Frequently Asked Questions General FAQsUnlike other efforts in the market that are driven by a single party, the LiMo Foundation has an open and independent governance model. The LiMo Platform is being collaboratively developed by various stakeholders within the mobile industry and is free from brand and business model conflicts. LiMo Foundation will deliver a commercial-grade mobile Linux operating system for its members, along with APIs and SDKs that can be accessed by members and non-members alike. Yes. LiMo Foundation is uniquely funded and structured to have an independent program office and staff that will help manage and maintain the organization’s development and technical output. The program office is headquartered in London (UK). Procedural/Membership FAQsThe Requirements Council consists of 12 representatives - 10 Founder and Core members and 2 Associate members. The RC seats held by Core Members and Associate Members are rotated each year, based on votes by the membership at large. The Architecture Council consists of 12 representatives from Founder and Core member companies. The AC seats held by Core Members are rotated each year, based on votes from the membership at large. There are 12 seats on the Board of Directors and Executive Council which are filled by Founder and Core members. The Founder members have an automatic seat on both the Board and the Executive Council. Core Board seats are voted upon annually by the membership at large per procedures detailed in LiMo’s bylaws. The overall strategy and guidance is set up by the Board of Directors and executed by the Executive Council. Under their leadership, the Architecture Council guides the technical output and development of the Foundation, based on requirements established by the Requirements Council. The Foundation Program office, as managed by LiMo’s Executive Director, gives strategic guidance and support to all LiMo activities, including R&D, marketing and membership development. In general, Core members have broader leadership and participation opportunities; however, LiMo’s structure does enable Associate members to access and modify the LiMo code and also to contribute to LiMo Working Groups that develop the platform frameworks. A key difference between the two membership classes is that Core members are allowed to commercially distribute the common LiMo code with their products. Yes, LiMo membership is open to any organization that wishes to better understand, support and/or contribute to the efforts of the Foundation. Platform FAQsThe R3 Platform features support for advanced Location Based Services (LBS) and contact management and extends existing features within the R2 Platform such as support for application management, advanced UI and multimedia technologies, and enhanced security and networking. The LiMo Platform architecture diagram showing all the modules currently available as well as the Platform roadmap can be found on the “LiMo Platform” page of the website. If your company is interested in joining LiMo Foundation, please contact us via email at membership@limofoundation.org to arrange a more in-depth briefing on our technology and roadmap. Yes, LiMo Foundation has developed a testing and certification program to ensure consistent implementations of the LiMo Foundation platform. Compliance is a mandatory aspect within LiMo. LiMo Members do not have the right to ship devices that contain Foundation Public License (FPL) code unless those devices are complaint with an Approved Specification. LiMo Members can only use the LiMo logo in conjunction with compliant devices. The LiMo code base is maintained in a Secure Materials Repository (SMR), which is managed by the Foundation Program Office. The LiMo Foundation code base is contributed by members and integrated under the supervision of the Architecture Council and its working groups. Members contributing code and IP have a variety of licensing options - an overview of which is outlined in the LiMo Foundation IPR Guide, which can be downloaded from the LiMo Foundation website. The full Intellectual Property Policy of LiMo Foundation, which governs contributions, can also be downloaded from the LiMo Foundation website. The Common Code comprises the architecture modules that have been approved by the Architecture Council for inclusion in the Foundation Platform and that are required to be part of every Foundation-certified device. The Non-Common Code comprises modules that have been approved by the Architecture Council for inclusion in the Foundation Platform but that are not required to be included in an implementation of the Foundation Platform in order for such implementation to be compliant with Foundation specifications. In practice, Common Code will include functionality that will be required in the majority of implementations, while Non-Common Code may include device, geography, or application-specific functionality. Handset FAQsR3 devices are expected to come to market in the second half of 2010. The flagship Vodafone 360 H1 and 360 M1, manufactured by Samsung are currently shipping in most European markets. More than 50 LiMo handset models have shipped to date in various parts of the world. A broad range of devices based on the R3 release of the LiMo platform are expected to reach the market in the second half of 2010. The market's desire for mobile Linux devices spans borders and device types - LiMo's platform will be suitable for mass-market phones as well as feature phones. LiMo handsets are already available in several countries worldwide. Developer FAQs
BONDI is an initiative by the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) whose aim is to consistently and securely open up access from web applications to device and network resident capabilities. The BONDI activity is defining the key mobile interfaces which are currently not standardised, but present the best opportunities for developers to provide great mobile web services. These interfaces are then made available through a security framework that can be readily managed to maximise the protection of the user and that can be most applicable to the type of user. The interfaces which have been specified include messaging, location, phone status, gallery, camera, application settings and Personal Information Manager (PIM). By enabling access in a consistent manner to these interfaces, BONDI is providing the developer with the ability to produce new web applications which will be capable of running across different devices and platforms.
LiMo has initiated the LiMo BONDI SDK project in an effort to create an open source SDK that enables development of Web applications and widgets that can run across all mobile handsets that support a BONDI - complaint Web runtime. More information can be found here: http://bondisdk.limofoundation.org
Developers will have 4 possible routes to market:
- Embedded software for the phone makers who are members of LiMo (make or buy decisions)
- 3rd Party applications to be sold to the phone makers for value-add
- 3rd Party applications to be sold to the operators for value-add and integrated by the phone-makers
- 3rd Party applications that can be loaded after market and paid for by the end user; for example, developers can currently distribute their apps through the Vodafone 360 shop.
LiMo Platform supports C and C++ for native development (depending on whether the OEM enables it). LiMo also supports JIL and BONDI for widget development as well as Flash. The LiMo Platform supports C and C++. Native SDKs are currently available to Members in beta mode while BONDI SDK are available to developers under an open source license on the LiMo BONDI SDK website. The native SDK will be publicly available in the second half of 2010. There are 5 main reasons why developers should develop for the LiMo Platform:
Scale:
LiMo's membership includes support and participation of 11 global mobile operators, who collectively represent a subscriber base of nearly 1 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. LiMo's OEM membes ship nearly half a billion handsets each year.
Choice:
With the LiMo Platform, you will be able to choose between different environments for realising you mobile vision. You can either develop natively or for a broad range of runtimes that are supported by the LiMo Platform and in LiMo compliant handsets - Native, Web and Flash (coming soon).
Lineage:
The LiMo Plaform is based on Linux; so if you are familiar with native Linux development, LiMo presents a very natural opportunity to transfer these skills into the mobile marketplace.
Future Proof:
The LiMo Platform is dynamic and constantly evolving to incorporate the latest technology. It benefits from the strong support of major stakeholders in the industry, who are leveraging the LiMo Platform to realise their service strategy.
Use of Open Source:
The LiMo Platform pragmatically blends open source with proprietary development methodologies. Learn more on LiMo's open source site at http://opensource.limofoundation.org
Legal/IPR/Licensing FAQsIt is possible to convert a software submission from a proprietary license to an open source license of to the Foundation Public License (FPL), provided that certain criteria are met (IPR Policy, Article IV.B.2). Binary modules may be shared with third parties for development purposes under the Object Code License ( Annex F to the IPR Policy). Source code may be shared with contract developers, provided they meet certain criteria ( IPR Policy, Article VIII). The patent non-assertions are limited to certain types of software, but do apply to software contributed by all members. Yes, in general and subject to other obligations (for example, under open source licenses), members may license software contributed to the LiMo Foundation to third parties. Members who develop software for the Foundation API assign their copyright interest in the software to the LiMo Foundation and thus retain no licensing rights in the copyright (Article IV, Section C (2)). In addition, the Foundation Public License (FPL) states that there are no restrictions on a member's use of contributed software except for certain types of derivative works (FPL, Section 2 (b)(i)). Members may (depending on class of membership), but are not required to manufacture, develop or sell commercial products that use LiMo Foundation software. Yes, members may use similar software provided that the similar software does not copy or contain any LiMo software and the similar software is not substantially similar to the source code for the LiMo Foundation software taken as a whole. However, no patent rights are granted or implied with respect to the similar software (IPR Policy, Article XI, Section B). Rather than being explicitly excluded, a parent company or other affiliated entity will be excluded from the definition of IPR Affiliate so long as it does not meet one of the defined criteria for IPR Affiliate. An IPR Affiliate must not (i) have access to or be otherwise provided with any sensitive materials (highly confidential information of LiMo Foundation); (ii) be a majority-owned subsidiary of the member; or (iii) exert management influence or control on the technical development activities of the member with respect to Foundation software. Companies or individuals seeking more detailed information on LiMo’s IPR policies are encouraged to download the LiMo Foundation IPR Guide document from the LiMo Foundation website. Companies can contribute intellectual property to the development of a Foundation module through a variety of license grants. All contributions to Common Code must be done so on a royalty and copyright free basis. Core members of LiMo Foundation have the right to commercially distribute common Foundation code on a royalty-free basis. If a Core member distributes Foundation code to a company that is not a member in LiMo Foundation, that company can redistribute the unmodified object code in their own product or application. However, in practice, LiMo expects most companies that will be shipping commercial product with Foundation code will choose to take part in LiMo as a member in order to influence LiMo’s technical direction and to leverage the Foundation’s marketing and technical resources. Yes, all members can access and modify the Foundation code for development purposes; however, only Core members can commercially ship Foundation code. LiMo strives to leverage the benefits of open source, community-based and proprietary development models by creating a platform that can be rapidly distributed and implemented on a global basis. While the majority of code contributed to LiMo will be done on a royalty free basis, there is room for companies to license non-Common capable contributions, so long as they offer all members a license on a non-discriminatory basis.
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