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With Ubuntu's shift to Qt in 11.10, an attack on the mobile sector must be imminent
When Canonical announced Ubuntu's shift away from the GNOME desktop manager in 11.04, the switch to Qt was almost a foregone conclusion; GNOME requires Gtk+, but Unity doesn't -- so why stick around? A better question to ask, though, is why Qt?
The odd, but overwhelmingly likely truth seems to be that Ubuntu is moving into the mobile sector. Unity was originally designed as a netbook or small-screen interface; and there's no denying that Unity 2D, without its shiny bells and whistles, is designed for very low-powered devices, like cheap tablets and smartphones.
Qt
That's where Qt enters the equation: Qt is the application framework used on Nokia's Symbian and Maemo phones. Qt is also fully cross-platform, with support for Windows, Mac and Linux. With Qt, developers could write a single program for Ubuntu, and have it run on desktops, laptops, tablets, and even smartphones.But why oh why does Canonical even want to go into the mobile market? Has someone at the top lost their marbles?
Mobile
The only conclusion I can come to is that Canonical wants a slice of the massive tablet-and-smartphone pie. There's no doubt that the market is growing at an immense rate, and it won't slow down for a few years yet -- but can you really imagine using an Ubuntu smartphone in the next couple of years?In all likelihood, I think Canonical is hoping to shoulder in on the tablet market. It has ARM experience, and plenty of ties with OEMs in China and other non-Windows/Apple/Google-dominated nations. It's those OEMs that will build the next generation of tablets -- and as the ex-chief operating officer at Canonical said earlier this week: "through a growing desktop business with these [OEMs], [Canonical] has the relationships to nudge them into experimenting beyond Android, and certainly beyond Windows."
Still, I could be wildly off the mark. The move to Qt might just be for stability reasons, or to provide a greater number of apps for new Ubuntu users to install. Stay tuned, though. If the desktop PC really is going the way of the dodo, and with it the Wintel Epoch, there may just be space for Ubuntu in the emerging mobile device melee. Once the furore over the iPad dies down, and generic, cheaper tablets become readily available, it could actually be Ubuntu that becomes the next Windows.
Comments
20
Subscribe to commentsVDJan 21st 2011 3:25PM
You make some very wrong statements , Sebastian.
First, Qt is already available in Ubuntu, and has been since Ubuntu's birth.
Second, Unity is not a replacement for the Gnome desktop manager, it's just an UI on top of it. Gnome Shell is also an UI for GDM, and Unity is supposed to replace that.
Now to the point of your article, GTK+ is also crossplatform, and is currently working in Maemo 5 and MeeGo Handset. And it's also pretty much irrelevant which framework developers work with, as long as it can be compiled to any specific Linux target platform.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 21st 2011 3:31PM
@VD Heya!
As I understand it, Qt's always been available -- like it's available for any Linux distro -- but it's currently a bit of a fudge? Something to do with Gtk and Qt not playing very nicely together?
Shuttleworth basically says that they're trying to make Qt a proper, native component of Ubuntu, rather than a cludge.
The whole mobile-oriented thing basically stems from the ex-COO's post on the Register. I know the evidence isn't overwhelming, but I can't fathom why an ex-COO would make such a claim if he wasn't sure :)
RolandixorJan 21st 2011 4:58PM
Honestly this article is just all wrong. Next time post this on April first... I vote for this to be deleted or rewritten for how annoyingly wrong this is...
VDJan 21st 2011 5:15PM
@Sebastian Anthony
@(Unverified)
No, I've never heard of issues between Qt and GTK.
The choice to develop and switch to Unity is part political and part managerial. My first impression is that Unity should be better performing as it has a simpler architecture. The problem with Gnome Shell, is that it's developers are making many changes to the standard Gnome libraries, which will not land in time for the next Ubuntu release.
The political part is that the Gnome Shell devs have made some design decisions which we're not well received by some people in the community, including the Ubuntu people who decided to develop their own thing. But this is actually a pretty normal thing for open-source communities.
simonJan 22nd 2011 8:31AM
@Sebastian Anthony
GTK and QT work together, they are just toolkit librarys. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible to run KDE apps in gnome. The whole Ubuntu on tablet thing has always been the case for natty, it's no secret. Sorry but article is of poor understanding and quality.
SilverWaveJan 22nd 2011 12:25PM
@Sebastian Anthony
>but it's currently a bit of a fudge?
yeah under the gnome desktop the apps work but look alien and the fonts and confederation are "off".
Mark is saying they will add them if they play nice with gconfig etc..
Good idea.
Alex MJan 21st 2011 3:49PM
I would not rule out the mobile market. In other parts of the world, more people access the internet through cell phones than through computers. With UbuntuOne and the Ubuntu Software Center, an Ubuntu smartphone doesn't sound bad at all.
For the record, I love these kinds of analytical posts.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 21st 2011 3:56PM
@Alex M Cool -- then I'll keep it up :)
Yeah, I think this kind of tacks onto the whole 'Hey, Nokia is pretty big outside the tech blog bubble!" conversation. For all I know, Canonical might already be testing some kind of smartphone in Asia!
Hopefully it's pretty clear that we're trying to keep track of the 'fringe' development -- because no one else seems to...
Bill KingJan 24th 2011 9:28AM
@Sebastian Anthony Keep it up, especially the Qt focus ;).
Seriously tho, have you seen the handset sales numbers? It's the new goldrush.
From: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1372013
54 Million smartphone handsets in Q1 2010 alone, with Symbian taking the lions share of 24 Million handsets.
That's one hell of a target market segment (without taking the community supported QtIOS and QtAndroid ports).
ChrisSskJan 21st 2011 4:29PM
This isnt as big change as it sounds. The Ubuntu CD will now include the Qt libraries so you wont need to download them. That's the main difference for now.
However, If I'm not mistaken MeeGo will also be using Qt with GNOME (and also eventually replace x.org with Wayland) the same things Ubuntu is doing.
I think Canonical is aligning itself with Intel/Nokia since the development of their own consumer aimed OS will also benefit Ubuntu
BTW KDE used in Kubutu is written in Qt
Sebastian AnthonyJan 21st 2011 4:58PM
@Rolandixor You gotta say WHY it's wrong!
Danny BoyJan 21st 2011 10:36PM
"China and other non-Windows/Apple/Google-dominated nations"
Do such nations exist? Do tell. Last I checked, Windows dominate Asia, even more so than the rest of the World. Sure, piracy is rampant, but the fact is that people would rather use pirated Windows than any flavor of Linux.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 22nd 2011 5:52AM
@Danny Boy Hehe, yes, but they dominate the desktop market -- not the emerging smartphone/tablet market.
The whole idea is that desktop PCs may soon be dead -- and if that happens, no one quite knows what's going to happen with Windows (thus the whole Windows 8 running on ARM thing)
Sebastian AnthonyJan 22nd 2011 5:53AM
@Danny Boy Not to mention, those developing countries may eventually crack down on piracy!
roblopesJan 22nd 2011 1:54AM
Russia needs hardware 100% compatible with Open Source Software by 2015. I think Ubuntu has just as good of a shot as any other Linux distro. With a population of 141 million, it will catch on quick.
Its a win win for the Linux community.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 22nd 2011 5:53AM
@roblopes Yeah! That's a good point.
I think they're actually working on their own distro, though -- but we'll see :)
Danny BoyJan 22nd 2011 10:31AM
@Sebastian Anthony
The desktop/laptop PC still has some life left in it, and I don't see mobile phones replacing it at all. Tablets will, but its still a niche product right now. Time will tell. Oh, as a citizen of a "developing" nation I rather doubt that we'll repent our evil ways any time soon. ;-)
I am currently writing this using Linux Mint installed in a USB. Linux has come a long way but hardware issues and buggy apps continue to plague even the best distros. I sure hope that Ubuntu can break into the mainstream. And if it needs to go through the back door via tablets and using Qt, then so be it. Then perhaps it would get better support from hardware manufacturers.
SilverWaveJan 22nd 2011 12:21PM
Well as Canonical work with Google on Linux related projects this is not too far out there.
Also Canonical are a business and mobile is the hot area at the moment so that would also make sense.
SilverWaveJan 22nd 2011 12:26PM
@SilverWave
/confederation/configuration/
Sebastian AnthonyJan 24th 2011 9:30AM
@Bill King Sure! We're trying to cover more Linux-related stuff, so... yeah, there'll be more :) (I can't guarantee a Qt bias, though...!)
I'm sure the smartphone market would be mega for Canonical, but I honestly don't know how much of a step it is to go from netbook OS to smartphone OS. Presumably it's pretty big...