Why are people deploying Linux onto cell phones? The number of vendors is starting to add up. There are technical and financial advantages, but Bill Weinberg from the OSDL posited at the O'Reilly eTel Conference that it's really because it is becoming strategic via platform consolidation. In addition, the holy grail of "open phone" would allow hackers to modify its user interface, improve performance, upgrade the kernel, or invent new applications:
There's a new divide emerging in the open source community - is open source a means to an end, or an end unto itself? This leads to some other existential questions that Weinberg posited:
- Are phones mono-function, or general-purpose computing devices?
- Should all devices be hackable? Routers...phones...and pacemakers?
- Are consumers better served by open or closed devices?
- Why would you want an open phone?
Weinberg actually wants to hear answers from the community on these questions - send him mail with your answers.
Tags: christine herron space jockeys spacejockeys voip technology open source telephony o'reilly etel osdl linux open phone
