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

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 12:45:57AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> 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.

Oh yes the OS running LG televisions these days.

> 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.

A lot of automitive designs use QNX.  There are some moving from other
realtime OSs to QNX since it seems to be the best supported and flexible
these days.  If you need realtime, Linux isn't a good choice (it is a
choice of course, just not good at it).  And of course some companies
fear GPL.

-- 
Len Sorensen