Slashdot Mirror
Intel Drops MeeGo
PolygamousRanchKid writes with an article in CNet about yet more dismal news for MeeGo. Quoting the article: "Like the Moblin operating system before it, Linux-based MeeGo will will be merged out of existence. MeeGo will become Tizen, Intel said today. 'Intel joined Linux Foundation and LiMo Foundation in support of Tizen, a new Linux-based open source software platform for multiple device categories,' the company said in a statement. 'Tizen builds upon the strengths of both LiMo and MeeGo and Intel will be working with our MeeGo partners to help them transition to Tizen,' Intel said. The initial release of Tizen is expected in Q1 2012, enabling the first devices in the market mid-2012..."
PolygamousRanchKid adds "It seems one of those strengths is not actually making it into a product on the market yet." This on the heels of Nokia shipping the N9 (which is actually running a weird Maemo/Meego hybrid).
Board members: MeeGo, we need to talk
MeeGo: MeeGo is listening?
Board members: It's not working out, we're going to have to let you go
MeeGo: We go?
Board members: No, just you
MeeGo: Me go?
Board members: Yes, MeeGo, you go
MeeGo: MeeGo go?
Board members: (sigh) Just get out
Summation 2
Meego is dead, Webos is dead ...and I don't feel very well.
Bad news, intel drops it.
Good news, Linux Foundation is in charge. Some of you may not have followed along since the beginning, but Moblin begat Meego, and what was Moblin? Intel put a Clutter-based UI on Linux after stripping its ability to run on anything not based on a recent Intel CPU. Whoop. De. Doo. None of what Intel did to Linux with Moblin has any repercussions for anyone not using an x86-compatible Intel processor. While that does still seem to cover the majority of the market, it's still not an interesting basis for a Linux distribution; rather, it is a collection of features which by now have made it into the mainline.
So the bad news is that Intel has given up on the notion that x86 is ready for phones, but that's good news too. And meanwhile, Intel can go back to doing what they do best, trying to trip AMD up so that they don't have to compete on a level playing field. Since anyone can contribute to Linux, they were never going to differentiate themselves from AMD there.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I can't help but notice that Samsung is a partner. Could this be the OS we kept hearing rumors about? You know the one where Samsung is nervous about Google's purchase of Motorola and needs to hedge its bets by having their own OS.
I would love to see Meego/Tizen continue to exist. I'm glad Samsung is stepping up to replace Nokia that went to Microsoft.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
New name is TitzUp!
Now if only they will bring back Maemo's Debian-based package management and properly maintained Qt support to their native applications, and it will be back to the direction where Maemo was supposed to be heading before Nokia fucked up.
Making it possible to merge at least some things that are now maintained in Maemo Community SSU (last updated September 7 2011 if anyone did not notice), would be nice, too, however there certainly will be incompatibility with that.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say "None of what Intel did to Linux with Moblin has any repercussions for anyone not using an x86-compatible Intel processor." For now I will interpret that as "they did nothing of interest for machines with CPUs from AMD/ARM etc.
Arjan van de van's work on asynchronous initialization of kernel subsystems means you will spend less time waiting for the kernel to finishon all sorts of CPUs - not just x86s. Powertop works on CPUs other than Intel's and has been used to help monitor power consumption of various program running on Linux.
Surely the fact that much of this work has gone upstream/mainline is a positive thing rather than a negative one? It's hard to tell which way you view this from your comment...
Every time you touch that search button on your Android phone it makes Google very happy. Sun had no similar way to derive value directly from Java
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I'm sure I'll get hate for pointing this out, but maybe all these projects are dying because they are pointless? Apple rules the tablet, MSFT the desktop, and the phone is split between Apple and Google. So where is the market they were going to capture?
Of course, if everybody thought like that, Apple would never have gone on to rule the tablet, nor MSFT the desktop, and neither Apple nor Google would be in the phone market. All of these segments were dominated by other vendors before.
So, far from being pointless, projects like Maemo are very interesting, because they have the potential to bring something new (and, in this case, more standard and open) to the scene. That's why it is so sad they have been going nowhere, and that is why we have this story on Slashdot. If it wasn't for that, Meego would just be another unpopular project that nobody cared about. It is interesting because, at least in theory, it could break the grasp of the major vendors.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
It isn't a good thing. I don't know what moblin was like, but Mameo was pretty much a fully complete, working operating system that shipped on actual devices the merger with Moblin set them back a couple years. Nokia would have been better off to decline the invitation to merge with Moblin.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I don't know what the deal is.. ... loved it! But, Nokia blew it.
I had an Amiga 1000... loved it (superior in sooooo many ways) ! Then Commodore blew it.
Then I had the Nokia 770... loved it! But, Nokia never really did anything with it
Then I got the Nokia N800
Then I saw the N9... I want it... then Nokia Blows it before even releasing it
WTF?!?!?
hmmmm... I bet the problem is me...
I formally apologize for liking Nokia.
Now...maybe they can get their head out of their butts.