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Qt-interest Archive, January 2008
AW: Nokia to acquire Trolltech

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Message 31 in thread

On Tuesday 29 January 2008 02:23:32 pm Keith Esau wrote:
> I've worked for two companies that got bought (they say merged with) bigger
> companies. One continued the products from the smaller company, the other
> dropped them after a few years.
>
> The big difference was whether the product fit into the big company's
> strategy. If the product didn't fit into the big company's main products or
> overall strategy, the product eventually died.
>
> I can see that QTopia will fit nicely into Nokia's strategy and product
> line. But would someone please explain how the Qt cross platform
> development system fits into Nokia?
recall what Lorn 'ljp' Potter said:
Don't be so sure before you know the whole picture. Remember that Qt is 
Trolltech's flagship and is cross platform. ;) Think about things unsaid...

Also consider the increasingly shrinking gap between mobile devices & 
desktop-type devices (Laptops, pcs...etc).

>I cannot find anything that Nokia does that is not phone related.
Does that not trigger you to think of what Nokia *could* do?


disclamer:
I do not support or protest the merger.
I'm saving judgment for a time when there are *actions* to judge.

-Rick

>
> Keith
> **Please do not reply to me, reply to the list.**
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe - send a mail to qt-interest-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> "unsubscribe" in the subject or the body. List archive and information:
> http://lists.trolltech.com/qt-interest/


--
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Message 32 in thread

Keith Esau wrote:
> I've worked for two companies that got bought (they say merged with) bigger
> companies. One continued the products from the smaller company, the other
> dropped them after a few years.
> 
> The big difference was whether the product fit into the big company's
> strategy. If the product didn't fit into the big company's main products or
> overall strategy, the product eventually died.
> 
> I can see that QTopia will fit nicely into Nokia's strategy and product
> line. But would someone please explain how the Qt cross platform development
> system fits into Nokia? I cannot find anything that Nokia does that is not
> phone related.

How about desktop apps for communication with the phones?

People will want to sync their address books, copy movies/music/other 
content, download photos, etc between their phone and their computer. 
And, presumably users of Windows, OS X, *AND* Linux would all buy Nokia 
phones, so I can see Desktop Qt fitting in rather well. Not only can 
Nokia build on one phone OS, they can build their desktop integration 
apps on one common base as well.

As phones get smarter, robust desktop applications for "doing stuff" 
with the phones will only become more important as well.

-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 33 in thread

Keith,

My understanding, Nokia is going to sell Linux based Internet gadgets 
like Nokia 770. Software used in 770 is one of the major concerns for 
today.

But it's just a speculation.

Keith Esau wrote:
> I've worked for two companies that got bought (they say merged with) bigger
> companies. One continued the products from the smaller company, the other
> dropped them after a few years.
> 
> The big difference was whether the product fit into the big company's
> strategy. If the product didn't fit into the big company's main products or
> overall strategy, the product eventually died.
> 
> I can see that QTopia will fit nicely into Nokia's strategy and product
> line. But would someone please explain how the Qt cross platform development
> system fits into Nokia? I cannot find anything that Nokia does that is not
> phone related.
> 
> Keith
> **Please do not reply to me, reply to the list.**
> 
> 
> --
> To unsubscribe - send a mail to qt-interest-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the subject or the body.
> List archive and information: http://lists.trolltech.com/qt-interest/
> 


-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 34 in thread

On Wednesday 30 January 2008 06:23, Keith Esau wrote:
> I've worked for two companies that got bought (they say merged with) bigger
> companies. One continued the products from the smaller company, the other
> dropped them after a few years.
>
> The big difference was whether the product fit into the big company's
> strategy. If the product didn't fit into the big company's main products or
> overall strategy, the product eventually died.
>
> I can see that QTopia will fit nicely into Nokia's strategy and product
> line. But would someone please explain how the Qt cross platform
> development system fits into Nokia? I cannot find anything that Nokia does
> that is not phone related.

From the media stories:
"The acquisition of Trolltech will enable Nokia to accelerate its 
cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop 
applications, ..."


Thats all I can say about it.


-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 35 in thread

On Jan 29, 2008 4:51 PM, Lorn Potter <lpotter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Wednesday 30 January 2008 06:23, Keith Esau wrote:
> > I've worked for two companies that got bought (they say merged with)
> bigger
> > companies. One continued the products from the smaller company, the
> other
> > dropped them after a few years.
> >
> > The big difference was whether the product fit into the big company's
> > strategy. If the product didn't fit into the big company's main products
> or
> > overall strategy, the product eventually died.
> >
> > I can see that QTopia will fit nicely into Nokia's strategy and product
> > line. But would someone please explain how the Qt cross platform
> > development system fits into Nokia? I cannot find anything that Nokia
> does
> > that is not phone related.
>
> From the media stories:
> "The acquisition of Trolltech will enable Nokia to accelerate its
> cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop
> applications, ..."
>
>
> Thats all I can say about it.
>
>
I'm speculating here, since all I know about Qt and Nokia is what is in the
press releases, but from what Lorn said I'm guessing that these two articles
are correctly connecting the dots:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/28/nokia-acquires-trolltech-for-153-million/
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7747
They both suspect that Nokia is looking to use Qt to compete with Google's
Android. After reading the posts on this mailing list, plus many of the
posts on dot.kde.org and slashdot, this is the only hypothesis that rings
true to me. Here are the major competing hypotheses:
1) Nokia bought Trolltech just for Qtopia. That's what licenses (and bulk
discounts) are for, and Trolltech is responsive to much smaller customers so
I doubt Nokia would need to buy Trolltech just to make sure Qtopia moved in
a direction that Nokia wanted.
2) Nokia bought Trolltech to keep competitors from getting Qtopia. Companies
do this kind of thing far less often than people suggest. Generally it's
more of, "this company helps us move in the direction that we want to go,
but our competitors are going that way too so we'd better snap it up before
they do."
Even these two reasons together don't make nearly as much sense as
3) Nokia bought Trolltech to encourage Qt as a common platform for _all_
applications so that you see as many desktop/mobile
applications as you see Windows/Mac applications.
Not only does this hypothesis make the most sense from Nokia's position, it
is the hypothesis that makes the most sense from Trolltech's point of view
too (remember, they supported the purchase).

If this is correct, then it's in Nokia's best interest to make Qt and Qtopia
even better, so that more developers write Qt applications that can then be
ported to mobile phones with minimal effort. Of course, even if this is what
Nokia is aiming for they could still fumble the implementation. But as long
as they listen to Trolltech engineers and management (which is likely if
hypothesis 3 is correct), then any screw-ups won't be in Qt/Qtopia.

Tom

Message 36 in thread

Lorn Potter wrote:
>"The acquisition of Trolltech will enable Nokia to accelerate its
>cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop
>applications, ..."

Take a look at this big graph that this blogger found from Nokia's 
material (or found in a site where someone else found it):

http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3233

-- 
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Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.


Message 37 in thread

Hi Lorn,
I think that the market is the market.
All the possible choices have the good face and the bad face.
For Trolltech the incoming of Nokia into the social capital is a big 
opportunity.
I do not know now how many millions of smartphone have qtopia on them, but I 
think that at the stady state over all Nokia production will be Qtopia; and 
this is the only reason because of Nokia should acquire Trolltech. The aim is 
to bet on a winning technology, to control it and keeping it far away from 
the competitors; this is real in every market.
I do not know so good the telecommunications market but I know very good the 
automotive market, and the volumes are comparable, so the main strategies 
too.
I wish Trolletch only the best, but I think that it is a real possibilty to 
see Trolltech going out from the community.
By the way if it is the best for Trolltech it is better that it happens.
We will stay to see. And after all in Italy we say: "For a Pope dying another 
incoming".

Sincerely good work and good luck.

P.S.
If Someone does something better than otehrs it is rigth he win the prize.


Alle 19:55, martedà 29 gennaio 2008, Lorn Potter ha scritto:
> On Tuesday 29 January 2008, Christian DÃhn wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I don't want to start another flame war - but as german commercial
> > customer I'm seriously worried about the future of Qt.
> >
> > Nokia is known for changing their software strategies quite often -
> > as mentioned of other list members in this thread before.
>
> So does every company in business. You cannot grow, if you do not change.
>
> > Therefore your last mail is - and it's ok from your position as employee
> > - a little bit too optimistic
>
> Yes, possibly. and I have the advantage of having spoken to people from
> Nokia.
>
> > and it's more realistic that nobody at
> > Trolltech can say for sure what Nokia will do in one or two years.
>
> Can anyone say _for sure_ what they are going to be doing in two years
> time? I can tell you this... if this deal goes through - Nokia will be
> working _together_ _WITH_ Trolltech.
>
> > Further now Trolltech gets less interesting for the many competitors
> > of Nokia - so a success in the smartphone and embedded market
> > is only possible on Nokia platforms - other manufacturers never would
> > choose the platform of their biggest competitor.
> >
> > Next issue is the currently very bad reputation of Nokia in Germany -
> > please read the newspapers, maybe then you can understand that
> > germans actually have very very big problems with Nokia.
>
> I am sure there are many other companies moving from Germany, not just
> Nokia. As well, I do not think it was an easy decision for anyone.
>
> > This is quite painful for german software developers using Nokias Qt -
> > like me.
>
> It's not Nokia's Qt - it's Trolltech's Qt. No one calls it AOL's Firefox.
>
> > The acqusition won't work without loosing some potential partners
> > and customers and the formerly very big reputation of Trolltech.
> >
> > Now Trolltech is no more a neutral software developer - now it's a
> > hardware / manufacturer dependant company.
>
> No, we will only develop what we already do - the greatest cross platform
> toolkit and embedded device gui for Linux. Trolltech is a software company,
> always has been - always will be.
>
> > Of course, nobody at Trolltech can share and understand worries
> > of commercial customers and I'm sure nobody at Trolltech ever minds
> > such worries and side effects.
>
> <sarcasm> Yes, you're right. No one at Trolltech is human or has families
> futures on the line.</sarcasm>
>
> > And it's very sad that noone of your sales team answers the questions
> > of their commercial customers.
>
> That's because we are bound by laws and regulations. There can be large
> fines involved.
>
> Nokia wants to work _WITH_ Trolltech, AND its current and future customers.
> They aren't dropping the ball. They want to help us grow. They want to make
> Qt and Qtopia better. That can only help you as a customer.
>
> > Kind regards,
> > Christian

-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 38 in thread

As a open source developer that's use Qt in lot of projects, and also a Kde
user. I think that the nokia acquisition of trolltech  open a new world of
opportunities and not all are bad a catastrophic. We must wait for the best
of nokia and trolltech and continue to contribute to the best end of this
new scenario.

The new phone movile market that is open for Qt, Kde developers is a great
thing for the community.

If at the end nokia try to change the rules of the game don't worry to much,
the important think is the how-now and this is already in the open source
community, a complete rewrite of Qt or even better is not as big as may
seems, but i think that nokia already knows that if it close the door to the
open source community, it close the door to the software innovation process.
Is no so easy to change the rules of the game even when they are new
copyright owners of Qt.



On Jan 29, 2008 8:29 PM, Fabio Giovagnini <fabio.giovagnini@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Hi Lorn,
> I think that the market is the market.
> All the possible choices have the good face and the bad face.
> For Trolltech the incoming of Nokia into the social capital is a big
> opportunity.
> I do not know now how many millions of smartphone have qtopia on them, but
> I
> think that at the stady state over all Nokia production will be Qtopia;
> and
> this is the only reason because of Nokia should acquire Trolltech. The aim
> is
> to bet on a winning technology, to control it and keeping it far away from
> the competitors; this is real in every market.
> I do not know so good the telecommunications market but I know very good
> the
> automotive market, and the volumes are comparable, so the main strategies
> too.
> I wish Trolletch only the best, but I think that it is a real possibilty
> to
> see Trolltech going out from the community.
> By the way if it is the best for Trolltech it is better that it happens.
> We will stay to see. And after all in Italy we say: "For a Pope dying
> another
> incoming".
>
> Sincerely good work and good luck.
>
> P.S.
> If Someone does something better than otehrs it is rigth he win the prize.
>
>
> Alle 19:55, martedà 29 gennaio 2008, Lorn Potter ha scritto:
> > On Tuesday 29 January 2008, Christian DÃhn wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I don't want to start another flame war - but as german commercial
> > > customer I'm seriously worried about the future of Qt.
> > >
> > > Nokia is known for changing their software strategies quite often -
> > > as mentioned of other list members in this thread before.
> >
> > So does every company in business. You cannot grow, if you do not
> change.
> >
> > > Therefore your last mail is - and it's ok from your position as
> employee
> > > - a little bit too optimistic
> >
> > Yes, possibly. and I have the advantage of having spoken to people from
> > Nokia.
> >
> > > and it's more realistic that nobody at
> > > Trolltech can say for sure what Nokia will do in one or two years.
> >
> > Can anyone say _for sure_ what they are going to be doing in two years
> > time? I can tell you this... if this deal goes through - Nokia will be
> > working _together_ _WITH_ Trolltech.
> >
> > > Further now Trolltech gets less interesting for the many competitors
> > > of Nokia - so a success in the smartphone and embedded market
> > > is only possible on Nokia platforms - other manufacturers never would
> > > choose the platform of their biggest competitor.
> > >
> > > Next issue is the currently very bad reputation of Nokia in Germany -
> > > please read the newspapers, maybe then you can understand that
> > > germans actually have very very big problems with Nokia.
> >
> > I am sure there are many other companies moving from Germany, not just
> > Nokia. As well, I do not think it was an easy decision for anyone.
> >
> > > This is quite painful for german software developers using Nokias Qt -
> > > like me.
> >
> > It's not Nokia's Qt - it's Trolltech's Qt. No one calls it AOL's
> Firefox.
> >
> > > The acqusition won't work without loosing some potential partners
> > > and customers and the formerly very big reputation of Trolltech.
> > >
> > > Now Trolltech is no more a neutral software developer - now it's a
> > > hardware / manufacturer dependant company.
> >
> > No, we will only develop what we already do - the greatest cross
> platform
> > toolkit and embedded device gui for Linux. Trolltech is a software
> company,
> > always has been - always will be.
> >
> > > Of course, nobody at Trolltech can share and understand worries
> > > of commercial customers and I'm sure nobody at Trolltech ever minds
> > > such worries and side effects.
> >
> > <sarcasm> Yes, you're right. No one at Trolltech is human or has
> families
> > futures on the line.</sarcasm>
> >
> > > And it's very sad that noone of your sales team answers the questions
> > > of their commercial customers.
> >
> > That's because we are bound by laws and regulations. There can be large
> > fines involved.
> >
> > Nokia wants to work _WITH_ Trolltech, AND its current and future
> customers.
> > They aren't dropping the ball. They want to help us grow. They want to
> make
> > Qt and Qtopia better. That can only help you as a customer.
> >
> > > Kind regards,
> > > Christian
>
> --
> Fabio Giovagnini
>
> Aurion s.r.l.
> via degli orti 11,
> 40050 Funo di Argelato (BO)
> P.I e C.F.
> 00885711200
> Tel. +39.335.8350919
> Fax +39.051.8659009
>
> www.aurion-tech.com
>
> account telefono VoIP skype (www.skype.com):
> aurion.giovagnini
>
> --
> To unsubscribe - send a mail to qt-interest-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> "unsubscribe" in the subject or the body.
> List archive and information: http://lists.trolltech.com/qt-interest/
>
>

Message 39 in thread

On Wednesday 30 January 2008, Fabio Giovagnini wrote:
> Hi Lorn,
> I think that the market is the market.
> All the possible choices have the good face and the bad face.
> For Trolltech the incoming of Nokia into the social capital is a big
> opportunity.
> I do not know now how many millions of smartphone have qtopia on them, but
> I think that at the stady state over all Nokia production will be Qtopia;
> and this is the only reason because of Nokia should acquire Trolltech.

Don't be so sure before you know the whole picture. Remember that Qt is 
Trolltech's flagship and is cross platform. ;) Think about things unsaid...

> The 
> aim is to bet on a winning technology, to control it and keeping it far
> away from the competitors; this is real in every market.

They are not closing Trolltech. Nor are they going to stop selling Qt's 
licenses to interested developers.

> I do not know so good the telecommunications market but I know very good
> the automotive market, and the volumes are comparable, so the main
> strategies too.
> I wish Trolletch only the best, but I think that it is a real possibilty to
> see Trolltech going out from the community.

Not a chance. The same people who make up Trolltech will remain.

> By the way if it is the best for Trolltech it is better that it happens.
> We will stay to see. And after all in Italy we say: "For a Pope dying
> another incoming".

and in the US where I am from, we say, "when one door closes, another opens"
But no one is closing anything to do with Trolltech. We will just be getting a 
phat pocket uncle.


-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 40 in thread

We stay to see.
By the way as Leibnitz told: "What will happen will be the best, beacuase what 
happen it the ONLY thing that could really happan."

Sorry for my poor English but I hope to have been clear enough.
I fell neither worried neither NOT worried; I just think the it is normal to 
run new opportunites when they appears.

Cheers!!!!!!!!
Ciao


Alle 20:50, martedà 29 gennaio 2008, Lorn Potter ha scritto:
> On Wednesday 30 January 2008, Fabio Giovagnini wrote:
> > Hi Lorn,
> > I think that the market is the market.
> > All the possible choices have the good face and the bad face.
> > For Trolltech the incoming of Nokia into the social capital is a big
> > opportunity.
> > I do not know now how many millions of smartphone have qtopia on them,
> > but I think that at the stady state over all Nokia production will be
> > Qtopia; and this is the only reason because of Nokia should acquire
> > Trolltech.
>
> Don't be so sure before you know the whole picture. Remember that Qt is
> Trolltech's flagship and is cross platform. ;) Think about things unsaid...
>
> > The
> > aim is to bet on a winning technology, to control it and keeping it far
> > away from the competitors; this is real in every market.
>
> They are not closing Trolltech. Nor are they going to stop selling Qt's
> licenses to interested developers.
>
> > I do not know so good the telecommunications market but I know very good
> > the automotive market, and the volumes are comparable, so the main
> > strategies too.
> > I wish Trolletch only the best, but I think that it is a real possibilty
> > to see Trolltech going out from the community.
>
> Not a chance. The same people who make up Trolltech will remain.
>
> > By the way if it is the best for Trolltech it is better that it happens.
> > We will stay to see. And after all in Italy we say: "For a Pope dying
> > another incoming".
>
> and in the US where I am from, we say, "when one door closes, another
> opens" But no one is closing anything to do with Trolltech. We will just be
> getting a phat pocket uncle.

-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 41 in thread

Chris Thompson wrote:

> I have been a long time user of Qt since back in the days of 2.x.  I have 
> consistently been impressed and happy with the work that TrollTech has done.  
> And I believe their agreement with the KDE Free Foundation board was FAR 
> above and beyond what anyone had the right to expect.
I don't think that any party does not have the right to expect something - Qt
and Trolltech lives with the community and its customers who, I think, set value on
the availibility of Qt and the other products identical on all platforms.

Being some kind of "embedded development platform plus Windows and UNIX and,
oh yeah, somewhere MacOSX and maybe Jambi" is _not_ an option. And confirming
"this won't happen" does not really help when you have to rely on something for
the next few years by developing applications with Trolltech's frameworks.

> I am not saying that TrollTech is perfect, and I have no experience with Nokia.
> As a commercial customer, I have serious concerns about Nokia's long-term
> plans and how much of an impact this will have on us.
Me too.


Regards,
Erik

--
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 42 in thread

Did you notice that there is no pricing listed on the website anymore?
http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/pricing



--
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 43 in thread

I have found the implementation of the KDE Phonon Framework in the latest
Version of QT4.4 :-)
After struggling a little bit under windows I have got the sample
mediaplayer app running.
My question now: Does anybody know which components I have to deploy on a
target machine together with the app, the Qtdlls and the phonon plugin dll
to get the media app running, as the DirectX9 SDK seems not to be
sufficient...


Best regards
Karl-Heinz



--
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Message 44 in thread

It was for a some time.
I inquired in late December about price  and got qoute which basically
correlates with previously published prices.
(+special bonus because it was end of year -:))

2008/1/30, B.C. <bikerc@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
> Did you notice that there is no pricing listed on the website anymore?
> http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/pricing
>
>

-- 
 [ signature omitted ] 

Message 45 in thread

It's been like that for at least half a year.
I think they want you to contact sales in order to get numbers.

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: B.C. [mailto:bikerc@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 30. Januar 2008 06:51
> An: qt-interest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Betreff: Re: AW: Nokia to acquire Trolltech
> 
> Did you notice that there is no pricing listed on the website anymore?
> http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/pricing

--
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