Purism Differentiator Series, Part 11: Convergence
Todd Weaver
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Welcome to Purism, a different type of technology company.
We believe you should have technology that does not spy on you.
We believe you should have complete control over your digital life.
We advocate for personal privacy, cyber security, and individual freedoms.
We sell hardware, develop software, and provide services according to these beliefs.
To do all that, we think differently across all areas of business and technology.
Purism Differentiator Series, Part 11: Convergence
Purism invented true convergence years ahead of Apple, Google, or Microsoft—and those companies still have not accomplished it. Purism’s PureOS is a truly convergent operating system (OS) which means the same code base runs on our laptop, mini pc, tablet, or phone form factor and adjusts to the screen size and inputs. This has been a long-time goal of Android, iOS, and Windows, and Purism has already done it. The most important benefit of true convergence is having a single application code base that can adapt to the screen, so only one application code base to maintain for all the screen sizes the application may run on, be that a large desktop monitor, or a small handheld phone. Purism’s innovations in creating a truly convergent operating system has spread far and wide into an ever increasing application list.
What Is Convergence?
If you’ve ever had an app on your phone that you wanted on your laptop, you’ve wanted convergence. Convergence is a term used to describe the similar functioning of an app across different platforms. Many companies are eager to have their software be convergent, because it brings a consistent look and feel, as well as the exact same functionality for apps that run on your phone and your computer.
Convergence Born from Ethical Design Principles
Purism Director of Product, François Téchené, from 2017 started with a We Love Ethical Design and dovetailed that into assembling a design team to work with Nicole Faerber, Purism CTO who chose “the crazy choice” to create a truly convergent OS pushing it into other projects properly achieving exactly what we wanted: convergence between the desktop / laptop and the phone. Having the CEO, CTO, and Director of Product agree on the vision of convergence we knew we would get there even if the journey was challenging. A fun fact: the reason the Purism Logo is a rectangle was foreshadowing my desire for convergent devices (going back as far as 2005).
Write Once and Run Everywhere
As we published in 2019 where Nicole stated: “Applications written for or modified with some care and not too much effort can now seamlessly run on the desktop and on smaller screens like the phone. This is simply amazing! And all of that with the same tools, the same programming environment and the same libraries and packages as on the desktop–truly write once and run everywhere (maybe having to recompile 🙂 ).” She went on to describe “This convergence is a very unique feature now coming to PureOS. Quite a few have tried before us but did not get it this far. We created one of the first truly convergent environments: the same operating system base (Debian, deb packages), the same tools and SDK and the (pretty much) same applications for the desktop and the phone.” We accomplished what most said was impossible, and we did this well before Apple, Google, and Microsoft (who still have not done it).
The Journey in Quotes
- Feb 2018: “What we would like to achieve is a convergence of devices so that a single application can adapt to the user interface it is currently being used with. This is still a long way ahead of us, but we are working on it now.”
- Feb 2018: “Convergence, for Purism, is a long-term goal to unify the human experience across different devices.”
- Jan 2019: “We hope to develop real convergence — apps that “just work” regardless of which device they’re running on.”
- Mar 2019: “Purism releases one convergent operating system, PureOS. Google has two separate ones, ChromeOS and Android; Apple has two separate ones too, macOS and iOS.”
- Dec 2019: PureOS on the Librem 5 is designed to be convergent. This means that the same applications that are developed for the Librem 5 will run on PureOS on a Librem laptop. It also means that when you connect the Librem 5 to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, those same applications will expand to their full desktop form factor.
- Sep 2020: “The Librem 5 is more than a phone, it’s a full desktop computer in your pocket designed to be just as mobile as you are.”
- Oct 2020: “Because it has real convergence, even though the Librem 5 is in a phone form-factor, it can function as a desktop when you connect it to a monitor or a laptop when you connect it to a laptop dock”
- Nov 2020: “Mobile/Desktop convergence is something that Purism had planned and has been developing since the launch of the Librem 5.”
- May 2021: “All this magic is called ‘convergence'”
- Nov 2021: “True Convergence is Here: PureOS 10 is Released for all Librem Products”
- Jan 2022: “The goal with convergence is to put the user first.”
- Sep 2022: “Convergence means having the same OS across multiple hardware platforms with apps that adapt to their hardware.”
- Feb 2023: “I’ve explained convergence to people of all technical backgrounds, and it is so satisfying to see the “aha” moment when I dock my Librem 5 and drag an application like Firefox from the Librem 5 screen to my lapdock and it morphs into the full-sized desktop application they know and love.”
- Sep 2023: “PureOS on the Librem 11 demonstrates real convergence, where the tablet becomes more than just a tablet, it becomes a full-featured computer that can act like a desktop when connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, or even a laptop when connected to the included keyboard sleeve.”
Purism Products and Availability Chart
| Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Librem Key (Made in USA) | In Stock ($59+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 5 | In Stock ($699+) 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 COMSEC Bundle | In Stock ($1299+) Qty 2; 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics) | Backorder ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB | Estimated fulfillment February | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple (3 GB Data) | In Stock ($99/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple Plus (5 GB Data) | In Stock ($129/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + AweSIM (Unlimited Data) | In Stock ($169/mo) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 11 | In Stock ($999+) 8GB/1TB | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 14 | Backorder ($1,370+) | Estimated fulfillment December | |
 | Librem Mini | Backorder ($799+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem Server | In Stock ($2,999+) | 45 business days |
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- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 12: Secure Supply Chain and Made in USA Electronics
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 11: Convergence
- Purism Differentiator Series, Part 10: Convenience
