There’s a whole bunch of noise about the LiMo Foundation and comparisons to the Google Android project and the Open Handset Alliance. That’s cool, I’m happy there are people taking a look at both and poking around and trying to figure out how to make things better. But right now I don’t really care.

I don’t care because LiMo doesn’t seem to be an open source project at all. It’s a consortium meant to steward communal intellectual property and license rights. Just a quick glance over the open source definition and then the LiMo website should spark thoughts like “Hey, where’s the source code?” and “What’s with all this talk about membership?”

I’m not saying that LiMo isn’t a great effort. It might drive down the cost of manufacturing handsets and drive significant innovation back into Linux. But the project is really aimed at device manufacturers. They’re trying to bill it as a savior for consumer application developers as well because it supposedly standardizes Linux, but until the devices are out in market and I see some numbers that’s going to be a really hard case to make to me. Show me the code or show me the install base. Don’t claim open source without any public code and claim an end to device fragmentation without significant units in the market. I’m going to assume you’re just bullshitting.