Intel shuns Microsoft, taps Linux for mobile Net devices

[derekr44]

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9910794-7.html?tag=nefd.top

IMO, this right here is where Microsoft will fall. They won't fail with Vista, even though it's pretty bloated and buggy. They will fail when Mobile devices become so integrated into our society. Yes, mobile phones and PDAs are already well integrated, but they will become even more so in the future. Seeing Intel, and other companies that play such an important role in the mobile future, practically shun Microsoft on this platform and embrace Linux is incredible and should be cheered. This is where the versatility and stability of Linux will shine as it becomes the central platform for mobile devices.

I'm excited! What think ye?

[LaRoza]

I'm excited! What think ye?

'Tis a silly question. What do you think we think?

[derekr44]

'Tis a silly question. What do you think we think?

But of course yes 'twas.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I think there is tons of room for improvement for Linux on mobile devices, thinking beyond the kernel and of the platform as a whole. Many potential sources of amazing technology, but it is important that they are tapped; competition has not halted.

The great thing with Linux versus, for example, WinMo is we get a full desktop-class operating system on mobile devices. An open Linux platform like Maemo (possibly after some fiddling) has the same tools as exist on a "regular" desktop computer. The only thing that changes is how they can be applied, as a result of mere hardare limitations rather than software ones.
I think the future will be when "learning the platform" becomes a thing of the past. KDE 4 is a push in the right direction; Plasma is designed so it can work comfortably regardless of screen size (or shape). The trick is not just desktop-agnostic libraries, but hardware-agnostic interfaces. I think dbus and the traditionally modular design (which tends to be the case with any app targetted specifically at Linux rather than aiming itself 90% at Windows) will help us quite a lot there, if utilized well, to split applications into smaller chunks whose interfaces can be happily used on big and small devices alike, with platform-specific tweeks being simple but very effective.

Unfortunately, lots of that infrastructure is debatable, so the potential for unrivalled integration is not quite met. (Audio madness, anyone?). That whole confusion seems to be sorting itself out naturally, though, so hopefully that point will be nonexistent in a few years.

[fatality_uk]

We be happy, and thus we all did rejoice in the streets and clap and hoopla!!!