An announcement issued by Trolltech today reveals that the software company is being acquired by Nokia for $153 million. Trolltech is the company behind Qt, a cross-platform application development toolkit that is available under both commercial and open-source licenses. Trolltech also develops a Linux-based mobile platform called Qtopia that includes a mobile Qt stack.

Nokia describes its acquisition of Trolltech as a way to move its cross-platform software strategy forward and also alludes to the potential for increasing the value of its S60 and Series 40 mobile platforms. "The technology landscape evolves and, for Nokia, software plays a major role in our growth strategy for devices, PCs and the integration with the Internet... Common cross-platform layers on top of our software platforms attract innovation and enable Web 2.0 technologies in the mobile space," said Nokia executive vice president of devices Kai Oistamo in a statement. "Trolltech's deep understanding of open-source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market. This acquisition will also further increase the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40."

Nokia clearly intends to incorporate Qt support into its mobile software platforms, but the intended scope of such plans remains unclear. Nokia could potentially reinvent S60 and Series 40 as Linux-based Qtopia platforms and ditch the Symbian underpinnings. The company could also potentially port Qt to those platforms and provide it as an additional layer for third-party software development. Support for Qt would vastly simplify the process of developing third-party applications for those platforms, encouraging the growth of a richer software ecosystem.

Another significant factor is the inherent portability of Qt, which provides robust support for all three major desktop operating systems and is actively being ported to Windows CE and Windows Mobile by Trolltech developers. Qt already provides a very clean glide path between desktop and mobile developments. Developers using Qt will be able to use a single code base to produce an application that runs on a variety of mobile and desktop platforms, an appealing prospect for third-party software developers who want the broadest possible audience.

Nokia intends to preserve the multilicensing model that Trolltech established for Qt. Developers who wish to create open source software with Qt will be able to use the GPL-licensed version and developers who want to create proprietary software with Qt will obtain a commercial license. Perpetuating this licensing model allows Nokia to encourage continued growth of an open-source Qt ecosystem while also creating a revenue stream from selling commercial development licenses.

Some have expressed concern that Qt support for desktop development will stagnate or degrade as a result of Nokia's strong emphasis on mobile technology, but that appears to be an unlikely possibility. The fundamental value of Qt, and quite likely the reason behind Nokia's interest in the technology, is that it spans the desktop and mobile space.

Implications for KDE

Nokia's acquisition of Trolltech could have broad implications for the KDE desktop environment, a user interface and application development platform for Linux that is built on top of Qt. Most KDE users will probably not perceive Nokia's acquisition of Trolltech as a threat since an elaborate framework is already in place to protect KDE from any potential disruptions to open Qt development.

The KDE Free Qt agreement, which has been in place since 1998, was originally created to ensure that KDE development would be able to go on in the event that Trolltech ever discontinued support for Qt under open source licenses. Under the terms of the agreement, the KDE Free Qt Foundation will be permitted to release Qt under a highly permissive BSD-style license in the event that Trolltech ever ceases Qt development or discontinues its open-source version. The agreement was constructed so that it would be enforceable after mergers, acquisitions, and even bankruptcy.

The KDE Free Qt agreement provides a last-resort assurance of Qt-openness, but it is unlikely that it will have to be invoked. Nokia has generally been a positive influence on open-source software development and intends to expand ties with the KDE project. An open letter to the open-source software community jointly by Nokia and Trolltech affirms intentions to collaborate and requests feedback from community members. "Trolltech has benefited greatly from the feedback the community has been providing while using Qt to develop free software," the open letter says. "We respect the symbiotic relationship Qt has with the community and we wish to continue and enhance this relationship. Nokia is committed to continue Trolltech's current open-source engagements, including honoring the KDE Free Qt agreement, and we will seek to strengthen our support of KDE in the future. As a first step Nokia will apply to become a Patron of KDE."

Nokia has already invested considerably in GNOME and GTK, vendor-neutral open-source software development components that compete with Qt and KDE on Linux. According to Nokia, GNOME technologies will continue to be used extensively in its Internet Tablet product line. Nokia's work on the GNOME-based Maemo project will continue moving forward unaffected by the acquisition of Trolltech. This means that Nokia is now one of the biggest and most diverse contributors in the mobile open source space.

Trolltech has a very unusual business model and a very complex symbiotic relationship with the open-source software community, factors that will likely pose some challenges as Nokia attempts to integrate the software company into its own business. Although there will probably be some bumps in the road, the acquisition has a lot of upside to it. Nokia has demonstrated a very positive influence on the open-source software community in the past and has the resources and expertise needed to take full advantage of Qt's potential.