Nokia looking to sell QT

[sandyd]

Nokia is currently looking to sell Qt - already laying off workers, and closing the offices.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/nokia-reportedly-planning-to-sell-qt-as-more-developers-are-laid-off

Would be really bad for unity if QT becomes fragmented. KDE as well.
edit: Unity-2d to be phased out IN 12.10

[kurt18947]

No real surprise, I'd think. Nokia right now = All Microsoft All the Time. I feel bad for those being laid off.

[matt_symes]

Please don't turn this into a Microsoft bashing thread.

I'm sure that was never the original intention of sandyd.

[juancarlospaco]

GTK3 is not better to deal with (from code perspective).
And now Gnome Devs say they dont make Desktop they make an "OS",
meanwhile dont know what color to paint Nautilus, WTF, I just install Marlin.
I only feel sorry for the few and poor Gimp Devs, they need resources.


Qt has great community, and good direction if you check the incoming Qt5 Roadmap.
Qt Quick (a.k.a. QML) makes an App just writing a CSS-like file, and is really crossplatform.
If is needed to get supported by the community only, Qt is a better base.

[KiwiNZ]

Nothing is ever permanent, if a company does not evolve it disappears, Nokia is trying to evolve.

[hakermania]

Too bad! QT is awesome!

Let's hope someone will take care of it!

[forrestcupp]

Qt will be fine. A while back, Nokia sold the commercial licensing rights of Qt to Digia. So they have a vested interest in making sure this project continues. Not only that, but Dreamworks and Adobe both have an interest in making sure it doesn't just disappear. Somebody is going to pick up the ball here.

[sffvba[e0rt]

Qt will be fine. A while back, Nokia sold the commercial licensing rights of Qt to Digia. So they have a vested interest in making sure this project continues. Not only that, but Dreamworks and Adobe both have an interest in making sure it doesn't just disappear. Somebody is going to pick up the ball here.

Agreed... also KDE has a nice big community (and now also the KDE Free QT Foundation (http://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php)) that won't let it die either...


404

[thatguruguy]

Would be really bad for unity if QT becomes fragmented.

How's that, exactly?

[Mikeb85]

Nothing is ever permanent, if a company does not evolve it disappears, Nokia is trying to evolve.

Except they are evolving in the wrong direction. Probably would have been much better for the company to push Meego hard, the N9 was a brilliant device, and WP7 has been a bust so far. I've seen one WP7 phone in the wild. Heck, I've seen more W6.5 phones...

I remember the day the N9 came out (as I was trading in and out of Nokia at the time), analysts were incredibly impressed by the device, and extremely dismayed that Nokia would throw it all away...

[MadmanRB]

Qt will be fine. A while back, Nokia sold the commercial licensing rights of Qt to Digia. So they have a vested interest in making sure this project continues. Not only that, but Dreamworks and Adobe both have an interest in making sure it doesn't just disappear. Somebody is going to pick up the ball here.

Just hope it wont be adobe or KDE really will be dead and we all will be forced to use ****** gnome 3 or unity.

[lykwydchykyn]

In all my years as a Linux user, I've heard so many doom and gloom predictions; I can't think of one that came true.

Qt was around before Nokia owned it, it will be around afterwards. A codebase that good doesn't just die.

[forrestcupp]

How's that, exactly?That's what I was thinking. I didn't think Unity depended on Qt at all. It's Gnome 3 based.


Just hope it wont be adobe or KDE really will be dead and we all will be forced to use ****** gnome 3 or unity.
I highly doubt if it will come to that. Qt is just a toolkit, and it's just one part of KDE. If nobody in the world takes it over, there's no reason they couldn't just keep developing new versions of KDE using the last version of Qt, until someone does bring it back to life. But it won't get to that, anyway.

[thek3nger]

Ok, sad news but I don't think that Qt will die...There are this KDE foundation (http://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php) that should keep Qt available for ever and ever...

I don't know how much this foundation is strong but there are so many free software that has survived to their "parents". :)

[sandyd]

That's what I was thinking. I didn't think Unity depended on Qt at all. It's Gnome 3 based.


I highly doubt if it will come to that. Qt is just a toolkit, and it's just one part of KDE. If nobody in the world takes it over, there's no reason they couldn't just keep developing new versions of KDE using the last version of Qt, until someone does bring it back to life. But it won't get to that, anyway.
only unity-2d is.

[vexorian]

That's the reason free software licenses are needed and so wonderful. Specially copyleft ones. Companies might be nice and all, like Trolltech, Nokia or Sun. But even in those cases, we can't rely much on them. Chairs change, companies get sold. Etc. When a Microsoft employee somehow became CEO of Nokia, he began the destruction of every FOSS Nokia was doing. At least this time copyleft will allow KDE to save QT.


Nokia is currently looking to sell Qt - already laying off workers, and closing the offices.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/nokia-reportedly-planning-to-sell-qt-as-more-developers-are-laid-off

Would be really bad for unity if QT becomes fragmented. KDE as well.
edit: Unity-2d to be phased out IN 12.10
Knowing Microsoft (or you can call it Nokia) they will sell QT to Oracle. Knowing Oracle, they will use this new IP in ruining the FOSS world further.

[StephanG]

Nothing is ever permanent, if a company does not evolve it disappears, Nokia is trying to evolve.

Agreed.

But, I don't think Nokia is trying to evolve. I think they're trying to adapt.

There's a huge difference, between steering a company into new directions and visions before anyone else has seen the potential, and trying to recover from bad mistakes by throwing any excess weight overboard in an effort to avoid sinking.

[GeneralZod]

Looks like Digia (who already own the "commercial" aspects of Qt) are interested in acquiring the rest of it (including "a number" of Qt developers) :

http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2012/08/09/investment-in-qt-planned-to-continue-digia/

Edit:

One immediate benefit of moving away from Nokia:



I am extremely happy to say that we will begin to explore how to introduce support for other mobile targets, Android and iOS, as fully supported platforms for Qt applications. I am sure many of you will be happy with that news!

[Elfy]

http://www.digia.com/en/Home/Company/Press/2012/Digia-to-acquire-Qt-from-Nokia/

[lykwydchykyn]

http://www.digia.com/en/Home/Company/Press/2012/Digia-to-acquire-Qt-from-Nokia/

Awesome!! I sure hope they bring Qt to Android.

[MadmanRB]

So what does Digia do exactly?
Will they respect the GPL?
Will they keep the development of QT and its source code open?

[forrestcupp]

Looks like Digia (who already own the "commercial" aspects of Qt) are interested in acquiring the rest of it (including "a number" of Qt developers) :

http://blog.qt.nokia.com/2012/08/09/investment-in-qt-planned-to-continue-digia/

Edit:

One immediate benefit of moving away from Nokia:Cool. I figured Digia would keep the ball rolling.


So what does Digia do exactly?
Will they respect the GPL?
Will they keep the development of QT and its source code open?Good question. Their whole interest in this is the commercial license. Hopefully they'll see the benefits on the development side of keeping a dual license.

[MadmanRB]

Cool. I figured Digia would keep the ball rolling.

Good question. Their whole interest in this is the commercial license. Hopefully they'll see the benefits on the development side of keeping a dual license.

Hope so too, I really like KDE and hate to see development for it die out thanks to greed

[KiwiNZ]

They will need to find and develop lucrative income streams for this to enable a good return on investment. I am not sure it is there.