WAP Review calls Linux Journal's mobile site, m.linuxjournal.com, "a beauty" and adds, "No tiny dumbed down mobile site, it features just about everything found on the full site including archives, commenting, forums and videos in mobile format."
For that we can also thank MoFuse, which hit the streets last summer with a slick Linux-based way of cutting the cruft out of weblogs and presenting them readably on mobile phones and other handhelds, (We gave the company a mention under "Laundering blog layouts for mobile devices" in our October issue.)
Now that MoFuse has put some rubber on the road, we thought it was a good time to hit David Berube, Founder & CEO of MoFuse, with a few questions about his fledgeling business and Linux' role in it.
- Doc Searls
LJ: How's it going so far?
DB: We are now approaching 14,000 mobile sites, and we just raised a seed round of funding from the Slater Fund in Providence, RI -- our home town. We're moving quick!
LJ: What got you going with Linux?
DB: I choose Linux for a few reasons: 1) It's powerful and can do the job we need at MoFuse really well; 2) It's open and that is key to how I'm working as an entrepreneur and how our small team can be so efficient; and 3) It's inexpensive -- another key factor for a company just starting out.
Linux being free means a lot to an entrepreneur. Using Microsoft would have cost me more to get going when compared to a Fedora install. Also, there are many avenues out there I can reach out to for free and get help -- more so on an open platform because it is community driven. When I have a problem, I can almost always find the answer using a quick Google search. In the past when I was using Windows servers the answer or solution wasn't easily accessible.
Basically, Linux has enabled MoFuse to create what it is today and indirectly help foster the mobile web. I'm sure these are things you've heard numerous times before but it is very true for MoFuse.
LJ: Well, we've heard some of the same rationales before, but fostering the mobile web from a Linux angle is somewhat new. How are you doing that?
DB: Lots of ways, but one that comes to mind is the OpenX ad server. The OpenX team has done a fabulous job with it and it's a great product. It's not in production but we are working with it heavily behind the scenes to convert it to a mobile ad server. On our side we're making modifications so that we can use it as our primary mobile ad server.
LJ: How about the larger mobile web? Any handheld platforms you prefer?
DB: I'm very excited about Android and the prospects for a mainstream open source mobile operating system using Linux. This will lower barriers for smaller companies and help further the growth of mobile far beyond where it is today -- and hopefully help drive the handset costs down so more consumers can have access to smartphones.
LJ: One thing I like about MoFuse is that it cuts the bloat out of blogs, and everything else that runs through it. Do you think this will have a positive influence on blog design, and send some hints to the authoring software development folks?
DB: I don't know. When I design anything, I do it with two things in mind, the user (viewer) and simplicity. I think MoFuse reflects that and my personal blog (blog.daveberube.com) certainly does. I like simple, I'm a fan of 37 Signals because of their take on design, and I try to bring that same take into projects I work on. But, as you know, some of the bigger blogs need to make space for advertising and that can really clutter a design. There needs to be a balance between design and revenue.
LJ: I have a hope that mobile platforms, as they get more popular, will drive development in the direction of simplicity. If that happens, what will you be looking for from other developers, bloggers, website designers, and your own team?
DB: With anything, you begin to see features creep in. It's a battle every developer wages and it's not easy. You need to really figure out what is needed and what isn't. The good thing about mobile is that applications and web sites need to be simple in order for them to function. For example, there is no mouse, so you must make the user interface simple to use in order for users to be able to do the things they need.
LJ: Speaking of thin and lightweight have you checked out Dave Winer's "news river" concept? The best example is nytimesriver.com, which Dave put together for the New York Times, but which they seem to have ignored.
DB: Yes I have, it's straight to the point, is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less, perfect.
LJ: Let's talk about the iPhone. My own view is that Apple has created a very slick data device that also happens to be a phone. They point toward a phone business that needs to be a data business. Meanwhile, the other phone makers have many different devices, with many different SDKs. This encourages developers to come to this one very capable platform, even though Apple is its one huge gatekeeper.
DB: Apple really has created not just a great device, but a whole new concept that flies in the face of the carriers, including their partner AT&T. Jobs has really leveraged the Apple brand to bend carriers to their needs, although Apple did cave in a little with the iPhone 3G and the forced contract with AT&T that subscribers now need to sign.
What I dislike about Apple's iPhone & the App Store is its limitations. Why are there limitations? Why can't a developer create video recording software? Why can't developers create navigational software? Why does Apple get to be the gatekeeper to what gets exposed to the users? Why can't the users be their own gatekeepers?
It also stifles innovation! A company isn't going to invest $100,000 in developing new software for the iPhone if there is no guarantee that Apple will even approve of the software. Apple wants you to invest your time and money into developing for their platform but there is always a risk that iPhone users will never get a chance to see it themselves. If that happens you virtually have no other avenue to get to all those millions of iPhone users, except maybe marketing it to jailbroken phones. I just hope that overtime Apple will open up the platform a little more, we could really see some cool things if they did that.
LJ: Meanwhile on the Linux side, I've discovered some of the phones can't do sound yet. Can they compete? How?
DB: That will change. Sound is moving forward. If you don't have it now, you will have it soon.
LJ: And you think Android will make it happen?
DB: Hope so. The problem Android is going to have is that the carriers are still going to try to lock down the operating system. It's going to be an OS that is fractured because it's not going on one single device but on many. Which means developers are going to have to create applications that work for devices with and without a touch screen, with and without a QWERTY keyboard, with 3G & WiFi and without. The list goes on. That's a challenge, but hopefully what Android can do is at least create a standard moving forward.
It's up to the carriers. If they don't lock down the operating system and really let it be a true sandbox for developers, I'm positive that we will see great innovation. The mobile phone is capable of doing so much. It's a device that we always have with us, and it's always on. It's the most personal computing device we have.