Symbian is technically open source, but on December 17, 2010, the Symbian Foundation will pull the plug on its Web sites, and the open source mobile operating system source code will no longer be downloadable.
Sure, developers will be able to get the source code via DVD or USB flash drive, according to the announcement, but that’s silly.
“In other words,” TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld said, “the Symbian OS will be open only in name. What good is open-source code if it is not available online, where it can continue to evolve? For all practical purposes, it will become an artifact of the age of feature phones. Nokia will no doubt continue to develop the Symbian OS for its own purposes. But what a way to show disdain to the open-source community it professed to embrace only two years ago.”
