noticing with this current platform generation?

GG: The interest in the current generation is that several communities have moved from being very developer-centric to becoming primarily business users rather than developers. The interest is really to figure out how to experience the information that exists among the broad users and ensure that we have a low risk in terms of adopting.

LI: How else are open source communities adapting to the use of a massive collaboration portal?

GG: We also see that there are new paradigms of social networking developing that people have become quite comfortable using. These include all the video collaborative capabilities like Skype and IM and Twitter and everything else that is going on.

LI: Have you integrated these communication trends into EssentiaESP?

GG: We decided to basically bring together all the core software tools for open open source development with social networking to provide a modern platform that can fully scale. When we say scale, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of users who can come together to work on a product.

LI: Is there any cost for members to participate in this portal, or do they have access by virtue of belonging to the OSA?

GG: OSA underwrites the cost of writing this platform and supporting members use of it. OSA wants to ensure that they have a highly stable environment in which a lot of talented open source communities like SourceForge and JasperForge are all in one place. That really shows the strength of the participation that is possible among open source companies.

LI: Who actually runs the portal?

GG: We [Essentia] not only designed the solution, we actually handle the whole operation. So the entire solution is built and managed and hosted by us. So now everything happens through EssentiaESP and all the team members are based in California and the East Coast. We also have community management with people who really understand how to build an active and viable open source community and ensure that participation happens and support the users of the platform.