Tizen 2.0 Magnolia SDK and Source Code Released

jrepin writes "The Tizen 2.0 source code and SDK are now available. 'This release includes an enhanced Web framework that provides state-of-the-art HTML5/W3C API support, a Web UI framework (including full-screen and multi-window support), additional Tizen device APIs, such as Bluetooth and NFC support, and access to the device's calendar, call history, and messaging subsystems are now available. Other highlights: The Web Runtime framework supports new configuration elements for specifying the required features and privileges, and provides the basic runtime environment for NPRuntime plugins; the Native framework supports full-featured application development and provides a variety of features such as background applications, IP Push, and TTS (Text-To-Speech)."

Re:

[ThePhilips]

instead of wasting so much effort on yet another specialized slow contrived software that will run on a couple devices

Unless of course the platform compatibility layer can be added to the Android as an app.

Re:

[gTsiros]

AAAAAAAAGH!!!

Re:

[drinkypoo]

You could probably do that, but it would require the NDK and as such will have to be separately maintained for each architecture and Android version you want to support...

About Page

[bill_mcgonigle]

Tizen is an open source, standards-based software platform supported by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and silicon suppliers for multiple device categories such as smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, and smart TVs. Tizen offers an innovative operating system, applications, and a user experience that consumers can take from device to device.

The Tizen project resides within the Linux Foundation and is governed by a Technical Steering Group. The Technical Steering Group is the primary decision-making body for the open source project, with a focus on platform development and delivery, along with the formation of working groups to support device verticals.

The Tizen Association has been formed to guide the industry role of Tizen, including gathering of requirements, identification and facilitation of service models, and overall industry marketing and education.

Tizen provides a robust and flexible environment for application developers, based on HTML5. With HTML5's robust capabilities and cross platform flexibility, it is rapidly becoming the preferred development environment for mobile apps and services. The Tizen SDK and API allow developers to use HTML5 and related web technologies to write applications that run across multiple device segments.

And Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] says:

Market Releases

As of February 2013 there were no announcements either from Samsung or Intel about market releases of Tizen on actual devices. Unofficial disclosures typically come from Samsung officials at conferences. Allegedly, the first devices were planned to hit the market in second half of 2012.[13]. It was then clarified that first quarter of 2013 is not a date of actual product launch but demonstration at Mobile World Congress.[14] Tizen Devices made by Samsung would ship later in 2013 but the exact date has not been disclosed.[15]

A possible cause of delay is Samsung's transition to Bada on top of Linux as a base for the operating system. A Samsung employee involved in the project explained on the project's mailing list the he had not enough permission or knowledge to disclose plans regarding the future of the platform, pointing to the committee of executives in Tizen Association.[16]

Licensing Model

Presented originally as an open source operating system, Tizen 2 has complicated licensing model. Its SDK contains is based on many open source components[7] while the entire SDK has been published under a non-open-source Samsung's licence[8].

The operating system itself is consisted of a many open source components. A number of components internally developed by Samsung (e.g. boot animation, calendar, task manager, music player applications) are however released under the Flora License which is most likely incompatible with requirements of the Open Source Initiative.

Re:

[Microlith]

Apparently most Slashdotters are now incapable of using a browser themselves and lack basic reasoning skills, thus are incapable of discovering this information for themselves.

Excellent, let's hope they keep it open

[xiando]

We need more alternatives for tablets and mobile phones, Google has way to much control since Android has a near-monopoly on mobile devices these days. It does not say if they also plan to keep the development truly open, I hope they do. Android pretends to be free software but it doesn't have much in common with actual free software projects.

Re:Excellent, let's hope they keep it open

[stephanruby]

It does not say if they also plan to keep the development truly open, I hope they do.

No, they don't.

You may not load or install any of the Tizen SDK onto mobile phones or any other devices, except a personal computer...
  Tizen SDK License [tizen.org]

They've chosen the JavaME path in that regard, [sarcasm] a real successful plan to emulate. [/sarcasm]

It seems to me that they're going after the feature phone market with this.

In other words, you'll be able to get the phone for free, but you'll have to pay $4.99 every time you want a new ringtone.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

For the desktop, as long as the EFL and E17 are funded and kept FOSS I don't care.

For the mobile, I just don't care. HTML5 means I get to keep the real code on the server and push content as I see fit while only providing client access using their SDK. They might as well mandate it FOSS and in JavaScript since I won't be bothering implementing anything more complex than a database query in there anyhow...

This is no more restrictive than Visual Studio. They keep control over the libraries while I keep my cod

Re:

[drinkypoo]

I really don't see the problem here.

Not seeing a problem is fine. I'm not seeing a benefit here. Why would I want to involve myself with another niche OS guaranteed to never approach the market share of Android or, probably, even Windows Phone?

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Is linux a "niche OS" now ?

No, Linux is a kernel. HTH, HAND.

Re:

[stephanruby]

Not seeing a problem is fine. I'm not seeing a benefit here. Why would I want to involve myself with another niche OS guaranteed to never approach the market share of Android or, probably, even Windows Phone?

You should check out the Firefox OS phone, it has no market-share either.

But at least, those guys allow you to install it on phones.

Re:

[Andy Dodd]

Also, (I unfortunately can't find the link at the moment, but it was on the Tizen mailing lists a few months ago) - While Samsung technically has "partners" in the Tizen project, the reality is, "We are Samsung, we do what we want."

Aaaah - found the link - https://lists.tizen.org/pipermail/general/2012-October/001061.html [tizen.org]

Also, apparently their kernel repo has commit history obliterated - https://lists.tizen.org/pipermail/product-dev/2012-November/000100.html [tizen.org]

On the opposite end, Android as Google envisions i

Ooops... Forgot another link...

[Andy Dodd]

https://lists.tizen.org/pipermail/general/2012-October/001068.html [tizen.org]

Are we getting any Tizen devices at all?

[fufufang]

All those SDK/OS releases are cool. However for end consumers to use it, we do need devices that support it...

Re:

[SendBot]

As Intel and Samsung are major backers, it will likely be supported on things like the Nexus 4, Galaxy S2/3, and the Intel Orange phone.

also, it's going in your car

[Anonymous Coward]

Tizen is also seriously targeting the automotive market [tizen.org]. The old carputer concept has been reborn under the initialism "IVI", for "In Vehicle Infotainment", and lots of ODMs seem to be interested in getting a piece. IVI industry types are the major backers of big kernel changes like the controversial new AF_BUS [lwn.net].

Re:

[jcdr]

AF_BUS is completely optional and mostly only a multicast optimization. Nothing that the current D-Bus libraries and daemon can't do for years.

A real advance for D-Bus would be a proper _synchronous_ implementation of the D-Bus into the libglib instead of the actual bloated multithread implementation that can hang in futex. I hit this problem from years in multiple embedded systems. It rare but when it's happen, the product freeze and the customer is unhappy.

Caution

[fustakrakich]

Funky license [tizen.org]

...Except for the limited license granted to You herein, You agree that all right, title and interest in and to the Tizen SDK including the concepts and technology inherent in them, Samsung or Tizen trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights, are, and at all times shall remain, the sole and exclusive property of Samsung. Except to the extent permitted under this Agreement or by applicable law, You shall not (i) modify, reverse engineer or disassemble

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

In all fairness, the Android SDK license [android.com] isn't a bed of roses, either:

1. 3.3) You may not use the SDK for any purpose not expressly permitted by this License Agreement. Except to the extent required by applicable third party licenses, you may not: (a) copy (except for backup purposes), modify, adapt, redistribute, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or create derivative works of the SDK or any part of the SDK; or (b) load any part of the SDK onto a mobile handset or any other hardware device except a pe

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Heh, you're right!

*sigh* I hope Slackware will make a mobile OS some day.

Re:

[fustakrakich]

I don't know why this posted twice

Re:

[larry bagina]

Don't worry -- the /. story will probably be posted twice, too.

Mer

[seandiggity]

Like Tizen, a successor to Maemo/MeeGo but with the community in mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mer_(operating_system) [wikipedia.org]

...my hunch is that Bada will take center stage for Samsung, and only share code with or assimilate the Tizen components that have restrictive and/or non-copyleft licenses.

Whence Tizen, more importantly, Why?

[drinkypoo]

Tizen came from meego came from moblin came from intel ripping everything non-intel-specific out of Linux and slapping a pretty interface on it (OpenGL ES, maybe?) Unfortunately they never took the time to make moblin stable and then they abandoned it and joined meego and took their toys over there, where presumably they threw away half of what intel did and then sat on it and did nothing (they had a GUI-less release once, whee!) and then they brought out Tizen for some new devices which were capable of running more powerful systems, but abandoned the original Atoms which are the platforms that actually need a lightweight Linux.

I'm having trouble telling if there are any images for anything people actually own, and it doesn't look like it...

RIP Moblin

[Tenebrousedge]

The Moblin alpha and beta releases booted in about 5 seconds, on a single-core Atom netbook, to a full linux desktop.

The alpha was mostly Fedora packages, the beta had a surprisingly sensible UI for the class of devices it was targeting, and would have done well for tablets, I think.

I wish that I knew how to make my computers do that again. You may talk about instant booting from ROM, but show me any combination of modern hardware and software that approaches the speeds of Moblin.

"It's not about booting fas [lwn.net]

Re:

[unixisc]

I read somewhere that the original reason Intel was behind Meego was that Microsoft did not offer comprehensive Windows 7 support for the Atom processor. However, in the tablet market, most vendors went w/ XP, and the few that tried any type of Linux abandoned it.

Since then, Intel abandoned Meego in favor of Tizen, but I've never figured what its goal is? As far as the tablet market goes, Android has pretty much taken over, and anyone else is a me-too there. Heck, even Microsoft can't get momentum behi

Re:

[drinkypoo]

The Moblin alpha and beta releases booted in about 5 seconds, on a single-core Atom netbook, to a full linux desktop.

That wasn't my experience, but then I don't have SSD. It didn't boot that fast from a SD card either, but they do tend to be slow. On my desktop PC the POST takes dramatically longer than the actual boot, as I do have a SSD, and I also have six storage devices which have to be slowly enumerated.

Native framework not-quite-C++ yay.

[AReilly]

I read a little of the on-line doco, and noticed that the "native development" system supports C++ but not exceptions. So two-phase object initialisation is a requirement and try/except is out, and a bunch of standard APIs can't be used. There was also something about restrictions on C use, should you prefer that, but also missing some standard library functions. That's not too surprising, but I suspect that the C++ restriction is going to make porting code from existing sources painful. I dimly remembe

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

YAHASWW (yet another HTML5 apps story without Web)

[spage]

Tizen joins Blackberry 10, Firefox OS, webOS, and Windows 8 in saying "Write HTML5 apps for our platform". Unfortunately these are all also-ran platforms, but it does make it easier for PhoneGap [wikipedia.org] to target them along with turning HTML5 into Android and iOS native apps.

So where are these HTML5 apps? I don't want to have to connect to a a web site and hand over my personal details to maintain a list or edit a photo in my browser. I should be able to try out any application in my browser, and if I like it "pin it" to run locally. I hoped FLOSS developers would step up and develop these, but they seem stuck in the 90s arguing irrelevancies like GTK vs. Qt and Python vs. C++.

Instead there are hundreds of thousands of "apps" that are nothing more than HTML5 packaged a certain way, all dumped into a few needlessly platform-specific App stores.. It's a travesty of the principles of the web, and for no good reason. At least Mozilla has the right vision [mozilla.org]:

The Mozilla Open Web Apps project proposes some small additions to existing sites to turn them into apps that run in a rich, fun, and powerful computing environment. These apps run on desktop browsers and mobile devices, and are easier for a user to discover and launch than Web sites. They have access to a growing set of novel features, such as synchronizing across all of a user's devices.
...The only thing you have to do to create a Web app from a Web site is to add an app manifest. This is a JSON file that describes your app, including its name, its icons, and a human-readable description.