Information Engineer

Intel senior VP Anand Chandrasekher touts Linux for MIDs

(Credit: Intel)

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Shanghai this week the buzz was the Atom processor, the mobile Internet Device (MID), and Linux. And what wasn’t buzzing? Microsoft. Welcome to the brave new world of computing sans Microsoft.

At IDF, there was little media focus on Intel’s next-generation Nehalem chip. Less on the six-core Dunnington processor. Both of which will run Microsoft software. The focus was on devices that won’t necessarily run Microsoft software. Handheld-size MIDs and Netbooks. Netbooks will run both operating systems but the MID category appears to be shaping up as a non-Microsoft enclave. MID vendors, who are expected to begin shipping devices later this quarter, include Lenovo, Toshiba, Panasonic, and LG Electronics.

Asianux distributes Mobile Midinux

(Credit: Intel Corp.)

Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group, said in his IDF keynote: “As always we partner with Microsoft.” Then proceeded to not mention Microsoft again. But he mentioned Linux a lot. “We announced an initiative last year. A Linux-based initiative. In order to get the form factor down, to get the cost down, and to even get lower power levels beyond what was achievable. We have an entire ecosystem behind it. Ubuntu and Red Flag. The initiative is called Moblin.”

Aptly enough, the Moblin web Site is entitled: “mobile and internet linux project.” That’s pretty self-descriptive. Whether MIDs succeed or not, only time will tell. But if they do succeed, it won’t be on Microsoft Windows. At least not in the foreseeable future. Microsoft has recently hired Len Kawell, originally the CEO at Pepper Computer, a startup focused on mobile Internet device software, to scale windows from smart phones (some of which run Windows Mobile) to MID-type devices with “larger screens and faster processors,” according to a spokesperson at Weber Shandwick, the PR firm that represents Microsoft’s Mobile business.

And Scott Rockfeld, Group Product Manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business, said this in an email Thursday. “Windows Mobile is constantly innovating the platform to meet the expanding mobile needs of our customers. MIDs are an exciting class of devices that address many of those needs and we’re focused on ensuring that Windows Mobile is a great platform for partners to build MIDs.”

But that’s probably news to a lot of the attendees in Shanghai listening to Renee James, vice president general manager, Software and Solutions Group at Intel. “This new category requires a new software environment. There isn’t a built-in ecosystem of developers who have been doing MIDs,” she said, describing the incipient market. “For MIDS, we, Intel, are establishing that ecosystem. We launched it in September. It’s called Moblin.org. It’s an open source project. Intel has contributed the foundational stack. More than 500 member companies are contributing code into Moblin. And it’s particularly strong in Asia,” she said.

If MIDs catch on–and that’s still a big if (though Apple’s popular iPhone is arguably a MID)–it will be refreshing to see a PC platform develop without Microsoft participation, or at least see a platform unfold where Linux distributors may have an advantage over the software giant.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.