Frequently Asked Questions
General FAQs
The mission of the LiMo Foundation is to create an open, Linux-based software platform for use by the whole global industry to produce mobile devices through a balanced and transparent contribution process enabling a rich ecosystem of differentiated products, applications, and services from device manufacturers, operators, ISVs and integrators.
Unlike other efforts in the market that are only focusing on creating APIs or standard interfaces for the mobile Linux environment, the LiMo Foundation is collaboratively developing a commercial platform that its members can deploy across devices, networks and a variety of mobile operating environments. LiMo will augment its effort by providing common APIs and SDKs to enable broad usage and adoption of LiMo’s technical output.
LiMo Foundation is well on the path to deliver a commercial-grade mobile Linux operating system for its members, along with APIs and SDKs that can be accessed by members and non-members alike.
Yes. LiMo Foundation is uniquely funded and structured to have an independent program office and staff that will help manage and maintain the organizations development and technical output. The program office is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with an R&D office based in Asia.
Procedural/Membership FAQs
In order to ensure rapid development of the R1 platform, participation on this release is limited to Founder members only.
All members are eligible to lead and/or participate in working groups by invitation from that council.
The Requirements Council consists of 15 representatives, consisting of Founder and Core members and also including 2 Associate members. A percentage of the RC seats held by Core Members are rotated each year, based on votes by the membership at large. Note that the Associate seats on the Requirements Council have been filled by existing members; these seats will become available through a member-at-large vote on the two-year anniversary of the Foundation (commencing late 2008).
The Architecture Council consists of 15 representatives from Founder and Core member companies. A percentage of the AC seats will be rotated each year, based on votes from the membership at large.
There are 13 seats on the Board of Directors and Executive Council; 6 seats are allocated to Founding members, 7 seats are available for Core members. Core Board seats are voted upon annually by the membership at large, once the number of Core Members exceeds seven
Overall strategy and guidance is set up by the Board of Directors and executed by the Executive Council. Under their leadership the Architecture Council guides the technical output and development of the Foundation, based on requirements established by the Requirements Council, and implemented by individual Working Groups. The Foundation Program office, as managed by LiMo’s Executive Director, gives strategic guidance and support to all LiMo activities, including R&D, marketing and membership development.
In general, Core members have broader leadership and participation opportunities; however, LiMo’s structure does enable Associate members to access and modify the LiMo code and also to contribute to LiMo workgroups that develop the platform frameworks. A distinguishing difference between the two membership classes is that Core members are allowed to commercially distribute the common LiMo code with their products.
Yes, LiMo membership is open to any organization that wishes to better understand, support and/or contribute to the efforts of the Foundation.
Technical/Product FAQs
LiMo Foundation expects the first devices featuring LiMo Functionality to come to market shortly after the completion of the R1 frameworks.
The latest public information on Limo’s architecture plans and strategy can be found on the “Platform Technical Information” section of our website. If your company is interested in joining LiMo Foundation, please contact us via email at membership@limofoundation.org to arrange a more in-depth briefing on our technology and roadmap.
All code and APIs will be made available to non-members once it is sufficiently vetted and tested.
Frameworks in the R1 release of the LiMo Foundation platform are scheduled to be completed towards the end of 2007. Requirements for R2 are being gathered in Q4 2007, with implementation scheduled in the 2008 timeframe. Requirements for R3 and subsequent releases will be established towards the release date of the prior version of the platform.
Yes, LiMo Foundation has developed a testing and certification program to ensure consistent implementations of the LiMo Foundation platform. This program evolves over time, and is managed by the LiMo Foundation Program Office.
The LiMo code base is maintained in a secure environment, as managed by the Foundation Program Office.
The LiMo Foundation code base is contributed by members and integrated under the supervision of the Architecture Council and its working groups. Members contributing code and IP have a variety of licensing grant options; an overview of which is outlined in the LiMo Foundation IPR Guide, which can be downloaded from the LiMo Foundation website. The full Intellectual Property Policy of LiMo Foundation, which governs contributions, can also be downloaded from the LiMo Foundation website.
The Common Code comprises the architecture modules that have been approved by the Architecture Council for inclusion in the Foundation Platform and that are required to be part of every Foundation-certified device. The Non-Common Code comprises modules that have been approved by the Architecture Council for inclusion in the Foundation Platform but that are not required to be included in an implementation of the Foundation Platform in order for such implementation to be compliant with Foundation specifications.
In practice, Common Code will include functionality that will be required in the majority of implementations, while Non-Common Code may include device, geography, or application-specific functionality.
The market’s desire for mobile Linux devices spans borders and device types – LiMo’s platform will be suitable for mass-market phones as well as feature phones.
Legal/IPR/Licensing FAQs
It is possible to convert a software submission from a proprietary license to an open source license or to the Foundation Public License, provided that certain criteria are met (IPR Policy, Article IV.B.2).
Yes, certain open source licenses are permitted by the Usable Open Source License Policy (Annex D to the IPR Policy). Members may also submit software under the Foundation under the Foundation Public License (FPL) or submit certain software under a proprietary license (Annexes B and C to the IPR Policy).
Binary modules may be shared with third parties for development purposes under the Object Code License (Annex F to the IPR Policy). Source code may be shared with contract developers, provided they meet certain criteria (IPR Policy, Article VIII).
The patent non-assertions are limited to certain types of software, but do apply to software contributed by all members.
Yes, in general and subject to other obligations (for example, under open source licenses), members may license to third parties software contributed to the LiMo Foundation. Members who develop software for the Foundation API assign their copyright interest in the software to the LiMo Foundation and thus retain no licensing rights in the copyright (Article IV, Section C (2)). In addition, the Foundation Public License (FPL) provides that there are no restrictions on a member’s use of contributed software except for certain types of derivative works (FOL, Section 2 (b)(i)).
Members may (depending on class of membership), but are not required to manufacture, develop or sell commercial products that use LiMo Foundation software.
Yes, members may use similar software provided that the similar software does not copy or contain any LiMo software and the similar software is not substantially similar to the source code for the LiMo Foundation software taken as a whole. However, no patent rights are granted or implied with respect to the similar software (IPR Policy, Article XI, Section B).
Rather than being explicitly excluded, a parent company or other affiliated entity will be excluded from the definition of IPR Affiliate so long as it does not meet one of the defined criteria for IPR Affiliate. An IPR Affiliate must not (i) have access to or be otherwise provided with any sensitive materials (highly confidential information of LiMo Foundation); (ii) be a majority-owned subsidiary of the member; or (iii) exert management influence or control on the technical development activities of the member with respect to Foundation software.
Companies or individuals seeking more detailed information on LiMo’s IPR policies are encouraged to download the LiMo Foundation IPR Guide document from the LiMo Foundation website.
Companies can contribute intellectual property to the development of a Foundation module through a variety of license grants. All contributions to Common Code must be done so on a royalty and copyright free basis.
Core members of LiMo Foundation have the right to commercially distribute common Foundation code on a royalty-free basis.
If a Core member distributes Foundation code to a company that is not a member in LiMo Foundation, that company can redistribute the unmodified object code in their own product or application. However, in practice, LiMo expects most companies that will be shipping commercial product with Foundation code will choose to take part in LiMo as a member in order to influence LiMo’s technical direction and to leverage the Foundation’s marketing and technical resources.
Yes, all members can access and modify the Foundation code for development purposes; however, only Core members can commercially ship Foundation code.
LiMo strives to leverage the benefits of open source, community-based and proprietary development models by creating a platform that can be rapidly distributed and implemented on a global basis. While the majority of code contributed to LiMo will be done on a royalty free basis, there is room for companies to license non-Common Capable contributions, so long as they offer all members a license on a non-discriminatory basis.