Digia sets out bold strategy for Qt and demonstrates progress to date

Digia Keynote Maps Path for Qt
In his keynote address, Laitinen laid out the core values on which the Digia Qt strategy will be based:

• #1 in multi-platform support
• #1 in developer experience
• #1 in creating great user experiences
• Belief in dual licensing model
• Strong value generating ecosystem
• Open business architecture

Digia’s vision is to enhance Qt to make it not only the most efficient and usable framework for multi-platform development but also the one that delivers the best experience, both for developers and the end users of their products.

At the heart of the plan is a new open business architecture paired with the existing open source and commercial dual licensing model. This will all be underpinned by a strong, value-generating ecosystem that will benefit the Qt Project and the entire Qt community by funding the maintenance and continuous improvement of the Qt framework.

Laitinen said: “We are very excited about the new Qt strategy. The computer industry is changing rapidly, especially when it comes to user interfaces and user experience. Qt is gearing up to fill the gaps in the market place and provide developers with one toolset to rule all environments. Qt 5 is the first stepping stone in our strategy providing an amazing developer experience and performance.”

A video of his complete keynote address will be available in the Qt Studios YouTube channel shortly.

Projects from the Labs
Digia demonstrated the progress of several high priority projects that its team has been working on, “Projects from the Labs”. These included:

• A prototype of preliminary support for iOS on soon to be launched, Qt 5.
• Qt support for WinRT tablets.
• A sneak peak of Qt 5 on the Android port created in the Necessitas project and soon to be contributed to the Qt Project.
• Qt with HW accelerated 3D user interface on the VxWorks operating system.
• The labs project with code name ‘Boot to Qt’ demonstrated a Qt application running on an Android base layer, which puts Qt on top as a graphical interface with the goal to make embedded development on Linux as seamless as possible.
• Qt Quick desktop components - showing a popular UI fully developed with Qt Quick.
• Qt on retina Mac – showcase of Qt on high-dpi retina displays.

All these demoed projects inch Digia towards its goal of Qt being #1 in multi-platform support and also enabling developers to easily develop and quickly deploy to popular platforms with a smooth and uncomplicated developer experience.

Video of the demonstrations will be posted soon after the event on the Qt Blog.

Qt Developer Days 2012, co-hosted by three of the leading players in the Qt ecosystem – Digia, ICS and KDAB – provides an opportunity for Qt experts and developers around the world to gather and share knowledge and best practice. The event includes: technical tracks on the latest innovations; hands-on training sessions; specialized workshops; and demonstrations of ground-breaking applications.

As custodian of the Qt Project, Digia Qt is committed to working with the Qt community to ensure the continuing development of open source and commercially licensed software in a manner that benefits all users. This will be achieved by harnessing the knowledge, expertise and commitment of all members of the Qt ecosystem.