There are many ways to make an operating system successful. Usually, companies just opt to create a new version of the OS that surpasses the last one. Just take a look at the OS for the Apple iPhone. The system is getting ready for the major version 4 coming up soon, but so far, the current OS is the fruit of countless patches and fixes that has streamlined and updated the system to the OS it is today. On the other hand, this technique may not always be so effective, especially when the updates hardly deliver the much needed changes and fixes by the users. Such is the case with the Windows Mobile operating system, whose version 6 series has been the recipient of many criticisms in regards to its interface.
So far, Symbian has always been that kind of operating system.
There are other OS’ such as the Android, the Moblin, the soon to be released Bada and more that are not just platforms, but are open source systems as well. The degree of being an open source program varies with each system; the Android is considered to be open source even if only a portion of the code has been released to developers.
The new announcement from Symbian foundation says that they will open up their OS completely to developers (well, most of the platform anyway), giving devs full reign of accessibility to component and features. This means that if someone wished to, they can use the system to run devices other than mobile phones.
The interesting move may have been sparked by the growing disinterest in Symbian phones (though Sony Ericsson still makes high end Symbian devices) since the time that the Maemo and the Bada were announced.
Get the full details on the Symbian going open source from Stuff TV.
Tags: Symbian