[Vibrant Android Development] jnutz:
Hear me out...

I can see that this ROM really has potential but I wonder how much longer this phone will be popular. I mean I am glad that CM is running on my Vibrant but I will probably trade it out soon for one of the new dual core phones. And that sucks because the good stuff is just finally starting to mature for these phones like CM but these days there isn't much incentive to stay with any one phone for very long because the hardware is advancing so fast. My Vibrant is only a year old and already the new hardware is almost three times as fast while using less battery. Not even personal computers can compare with the speed of advancement that phones have seen in recent years. But unlike the phone with a personal computer you have complete control over every byte it contains(As long as it isn't an Apple) and so as the progress speeds up or slows down the software doesn't really care because they are all x86 and compatible on certain basic levels. In order for the developers to truly reap the reward of their hard work they need to be able to run their code on each new platform with as little modification as possible just like we have with the PC. I place fault here on the phone manufacturers because with each new handset the ROM has to be completely rewritten from the ground up to be compatible due to the lack of drivers and source and that is just plain silly. In the end it hurts the consumer because the software is directly tied to the hardware and as a result the basic features are locked in as well giving them even more leverage to sell you the new phones. But the developers of things like CM are especially hurt because it is back to the drawing board every time a new phone comes out that they want to get their ROM on.

I think it is seriously cool that CM is running on the Vibrant but soon these will start to be phased out for dual core phones and the wait for the cool ROMs will start all over. It was the same way with the G1 which got CM also but at the time it received CM the hardware of the G1 was inferior to the phones that were current. I am not saying everyone has to go out and get the new iThing every time a new one comes out but the reality is most people do because they always think of more things they can do with these devices just like the personal computer and it requires ever more powerful hardware. I could go on ranting about this all day but I think I have made my point. The phone manufactures need to get together and develop more standards around their designs so each new ROM doesn't have to be built from the ground up. The personal computer made Windows, it wasn't the other way around. And if you ever wonder why the personal computer is dominated by Windows the only word you need to remember is compatibility. Windows would not exist if the OS had to be written custom from the ground up for each and every model of computer that is sold. Same goes for Linux...

They exist because the PC has basic levels of compatibility designed into it. Standards.

I would love to see a world like the personal computer where you buy a machine based on the hardware and add the software you need based on pure personal choice. Good job to the crew behind CM because they work so hard to bring joy to a device and they are racing against time to get their product out before the device is obsolete or at least greatly overshadowed by the newer ones. And to think they do this without charging a dime for any of it is the really crazy part. Those are some truly generous people.