Explore by tag: mobile

If Google’s new browser isn’t even available on Linux, why is this great news for Linux?

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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This is the Year of the Linux Desktop Breakout

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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iPhone – the Device I love to hate

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 Conversations Start Tomorrow

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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Arrington Throws Down the Guantlet for a Linux Based Netbook

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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Nokia Launches a Full Scale War for the Mobile OS

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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Get answers to all your Linux questions direct from the source.

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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Virgin Mobile Migrates to LAMP stack for SMS

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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Welcome to Open Voices

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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