Jolla's Former Management Acquires The Business

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Jolla's Former Management Acquires The Business

It's been a number of years since many in the Linux/open-source space have been excited by the Jolla smartphone efforts with their failed smartphone/tablet devices and more recently focusing their Linux-based Sailfish OS devices for running on existing devices. The latest chapter in Jolla is the former management acquiring the Jolla business...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Jolla-Acquisition-By-Management

[blackiwid]

So no hope for any positive change, I watched the movie about Blackberry, which came of as a cheap knockoff of the wolf of wallstreet, I would have liked to see a bit more focus on the technical side and explanaition why we lost something valuable maybe, and in this style I would rather have a documentary about the company.

But yes this seems a similar story both software were to proprietary and now Jolla has not even own phones anymore. With different leaderships even from russia I would have hope that something chances but it sounds like it stays as shitty as it is now.

And yes I tested it for a while on a sony xa2 but some important apps don't work and you can't change hardware so... it's pretty limited.

[Eirikr1848]

At this point I'm hoping Nokia aquires "new Jolla" and gets into phones again (not the HMD Global style either)

[Quackdoc]

So no hope for any positive change, I watched the movie about Blackberry, which came of as a cheap knockoff of the wolf of wallstreet, I would have liked to see a bit more focus on the technical side and explanaition why we lost something valuable maybe, and in this style I would rather have a documentary about the company.

But yes this seems a similar story both software were to proprietary and now Jolla has not even own phones anymore. With different leaderships even from russia I would have hope that something chances but it sounds like it stays as shitty as it is now.

And yes I tested it for a while on a sony xa2 but some important apps don't work and you can't change hardware so... it's pretty limited.

The reason why blackberry died is simple. blackberry died because the market died, no one wants secure phones anymore aside from government agencies. Blackberry tried to stick with it by outsourcing the phone itself to another company and making an android device but that didn't pan out so RIM killed that off. It's really as simple as that, even if blackberry managed to make a really good android phone, without it being secure, they had nothing, and no one wanted secure.

[GI_Jack]

I am pretty down with Jolla/Sailfish/Maemo/Meego/whatever its called now.

This stopped being relevant a long time ago.

Short, There are some FOSS bits, but still mostly closed. Android Open Source Project has far more components FOSS, far more mature, far better security. For the incomplete bits that google didn't make, there are secondary projects that do, all of them mature, and FOSS android ROMs that are ready to flash that are FOSS, secure and reliable.

For security, see Graphene OS
For general features, including more apps and works on a wide array of devices, see LineageOS

If you are a purist, see Librem.

If you just really want a standard GNU userland, or want to tinker a device more than use it, try a Pine Phone.

Not sure where Jolla really fits in with this, if it does.

[ElectricPrism]

If somebody took this concept for the BeepBerry (BlackBerry Keyboard)

https://beepy.sqfmi.com/

And made a high spec device out of RPIv4 or any other high spec SBC.

I would literally buy it and use it either as a Phone, or even just get rid of my phone all together and move to VOIP / SIP and maybe Satellite someday when StarLink opens it up to Satellite Phone Calls.

I wouldn't even mind not even having touch screen if I had a good tactile keeb like BlackBerry used to have and BeepBerry has.

[attah]

I am pretty down with Jolla/Sailfish/Maemo/Meego/whatever its called now.

This stopped being relevant a long time ago.

Do you mean "done with" ?
"Down with" means you like it.

Short, There are some FOSS bits, but still mostly closed.

It's rather the other way around. Only some few key bits are closed - they just happen to be the most visible ones.

Android Open Source Project has far more components FOSS

The open source version by definition does. The regular ones, not so much.

Those supposed OSes (really Android distributions) you mention (barring PureOS) are still just Android and thus beholden to whatever google says it means to be Android.
Possibly with some few bits carved out.

If you just really want a standard GNU userland, or want to tinker a device more than use it, try a Pine Phone.

Which OS do you propose to run on it? SailfishOS?

Not sure where Jolla really fits in with this, if it does.

It is the only mobile Linux OS daily-driven by a significant number of people. That says a lot.

[shmerl]

Good. Russia shouldn't have its paws in anyone's business.

As for SailfishOS itself, the number of supported devices is unfortunately limited, which makes not too useful.

[blackiwid]

no one wants secure phones anymore aside from government agencies.

I disagree, I want a secure phone and the only way I can feel secure is that it's all free software or at least as much as a random android phone and rootable obviously.

How could I be secure from Blackberry if they or some of their suppliers have control of all the blobs in the phone heck even the whole OS in that case? They can have rootkits and stuff all over the place and without the source nobody else can control it.

Also in the movie and that was true for me as well the feature they at least mentioned or focused on a bit was their keyboards and the not build in china thing.

I can say yes I did not want their pseudosecurity that is not guaranteed without the source code I don't need, if I want to trust a company for security by locking all up I also can go to apple they sell the same garbage...

Yes I found the hardware interesting but BECAUSE of their "security" that I can't root and install a 3rd party rom I sadly could not buy it even I was very heavily into keyboards on smartphones.

[nanonyme]

At this point I'm hoping Nokia aquires "new Jolla" and gets into phones again (not the HMD Global style either)

Nokia may be well on its way completely out of phone business again, the HMD Global license deal is quite uncertain at this point.