Mobile Giants form Linux Alliance ?!

[googlevideo]

I just wanted to know what you guys think about this ? What is going to be the Linux-based software platform for mobile devices in order to challenge Symbian and Microsoft’s Windows ? Article below

http://www.isolf.com/?p=86

[fingal]

I'm not sure about the authority or authenticity of the article you've linked to. Where does this information originate from?

Speaking for myself, I would love a phone based on Linux, but here in the UK there don't seem to be any readily available Linux phones at a reasonable price.

[Vergil83]

here is an actual press release
http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/...d=6872_6826_23

[fingal]

I think it's very interesting. The press release doesn't say whether or not this new group want to use GNU/Linux to develop just Smart phones or ordinary hand sets. The term they use is 'mobile devices'. My guess would be both to penetrate as many markets as possible. I wonder about this aspect of their project.

I think they're being very clever. They've seen the potential which this has and realised the power of open development. Look at Firefox: okay, perhaps a bad analogy, but so many people code for it and it seems to have developed a lot of momentum. Little sub-projects for Firefox attract cash via Paypal - for example the DownThemAll plugin. This model is interesting IMHO.

Looking at the wording of that press release I was interested to see the use of the word 'ecosystem' to describe their development process. This rings a bell for me: I think the whole Linux thing is very organic and it always makes me think of an ecosystem. The last time I saw that word in connection with a GNU/Linux OS was for the Dynebolic multimedia distro.

I suppose a lot more could be said about end users. Will they appreciate that they are using Linux? Maybe not, but think of the savings in development costs for the manufacturers ... At least for now. At this rate there will be a growth in work opportunities for mobile phone software developers; specifically for the Linux platform.

Hmmm ... I'm not usually interested in mobile phones: I think that the more like a computer a phone becomes the more I get into the idea.