Symbian Foundation Plans
At the Smartphone Show, Symbian revealed their initial plans for the Symbian Foundation. These are only plans. Nothing will be done and details may change once Nokia gets regulatory approval to purchase Symbian.
There will be a new system model that includes the code, tools, SDKs and Carbide. There are ongoing discussions whether Carbide will become part of the Symbian or Eclipse Foundation and to what degree the product might become free of charge.
There’s also ongoing discussion as to whether there will be one or several SDKs targeted at different segments. However, there will initially be at least one Foundation SDK.
Due to software coming for various sources with varying licensing, some parts of the Foundation OS will initially be only made available to members ($1500 fee) under a Symbian Foundation License. The remainder of the code will be EPL. Over time, as issues are resolved, the Symbian Foundation License code will migrate to EPL. It’s expected that all code will be EPL by H1 2010.
The code will be split into of the order of about 100 packages. Each package will have a test suite. Code will be classified as being internal, platform or public. Internal code will provide no compatibility promises between releases. Platform code will tend to be built-in software and hardware adaptation software with a weak compatibility promise between releases (what’s published partner and S60 Platform API now). Public code will maintain compatibility across releases (what’s published all now).
A new logo process/testing will allow code to be tested and phones to carry a logo certification. The aim of the logo is to encourage code to be compliant and hence reduce fragmentation between implementations.
Each package will have a package owner responsible for the design, quality, processes and roadmap for that part of the code. They will need to collaborate with contributors and other package owners. It’s anticipated that package owners will initially be individuals from companies that donated the respective code. There will also be of the order of 10 technology domain specialists that will oversee and coordinate the package owners.
Related Articles: