Idea: developer experience (dev device / programs / etc)

asked 2013-12-30 19:57:43 +0200

Venemo
14841 ●130 ●160 ●170

updated 2013-12-30 20:30:50 +0200

Do you guys remember the cooperative and creative spirit we used to have a few years ago?
I'm writing this in the hopes of reviving that spirit!

As a company, Jolla needs the support of developers now more than ever - we must make sure together that our favourite platform gets the attention it deserves and besomes successful. Thus, providing a good developer experience is almost as important as a good user experience. The ideas here are not only useful to Jolla, but also the community.

I've seen many people on IRC and various forums who are very interested in developing for Sailfish but are (for various reasons) unable to afford a Jolla. There are also those people who are developers and are willing to pay for extras that might not be interesting for inclusion in the product for average users.

I suggest the sailors at Jolla to think about the following:

• Jolla developer edition device with features for developers, eg. hardware keyboard other half, or a bigger battery, or a stylus, etc
• Organizing developer programmes like Nokia / Intel used to
• Organizing developer competitions like the Maemo community used to
• Maybe give a discount to those who want to develop native apps for the Jolla but can't afford the device
• Giving away some devices to universities or hacker spaces that are interested in developing for them or teaching about the platform
• Regular meetups and discussions between community and Jolla developers, giving advice about user experience, best practices
• Community-editable wiki for Sailfish know-how, best practices, etc
• Better developer offering in general (such as more allowed APIs at the harbour)

(NOTE: This is not about myself, as I already have a Jolla, but about others who might be unable to afford it or who might need just that little extra encouragement to go for it.)

NOTE: I do not suggest giving out devices "for free". There are so many ways to accomplish this, some examples are Nokia's programs and BlackBerry's hackathons. We must learn from the mistakes of the other dev programs and implement our own in a better way. What's important is that the end result should benefit the entire community.

I'm inviting everyone to this thread to discuss the possibility for these. As a Jolla customer and as a Mer/Nemo/Sailfish enthusiast, I'd like to see a lively ecosystem of apps and developers and I'm greatly interested in creating a constructive, cooperative atmosphere like we used to have 2-3 years ago in the Maemo/MeeGo/etc communities.

Might be loosely related:

• https://together.jolla.com/question/680/co-creation-leading-to-co-development/