Recently released repositories

[olf]

WTF does Jolla do here? Originally a very positive move, but just to be retracted a little later. Oh, this is so Jolla-ish, specifically the complete lack of communication WRT both steps, the forth and the back one.

@dcaliste

if all the copyright holders have given their agreement, the code that has been published can be redistributed under the new license even if the original publisher removed it. Which make me think that some copyright holders have removed their agreement or didn’t give it at the start.

As far as i could see, all contributors were Jolla employees, presumably creating the content of these now-retracted repos during work. Consequently Jolla owns all rights and decides how to license this.

And no, nobody has to be asked or agree to using the content of these repositories, if someone cloned them while they were still online: The content was clearly marked as BSD-licensed.

AFAIK the ‘internet never forgets’.

Unfortunately, “the internet” per se does nothing: If nobody copied / cloned / archived the content during the brief period the stuff was accessible, it is not accessible any longer.

[Systematics]

I was so happy that so many repositories were created under the bsd license in the last weeks. I hope it is just a mistake and they re-open them again.
Thank you for the great work @Jolla , but I think a short notice why that happened would be great. So nobody is confused anymore

[poetaster]

Maybe my MDM idea gave them a new business model perspective and someone went eureka and closed everything down again (ducks and runs).

[Mazoon]

It is at least somewhat grey area. However, having worked a bit with those, especially in tablets, specific models are requested in pretty much every of them. Most often iPads, sometimes others, too, e.g. SERVICE.BUND.DE - Aktuelle Ausschreibungen der öffentlichen Verwaltung Deutschlands (Bund, Länder, Städte und Kommunen) - Lieferung von Tablets der Hersteller Apple und Samsung and SERVICE.BUND.DE - Aktuelle Ausschreibungen der öffentlichen Verwaltung Deutschlands (Bund, Länder, Städte und Kommunen) - 25 iPads und Zubehör Gymnasium Neustadt both name the desired vendor(s) in the title (often it is buried a bit deeper in the requirements documents) I assume that if vendors are not specified, they will get quite a load of offers on various Chinese white-label devices.

(sorry for this diversion to Offtopic Lane)

[DrYak]

@poetaster

Maybe my MDM idea gave them a new business model perspective and someone went eureka

…like tried to sell the idea of self-governance to the EU and get funds for Europe-developped systems (that can be used in schools, etc.)?
One can hope.

(I mean, seriously: microG was sponsored at some point, in 2019, by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

[sailr]

The authority only has to establish a reason that corresponds to the procurement policy. Depending on the contract value, e.g. § 23 UVgO (5) - § 23 UVgO - Leistungsbeschreibung (vergabevorschriften.de). In this case, it could already be sufficient that the BSI declares the devices to be particularly secure - BSI - Presse - BSI bestätigt Sicherheitseigenschaften von iPhone und iPad They will be very creative I also think a good MDM solution will not be able to establish SFOS in the education sector at this point in time, as long as there are the known problems with the Android Layer.

[throwaway69]

Android layer should be actually not offered to schools, being as far away from american data-siphon like this is a selling point for any EU country for sure, think of the children (and their data)!!!

[poetaster]

@sailr

I also think a good MDM solution will not be able to establish SFOS in the education sector at this point in time, as long as there are the known problems with the Android Layer.

Although I agree in principle, it has nothing to do with the Android Layer. It’s a notable lack of developers in the space outside of Appledom at all. Since apple is defacto THE env. no apps are developed otherwise. Apps that are often encountered (Anton App) which are cross platform are a rare exception? With a bit of care, a company can use QT and target mac, ios, android, sfos, etc. But these companies seem to be more rare than one would think.

[sailr]

Yes, you are right. Android Layer is just a stopgap solution to the real problem. Unfortunately, I don’t see the situation changing in the near future. It seems to be a kind of chicken and egg problem(Popular apps not available natively<>Low user base<>No willingness on the part of developers to port their apps). In elementary schools, apart from the Anton app, Antolin and MeisterCody are also frequently used, at least those are available for both iOS and android. But even there, it starts with the MDM solution at the latest. In the education sector, relution or jamf are often used, and the latter clearly focuses on apple devices. Nevertheless, I am convinced that if someone (you?) would offer a good MDM solution for SFOS, this would find a target group and thereby increase the distribution. Even if companies would not switch for privacy reasons, it could happen for economic interest, since Jolla updates devices for a comparatively long time. With appropriate certification from SFOS, interest would probably be even greater. Prowise has found a market in the education sector with this and their customized android version, and considering that there is a maximum of 8 years of support for the smartboards as of today, they are probably not doing a bad business once they have tied the customers to their ecosystem( Prowise liefert Digitale Tafeln für deutsche Klassenzimmer). Let’s keep our fingers crossed that things are looking up for SFOS

[poetaster]

@sailr

. But even there, it starts with the MDM solution at the latest.

My understanding is that effective MDM (ie. usable by teachers in classrooms) has been difficult (impossible?) with Android and that Apple got this right.

I had thought of entering into the market. But, I have limited funds (some, sure). If I wasn’t already bound to a new startup thing (also about the singular lack of imagination of an entire industry), I would be working on this indeed. I really should be. In less than two years, it looks like I’ll be forced to buy an Apple device.

Thanks for the Prowise link. I was unaware of them!

[Seven.of.nine]

Isn’t it possible to create a converter that creates an installable SFOS rpm file from an Android apk file?

[thigg]

You mean an rpm that installs something into appSupport?

[Seven.of.nine]

No, I mean a converter app (or program running on the computer) that generates a SFOS rpm out of an Android apk or converts an Android apk into a SFOS rpm.

[nephros]

APKs available in harbour/store are packaged as rpms, installing (in my case, X10iii on 4.4) the apk into /data/app/packaged, where data/app is a symlink into /home/.android/data/aas-staging/app.

[attah]

Short of AppSupport itself, no such thing exists. And if it did, why bother with AppSupport in the first place?

And wait; aren’t we waaaay off topic here?

[nephros]

@Seven.of.nine

No, I mean a converter app (or program running on the computer) that generates a SFOS rpm out of an Android apk or converts an Android apk into a SFOS rpm.

That couldn’t work as the packaged files wouldn’t work on the other OS.

[smatkovi]

“ai” driven it could work

[davidrasch]

Maybe, but for closed source apps it would be a copyright violation and for open source apps it probably would be easier to build them from source.

[thigg]

App support is basically exactly such a solution. And you know the shortcomings. A converter would have a magnitude more complexity to deal with.

(and yes this is OT, sorry)

[nephros]

Re-organisation of Jolla company

Here’s a recap to Jolla’s situation: Jolla has been placed to a corporate restructuring process during the summer and an administrator has been nominated by the court. The administrator is due to make a restructuring proposal during November, which will set the next steps for Jolla. Meanwhile, we do not publish components. Thank you for your understanding during this extraordinary time and we look forward to be able to update on this matter the soonest!