Launching the Series 60 software platform in Comdex 2001 feels like yesterday. I worked in the technology marketing back then, and was involved in creating the Series 60 brand elements, its presence in Comdex, and the messages and materials for the launch. When Jorma Ollila, Nokia's CEO at the time, stood up on the stage and announced that Nokia is going to give out "the source code" of their smartphone platform, people applauded spontaneously. It was an announcement where the world leading handset manufacturer promised to give its crown jewels to its direct competitors, in the name of openness. At that time it was a revolutionary step. Good old times.

         

But now it's good new times. We are saying good bye to S60 as we know it. The blog entry in s60.com gives out details on closing down the www.s60.com website, gradually from now until the end of this year. Registration for s60.com, and the Ambassador program are now both closed. At the end of June Nokia will stop adding new content or comments to the site, however existing content will be there for some time. The blog will continue reporting on the ramp-down progress.

The new place to go for Symbian S60 stuff is of course the Symbian Foundation. S60.com will ramp-down as the foundation will ramp-up, so no information or interaction channel is going to go away.

As excited I am for the Symbian Foundation - this time open source for real - a silent moment for Series 60 is in order.