S60 Open to new features

the new s60 version 3 has put lot of restriction for the software developers and end users.As i understand,there are not many applications out there for latest s60 flavour.Then many excellent applications are not getting ported to v3.I strongly feel that user is paying for the phone.let him decide what he wants to do with his phone.Nokia should not put the software installation restrictions.it only favours the big companies and small time developers of freeware,commercial applications are reduced in no.This much commercialisation is not good.That way i feel 2nd edition phones are still good.Just for example-excellent audio software ogg play is available for 2nd edition phones.But Where it is on 3rd edition phones.

From the beginning I've been saying the same mantra. Ask the user. Don't try to make money with this.

For instance the Location API. Without paying or getting a devcert we can connect to a Bluetooth GPS device and locate the user. But without paying we cannot do this via the Location API, so no other application can access the GPS device while we're probing it. Where's the logic in that?

If Nokia and others really want to get a viable software base on these devices, they really have to make Symbian/test houses lower the costs or remove these stupid restrictions altogether.

There are also nice things about the security system in Symbian 9, like the fact that it's impossible to write or even read files in places where you're not supposed to. These should be enough combined with a nice "do you really want to give this application permission to upload your phonebook to h4xx0rw4rez.c0m?" question when doing something that would impose cost or possibly breach security. Now it's possible to upload all SMS's and other stuff without the user knowing anything about it, ever. That's security?

This whole certification and partitioning thing really put me off when I was looking for a new phone. Lucky for you there aren't many (if any) real alternatives for the Nokia E70 so I bought it anyway. I wouldn't have if there was another phone with a full keyboard, small form factor and a decent screen.

I get this whole certification thing from a business/marketing POV. If you are a company and you're giving your employees remote access to the internal network you don't want them to go installing weird/dangerous applications. From this POV it's a good thing that administrators can lock down a phone.

The downside of the current implementation is that it _really_ limits small/freeware developers. The applications that I like most are the system hacks or the truly innovative applications. Those are very, very hard to make with the current system. All the really interesting APIs are only available after you've bought some pretty expensive development certs.

As Symbiatch already mentioned, the Location API is really interesting for the stuff that I'm working with but it's locked down :\ BTW some experiences by someone that tried to make an FExplorer clone:

http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/191

At the moment the situation isn't terrible but not great either. The number of available applications for the Series 60 3rd Edition is _very_ limited. The number of Symbian applications is already pretty low compared to PalmOS and Windows Mobile and 3rd edition isn't really improving this.

The situation is (potentially) becoming terrible in the (near?) future if I have to believe marketing bla like this:

"Operators and phone manufacturers recognize the value open phones bring to the market and openness is an important aspect of Symbian OS. However, with openness comes responsibility. Operators and manufacturers have concerns that add-on software can lead to higher support costs, increased phone returns, unauthorized network billing and, at worst, malware."

In other words; we value openness but we won't allow it because it threatens our position and revenue streams. IMO the only valid reason for this signing process are companies that want to provide their employees secured phones. But I've payed quite a bit of money myself to buy a phone like this so I would like to actually own it. At the moment Symbian is trying hard to prevent me from doing that. The most obvious reason for this seems to be DRM.

If Symbian is really heading where I think it's heading then my next phone is almost certainly going to be something that's running embedded Linux without DRM and certification hassles.