[1shot]

Please, please, please, no buggy, fragmented, unreliable, non-secure, open source software on my camera. this would be enough to make me jump ship on any brand no matter how much of an investment in glass I had. A camera as bad as this s#!? android phone I'm typing this on? No thank you. An API and WiFi? Absolutely. But, the very thought of open source firmware makes me sick to my stomach!

That said, I respect everyone's opinion, but, my vote is no no, please no.

[dankoBanana]

what android phone are you using? as an engineer, android is very exciting for me

[Vertex Ninja]

what android phone are you using? as an engineer, android is very exciting for me

I don't know what version he/she has, but my G1 is very buggy also. I like android though, it's improving very rapidly and I know newer versions are much improved compared to mine.

[1shot]

what android phone are you using? as an engineer, android is very exciting for me

HTC Sprint Hero. It was great at first but gets worse with every update. I definitely don't want to start a phone fight here but my impression of open source software is its always "improving fast" and never really getting anywhere. That's great if you love geekin' around with gadgets but I need my camera to respond exactly the way I expect every time. But, that's just me, I'm an Apple kind of guy not a Linux kind of guy.

I have, however, long been a proponent of an off camera app and built in WiFi, especially if you could see a live view feed on your phone. Imagine the candid shots you could get. I'm also one who believes completely eliminating the rear LCD on a super small system camera would be beneficial, with WiFi mobile tethering.

[Vertex Ninja]

...But, that's just me, I'm an Apple kind of guy not a Linux kind of guy.
...

I don't want to start something either, but OSX and I assume the iPhone and iPad variants, run on open source technology. Open BSD if I'm not mistaken. So if you are an Apple kind of guy, then you are technically a UNIX kind of guy. Not to mention, the majority of websites you visit are running on open source operating systems and the legendary Apache webserver. Open source software is probably not ideal for a camera's firmware, but it is successfully used everywhere in our daily lives, from microwaves to cable boxes to routers and more. I don't think it's fair to blanket label open source as unstable, etc.

[dankoBanana]

I don't want to start something either, but OSX and I assume the iPhone and iPad variants, run on open source technology. Open BSD if I'm not mistaken. So if you are an Apple kind of guy, then you are technically a UNIX kind of guy. Not to mention, the majority of websites you visit are running on open source operating systems and the legendary Apache webserver. Open source software is probably not ideal for a phones firmware, but it is successfully used everywhere in our daily lives, from microwaves to cable boxes to routers and more. I don't think it's fair to blanket label open source as unstable, etc.

you are right about OSX ... its open BSD
also, firefox is open source
as for phones .. android is currently doing better on the market than IPhone ... it will continue to get more market share
you can't fight open source ... it has the edge because it has endless potential versus propriety software like in the IPhone

i'll give a good example in the camera industry
back when I was a (Canon) P&S user, I learned about CHDK, a "russian" firmware mod for Canon P&S cameras
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK
it was great ... they implemented a lot of stuff that wasn't original in the camera software, like RAW, tethered shooting, automatic focus stacking, better battery indicator, catch in focus, etc... and it all worked
suddenly, your lowly P&S had DSLR features and it wasn't shabby at all ... people continued to use those cameras because of it
and even when newer models came out, they still used the old ones because of all the features
that is the power of open source ... having a lot of enthusiasts that are willing to invest time to make cameras better
making that happen with a MILC would be AWESOME ... just image the possibilities ... improved AF algorithms, better raw coding etc etc