Symbian OS completes transition to open source

The Symbian Foundation announced the Symbian mobile operating system source code is now available for free, granting any individual or organization the flexibility to take, use and modify the code for any purpose. According to the nonprofit, which completed the transition from proprietary platform to open source four months ahead of schedule, all 108 packages containing the Symbian platform source code can now be downloaded from the Symbian Developer Community website under the terms of the Eclipse Public License and other open source licenses. The website also includes software and device development kits compatible with Symbian^3, the current version of the platform.

The foundation added that Symbian^3 will be "feature complete" by the end of the first quarter.

The Symbian OS has shipped in more than 330 million devices worldwide, primarily via Nokia. The Symbian Foundation was formed in mid-2008 after handset giant Nokia acquired the remaining shares of mobile software licensing company Symbian Limited and teamed with Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo to combine the Symbian OS, S60, UIQ and MOAP technologies into a single open mobile software platform.

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