Tomtom SDK support removed?

awdxs1 · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:00 am Post subject: Tomtom SDK support removed?

I have just read on a another GPS forum Tomtom are to cease support for the SDK with any new firmware release. This will presumably destroy all the hard work carried out by dedicated programmers that produce additional applications. Surely this will encourage people to break their license agreement to reverse engineer the software in order to produce applications that address the shortcomings.
Given that the Tomtom's are based on Linux are they not obliged under the opensource nature of the software to provide this SDK?. Please let me make it clear I do no condone software piracy and support the right for a company to protect their code development and their map data which they license, but to prevent a loyal band of supporters is chirlish and shortsighted.

I know there are members of this formum who have been doing some very valuable work on behalf of all of us. (largely unrecognised) I have tried to complain to Tomtom but issues with SDK can only be directed to Tomtom Pro and that is not for 'joe public'. Is there a contact higher up within Tomtom we can contact to lodge our protest with? Crying or Very sad

sorry for the long post..... I guess everyone is busy preparing for the expo Saturday.... :D
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Garmin Nuvi 865T Firmware 4.60

TomTom GO 930

Darren · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 10:10 am Post subject:

I've just read the same post. There were indications this was going to happen and it is very disappointing. A great many users have worked hard to create applets that use the SDK including our very own Camera reporting applet. Now that no further updates will be released these will cease to function in time.

A great shame and IMHO a bad decision.
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Darren Griffin

awdxs1 · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:00 am Post subject:

Darren,

Can we make our voice collectively know at a senior level within Tomtom? Its such a shame. It will encourage people to hack the firmware now rather than trying to use legitimate means. Don't TT have obligations with regards the development of third part applications? as the tomtom uses Linux as its OS?.
Personally I am very disappointed after going throught the mount fiasco then the TMC...... I am quite happy to fix mechanical and electronic problems and have customised the mount to suit my needs. The TMC is my next lightly modification. With the removal of the SDK its the first step to a fully closed product its just a matter of time before POIs are encrypted thus rendering the speedcam data unuseable. As an individual it leaves me with no option but to vote with my feet..... my next Satnav will not be a Tomtom unless they reconsider this ill thought out course of action. 8O

kind regards

Bruce (AKA AWDXS1)
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Garmin Nuvi 865T Firmware 4.60

TomTom GO 930

Darren · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:11 am Post subject:

We can but try. Sadly TomTom are not the small friendly organisation they used to be. They're now a true blue corporate and set in their ways.
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Darren Griffin

trafcam · Regular Visitor Joined: 30/10/2002 11:57:49 Posts: 155

It is very disappointing to us as a business that almost on the very day we launched for TomTom Go, TomTom decided to pull the plug on the SDK.

To answer one of the points from the OP, I believe that there is no obligation for them to provide an SDK just because the product is based on Linux. Although the OS is open-source, and lots of the drivers and so on, the navigation application itself is not and it is this which needs to communicate with the third-party apps via the SDK.

jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

TomTom's only obligation in repackaging software that is licensed under the GNU GPL is making the source code for those components available, which they have duly done at http://www.tomtom.com/page.php?Page=gpl

Frankly, such a move is ridiculous. The SDK should always have been freely available. Fostering a developers'/hackers' community is a great and cheap way for a provider to let others do their dirty work. You've got a guy like Rousillat over there at yournav.com who has added functionality to TomTom that arguably probably should have always been there. It makes TomTom devices more useful and potentially makes TomTom more desirable than other products.

As a programmer, I could think of a lot of really cool things that I could do with an internet-enabled GPS device if only I had the support I needed to make it happen.

Looks like it will never happen. Thanks for nothing.

mullengers · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 15

Hello,
It does seem an odd move, without the next step being clear...
I wonder if they plan to move to Windows CE as I read somewhere else that Microsoft was showing interest in (buying?) Tomtom and in Taiwan Tomtom have released a Windows CE based 710, there is even a download file "http://www.tomtom.com.tw/docs/710install.exe", but I can't try it (to see if it makes a GO710 become Windows CE based) as it does not recognise my GO910...
Interesting? Or just a hoax. I can't tell.
Simon

Darren · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

A WinCE version sounds very unlikely. There's nothing to suggest they would move and indeed the licensing cost of running WinCE and having to get it certified makes no sense. What makes you think that .exe file has anything to do with a WinCE installation?
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Darren Griffin

trafcam · Regular Visitor Joined: 30/10/2002 11:57:49 Posts: 155

As far as I can see this is from a posting on opentom.org which points to a Taiwanese CNET site that shows the device as being based on Windows CE. (Or at least it contains the phrase "Windows CE" - I have no idea what the rest of the page says). Of course, they might just have it wrong, there's nothing anywhere else on any site I can find that suggests this is happening. Also the user guide for the Go 710 from the tw site lists a lot of copyright messages for the various components, and they're all the same as the UK version, no mention of Microsoft at all.

It does seem unlikely - why switch to an OS you have to pay a license for? I also don't think that the EXE download would convert the device to Windows CE - quite apart from how the user would be paying for their CE license, I don't think it's possible to change the base OS of the device from one thing to another by a simple download.

From what I can see, the download is just a map and application updater, like a version of TomTom Home - I'd like to think it would provide a little bit more warning if it was doing something as major as an OS upgrade.

mullengers · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 15

You're right, silly me, it is meant for updating existing units. Probably the CNET people got the OS wrong in their article.
Simon

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