The open source software group which develops a desktop environment for Linux computer users, GNOME has set up a mobile program to expand its platform to smartphones and PDAs. The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative (GMAE) is being backed by several major handset developers and software firms.
"Developers will not only have the means to create great mobile and embedded software, but the freedom to envision and create fundamentally new kinds of devices, for entirely new markets." said Jeff Waugh, founder of the GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative and a director of the GNOME Foundation board.
"This initiative augments a thriving commercial and community ecosystem around GNOME for mobile and embedded applications", noted Bill Weinberg, Principal Analyst at LinuxPundit. "Building on freely-licensed GTK+, GStreamer, and other GNOME software, the GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative provides a level playing field for companies and developers, for products and projects, offering a platform for innovation and collaboration."
The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Platform is a subset of the proven, widely used GNOME Platform. In addition to the core user experience toolkit (GTK+), the platform includes crucial functionality such as multimedia support (GStreamer), instant messaging and presence (Telepathy), Bluetooth (BlueZ), contacts and calendaring (E-D-S), and network service discovery (Avahi). APIs are available for developers using C, C++ or Python.
Following GNOME's highly successful licensing strategy, the GNOME Mobile & Embedded Platform is distributed under the terms of the LGPL, which allows for royalty-free use in proprietary software products, but encourages contribution of platform code changes back to the community.
"GNOME is an active and truly open developer community creating innovative software. This is why Nokia joined the community and chose GNOME software as a foundation for the Maemo platform and our Internet Tablets. We are excited about the growing use of GNOME software in consumer devices. The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative will now take this further by bringing together community and industry to promote and coordinate the continued development of the GMAE platform." -- Ari Jaaksi, Director of Open Source Software Operations, Nokia"
Posted to the site on 22nd April 2007
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