After the most recent update to the ACCESS Garnet VM for Nokia Nseries, I decided to collect a bunch of the questions others have asked me and take that collection directly to them. While they couldn't answer all questions (as is normal when asking about product releases,) ACCESS Company gives us some insight on the purpose and goal of the Garnet VM. I thank them for their time in answering these questions.
ThoughtFix: The first version of ACCESS Garnet for Nokia Internet Tablets took many of us by surprise. What inspired ACCESS to provide this software?
ACCESS: The Garnet OS ecosystem is undoubtedly one of biggest in the mobile industry. Its success belongs to all the individuals who are part of the ecosystem, from the 25,000+ applications developers to the millions of consumers who use their products. We wanted to give all these parties the opportunity to keep enjoying this great platform and its huge software portfolio.
Additionally, we wanted to validate and enhance the compatibility level of Garnet VM by involving developers and end-users. With the Garnet VM beta version release, we will create a dedicated web page where users will be able to provide us with feedback on the applications they use.
This reinforces the value of Garnet OS applications to consumers and partner platforms. We are leveraging the development work we’ve done on Garnet VM for ACCESS Linux Platform to create an all-around win: Nokia users will have access to the thousands of great applications running under Garnet OS; it will give our loyal developers a larger installed base of devices; and it will enable ACCESS to fine-tune Garnet VM based on customer feedback.
Thoughtfix: Is this release primarily geared toward developers or consumers?
ACCESS: Both, as described above. We’re also looking to validate and enhance the compatibility level of GVM with the applications.
Thoughtfix: On the consumer side - One of the most essential aspects of the Garnet platform is desktop and informational service sync. Does ACCESS have plans to release a desktop counterpart for Garnet VM users?
ACCESS: We understand that data synchronization is a key feature. This is something we’re considering but we cannot speculate on future product directions.
Thoughtfix: How do you see the Garnet VM moving forward?
ACCESS: We will keep working on enhancing the compatibility with applications and plan to release another beta this year.
Thoughtfix: Can we get a glimpse of the Garnet roadmap both within and outside the VM?
ACCESS: We cannot speculate on future product directions
Thoughtfix: Can we expect a commercial release of Garnet that will turn any VM-capable device into a full Garnet system?
ACCESS: We cannot speculate on future product directions
Thoughtfix: Does the Garnet VM have the ability to share information (such as contacts, media files, Email messages, and alerts) with applications on the host machine?
ACCESS: The current version of Garnet VM does not have the ability to access data stored on the host file system or on a removable memory card. So it cannot access contacts, media files, etc. The results of our Garnet VM survey indicated that accessing the host file system/memory card is the second top most wanted feature after support for Full Screen. Now that the GVM beta 2 provides full screen rendering, this has become the most wanted feature.
Thoughtfix: Is there a way to make full two-way desktop-to-device synchronization work for ACCESS Garnet VM users?
ACCESS: Yes there is a way. The operation, which was very simple on Garnet based devices, is a bit more complex with GVM for many reasons. First, the only way to perform the sync procedure is over WiFi. This means that the network configuration between the desktop machine and the portable device must be correct. Second, the account used on the PC desktop must be a freshly created account as described in the GVM FAQ (which we recently updated with that regard.)
Thoughtfix: What else would you like the readers of TabletBlog.com to know about this product and ACCESS?
ACCESS: ACCESS is continuing to support Garnet and its ecosystem by incorporating it as one of four development environments in our ACCESS Linux Platform (the other environments being native Linux, Java and ACCESS NetFront Widgets). As with the Garnet VM for Nokia, ACCESS Linux Platform will allow developers and users to take advantage of the tens of thousands of existing software applications that run under Garnet OS.
If you notice is a little overlap in the answers: the interview was conducted by Email. This is my fault as my schedule did not permit the more personal interview they offered. If you have more questions, be sure to read the above-mentioned FAQ or even read the white paper (pdf link) to get information directly from ACCESS. Finally: Post questions and discuss this in forums. It sounds to me like ACCESS is watching user response to this more closely than we would have guessed.
Thanks again for the time, ACCESS and the Garnet team!
3 comments:
An interesting read!
Very interesting indeed! :)
One question I would really like to have answered... What's with the expiration date? In Garnet VM, in Help->About the text reads "This version will expire November 30th 2008."
Is this software going to be free when it is out of beta? If not, how much is it going to cost?
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