BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Linux

Feb 3

BlackBerry, Cellphone Applications, Open Source Software, Ubuntu Linux

Most Linux users will know that the desktop managers that comes with their cell phones, does not work in Linux. There are some alternatives for this, but none of them works as well as the actual desktop managers works in Windows! There is a project called Barry forBlackBerry, but this is still in Alpha and a few people are working on something for Nokia.

A fellow Linux and BlackBerry user has started a petition to try and get RIM to make a BlackBerry Desktop manager for Linux. You can find the petition here.

Weather you use BlackBerry or not, please go ahead and sign the petition anyway as other manufacturers will probably follow in RIM’s footsteps if they do it.

Thanks for the support!

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BlackBerry, Linux

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Comments

Technology Heaven

March 4th, 2009 at 9:42 PM

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[...] place where Linux lacks, but it is really not actually Linux’s problem. I’ve written a blog about a petition that a fellow BlackBerry and Linux user has started that he wants to send to the [...]
Rob Smith

April 25th, 2009 at 10:38 PM

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According to the latest statistics that I have seen, about 7% or so of the desktops out there are Apple Macs, and less than 1% are running Linux of one distro or the other. It is all a numbers game, the important numbers being revenue. RIM still has not addressed its lack of an Apple solution, and I doubt we'll see one for Linux until it is economically beneficial for RIM to do so.

I wish that this weren't the case, but do keep in mind that RIM is set up as a proprietary organization, not an Open Source one, and their primary motivation is the buck!

Like many other things in the Linux world, this is probably an area where, if we want something, we'll have to do it ourselves as a community. From what I can see, Barry is the most realistic shot.
conradtheart

April 26th, 2009 at 2:18 PM

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Hi Rob. I realize what you're saying, but I do think that hardware manufactures needs to realize that they need to care for all their customers and not only for a part of them. Vodafone has developed a application for Linux, and even though it is not the greatest application, it works. I don't expect RIM to make a Linux app and keep it as updated as the Windows app, but at least give us something to work with.

Sooner or later as more people join the Linux community, they will make a application for us I'm sure, but no harm in signing the partition, don't you think?

Rob Smith

April 28th, 2009 at 4:45 AM

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I see no problem with signing the petition (if I could find where to add my info), but as I stated before, it will probably do no good, as companies work to make a profit, and there's not much profit creating a suite of applications for what would probably amount to less than 1% of their customer base. I'm sure that, as they see it, they are much better off spending those development dollars on the next generation of the BlackBerry OS, enhancements and bug fixes to the current version, or improvements to the BlackBerry Desktop Manager that they supply for the 90+ percent of their customers who sync via a Windows OS.

Unfortunately, the sad part of living in a Capitalist society is that money talks, and at least for the present, there's no real money in providing a Linux sync solution. It's going to be up to the Linux community, as always!

conradtheart

April 28th, 2009 at 6:13 PM

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Yip, I agree its all about the money! Would be nice to at least get a hand from them though. Like the source code! We can take care of the rest.

You can sign the petition by clicking on "Sign the BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Linux Petition" on the link above.

Thanks for your comments.
senshikaze

July 9th, 2009 at 3:32 PM

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rob: the less than 1% is bunk I have a few different sources that have put the number closer to 2% or 3%. I know it isn't much, but you have to give it where it is due. And besides, as the next version of Windows is being pushed, many non-American countries are flocking to Linux and will over the next nine months. While you are right, it is a numbers game, the numbers aren't going to add up in your arguments favor real quick.

Another question is this: Why not release it open source? What do they have to lose? they make absolutely zero dollars off of the desktop manager, it all comes from hardware and applications sells. you get the manager for free and as many downloads as possible, so why not release the code and let others work on it for free? I don't understand companies that stick to the closed source ideal even when open source may be better. Both styles have their place, and denying that just shows how much you don't understand.