LinuxWorld Nokia-owned Trolltech has re-committed its Qt cross-platform application framework and toolkit to Windows.

Trolltech's developer tools community manager Knut Yrvin told The Reg deep in the bowels of LinuxWorld it made healthy business sense to continue supporting Microsoft.

"It would be unwise not to take Microsoft's mobile software initiative seriously," he said. Trolltech has 5,500 customers on Windows.

"You don't dismiss those - that would be an unhealthy commercial decision."

According to Yrvin, Trolltech's role is to continue bridging open- and closed-source platforms. He pointed out open source applications can run on Windows.

Nokia announced it was buying Trolltech in January in what soon became clear was the first step in a strategy to ramp up its own mobile software efforts and shake-up the Symbian alliance primarily in a bid against Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Windows.

The world's largest handset manufacturer went on to announce its purchase of, and plans to open source, the Symbian operating system that it and other handset and service providers have adopted.

Nokia makes no use of Windows on phones and devices, so the question has to be asked why it would wish to continue funding Trolltech's work on a mobile platform it does not support.

The more speculative among you might even conjecture that keeping Qt on Windows leaves the door open for Nokia to put Windows on its phones, providing a ready-made framework, toolkit and developer ecosystem. Continued support for Windows would also benefit those in the new Symbian world order also backing Windows.

Turning to the iPhone, Yrvin, said it would be simple from a technology perspective to put Qt on Apple's device, as it already works on the Mac. He was not aware of any talks with Apple, though, to put the framework and toolkit on Apple's closed mobile platform.®

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