The next big wave

The next big wave

Trends in computers come in waves. Developers are like surfers on the shore spying out the horizon looking out for the next big one. Today I write about a wave that is just now starting to take shape, looks almost innocuous, but that has the potential to be a great ride as well – Nokia’s Maemo operating system.

There have been several Maemo based devices released already, but the latest one, the N900 seems to be really capturing the imagination of lots and lots of users and, in particular, developers. And that is very significant, even crucial for a platform, as Steve Ballmer has been known to admit. But aren’t all mobile device developers already coding for Apple? Well, they might have been, and a great many of them still are, but that wave seems to be heading in to the rocks and many of its riders are looking to get off. OK, you may say, but aren’t developers more likely to get on the Google Android wave instead? Well, some have already done just that, but I have reason to believe that the Maemo wave is going to be a lot more fun to ride. Lets see why. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 30%