Jolla | Makers of truly competitive Linux for mobile - NEW PHONE COMING! 🤳
◉Jolla is a small but spicy company on a field of relentless competition
◉Due this - Sailfish OS moves to a subscription model (but it's just 5€ / month)
◉New budget phone comes with 2 ARM Cortex-A75 CPU / 6 Cortex-A55 cores
◉8GB of RAM / 128gt space / 4,000 mAh bat
◉Pre order for €299 (incl. a 1-yr sub) & Jolla takes €50 deposit
@Linux @sailfishosnews "Sailfish OS moves to a subscription model"
Enshitification intensifies!
@Tekchip Yes and no. Sure, paying 50 EUR once for a perpetual license for that device seems nicer.
But: If this is what they say, a subscription for OS updates (and not a subscription for additional services, like cloud storage or TV content), users and company interests may be aligned: Users want continued development, the company can afford it. It might be a way out of the never-ending cycle of unneccessary e-waste.
@Linux @sailfishosnews
@Linux @sailfishosnews Just what Linux mobile needs...subscription bullshit. Sorry, but sticking with #postmarketOS. I wish these companies would just make good hardware and properly integrate said hardware into the mainline kernel and surrounding ecosystem (mesa, freedesktop, ALSA UCM, libcamera/megapixels, etc) rather than just trying to be yet another segregated mobile ecosystem. Let the existing software projects handle the user experience.
@CalcProgrammer1 Sorry, but I could not disagree more. Sailfish OS is way more normie compatible, and free labour is not sustainable, not even for hacker-type projects like postmarketOS as they strive to be more than that. See also https://fosstodon.org/@linmob/112488984704808788 why I think this can be good and is not enshittification. And: If you don't pay for it, you are the product.
@Linux @sailfishosnews
@CalcProgrammer1
I am sure PmOS also needs subscription money. Sure it is not mandatory, but i do not think it is a wrong decision in general from Sailfish.
I understand it would be ideal if they did not _have_ to do it, but bankrupcy does not help freeloaders aswell.
Sadly we do not live in a perfect world.
@Linux @sailfishosnews
@linmob @Linux @sailfishosnews that's the most hilarious take. Meanwhile in reality companies have to extend free updates further and further out to keep devices alive and usable.
So they want you to believe that money gating updates is some solution? Have subscription fees ever stayed the same or gone down? Nah they'll hike it until it's untenable. As soon as someone can't afford to pay their device is either abandoned or becomes security swiss cheese. Neither result is good.
@Tekchip Most companies make their money by selling devices, Jolla do not (well, mostly, but I don't think the 1000 devices "Jolla C2" do count, even comparing to PinePhone or Librem 5). To make long term updates viable, you need some longer term revenue; and if you don't gather that by selling services (usually subscriptions) or do affiliate crap or data mining, how do you do that?
Just let them try this, it might well fail, but from a "how to finance maintenance" viewpoint, it makes sense.
@pavel Simple. Looking at all #LinuxMobile projects, SailfishX with Android App Support is the one I would be most likely to give my non-technical parents (2nd would be Ubuntu Touch). The reason they did this price-increase/change to subscription is due to a management-buyout where they cut ties and are no longer partnered with Russia: https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/sailfish-community-news-30th-november-jolla-reborn/17473
Am I personally hyped about Jolla? Nope. The non-FOSS components are a big reason. But I'd like for them to stay around.