Comments on: Integreat!

By: Roderic

Roderic — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:01:03 +0000

In regards to your request for a gmail API for contacts. Have you tried g4j? Check it out on sourceforge. It might have what you are looking for.

If you aren’t into the whole Java thing, i know there is a python version that may have what you are looking for.

I used it once on a test email address I had, it seemed to work well.

By: Ian Murdock

Ian Murdock — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:24:16 +0000

I certainly wouldn’t advocate making it impossible to run on “unofficial” hardware platforms. Indeed, if Apple released OS X for generic x86, along with clear warnings that the best experience to be had was with Apple hardware, I think they’d drive a lot of Mac sales. Still, you can’t deny a seamlessly integrated Ubuntu/hardware combo would be an interesting play for the right vendor.. -ian

By: Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:23:26 +0000

I’d say that Canonical’s funding of the Ubuntu laptop-testing team makes some steps towards this. What you appear to be describing is something like what smaller OEMs like System 76 (who make those nifty Ubuntu case badges) do by partnering with Canonical: sell hardware, with the value-added component being a nice, integrated and supported OS. This only works if you’re primarily a hardware vendor. Software vendors are always striving for ubiquity.

– Chris

By: stephen o'grady

stephen o'grady — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 07:43:14 +0000

chris: that’s fair pushback. while i did try and acknowledge that Foster wasn’t explicitly playing the Apple card, from the tone of the comments over there i failed to be clear enough about how i was drawing the distinction. namely, that my intention was to consider an Apple play in terms of a focused effort, as opposed to an exclusive one.

in other words, does it make sense to follow Apple’s lead in delivering a specifically selected and highly tested software/hardware combo to market alongside of support for general platforms, rather than deliver *just* that.

my bad.

By: Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:35:03 +0000

The open letter doesn’t actually seem to make the point that O’Grady says it does. Partnering with Acer (oh dear god please: I want another Ferrari) isn’t the same as limiting your supported platform to things with an Acer badge on them. Apple don’t merely support a particular set of hardware, they outright ban you from running their OS on anything outside of a static list of devices.

– Chris (who curiously notes that the author, like, founded something called “the universal operating system”)