Intel answers Microsoft's Linux 'noise' with MeeGo show

The Register

 

Microsoft and Intel are fighting for the affections of hardware makers as the PC industry tries to answer Apple's iPad.

The world's biggest software company used the annual Computex show in Taiwan to release a preview of Windows Embedded Compact 7 — the latest rebranded version of Windows CE, which has been promised on tablets from Asus, LG, and MSI.

Windows Embedded Compact 7 is Flash-friendly — unlike Apple's tablet. It will offer email, calendar, contacts synchronization with Exchange, Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF viewers, and synchronization with Windows 7 machines. The OS will be released to manufacturing during the fourth quarter.

Microsoft released Windows Embedded Compact 7 preview with a tough message for Linux: Windows will win the heart of PC makers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's OEM division, pointed out that although Linux had an early lead on netbooks, Windows has now become the dominant operating system for these machines.

"There are always lots of noises at the beginning of a new category," he said. Guggenheimer packed his message with boilerplate about the hidden costs of a "free" operating system. This was a reference to Google's Linux-based Android, but the message was equally applicable to MeeGo, which merged Linux efforts from Intel and Nokia this year and hit version 1.0 last week.

Elsewhere at Computex, Intel fought back by showing MeeGo running on a low-power, Atom processor-based device.

David Perlmutter, the vice president and co-general manager of Intel Architecture Group, offered hardware makers a chip roadmap designed to show Intel's commitment. OEMs have every right to be wary of committing to a mobile Linux OS given that past efforts haven't always panned out.

Perlmutter announced mobile dual-core Atom processors codenamed Oak Trail, due in early 2011. Oak Trail will be optimized for tablets and netbooks, consume 50 per cent less power, and provide full HD-video playback, according to Intel. It will also work with Windows, Google's planned Chrome browser-based operating system, and — significantly — MeeGo.

Early signs were encouraging for MeeGo, at least on the software side. Linux company Linpus announced plans to for a MeeGo-based version of its Linux Lite optimized for Atom processors and featuring improved power management, while PC and server Linux outfits Mandriva, Red Flag, and Turbolinux announced plans for distros based on MeeGo for devices.

Enterprise server staple Novell is also slimming down with the SuSE MeeGo based on MeeGo 1.0 for netbooks and devices. Novell expects SuSE MeeGo to be pre-installed in a variety of devices during the next year.

Hardware makers were less visible in the front line of early supporters, although two important names did wade in. Acer, committed to Google's Chrome and already delivering Windows and Linux netbooks, plans MeeGo-based netbooks in 2010. Asus, while planning a Chrome device of its own, will ship MeeGo machines in 2011, and it will offer an ASUS App Store running on Intel's AppUp Centre.

Clearly aware that MeeGo has piqued the interest of developers and software partners, Intel said its work now lies in getting hardware in the hands of users. Peter Biddle, director of Intel's AppUp products and services told ZDnet Asia: "We need more consumers!"

If IBM Buys Sun, What Does It Mean For Linux?

Originally Posted to ZDNet

Rumor has it, IBM is looking at buying Sun. No surprise that we’re seeing consolidation in a down market, but will this mean consolidation in the open source space?

I’ll let others speculate on the affect it might have on the hardware market, but I’m curious what would happen to the open source operating system ecosystem. Would IBM keep trying to build a separate OpenSolaris community, or put all the weight behind Linux?

The two communities can (and do) exist side-by-side, and Sun’s contributions to FOSS projects like GNOME benefit the entire FOSS ecosystem - not just OpenSolaris. Sun doesn’t have the same conflict of interest that IBM would, though.

Would IBM continue to support Linux if it had a second open source operating system to look after? In trying economic times, one has to wonder. IBM has been a staunch supporter of Linux, but the company has also dabbled in OpenSolaris, and still maintains AIX. From the corporate viewpoint, it might seem to make more sense to back either Linux or OpenSolaris, rather than maintaining AIX, OpenSolaris, and putting support into Linux as well.

Linux and OpenSolaris are both free *nix operating systems, so why does it matter if IBM goes the OpenSolaris route? It comes down to control: No single vendor controls Linux’s destiny. Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and all of the other vendors participating in Linux development have limited control over development, and their customers have plenty of options.

Even the Linux Foundation is merely a steward for some of the community’s resources, and doesn’t control the direction of the kernel or the larger software ecosystem that make up Linux distros.

Customers have their choice of Linux vendors, contributors have their choice of projects to contribute to. That’s not really true of OpenSolaris. For Solaris/OpenSolaris, there’s really only one game in town. True, a few OpenSolaris derivatives have popped up, but none have the resources of a major company or large project behind them. Backing OpenSolaris means putting a lot of trust in the company behind it. True, the community or a competitor could fork OpenSolaris, but bootstrapping that sort of thing would take time and a lot of effort.

And for IBM, OpenSolaris would require a lot more manpower in the long run. It seems that it would make more sense for Big Blue to provide a migration path for Solaris customers to Linux.

It’s all speculation right now, but if the deal goes through, I hope IBM signals its intentions early on.