| A conversation with Zipit creator Ralph Heredia |
(Jul. 19, 2005)
 Last week, LinuxDevices.com profiled the Aeronix Zipit, a $99 instant messaging device marketed to teenagers, but appropriated by Linux hackers for a variety of embedded projects. Today, we're pleased to offer a followup conversation with Ralph Heredia, who conceived and led the creation of the Zipit.
As background, our earlier story included a few paragraphs contributed by Tim Riker, one of the Linux hackers involved in repurposing the device. Riker praised the device itself, but criticized Aeronix for not taking the broader Linux community into consideration in its product design and marketing efforts. Additionally, Riker alleged that Aeronix has failed to comply with an obligation, under the LGPL, to release compiled object files that would allow copies of its Zipit application -- which contains statically linked GNU C libraries -- to be relinked with newer versions of those libraries as they become available.
Heredia refutes that allegation, and believes that the company is complying with the terms of the LGPL based on internal reviews of the agreements. "It's a difference of opinion," he said.
Furthermore, Heredia says the hacker community sometimes fails to appreciate the unique responsibilities involved in marketing products directly to minors. "We're putting devices in the hands of kids. We're not going to make it so anyone can hack into this thing."
 He adds, "Our focus is the multiple millions of users that start at age 10, and even younger nowadays, through college, that use instant messaging. We have gone out of our way to make sure to create a safe environment for kids to chat in. We don't want to expose them to viruses. Everything we do is making sure we are in support of that objective."
Heredia also responded to criticism that Aeronix was slow to distribute the open source code it used to build the device. "We launched the Zipit in November of last year. We didn't even have a Website yet. We have released the source code, and have complied with the open source licenses. We just had to do it in the timeframe that we could do it in."
Heredia continues, "We had to get approval from companies whose code we had used. There's a process you have to go through. License agreements have to be put in place."
Heredia says Aeronix is "very aware" of the hacker communities that have sprung up around the device, as well as companies that have tried to deploy the device in vertical applications. However, he says, Aeronix simply lacks the resources to support such endeavors. "We are focused on a specific market opportunity, and do not have the ability to support a thousand hackers. But we're not going to stop you -- as long as you don't interfere with the primary market."
As for Riker's suggestion that an open-source developed audio driver works better on the device than the one shipped with it, Heredia says that business issues, not technological ones, have delayed support for streaming audio on the device. "At a PC Magazine press event last week, [we demonstrated] IM chats with music streaming in the background. It really is very good and cool! We have absolutely no problems doing this, but have chosen not to for other reasons. We're determining when we'll be ready to release it to the market."
Building a device with Linux
 Aeronix is a well-established contract engineering firm with about 85 employees -- mainly engineers -- and expertise in a dozen embedded operating systems. Past Aeronix consumer electronics design wins have included the Virgin Electronics 5GB mp3 player, and DVD players for several companies. The Zipit is the first product that Aeronix has marketed directly, Heredia says.
"We chose linux because it allowed us to focus on the application, the out-of-box experience, the keyboard, and maximizing 6-8 hours of battery life. Linux allowed us to focus on these things, instead of writing another device driver for an LCD," Heredia said.
Heredia adds, "With another OS, you have to write the lower-level drivers. You may, in some cases, get a more optimized driver. But you spend two months with one engineer to do so."
 Heredia says that considerable effort went into designing the Zipit before the first line of code was written. "The first three months after I came up with this concept was nothing but research and focus groups. We were very meticulous, and did a lot of focus groups. Kids decided the color choices, the key features, and the look and feel. We've invested several man (and kid) years in this."
Then, Heredia says, the company completed its first prototype in less than a month, in part because it was able to leverage technology from other in-house projects. "That's a strong testament to embedded Linux," he notes.
Heredia is clearly proud of the device. "We don't know of any other device, with WiFi or not, that gives users the same level of experience. There are two or three other IM devices out there, that are not based on Linux: the AT&T Ogo, and Motorola's IMFree. But the reviewers always prefer the Zipit."
For the full scoop on the Zipit, along with links to projects interested in expanding the device's capabilities, be sure to read our complete Device Profile from last week.
Device Profile: Aeronix Zipit instant messenger appliance
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