MeeGo changes architecture plans

As Nokia has dropped MeeGo as its primary smartphone platform, the MeeGo architects have taken the opportunity to change some of their plans for the mobile Linux. In a posting to the MeeGo architecture lists, Intel developer Arjan van de Ven, said that "just not everything is clear yet around 'who' and 'what'", but that there were some final decisions the architects were prepared to make.

The changes appear to be pragmatically driven by the loss of resources which would be needed to complete major components of the MeeGo architecture. In this case, these concern security, sync and personal information storage. On security, the architects are splitting their aims into short and long term: in the short term they want to get the MSSF (Mobile Simplified Security Framework) in place but will not be implementing the invasive parts of the specification; in the long term though, they plan to re-evaluate their plans and focus on "end-user privacy" and will reselect technology in the operating system with that in mind.

The current framework for synchronisation, Buteo Sync, is described as "very incomplete", and considering that various components are now unlikely to be made available, the developers plan to switch to SyncEvolution because it is a mature open source project. They are unsure though if the required engineering can be done in time for MeeGo 1.2, but despite that, they are removing Buteo from their architectural plans now to avoid confusion.

The storage of personal information (address book, calendar, email) is currently held in a tracker database and accessed via a QtMobility API. Again there are issues with this implementation around privacy, performance, scalability and completeness. Because of this, the PIM storage will be changed to the Evolution Data Server; at the same time as switching to SyncEvolution; access will continue to be through the QtMobility API.

See also:

• Nokia and open source – a trial by fire, a feature from The H.

(djwm)