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Qt not dead after Nokia-Microsoft deal
by Yasser Ali - February 15, 2011 - comments
One thing that's quite clear is that Qt will not move to Windows Phone 7.
Nokia's announcement that it was going to move to Windows Phone 7 did not really go down well with open source enthusiasts and put a question mark on the future of Qt, an open source development platform that was acquired by Nokia.
Aron Kozak, head of the Web and Community group at Nokia's Qt Development Frameworks, wrote in a Monday blog post that “QT is not dead”.
He acknowledged that Nokia’s announcement to switch to Windows Phone 7 may not be the best news for Qt, but added that it certainly should not be taken to mean that Qt is dead.
According to Kozak, Qt will continue to thrive on Symbian, Meego, and non-mobile platforms.
Qt won't move to Windows Phone
One thing that's quite clear is that Qt will not move to Windows Phone 7.
Both Nokia and Microsoft unanimously agreed that Qt should not be there on Windows Phone. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that though such a move was architecturally possible, it would create many other unnecessary challenges.
Developers have been unhappy with Nokia’s decision because most of them had been optimistic about Qt’s MeeGo platform, hoping that it would be the future of Nokia smartphones.
Elop hinted that Qt might power the development of Nokia’s Series 40, a software platform that run on a huge number of Nokia devices.
All questions were answered as Kozak and Elop were there in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress.
Nokia will continue to invest in Qt
"We will continue to invest in the development of Symbian and continue to release devices based on Symbian," Kozak wrote.
"[Elop] reiterated that we will ship a large number of Symbian devices over the next couple years. 150 million is the current prediction, in addition to the millions of existing Qt-enabled phones already on the market."
Daniel Kihlberg, director Qt Ecosystem, had notified earlier in a blog post that Qt would continue to be an important part of Nokia.
His blog post attracted over 300 comments within a matter of hours, some of which asked blatantly if he was being too optimistic.
Kozak responded at the Mobile World Congress saying that the future of Qt is not bleak or gloomy as many have been painting it to be.
He said he empathized with developers who were disappointed with Nokia’s move to Windows Phone 7 for its smartphones.
Developers have been unhappy with Nokia’s decision because most of them had been optimistic about Qt’s MeeGo platform, hoping that it would be the future of Nokia smartphones.
Kozak concluded by saying that Nokia would prove to developers its commitment to Qt and would celebrate Qt victories.
Intel had revealed that it was not going to change its commitment to Qt in any way and would continue to fully support and develop the Qt platform.