Explore by tag: mobile

It is hard for the executive director of the Linux Foundation to feel bad for Microsoft, but they are having a bad week while Linux continues to move forward in innovative ways into new markets for computing. Let’s take a look at the difference between Microsoft and Linux this week:

Monday: Microsoft starts its week with a front page story in the Wall St. Journal titled, “Microsoft Battles Low-Cost Rival for Africa.” In the article Microsoft is documented engaging in questionable practices against a Linux competitor that is springing up across Africa not because of any corporate conspiracy, but because it is free and open.

Tuesday: Microsoft reveals “Windows 7” which is widely regarded as an attempt to right the wrong that is Vista. Headlines were brutal: Infoworld: “Windows 7: The ‘dog food’ tastes bad”, Dallas News: “Microsoft previews Windows 7, and it looks like… Vista”, Computerworld: “Is Windows ...

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Intel announced today (Thursday) its plans to partner with the Taiwanese government and invest in the island nation’s IT industry to launch an Open Source Software Development Center for mobile devices. Building on Taiwan’s undisputed role as a leading center for creating connected consumer devices, CEO Paul Otellini indicated that Intel had signed an agreement with the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). MOEA and Intel will establish a center for enabling Moblin and other OSS optimized for devices based on the Intel Atom. At the same time, Intel Capital will invest NT$386M (US$11.5M) in Taiwanese carrier VMAX to support deployment of Taiwan’s first mobile WiMax network in the first half of 2009.

This move by Intel is good for everyone: good for Intel, who is working with a large ecosystem with its recently-launched mobile/embedded Atom architecture CPUs. It’s good for Taiwanese ...

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For those that decry the constant prediction of the “year of the Linux desktop” I am happy to say that next year Linux may actually ship on more desktops than Windows or the Mac. That is right, I said next year. What is driving this? Two words: fast boot.

Matt Richtell of the New York Times wrote a great article on Sunday about the demand for faster start up times on computers. In the story the chronicled how HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and a array of other PC makers are starting to develop “machines that give people access to basic functions like e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less.” Here is the interesting part: Linux is providing that access.

Ashlee Vance, also of the New York Times, did a great follow up piece on the story chronicling just how prolific this trend is becoming. He states, “Over ...

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The Economics

Today the Linux Foundation issued a report looking at the value of the Linux platform in terms of code. This was an update of a 2002 study that estimated the value then at $1.2 Billion. Today’s value: $10.8 Billion. The study focused on the Fedora project, which has been a core part of Linux success in the server and desktop market place. Although it wasn’t specifically covered in this paper it is also worth applying the economics of Linux to one of the fastest growing segments of technology; mobile devices, consumer electronics and low cost netbooks. This is the future of Linux and the smart bets are leveraging a $10.8 billion investment to the hilt.

Linux is Everywhere

I am constantly amazed by how rare it is to work with any consumer electronics (CE) device that does *not* run on Linux. Other then ...

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First let me state the obvious. If Google’s new browser is successful then the desktop operating system just became a lot less important. This is great news for Linux.

That begs the question: If Google’s new browser isn’t even available on Linux, why is this great news for Linux? Because in a world where most people access their applications through a browser it makes little sense to have PC’s that are loaded with a heavy and bloated operating system. In particular in makes a LOT less sense for people to PAY for a heavy and bloated operating system. Count on seeing a Linux version of the Google browser very soon.

Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch said it best.

“When combined with Gears, which allows for offline access (see what MySpace did with Gears to understand how powerful it is), Chrome is nothing less than a full ...

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Declaring victory for the Linux desktop at the end of the day will based upon looking at market penetration of Linux based clients vs. Windows and other operating systems. I believe this is still the best measure but we may finally be able to declare this year the breakout of the Linux desktop.

When looking at operating system software adoption it is important to look at trends and not a single break through event that will signal that “we have made it.” It is kind of like economic forecasting – you look at a lot of leading indicators to decide whether we are heading towards an expansion or a recession; inflation, interest rates, productivity, employment rates, etc. It is worth applying this logic when looking at the Linux desktop. Based on just a cursory glance of news this week it is clear that all leading indicators suggest a significant expansion on ...

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When Apple launched the 3G iPhone, I must confess, I went out and purchased one. I need a smart phone for work, I need one that works both in the United States and Japan, and the consumer electronic design from Apple floored me. The screen is exquisite. The video playback is outstanding. The mobile web experience is second to none. I realize I am in a walled garden, but what a pretty walled garden it is.

Now, you needn’t remind me that I purchased my iPhone as a personal accoutrement. But as a business person, I use it for more than just personal calls and entertainment. In fact, I’ve come to rely on its excellent web access and very usable email capabilities As a business person, however, I guess I defy the expectations of product marketing managers at Apple: I have over 2,000 contacts in my phonebook ...

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LinuxWorld kicks off tomorrow in San Francisco. In many ways, it has a real “State of the Union” feel to it, being one of the oldest shows devoted exclusively to Linux technologies and business trends.

As Linux markets grow and innovate, so does LinuxWorld. One new area this year is the Mobile Linux Conference, an indication of the growing strength of open source on mobile platforms. It’s good to see LinuxWorld covering “the third screen” of Linux. Between Android and Symbian and even how iPhone’s closed platform is opening slightly, the influence of open source on mobile technologies is already readily apparent.

The Linux Foundation is participating directly with several different events.

– On Tuesday, August 5th, I’m giving an Enterprise Open Source Presentation at 3:30pm as part of the Executive Summit.
– On Wednesday morning I am speaking at a Breakfast briefing on Mobile hosted by Nokia ...

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Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch is throwing down the gauntlet to produce a “dead simple and dirt cheap touch screen web tablet to surf the web. Nothing fancy like the Dell latitude XT, which costs $2,500. Just a Macbook Air-thin touch screen machine that runs Firefox and possibly Skype on top of a Linux kernel. It doesn’t exist today, and as far as we can tell no one is creating one. So let’s design it, build a few and then open source the specs so anyone can create them.” Michael goes on to describe his ideal netbook; quick boot, skype, firefox, google widgets, good wireless connectivity, etc. This is a guy who lives online and wants a lightweight, inexpensive tool to hook up to the internet. Basically Michael is asking people to help build a netbook for people like himself and I believe there are a heck ...

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It has been years since we have seen a full scale operating system war. Today’s announcement by Nokia that they will be open sourcing Symbian and making it available royalty free is the opening of yet another front in the blossoming mobile OS conflagration.

Mobile computing is a complex market with intricate relationships between the mobile carriers, device manufacturers, regulators, and their various suppliers. The best way to think about this is to see its similarity to the early days of the personal computer. In fact, mobile devices are getting to look a lot more like personal computers every day as Moore’s law continues to drive down the size and price of mobile device components while increasing their power. Most of today’s low end smart phones are far more powerful than a laptop from even just a few years ago. Think about a device that is priced ...

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Next week the leaders of the Linux industry gather in Austin Texas for a meeting of the minds. The Linux Foundation has set up an invitational event where the folks who work directly on the business and technical issues facing the platform can get together and share ideas. We’ll find out about these questions and more:

What are the technology trends and the economics driving the Linux desktop in new low cost PC’s? Find out directly from Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Shuttle, Everex, Intel, TI, AMD, and more.

What is the “M” commitment to the “L” in LAMP after the Sun acquisition of MySQL? Find out from the Marten Mikos himself.

When am I going to get my hands on a Linux phone? Find out from Google’s OHA, the LiMo Foundation, OpenMoko, and others. This is the first time Google and the LiMo foundation are sharing a ...

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To meet to the demands of phenomenal growth of mobile phone services Virgin Mobile has adopted to the (LAMP) Linux, Apache,Mysql,PHP stack to modernize their infrastructure.  The internally developed solutions are used to process thousands of queries each second. Each text message can generate over a hundred queries and contain more than 500GB of data.

A quote from Joe Morrissey of MYSQL.

 “MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition and MySQL Enterprise are now at the heart of the solutions implemented by the leading industry players. We are delighted about this additional endorsement by Virgin Mobile.”

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Today the Linux Foundation is launching a podcast series that will feature conversations with the leaders of open source. For our inaugural post, we are pleased to present part one of our conversation with Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux Operating System and fellow at the Linux Foundation.

We have broken the conversation with Linus into two parts. Part II will be available in the beginning of February. Future Open Voices installments will feature Novell President and CEO Ron Hovsepian; Martin Mickos, CEO of MySQL; and Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the Ubuntu Project.

If you’d rather read a transcript, you can find it here.

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