[GTALUG] BlackBerry [was Re: Linux servers attacked!]

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Christopher Browne via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| The Playbook was interesting in this regard; the kernel was QNX, but it had
| an Android
| layer,

The Playbook ran proto BB10 OS.  BB promised an update to BB10 but
reneged.

That was the first and last BB product I purchased.  Grrr.

Like Palm/HP WebOS, their phone/tablet OS was fine but their ecosystem
attracted few 3rd party developers.  So only a minority of consumers
saw the value.

Adding an emulator has often seemed to be a sign of a company with
trouble attracting developers.  And that strategy doesn't work because
it gives the developers an easy way of supporting the hardware without
committing to it.

An exception: if the company owns the new platform and the emulated
platform.  Examples: Windows emulating DOS, 64-bit x86 emulating
32-bit x86, 32-bit x86 emulating 16-bit x86.

Another exception: if the emulation is a lot cheaper than the real
thing.  Think of the Multics emulator on your PC.  Or the terminal
emulator.

BlackBerry also sells software for enterprises to manage phones and things.  I
think that they even do OK (too lazy to check).

QNX is (I think) quite a solid system.  It has a serious niche in the
automotive world.  My guess is that it will be crushed by Linux.

- QNX is better for real-time things

- QNX can be a lot leaner than Linux

- Linux's development model is a lot better for collaboration and
  for innovation without permission.

BB does use Linux internally.  Or did, last time I knew anything about 
them.  I don't see how that could change.