The operating system landscape continues to heat up, with news from Intel that it will be releasing a version of its Moblin netbook OS for mobile devices, desktops and in-car computers. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based technology giant made the announcement this week at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) taking place in San Francisco.
The open-source Moblin is based on the Linux operating system, as is the Google-backed Android, which was originally launched for mobile devices and is now moving to netbooks and possibly other devices. On handhelds and desktops, Intel will also be competing with Microsoft’s Windows.
Coinciding with Moorestown
Intel showed a beta version of Moblin 2.1 at the IDF. It includes native capabilities for touchscreen input, including gestures, as well as other interface changes. The kind of desktop computer that Intel is targeting for Moblin is called a “nettop” — an inexpensive computer unit to which a user adds peripherals.
The different versions of Moblin are designed to work with different-sized screens, but with comparable user experiences.
The netbooks — and possibly other devices — on which Moblin runs use the Atom microprocessor from Intel, which has been designed specifically for mobile units. The release of the final version of Moblin 2.1 is intended to coincide with the launch next year of Intel’s Moorestown platform, which includes an Atom-core-based processor.
As with Android and other operating systems, the availability of third-party applications is important to the competitive positioning of Moblin. Intel said it will be providing software-development kits, and that applications could be sold through various app stores.
Silverlight, Dell
Even as Moblin is beginning to move into territory occupied by Microsoft operating systems, it will be supporting Microsoft technology. On Wednesday, Intel announced that support for Microsoft Silverlight technology will be included in Moblin beginning early in 2010. Among other things, Silverlight allows developers to…