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Wind River Joins the Mobile Linux Fray

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the self-proclaimed-battles-royale dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Embedded software powerhouse Wind River launched a Consumer Electronics Linux distribution today targeting 'mobile phones, set-top boxes, PVRs, and other small-footprint consumer devices.' The company says several phones based on its brand of Linux will begin shipping before the end of this year, and is rumored to have teamed with PalmSource, which itself is busy converting Palm OS into a software stack for Linux mobile phones."

5 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing is by cached · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The good thing is that in any event, multi-vendor competition bodes well for Linux's chances against single-vendor operating systems such as Windows Mobile and Symbian, since competitors in the Linux space end up contributing to an evolving shared base of open source software.

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    +1 funny, -2 overrated. Life isn't fair.
    1. Re:Good thing is by rufty_tufty · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Really, last I heard more people buy the bulk of their things from Wallmart than from their local grocer.
      Isn't too many options a bad thing that as a customer of Linux I don't know who to buy.

      Last I checked a few goliaths competing tended to advance further than lots of Davids each with the fixed overheads then repeating the same work.

      That said, Windriver do some pretty nifty RTOS stuff with VxWorks, so I'm glad they're progressing with their Linux solution

      --
      "The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
  2. Liscensing by rufty_tufty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looking at the article they're planning to liscense this on a per devloper per year basis. One thing I don't get though is how this fits in with the GPL, surely the key thing Windriver offer is tweeks to the kernel to make it a good RTOS and associted BSPs for the various phones. But those would have to be GPLed as well.
    So what is there here that isn't GPLed and therefore why would someone pay for this? Or is it the tools, this CELF of which they speak?

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    "The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
  3. It's all about the tools by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All the embedded Linux companies have non-open-source tools and documentation; that's really what they're selling (since the kernel and userland are free).

  4. Re:What's the deal with Palm? by AuMatar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why wouldn't they? There are N companies planning Linux pdas and M planning Windows CE ones. If they support both their potential customer base is N+M, instead of N or M. Unless N or M is small, it makes the most sense to keep the biggest pool.

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    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?