Intel and Novell push Moblin platform for netbooks

Moblin to rival the Android?

The possible Architecture

 Microsoft has long been the undisputed king of the OS platform with its various Windows versions. The scene is about to chance – at least from the competition point of view. Linux is coming into the picture largely due to the cost-cutting it does on the overall manufacturing of the system, apart from being an open-source platform. There have been various versions in the market, but none had gathered so much attention as the new ones like Ubuntu or Android thanks probably to the big-stage advent of low-cost netbooks, which put immense pressure on the manufacturers to cut cost so that they can collect whatever little profit they are earning. The latest to join the race is Moblin, which is being promoted jointly by Intel and Novell.

They on Thursday announced the deal to push Moblin 2.0 which is designed to work with the Atom chip. Intel was the one who started the Moblin project in 2007, and then handed over the software to the open-source community. Earlier reports say that Moblin was tested successfully on various netbooks like ASUS Eee PC 901, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the Acer Aspire One.

“We are extending our involvement with Moblin because we believe that it provides a richer mobile Internet experience,” said Ron Hovsepian, Novell president and CEO. “The emergence of such mobile computing platforms as netbooks presents a significant growth opportunity. We believe that Moblin-based Novell software on Intel-based platforms will offer OEMs and ODMs exceptional solutions for delivering a full Internet experience on such devices.”

According to the plan, Novell will create a lab in Taiwan (Novell Open Labs), which will work with Taiwan's Moblin Enabling Centre (MEC), a joint effort between Intel and the Taiwan Institute for Information Industry. So Novell will create the Moblin-based product for netbooks, and Moblin Enabling Center will validate designs for the various Moblin compliances. Novell has actually contributed window, email and media management code.

Moblin, originally supporting Atom powered mobile internet devices (MIDs), is currently in the Alpha stage and netbook owners are being encouraged to give it a try. They will be releasing the MID version in 2010.