Filed under: OS Updates, Symbian, Open Source, Mobile
Symbian OS goes free and open-source, in the biggest switch in software history
The Symbian Foundation is boasting that this is the biggest switch from closed to open in the history of software. With their software powering 330 million Nokia devices, that sounds like a reasonable claim.
It's no secret that Android played a big role in this move. The competition from Google's hot new mobile OS (that's been marketed as an open alternative) meant that Symbian had to make a change. Now all of Symbian's code is open, and they can take shots at Android for its partially-closed code. Symbian's roadmap of planned features through 2011 will soon be published for anyone to comment on and contribute to. Hopefully, this move will keep the aging OS around past that point.
[via Wired]
The Illusionist's Dream is a simple platformer; you play as a magician who needs to get through each level by transforming into any number of animals that you encounter along the way.
Each animal can do different things; the butterfly can obviously fly, but if it encounters a frog, the frog eats it, and you have to start over again. There's also a fox that runs fast and leaps far, but it eats any rabbits that cross its path. That means that, if you may need to be a rabbit later on, you need to take that into account ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
michas_pi said 10:49AM on 2-04-2010
S60 is the best mobile phone operating system.
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pal said 11:28AM on 2-04-2010
Java going open source seemed bigger to me... is there an official way to measure how big the software is?
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greg said 11:54AM on 2-04-2010
Nokia should just submit and give more attention to developing in co-op with google android, it would be so much more equipped to take on iphones and such then. I used to be a Nokia boy, but im changing to android in about a month once the HTC branded equivalent of the Nexus one comes out with the sense UI, just seems more reasonable and practical
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Taomyn said 4:17AM on 2-05-2010
"aging OS" ??? and how old exactly is the original Linux base for Android? At least Symbian was designed specifically for mobile devices - some may argue is actually a more efficient core.
What most people are perceiving as old is really the GUI sitting atop the OS and for that I totally agree and is in need of "updating". That's what I hope will finally start happening now.
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