Live data from Hacker News

SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

sailfishos.org

81–90 of 173 posts

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#81
post #65
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huawei just created new OS and removed all traces of Android and Linux. Just like that. If there is will, it is possible.

Can it run all of the kinds of apps that people (in the EU/US markets, which is relevant to the discussion at hand) actually want to run? SalifishOS doesn't even do that, at least not for me.

If I remember correctly they have had a translation layer for android apps since they launched. But it's similar to what Apple has done with Rosetta 2 where it getting phased out for native apps only.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#82
post #58

I would seriously consider SailfishOS if it shipped on decent (recent) hardware that was available in the US. The last good experience I had with it was on the Xperia XA2, but that hardware was turned into ewaste by the VoLTE requirements of US carriers. Although they claim to run on more recent Xperia phones, they don't have full hardware support, and aren't on the most recent models. If I'm going to pay for a phone…

Well you'll need to talk to your monopolistic carriers then. US mobile innovation is dead for the foreseeable future due to them, all new innovation is happening in China and other SE Asian markets. You just need to be a good consumer and buy that iPhone that Verizon orders you to have with their blessing.

Carriers in the US restricted the phones people used in the 00s and early 10s, back when there were short model whitelists, CDMA networks, and radios with only a few bands… but not so much today. Global market GSM phones activate pretty much on any US carrier just fine today.

2/3g deprecation and VoLTE is precisely because US carriers are pushing forward with new tech.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#83
post #21
post #6

As cool as this is there won't be an European alternative as long as all the apps you'd want to use on a smartphone require either Google Play or the Apple App store.

Huawei just created new OS and removed all traces of Android and Linux. Just like that. If there is will, it is possible.

The will to create an OS is 0.0001% of the problem. There are tens of thousands of applications that people need to use that exist only for iPhone and Android.

There are dozens of functional mobile OSes. And OS isn’t useful unless it has application support for the tasks people want to accomplish, though.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#84
post #30
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny. This is the opposite of what https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/ states :D And there's a lot going on with Proton and the Steam Deck, so I don't think this is a valid argument.

Why games on Windows ship their own C++ Redistributable? Well, the same problem. And for the very same reason macOS app bundles come with a lot libraries and we still see a lot updates after every macOS release. A lot of known issues can be avoided with more experience and cooperation before changes happen. Before anybody mentions Proton. Because always somebody mentions Proton? Proton is WINE. But maintained by Valv…

> native ports

Native ports have huge problems as well. Most of them are hardly maintained and stop working years down the road.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#85
post #30
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny. This is the opposite of what https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/ states :D And there's a lot going on with Proton and the Steam Deck, so I don't think this is a valid argument.

Why games on Windows ship their own C++ Redistributable? Well, the same problem. And for the very same reason macOS app bundles come with a lot libraries and we still see a lot updates after every macOS release. A lot of known issues can be avoided with more experience and cooperation before changes happen. Before anybody mentions Proton. Because always somebody mentions Proton? Proton is WINE. But maintained by Valv…

Sure, guess what is the most durable and long lasting ABI on Linux? Win32 via WINE.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#86
post #53
post #11

SailfishOS and the Jolla One were good (awesome usability) But the integration of Android was a horribly failure. It is like WINE, half working applications preventing native ports of quality. I left the boat. After that Jolla failed with the tablet. Then they didn’t deliver a successor device for Jolla One and provided SailfishOS only as aftermarket OS. You remember the Android problem from above? The hardware of ot…

Does anyone know if Jolla ever published the full source-code? The promised back in 2013.

Jolla made a lot of promises over the years....

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#87
This is a mobile OS, right?

I go to the homepage. Zero screenshots. I go to the User Experience page. Zero screenshots. I even go to Design Principles under the UX page. Zero screenshots.

Talking about mobile phone design is like dancing about architecture. Show the thing or bust.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#88
post #2

That still exists? When I first heard of it many many years ago I had hopes for it. Never heard of it again. I see it is still on Qt5.

Qt 5.6 that too. Probably so that they can keep most of their user space closed source.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#89
Sailfish OS looks nice. but i am not sure if their strategie for applications is the way to go. Applications need to be specifically built for Sailfish OS with their IDE which uses Qt.

That means you can't run just any linux software on it.

Re: SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

#90

This is a mobile OS, right? I go to the homepage. Zero screenshots. I go to the User Experience page. Zero screenshots. I even go to Design Principles under the UX page. Zero screenshots. Talking about mobile phone design is like dancing about architecture. Show the thing or bust.

I type these words on my year old Sailfish device. I had 2 other ones for roughly 10 years altogether.

The UI is astonishingly polished. It has not changed a lot for 10 years, but still nice to use. There is e.g. the tutorial video that comes installed on every device. Sorry, probably won't have time to share it later, I have a funeral to organize when I get out of bed. Maybe some other user can if it's not on Youtube.

The biggest problem areas IMHO:

- No hardware that meets my reqirements. The current one is too big for my pockets / my taste. It's not very good HW either, in the period when Sony Xperia were supported the situation was different. Even the original Sailfish phone over 10 years ago was relatively better at the time.

- Predictive keyboard is gone. I understand it's a licensing issue that they cannot offer it anymore. Blame Apple and Google for killing all small players.

- There is a severe maintenance backlog in many places and it's probably also growing. The browser is based on Firefox with a 2 digit version number. It crashes on many bloat sites and Cloudflare blocks it for being too old. I severly hope it won't crash now before I click reply. (I guess most users use a Browser on the Android compatibility environment)

Post reply on HN