Antony’s Mobile Blog

Agile software methodology is very hot topic these days. Many companies have been starting to use agile in their software development. Jo Stichbury, the author of Symbian OS Explained and The Accredited Symbian Developer Primer books, has recently interviewed Jim Coplen about agile software methodology. The interview in PDF format is available on Symbian Developer Network. Here is a small quote from the interview:

When people inquire about what ?Agile? means, I always return to the source: the Agile manifesto. There are so many branches of Agile, individual practices and individual methodologies that have been equated with the word Agile. Like most popular terms it ceases to have much useful meaning any more, so I like to go back to the source. The source is brilliant and there?s some really good stuff there for people to think about and to get their teeth into, but it probably isn?t what most people think it is.

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

If you are a fan of agile software methodology, you have to read the interview. It contains valuable information. If you don’t know about agile or haven’t used agile, I highly recommend reading the interview and then…. (this is the most important one) discuss with your team to start applying agile.

Links

• The Agile Heart: An Interview with Jim Coplien
• Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development - a book by Jim Coplien
• Agile Manifesto

Symbian has just announced a new project to improve the current Symbian Signed process, which is very painful for developers. You can read the announcement on Symbian Developer Network Forums. It’s good to know that Symbian listens to developer’s voice.

What’s new in the next Symbian Signed? I’ll try to highlight the new changes below.

1) Developer’s Certificate

There are basically two types of developers, i.e.:

• developers with Publisher ID;
• developers without Publisher ID.

Symbian has now started to use Publisher ID from TrustCenter, which costs $200 / year. It is much cheaper compared to ACS Publisher ID from Verisign, which costs $350 / year.

Developers with Publisher ID

Developers without Publisher ID

2) Certified Signing

The process of certified signing is similar to the current Symbian Signed process. It costs a couple of hundred dollars depending on the test house.

3) Express Signing

This is a new process that allows developers to sign their application with a very low cost, most probably around $20 per signing. The application will be signed online. The application is still required to comply with Symbian Signed test criteria; but the test will be done after signing and the result will be published later.

If you have comments, please send them to Symbian Developer Network Forum directly.

How about freeware and open source software? There is no real plan yet. Symbian is collecting inputs, ideas and suggestions on how to improve the signing process of freeware and open source software.

My decision of not developing Screenshot for Symbian OS has triggered some reactions. Thanks to the following bloggers for their sympathy (am I missing somebody?):

• The Sad, Sad State of Symbian Signed from Symbian-Guru
• Symbian Freeware Scene Under Serious Crises from Symbian Freak
• Quick Clicks #4 from Symbian in Motion

Thanks also to:

• Steve Litchfield from AllAboutSymbian.com who tried to contact one of the Symbian Vice President.
• Jo Stichbury, the author of Symbian OS Explained and Accredited Symbian Developer Primer, even met me today asking the detail of the problem.

Is there a solution for Symbian Signed for Freeware? Is it possible to do automatic signing for freeware? How can we authenticate freeware developers without any cost? There are many open questions to answer.

I have an idea of automatic signing that may work for open source projects. Basically, Symbian (or other organization that has access to root certificates) creates a system that is able to download the source code directly from SourceForge.net or FreshMeat.net. It compiles the source code in the system automatically. Then it signs the application automatically.

In my opinion, there won’t be crazy developers who publish virus or malicious code to the open source communities. The success of an open source project is based on trust, isn’t it? Will someone abuse the system? It might be, but as far as I know SourceForge.net team always review a project for approval.