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Nokia, Intel Merge Maemo, Moblin Into MeeGo
AVee writes "Intel and Nokia just announced a new project called MeeGo. MeeGo is supposed to be the result of merging Maemo and Moblin, bringing together the best pieces of those (already quite similar platforms). Interestingly this means that Intel will be sponsoring a mobile Linux distro which will run on ARM."
All Linux distros can potentially run on ARM ...
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
That is why you tag the story with "typoinsummary".
MeeGo is supposed to be the result of merging Maemo and Moblin
Who named these platforms, a Lord of the Rings fan with a speech impediment?
Intel must be extraordinarily bullish on their ability to bring x86 into ARM's low power turf.
This will make the next version of the Nokia internet tablet series very interesting indeed, I think. Will this be a new Android, running on both netbooks and higher-end smartphones? Anyway, I like the idea.
Dude, I'd rather eat a bucket of rotten shit than another plate of meekrob.
Meego?
The mobile OS from Yuggoth
So there I was, scribbling down some notes off the PC screen by hand, when I reached for the keyboard and Ctrl-S'd.
Just asking...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Slashdot would probably save on bandwidth if people would tag "notypoinsummary" on the rare occasion that a summary is typo free.
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
I was going to go with "gibberish" myself...
The real important question: What package management system will it use?
Unicode in Slashdot
Always seemed to me like these were redundant projects though. 12 flavors of mobile Linux kinda defeats the whole point?
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." -- Jefferson
The instant I saw this name, Bronson Pinchot jumped into my memory. MeeGo was a weird show.
http://www.tenjou.net/
Interestingly this means that Intel will be sponsoring a mobile Linux distro which will run on ARM.
Embrace: Check.
Extend: Active.
Extinguish: Pending.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
It's become pretty clear that Intel's place in the market is assured. They can't stop people from using ARM in low-power devices, x86 just has too much overhead.
What they can do is make sure that people don't have to worry about their architecture when they're using software. And that benefits everyone, because it keeps the chips we're using at top capacity.
No that's not it.
Both Maemo and Moblin started off Gtk-based, using the Clutter toolkit on top of Gtk. Now both have switched over to Qt. Are there any other serious users of Clutter left?
I hear lots of projects starting with or switching to Qt these days, and none that switch to or start with Gtk. Having programmed in both Gtk and Qt, I have to say I understand why. Qt is hands down the better and more elegant toolkit, despite my preference for C over C++. Qt also makes it easier than Gtk to port between Linux, Mac and Windows. Gtk on the other hand is stuck with a horrible dependency hell that prevents using it for anything serious on non-Linux platforms.
I think the way forward for Linux on the desktop is to standardize on one GUI toolkit, and there is no doubt that this toolkit would have to be Qt. It is a bit sad, because I always like Gnome better than KDE, and I see no easy way for Gnome to convert over to Qt.
How about the handset manufacturers get behind one distro, and make it awesome? All multuple distros, with multiple app stores, and all sorts of crazy interfaces will do is fragment the market. In the end, none of them will succeed!
Nokia will probably use Moorestown
Nokia bought Trolltech in order to get control of QT. And Intel bought OpenedHand in order to improve Clutter and Moblin. Now they merge their platforms, which is based on the Nokia's QT. Money wasted for OpenedHand buy out? It looks like Intel had plenty of money to dump for unstrategic move.
Now it's obvious that QT will evolve for Mobile devices. And GTK will evolve to be a solid Desktop toolkit for Linux. When maemo project started GTK had lost lots of blood because Nokia contribution had no visible benefit to desktop users. That affected GNOME very much. Now I think KDE will suffer this mobile-movement of QT. I hope they won't, but history is evident for it to happen.
Actually, Intel and ARM are not exactly competitors in the mobile world. Heck, Intel even manufactures ARM based chips, so I can't really see why it's such a big deal that they back a ARM based linux distro for deviced where the ARM architecture is de facto standard.
Really I don't quite get why OpenMoko exists as an independent project either except that nobody seemed able to agree to all get together. Fragmentation in server and desktop space isn't a big deal and the choices made available to users are valuable, but in the mobile marketplace those considerations really don't apply so much. All that is really left as a justification for various mobile Linux projects has always been no more than technical disagreements about how to implement certain things and a desire for various vendors like Intel to focus on elements specific to their hardware architecture.
I think its been inevitable that at some point all these various mobile Linux projects would collapse together into one uber project. Some may instead simply fade away of course, but I suspect eventually even Android will be sucked in. OpenMoko too is unlikely to continue to exist as a completely distinct project for too much longer.
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." -- Jefferson
According to the two companies, MeeGo will support multiple hardware architectures across a broad range of device segments, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/mwc--nokia-and-intel-team-up-for-new-linux-mobile-os-3367
...when it's simple negligence. While package maintainers take care of Gtk for linux, Gtk for windows is in ruins.
There's no installer on official gtk page. C'mon guys, it's 2010, and you still package it in zip archives?
Ok, there is an installer on SF, but wait, there's no Glade support in there!
Oh, here is Glade, but oh, it's shipping with its own Gtk bundle, which is outdated and incompatible with the first one.
Ok, let's install the major Gtk app, GIMP... Wait, I already have two gtk bundles installed, I don't need another one! What do you mean, "no choice"?
Hmmm, let's try this Deluge app... At last, I can skip Gtk installation and use one of the previously installed. Hey, why did it crash?
F**k it, even .NET is better.
I was recently worried they'd both wither on the vine trying to compete against Android and filling almost exactly the same space. Thus I was thinking I'd have to base a project on ChromeOS, which seemed strategically foolish (at least Nokia and Intel will have divergent interests to keep development focused on solving problems well in the abstract, rather than quick-n-dirty tangents a single vendor can accept).
Especially if they stay with the mainline kernel, which Google isn't interested in doing, together Intel and Nokia are going to be much more successful than competing poorly against each other and Google.
So, here's one developer's intent to go this way rather than Android (for a non-phone project). Congrats to the adults in both camps.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Seriously, "Moblin", "Maemo" and "Meego" sound like characters in some cheesy science fiction or fantasy film.
My spell check says "quit" is spelled correctly. It may be the wrong word, but it's spelled properly.
What about API for app developers? In my understanding, MeeGo is not going to have a unique app stack like Android does have. MeeGo's compatibility with desktop will bring existing great apps to Mobile device. That is good one. But there is no well defined API (like iPhone and Android) to make it happen. How about my understanding?
bits and bytes of life should serve the needy - My bits and bytes
Why all this talk about 'community'- while doing some corporate alliance between Intel & Nokia.
Why abandon, the open and widely deployed GNOME / gtk+ base for this corporately controlled Qt crud ?
This seems like a retarded move. Why are Intel and Nokia once again trying to do their own thing, after their (apparent) failure on Moblin and Maemo to actually build a real community around the stacks ?
Why are they wasting time on dumb stuff like ConnMan ? who makes up this stuff ? how is it going to end up improving Desktop Linux (if at all) ?
also from the "there can only be one" department, all those stupid android phones should standardize on one UI implimentation, the linux Tablet makers should stick to one UI implementation per spec (internet tablet, productivity tablet) so we dont confuse the poor users on the systems. all this duplication of effort was stupid anyway. There's evolution and then there's Me-Too, which one was this? The reason why apple beats windows is because they make both hardware and software. Nokia could have put their linux on the netbook they made and it could have competed with the MacBook air, but no, they put windows on it where they have no control. The only thing wrong with apple laptops is their broken stupid bios, (some have virtualization disabled.) otherwise you can load whatever. Now someone can make a tablet just as beautifull and by virtue of choice more powerfull by loading it with MeeGo for shipping and allowing anyone to put anything else on it at void of warrente.
I was recently worried they'd both wither on the vine trying to compete against Android and filling almost exactly the same space.
I've been especially excited about the fact that the n900 runs what roughly amounts to Debian inside. Google's neutering of key parts of the Linux kernel and subsystems really put a damper on people hacking on those internals of Android or porting existing software to the mobile OS.
Especially if they stay with the mainline kernel, which Google isn't interested in doing
It was quite disheartening for Google to make that choice. Google's decision was probably based on some kind of cheapest-bang-for-the-buck calculation, but the funny thing is that Google often goes the extra mile, such as their Data Liberation Front team that helps people migrate data out of Google services. By segregating the Android OS from mainline kernel development Google has shot themselves in the foot. Maybe hardware vendors will see this as well and choose another OS, such as MeeGo, for their future phones.
This bit is very encouraging:
MeeGo also means compatibility and full compliance with leading open source projects. We will not fork projects if we can possibly avoid it. We will work with leading open source projects using the open source best practices.
As a final parting shot, I have the most experience with Debian and Ubuntu system, so I would have preferred that they choose apt and .debs over yum and .rpms, but certainly more important than the package manager is the hope that they'll continue to maintain a free and open system.
coding is life
OMiGo might've been a better name :-).