Mobile Linux developer OpenedHand acquired by Intel
The United Kingdom-based mobile Linux developers OpenedHand have announced that they have been acquired by the Intel Corporation, merging the Linux company with the Intel Open Source Technology Center.
“We are pleased to announce that OpenedHand Ltd has been acquired by Intel Corporation,” said OpenedHand in a statement it released on the acquisition. “The OpenedHand team will join the Intel Open Source Technology Center and will focus on the development of the Moblin Software Platform, the optimized software stack for Intel Atom processors.”
The statement continued by stating that “Intel will continue supporting open source projects currently led by OpenedHand staff such as Clutter and Matchbox projects, and in most cases, will accelerate these projects as they become an integral part of Moblin.”
Rob Bamforth, an analyst for Quocirca said that this move showed the importance of Linux on mobile devices. He said that “we saw it [large companies purchasing mobile Linux development companies] earlier this year with Nokia buying Trolltech, it’s a sign that the mobile space is not as clear cut as the something like the PC one.” He continued by stating that in the PC market “you have a market dominated by PCs with Macs for some specialist users, but mobiles are not like that – there’s a diverse range of products, and, if anything, it’s becoming more diverse.”
OpenedHand has previously sold it’s products to companies such as One Laptop Per Child, iRex, Openmoko, ST Microelectronics, Access Co., Vernier and Nokia.
Background on the Moblin Project
Moblin is an open source project focused on developing software for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and other new categories of devices such as netbooks and nettops.[1] Intel launched the Moblin.org site in July 2007 and significantly updated the site in April 2008 with the launch of the Intel Atom processor family at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. The Intel Atom processor family is focused on MIDs, nettops and other market segments where low power consumption and low cost are key considerations. The Moblin.org website hosts a variety of tools for developers including a software development kit, source code for all of the major components of the Moblin platform, documentation and sample code.
Major components
Moblin provides components which are essential for a mobile Linux operating system.
- Moblin Image Creator (MIC): allows developers to create a custom Linux file system for a device. Using MIC, a platform developer can choose which components from Moblin they want on their device, build the target file system, copy all the necessary files to a USB pen drive and load it onto the target.
- Kernel: platform-specific kernel patches and device drivers for building a kernel.
- UI Framework: screen interface and its underlying GTK-based framework, which uses the Hildon application framework.
- Power Management Policy: extending and enhancing existing Linux power management capabilities
- Browser: the Moblin browser is full-featured web browser based on Mozilla technologies with a finger-driven UI and MID UI integration. The Moblin browser supports key plug-ins like Adobe Flash.
- Multimedia: audio and video playback and photo viewing including Helix or GStreamer multimedia frameworks.
- Linux Connection Manager: Internet connections that can be extended through plug-ins to support various wired or wireless technologies.
Participants
Intel sponsors the Moblin project and several vendors are working on Linux distributions that are Moblin compliant. Canonical is creating a version of Ubuntu Linux known as Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition and Red Flag is creating a distribution known as MIDINUX.
With the release of the first Moblin-based MIDs in the middle of 2008, the focus of the Moblin project is expanding beyond development of the core stack to encouraging porting and development of new applications for Moblin. Intel is sponsoring a series of developer contests, starting with one focused on developers in India, to help jumpstart the Moblin application ecosystem. Some ideas for cool applications for Moblin can be found here.
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