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Intel Acquires Mobile Linux Developer OpenedHand
nerdyH writes with the news that Intel has acquired OpenedHand, the developer of 'Poky Linux' and Matchbox. "The UK-based embedded Linux services team will join the Intel Open Source Technology Center, and will focus on Moblin development for mobile Internet devices and other mobile devices." The article notes that Intel's Moblin initiative had "failed to generate much interest" among developers when first announced earlier this year; this acquisition might help it catch the attention of more Linux developers.
Weren't Openhand working closely with the Openmoko project? If so, will Intel pull them out of their work on the Neo/Freerunner?
ilovegeorgebush
wanna bet this isn't gonna help intel much?
I wish Nokia would now make an Atom-based Maemo tablet... cross-compiling is a pain in the ass, especially with Nokia's "scratchbox" environment.
... I'll force them to pay attention to me.
Which sounds like the behaviour of a spoilt kid.
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
Its what type of Linux, they are buying a Linux vendor that primarily deals with handheld and embedded devices so intel maybe making a bigger move into these categories
Anonymous for an obvious reason: I work for Intel.
I wonder if this means that Intel will start using it as the seed of a clearinghouse, instead of hiring their linux talent in-house.
It will be interesting to see if Intel takes the wide and different groups of programming teams, and just having this absorbed company make the generic apps, and in a way unify the applications corporate-wide (which is good for FOSS in general IMHO). Meanwhile, the individual groups can still make the drivers and chip-specific code, but will be smaller for each group (which saves money, but I know a lot of people who will very likely be downsized if that happens, and Intel has already been on a downsizing streak over the past few years).
I wasn't surprised to see Intel moving into the mobile and smaller-device space over recent years (Atom, Canmore, Moorestown). They almost own the CPU market, are making aggressive moves into GPUs, and this leaves them with not much else for growth in those two areas, so they are branching out from what I see (and what they've been pushing PR-wise)
Hmmm interesting.
Hopefully the Linux on iPaq hx2000 series gets finished now. That would be one sweet handheld computer then, decent amount of RAM and 620MHz processor in the palm of your hand - and not limited to winCE.
Linux boots on the device and GPE runs, but they had troubles with the WIFI module and a few of the Intel chips. Plus I think only one guy was working on it.
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
I like linux and open source project as much as the next guy. But what the fuck is up with the app names. Seriously.
This is the beginning of the scrambling by big companies to get a piece of the linux hardware market. Many large players missed the boat - and now with the success of the iPhone, and the upcoming Google phone (OpenMoko being a shadow of what the google phone could become) hardware players are getting nervous that they've ignored something significant. In some cases, they've ignored it perhaps because the big players in the Cell industry have told them to stay away. Meanwhile, Linux/ARM-based devices have been quietly improving and projects like DD-WRT, NSLU2-Linux, FreeNAS, and other embedded hardware projects are gaining popularity among hobbyists - all the big players are taking notice and want in on the action. Since Linksys released the WRT54GS with linux internals, the game has changed. Folks want to tweak their hardware to extend its capabilities and Intel needs tools and expertise to play in this sector.