AMD Joins Intel's MeeGo OS Effort 117
angry tapir writes "In an effort to expand software compatibility for its upcoming Fusion chips, AMD has joined rival Intel's efforts to develop the open-source MeeGo OS. AMD 'will provide engineering expertise intended to help establish the technical foundations for next-generation mobile platforms and embedded devices,' the company said in a blog post on its website."
Desktop dinosaurs realize mobile cannibalization (Score:2)
I love me some AMD, but this is just confirmation that mobile is where the money is at, and Intel and AMD are both out of the running compared to ARM-class chips (power usage), and are struggling to keep relevant.
Specifically the "iPad cannibalization" meme is probably scaring the pants off the x86 chipmakers, who hope to stave off (or take relevant share) of the nascent tablet invasion.
Re:Desktop dinosaurs realize mobile cannibalizatio (Score:4, Informative)
Actually Meego is ARM ready so I don't think this is a case of x86 doing catch up, More like joining forces in order to make a viable competition. JMHO
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I don't know. I think it's more bandwagon jumping than "joining forces."
I think this is a case of AMD knowing what side it's bread is buttered on. If they can drum up more business through direct sales because linux now works as well or better than a competitor(like say, intel, or ARM)'s product, and the cost is a few dozen engineers on a crazy fun short term amount of time spent kernel hacking, I'd say it's worth it.
From what it sounds like, MeeGo might be a less than stellar MID or phone OS compared to
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There's nothing particularly for or against either in terms of being a capable OS for those purposes. MeeGo mostly defines a framework and APIs, whether it works well in those roles is heavily dependent on the device vendor stepping up to the task of providing a good UI.
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The one piece I've noticed a lot of geeks miss about OSes is that UI is a really, *REALLY* important piece, particularly when you're targeting Apple, in the mobile sphere. It's not about just good, it's also about consistent.
If Nokia wants me to build Qt framework applications, they need to get UIs consistent and in order, particularly if they want me to be able to develop from anything from a netbook, to a MID to an STB.
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This.
Meego defines the OS, but there's nothing saying an implementation of it has to be ugly. Nokia, please for the love of silicon,
-get rid of those "laughing amigos". They might look cute to (some) geeks, but to no one else.
-get some artists to create some nice icons, you know antialiased, glossy, shiny stuff. Not the pathetic 2D ugly colored ones you have now.
-either depreciate the name of the OS, or you should have picked a better name (Amigo woudn't have been bad)
http://meego.com/devices/handset/handse [meego.com]
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Please note that the "amigos" are the reference UI graphics -- i.e., placeholders. The least a device vendor should be bothered to do is to provide their own visual style definitions and gfx to customize the platform before shipping products to customers...
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Not only are they reference graphics, they're reference graphics being used as a desktop background. They could have used a plain blue screen or the infamous old goatshit brown Ubuntu background just as easily in their mockups.
Those screenshots look very similar to Maemo's Hildon desktop - I hope they don't change to a "scrolling" task manager though, kinetic scrolling's novelty was dead to me after about 5 minutes, luckily kinetic scrolling menus also support "type to filter" or they would drive me insane.
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You've never had to scroll through a poorly thought out webform drop down list with 300 elements have you?
Kinetic scrolling at that point made absolutely perfect sense.
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It's interesting that while preaching "consistency" and "good UI", your examples are about gloss and marketing.
Re:Desktop dinosaurs realize mobile cannibalizatio (Score:5, Informative)
nokia hired peter skillman - designer of palm pre - as UX designer of meego (or meego based nokia products).
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So we know that Nokia's version of MeeGo is going to have an absolutely shitty UI ... Useful info.
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You really need to get your hands on one of the tablet flops coming out with Android to understand just how bad android can be. Even established makers like Toshiba have a 80%+ return rate. It just goes to show that you need proper UE and proper testing and proper development to create something even if you start with a "ready" OS.
In any case, MeeGo is geared not just towards the phone and Tablet market. All those STBs, media SoCs in TVs using bespoke builds are ripe for the picking and make a much easier t
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From what I understand about Qt's place as an application framework, it's really lacking in scope as also a UI framework.
I think that Android tablets DO fail based on UE and UI concerns, but, I think unlike MeeGo's, the APIs need to be just simply fixed, not built from the non-existant ground up.
(Although this is advantageous if I'm building an environment where a custom UI, building general purpose applications would be a hassle at best, and nightmare at worst.
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I wonder how much those returns have to do with either build quality or the lack of android market (fuck you google!). Or perhaps some parent getting talked into buying it by some buttery sales person making the claim that it is like the ipad, only cheaper. Then the return comes when the spawn of said parent throws a hissy fit...
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Android was designed as a smartphone OS - It is very specifically not designed to work on large screens, and is very specifically designed to work well on small ones ...
So it not having a nice friendly interface on a tablet is not surprising at all ...
The advantage Apple has is that iOS is a scaled down full desktop OS designed for a mini-tablet that is also a phone, not an OS re-designed for a phone that has been scaled up to use on a tablet ...
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The primary issue is that most manufacturers can't put together a decent hardware/UI package.
Exactly. Windows has made most of the established ones forget how to do it. None of the "stablished" PC players remembers how to do this any more. At the same time the phone players do not know how to do a bigger screen and a more PC like experience with some productivity apps that re not toys and get actual use. There are some examples here - Samsung, Archos and Sony come to mind, but that is about it. The rest of the industry has relied on someone else doing the UI for so long that they do not know how t
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There are some examples - meant to say "exemptions", not examples. Should use preview next time... Sigh...
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Linux is a server OS that has been migrated to desktops, cell phones, set-top boxes, and tons of other devices. Frankly I don't think there's anything wrong with Android. The primary issue is that most manufacturers can't put together a decent hardware/UI package. I had an opportunity to play with a soon-to-be released Android tablet device and I was taken aback at how atrocious the feedback was on the touchscreen. I thought the iPad was horrible with being responsive to touch/slides but wow. Is that Google/Android's fault? No, it's the touchscreen manufacturer's fault.
No so. Linux is a terminal emulator [digital-domain.net] that has migrated not just to desktops and servers, but practically every other kind of machine that can think, with the possible exception of pen clocks.
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No so. Linux is a terminal emulator that has migrated not just to desktops and servers, but practically every other kind of machine that can think, with the possible exception of pen clocks.
Good point. I guess that's one market space NetBSD still owns. That and toasters.
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Linux is a server OS that has been migrated to desktops, cell phones, set-top boxes, and tons of other devices.
Linux is just an operating system kernel, it is often customised for the target platform. It is not explicitly for Servers, Desktops, Mobile or Embedded devices.
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Android is a mobile phone OS that runs partly on Linux, partly on Dalvik (Java)
Linux works fine on Tablets - Android does not ...
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From what it sounds like, MeeGo might be a less than stellar MID or phone OS compared to say, Android,
If MeeGo can match or beat its predecessor, it will be better than Android.
- Maemo user
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From what it sounds like, MeeGo might be a less than stellar MID or phone OS compared to say, Android,
If MeeGo can match or beat its predecessor, it will be better than Android.
- Maemo user
MeeGo needs to improve upon Maemo's basic functionality of supporting applications. Modest is just not good and the Application Manager is WAY too slow. I really like Maemo but the fact that some basic functionality lacks polish means widespread adoption is difficult to achieve.
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> Intel and AMD are both out of the running compared to ARM-class chips (power usage), and are struggling to keep relevant
Are you sure about that?
http://fusion.amd.com/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20101010112734_AMD_Fusion_is_Going_to_Be_Unlike_Everything_We_Have_Seen_Before.html#
According to AMD, their upcoming Fusion family APUs are actually the reason why AMD has joined Meego.
http://blogs.amd.com/press/2010/11/15/amd-joins-meego-linux-open-source-linux-project-for-next-generation-mobile-em
AMD and Intel both need to compete in mobile (Score:2, Insightful)
They have to because we're going mobile with or without them. This much has been clear for years. They're trying to come up to speed, and Fusion looks like a credible effort but it's not going to be under anyone's tree this year - and iPads and iPhones and Android phones and tablets on ARM will be. Oak Trail from Intel looks promising but we'll need actual power and performance figures to know for sure.
Windows? It's not coming with us. It will wither slowly in the first world. It has a long tail. Fa
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Are you referring to the reference to falcon, which was cancelled and replaced with swift (5 Watt), which was then cancelled and replaced with bobcat (9 Watt)?
I look forward to it (9 Watt including a gpu that's good enough (today's low mid range, in 6 months)), but it is not the super mobile chip they were hoping for.
It will find a place under my TV if the lnux support for h.264 is there (allegedly it will be)
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Apparently the lowest-power end of the AMD Fusion APU is a combined CPU + GPU (on the one die) with a TPD of 1 watt.
TDP isn't a great metric by itself, you need to consider the amount of computation that is actually being done in exchange for that peak thermal energy, and, more importantly, what the power consumption for real world usage patterns is. Intel's Atom similarly promised a revolution, with a minimum TDP of 0.65W, and whilst it has been successful in the netbook market, it hasn't challenged ARM in the lower arenas of cell phones etc.
TDP isn't important (Score:1)
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Sorry, too much marketing speak.
Maybe AMD is getting involved because one, it can. It's pretty much the only real open source project for mobile that is being worked on. They don't really have to work spend a lot of cash on contractual obligations to get involved. And two, because err...well, related to number one. It works on netbooks too. It's not tied to mobile chips. They're definitely targeting mobile, but the stuff will work on just about anything. Netbooks, embedded, cell phones, etc. There's nothing
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> That might be what brought AMD to the table.
The Meego project is hosted by the Linux Foundation.
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/node/5887
AMD is a gold member of the linux Foundation, and it has a seat on the board of the Linux Foundation.
AMD has released programming specifications for its GPUs so that open source drivers could be written.
www.x.org/docs/AMD/
Open source driver for Linux have indeed been written for Linux for AMD/ATI GPUs. The have existed now for a couple of years.
AMD are about to enter t
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Anything which brings more openness to the mobile GPU space is a good thing (right now everyone, Intel included, is using closed GPUs from the likes of NVIDIA and PowerVR)
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Maybe AMD is getting involved because one, it can. It's pretty much the only real open source project for mobile that is being worked on.
Wow, mod insightful! Indeed, because of open source AMD can invite itself to the party. It's amazing how open source can get the bitterest enemies to cooperate. This also happens in the film business where the competing studios all contribute to key production tools running linux. And incidentally, also run Linux on their IT servers and artists desktops (PHBs still run window$).
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I doubt AMD or Intel feel much of a sting from the 4-5 million iPad units sold this year, but strategically, this is an area where both AMD and Intel have to start worrying about. There are a ton of low-end consumer spec devices growing rapidly in a highly volatile market of mobile phones and personal computing devices. This is an area where X86 systems have fared poorly. Intel and AMD need to find some magic to get themselves through the door before the market is so tight upon ARM arch that there's no hope
I was completely with you until the end... (Score:5, Interesting)
3. In 2 years when the 'tablet computing' fad has largely blown off, Intel and AMD will realize that its just not that important to keep pushing down their marginal revenues until its just not worth the investment to keep with it.
I just don't agree that 'tablet computing' is a fad. Bill Gates was definitely correct that this form factor held lots of promise but Microsoft just could not untether themselves from the Windows gravy-train and thus constantly missed the mark with their tablet OS (not to mention pricing put it well out of the general consumer market). Intel got lucky in an emergency conspiracy with Microsoft to kill the netbook market but the tablet market is out of their control (with upcoming wave: Google/Android, HP/Palm, and RIM/BlackberryOS will put a permanent dent in PC sales). I bet both Intel and AMD are pretty disappointed in Microsoft's lack of real competitive OS here and have no "in" with the tablet players of today.
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It's a fad. Not that it doesn't have its place, but considering that Apple and their brain dead followers in the mainstream press have pushed it as a "revolution" that would "change" (oh, where have I heard that before?) "everything", while being less capable and twice as expensive as a netbook, and that the only influence it has had is that news outlets can push their wares in the form of paid "apps" through iTunes instead of the usual web content, it just isn't worth the attention it has received. The tab
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Funny you bring this up. I have here a new marketing campaign from Apple:
Tablets are crap; we only did this to con you poor consumers into consuming news outlets' propaganda. Please buy more.
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I don't think so either. I gave up my MacBookPro at work for an iPad and glad I did. I have a docking station at the office and one at home. If I need to write longer emails to people I can. The only machine I have left at home now is the Mac Mini attached to the TV and that's mainly used as a media center.
I got my Dad a iPad3G for his birthday and a docking station. He loves it as he travels a lot while he is still able and can keep up with emails. I don't think he even turns on his iMac anymore unle
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WebOS and BlackberryOS are only worth mentioning because of the companies they USED to be. They are so far behind its like a 200 lap race, where the race is over and HP and RIM are still trying to roll over the first lap.
Android had a chance, but its openness is killing it, too much fragmentation for normal end users so its going to be unlikely it'll take over anything anytime soon unless something changes. Sure, people buy android devices, but very few people own one for any length of time and continue t
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Intel bought into Atom big time, which combined with Windows put the chill on Linux/ARM based netbooks before it got enough traction to become 'a threat' to the status quo, though I doubt Intel makes nearly as much as it does when compared to a standard Notebook computer, residuals are better than nothing, though its yet to be seen just how low end (power and affordability) that Intel can scale down the chip line.
As I understand it, margins on Atoms are pretty good, and an Atom-based netbook usually uses Intel chipset hardware so I suspect they're making a decent profit on the overall system.
I'm sure they'd prefer to be selling i7 laptops, but I doubt they're too upset about selling millions of netbooks.
Re:Desktop dinosaurs realize mobile cannibalizatio (Score:5, Insightful)
Nokia has been supporting Maemo as an also run Windows mobile type smart phone OS for a long time, and having iPhone, Android, WebOS, and WP7 absolutely blow their offerings out of the water means that something had to change with them. I'm not sure why they just can't pull something compelling together, but its hurting the company until they work on getting something. I personally think that bringing in Qt was a bad decision which has at least in a small part hindered efforts to get product to market.
I agree with everything else but this. Have you used an N900? Maemo is the most capable of the mobile OS's and it's a solid progression from the previous versions. The interface is slick - four desktops with useful widgets, combined IM/SMS/SIP "conversations", nice view of multiple running apps and more. The reasons it's niche is because Nokia has not aimed Maemo at the general public, but instead has targeted a small geek market. In fact the N900 is marketed as a mobile computer, not a phone. I'll bet their next Maemo or Meego offering will be a smart phone.
Qt has long surpassed GTK and since Nokia owns the company they'd be nuts not to use it. From what I can tell they've done a fine job of transitioning developers.
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Qt has long surpassed GTK
Um, I think the words you're looking for is "GTK has never caught up to Qt". Qt was first, GTK was a crappy response to it by a panicked FSF.
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I thought GTK was simply an outgrowth of GIMP?
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Yeah, Qt is great. I'm surprised nobody has tried building a decent desktop environment with it.
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Wonder when you'll realize that 'four desktops' on a 'phone' is retarded.
Its not target at the general market because no normal intelligent person would try to do the things you think makes the N900 rock on a phone, they'd use a full size device.
Stop thinking the way to win the phone/tablet wars is to make a fully functional desktop computer out of them and realize that they have a place beside the desktop, not in place of the desktop.
Why the fuck would I want to work on a 2-3" or 10" screen when I have a l
Recompiling for different mobile processors (Score:2)
Maybe I'm missing something, but by going with Meego, which features C++ APIs, devs have to recompile for every different processor line.
How does this help the desire of Meego partners to have a single large Meego app store?
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I don't see your problem. It works for just about any established Linux distro; e.g. for each of my systems, a i7-920 desktop Ubuntu64, a 32bit Atom-based Server, a ARM Kirkwood-based plugcomputer or my ARM Cortex based smartphone, I can issue one and the same command to get the app I want, for instance "apt-get install lynx" and it will download the correct binary for any of the platforms.
An appstore could function just like the other Linux repositories.
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True that. It's just more work for developers (cross-compiling, though Nokia does have a compile farm, I believe).
Might run into trouble if a user thinks he can move an app for one processor line to another phone. Though most people probably just download directly from the store to their phone.
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every single processor line is actually just two lines. arm and x86.
maybe you should dig up how much new android sw is actually tied to either arm or x86.
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>every single processor line is actually just two lines. arm and x86.
Really? I didn't know that. Thanks. Given that's the case, it's an advantage for a C++ API, I would think.
Btw, do the latest ARM processors feature new instruction sets, like 686 features more instructions than 486? Or do most mobile devs target the ARM equivalent of 486?
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It seems as if ARM will be doing to Intel and AMD what they themselves did to the traditional high end RISC architectures...
General mass market devices will end up going ARM, because ARM chips now offer enough performance for most peoples day to day computing needs while offering low power consumption (and the things that go along with it such as low noise, low heat output, long battery life and low running costs)... Intel and AMD will be pushed upmarket into highend workstations, highend servers and other
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I love me some AMD, but this is just confirmation that mobile is where the money is at, and Intel and AMD are both out of the running compared to ARM-class chips (power usage), and are struggling to keep relevant.
Specifically the "iPad cannibalization" meme is probably scaring the pants off the x86 chipmakers, who hope to stave off (or take relevant share) of the nascent tablet invasion.
Bingo. Specifically, AMD and Intel are taking a competitive stance against Apple and Google. And all are doing their damdest to promote Linux! Who woulda thunkit.
And there is another big theme here: anti-Java, pro native. Java on cell phones is just, in a word, idiocy. It introduces startup lag which people don't want, sucks more battery to do the same job, and has legal problems. This new situation should help Google get a clue and offer a proper native environment for Android development, as opposed
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This is a Linux. The compiler is open source. If AMD has a trusting trust [wikipedia.org] problem, they have the bit-diddlers to implement a basic C compiler and assembler in raw machine code. And of course they can add all the optimizations to the compiler that apply. Linux is about as level a playing field as it can get.
If AMD wanted to improve use of their products they probably need do no more than go to SourceForge's most popular projects and offer optimization tips to the developers - and maybe some test hardwar
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GCC may be Open Source. But the Intel Compiler is NOT (and thats the one where Intel has been crippling the output on AMD chips)
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I wonder why both Microsoft's and Intel's C compilers produce so much better code output than GCC if the playing field is so great.
GCC compiles slower and the executable code is slower in most cases.
If you want fast, you don't generally use GCC.
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Hey, whoa. The Intel C compiler does compile Linux targets. I hadn't looked at that in a long time. Does Microsoft's? I haven't used that in 20 years - it's probably different than I remember. Back in the day if it compiled for both the server and the desktop version of Windows they considered it "cross platform". Back then they liked to pretend non-Wintel environments didn't exist. I'm trying to imagine people wanting to use a Microsoft compiler to compile their Linux, and I'm just not seeing it. Ma
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it probably did make better code for Athlon using the "crippled" code path than trying to foist the stupid long Netburst "optimized" codepath
Only if, for example, having a memcpy that's significantly slower than a naive generic assembler implementation isn't a performance problem for you.
AMDs and Intels living together? (Score:2, Funny)
Of course they want a Linux Mobile OS (Score:1)
MeeGo is a linux distribution optimised for low power mobile devices.
No one would be surprised if the title read "AMD Joins Mobile Linux OS efforts" which is what is going on. It is an open source project, and the only real contender for mobile at the moment.
Of course AMD want to play in the mobile space and to do this they need an OS. Their alternative is to roll their own or form another equivalent partnership like MeeGo that aims to achieve the exact same thing.
This is the only sensible move they could
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Of course AMD want to play in the mobile space and to do this they need an OS.
Surely they need a mobile CPU first? Do they have anything that can compete with ARM or Atom at the low-power end of the market?
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Yes, their upcoming "APU" series has low power variants.
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Bobcat might eventually; right now I think they're aiming at the ULV notebook and nettop segment with Ontario and Zacate, in the hope that the bump down to bulk 28 nm in the next year to year-and-a-half [blogspot.com] will make it suitable for netbooks and tablets.
Phones are probably not in the picture for AMD; as a late third competitor to ARM and Intel's Atom (which should be in phones by 2012-2013) the market just won't be there for them, unless AMD really pulls a miracle out of their hats and somehow makes Krishna on
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*puts on anti-Nokia troll hat*
Isn't that what Android is for?
What's stopping Google from using code in the MeeGo base?
I'm 99% sure that it's nothing, and that if the code's good enough, we'll probably see a lot of cross contamination between Android and MeeGo kernel code.
I think though, that this is more proof that Nokia and maybe Google(I suspect that since Android's source is completely open, there would be no shame if Googlers went into Nokia, Intel and AMD's back yards and stole the grill) are both too
Re:Of course they want a Linux Mobile OS (Score:4, Informative)
What's stopping Google from using code in the MeeGo base?
The fact that Android has very little in common with mainstream GNU/Linux distros i.e those with GNU libc. That includes MeeGo (and its parents, Maemo and Moblin). Beyond the kernel (including drivers), I don't see them being able to share much.
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The goal for both Meego and Android should be to get their kernel customisations back into mainline.
They benefit everyone then, provided they are not customisations that only benefit the android stack.
As for using Dalvik.. doubtful. QT is the strategy and it goes beyond Meego, and is native.
"Stealing" is an odd term to use for open source. Sharing it is the point.
We don't need to worry too much about Nokia's involvement in MeeGo either - you can take your hat off. It is an open source linux distribution,
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It's basically already done for Meego.
As for Android, google (hah!) "tokenised dead mice" to see what the chances of that happening are. (Ignore Google's attempt to "fix" the spelling of tokenised).
Are you sh*tting me? (Score:5, Interesting)
*puts on anti-Nokia troll hat*
I don't know about hats, but it sure sounds like you're trolling!
What's stopping Google from using code in the MeeGo base?
MeeGo uses a (somewhat) stock kernel, I believe. Android puts in all kinds of special sauce not in mainline like wake-locks.
Drivers written for Android aren't necessarily going to just work in MeeGo, unless you add all that additional stuff (cruft?) to the kernel, etc...
Like most popular distros, MeeGo uses the standard GNU userland; Android uses their own, non-GPL userland.
we'll probably see a lot of cross contamination between Android and MeeGo kernel code.
Sure, anything that's from upstream.
(I suspect that since Android's source is completely open, there would be no...
Android, like MeeGo is largely open. But there are certain things that are not released under a FOSS license (e.g. some drivers, particularly power-related and graphics-related drivers).
On Android, I believe that all of Google's core applications are completely closed-source. What's more, it's non-trivial to set up the phone to sync with non-Google servers.
Nokia would steal Google's UI code and Dalvik
I don't think that Android's UI is particularly better or worse than MeeGo's.
And Dalvik? That's like asking the MeeGo folks to go stick their hand in a beehive filled with thousands of tiny little Larry Ellisons with stingers. Surely, you must be joking!
Google would steal their best threading, i/o, and whatever other code is probably superior in MeeGo that isn't probably going to wind up in the base kernel trunk
Part of the whole point with MeeGo is to try to get as much stuff pushed up into upstream projects as is possible. If there's some good threading or i/o improvements to be made to the kernel, it seems reasonable that the MeeGo kernel devs will work hard to get it into mainline. From my perspective, Android has an "after the fact" attitude towards kernel development, whereas MeeGo has more of a "let's cooperate with upstream" attitude.
I don't know if ARM is working directly on the Linux kernel/Android or not
Sure. One of the projects they sponsor is Linaro. Linaro is a projects tasked with making it easier to deploy Linux-based systems on top of ARM: http://www.linaro.org/ [linaro.org]
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Android's framework supplies an API for synchronization which any app can use.
Furthermore, apps have full access to the contacts database (given the right permissions, of course).
Essentially, as an app developer, you have access to the exact same sync functionality which is used by Google's services.
The problem you're facing is that those services are so good, that maybe the incentive to develop synchronization with other systems just isn't there.
I say "maybe" because I think Android now supports at least E
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What's stopping Google from using code in the MeeGo base?
There's no GPL code in the Android userspace.
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>
Isn't that what Android is for?
Android isn't particularily "Linuxy". If you want to take advantage of the wast amount of open source Linux/Unix software, Android is hardly the way to go, because it doesn't provide Unix-like environment.
IOW, no, that's not what Android is for. Android is Android, and is useful when you want Android. If you want anything else, you shouldn't choose Android.
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WTF? Why on earth would Nokia want Dalvik?
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Isn't that what Android is for?
No, Android is not a Linux distribution. It's an embedded platform supporting Google's business model; it happens to run on the Linux kernel just because it was the best strategic choice. Android might drop the Linux kernel tomorrow, and Android applications would hardly notice it.
What's stopping Google from using code in the MeeGo base?
I'm 99% sure that it's nothing, and that if the code's good enough, we'll probably see a lot of cross contamination between Android and MeeGo kernel code.
Android already uses Nokia code. For instance, Bluez, and Nokia-contributed kernel code.
Palm, too, used some results of a collaboration between Nokia and TI on their products (at least this is what was said at the first MeeGo co
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I've heard a rumour about another possible contender, I don't recall the exact name but it was something to do with robots, and backed by some Silicon Valley startup that is apparently doing quite well in online advertising. Seems unlikely to me that some upstart can challenge Intel's clear history of successful operati
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Android isn't anything like MeeGo or a linux distribution. It has its own stack - the commonality ends at the kernel (if they have even merged the custom kernel changes back in to mainline yet) The kernel is only a part of the equation - significant but a part.
If they want their CPU platform to only be thought of as useful for running Android java apps, then ok that is a possible decision. If I was AMD I would prefer something that has a bit more potential - which is what Meego provides. I am not surprise
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If they want their CPU platform to only be thought of as useful for running Android java apps
Note that since Android 1.5, there is a native development kit [slashdot.org].
You still need to develop almost all of your UI in Java, but the core functionality can be written in C or a subset of C++; Android is no longer for Java only.
Re: (Score:2)
Android NDK [android.com].
Nokia Icon? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow... (Score:2)
Let me get this straight: couple of biggest hardware manufacturers are putting their effort to bring full-blown GPL-licensed Linux distro on mobile devices, and you guys don't seem to care? I would imagine geeks all over the world would be jerking off on their monitors upon hearing this news...
Am I missing something?
Pr0n has always been at the leading edge (Score:2)
I am quite capable of not getting it on my monitors, thank you very much!
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>> Am I missing something?
Yes. Those who call themselves geek are discussing how wonderful it is to have one more band on their apple toy.
See this and weep - http://i.imgur.com/LFA76.jpg [imgur.com]
+ or Vs Android? (Score:2)
Is MeeGo increasing the robustness of mobile devices by offering variety? Or is it splitting the developer and consumer activity in mobile between MeeGo and Android, and so slowing down the pace and survival strength of mobile development?
Both are happening. Which is stronger than the other?
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MeeGo is run by the Linux Foundation thus truly Open Source and backed by money from Intel, Nokia and now possibly AMD.
I'd put my money on MeeGo especially because I don't see Google actively hindering MeeGo.
A phone should be a "computer" (Score:2)
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Yea, I know. I think The Register covered it a lot.
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With all this corporate support, I doubt that Meego is heading for a disaster. As I see it now, the worst thing it can encounter is "design by committee". But that can happen with any open source project. And freedom is not something bad. If you can develop in quite a number of ways, you can always encourage a "preferred" one. That is, if the other ways are harmful in any way. I think the whole point of a widget library is to standardize the look-and-feel of a system, so using one (like Qt) will give the po
Re: (Score:1)
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The other word you could use for committee is team!
Not really. A team is actively developing, whereas a committee is "above" that.
To say it bluntly: committees make sure all the buzzwords get incorporated, while team members make sure all the features get built.