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Are the Operating System Wars Back?

Ask many people who witnessed the rise of the PC when the operating system wars ended, and they'll think of many years ago, when Microsoft Windows arrived on about nine in 10 computers. While the Linux community often argues that the operating system wars are still raging, at least on the desktop, raging is a hard argument to support. Still, depending on which angle you view the modern operating system struggle from, there is a lot of interesting competition going on. John Dragoon, CMO of Novell, said as much in a Forbes piece titles Battle of the OS Titans.


Is Endless Forking and Fragmentation What Android Needs?

HTC, maker of the earliest Android handsets as well some of the best-liked current ones, has finally released the source code for its Android phones. It's available here.? There had previously been a number of heated conversations in the developer community about why HTC took so long to post the code. The GPL specifically states that source code must be made immediately available, but HTC stalled. In my eyes, this is just another example of possible negative ramifications for Android if it becomes overly forked and fragmented.


Browse Anonymously on Your Android Phone With Tor

Tor

Many people use the open source application Tor on the desktop for anonymous browsing sessions. Thanks to a grant from the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center Mobile Challenge and the team behind The Guardian Project, now Android mobile phone owners can use Tor to browse privately on their handheld devices, too.

We have successfully ported the native C Tor app to Android and built an Android application bundle that installs, runs and provides the glue needed to make it useful to end users?. secure, anonymous access to the web via Tor on Android is now a reality, writes Guardian Project team member Nathan Freitas.



Linux Prospects, Post-Windows 7

With the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system slated for tomorrow, several Linux releases and announcements are arriving. Paula Rooney at ZDNet suggests that the Linux flurry may represent wave-making in reaction to the release of the much discussed new version of Windows. Does Windows 7 threaten to stifle Linux, and what are the prospects for Linux as Windows 7 rolls out?


Non-Obvious Android Opportunities

Matt Asay has an interesting item up today on non-obvious ways that Google's Android operating system can lead to a lower cost infrastructure for mobile technology usage, and a big boost for Google's mobile search business. He notes this quote from Google CFO Patrick Pichette, from Google's recent earnings call, where rosy numbers were reported: If we move forward the adoption of these smartphones by having a lower cost infrastructure because it's open source...all the (mobile) searches...will happen so much faster. The point of that isn't just that you can buy an Android smartphone for less than the competition because the OS is free--that would be a very incremental kind of cost savings. It's the freedom from vendor lock-in and licensing costs that can kick in real cost savings over time. As that helps pave the way for Android adoption, Google's lucrative search business also gets a healthy boost.


Two Unexpected, Potential Scenarios for Android

We've done a number of posts lately on the incredible momentum that the open source Android operating system has. It's being supported by nearly every major smartphone maker, with players such as Acer and Motorola putting huge bets behind it. Acer's new Liquid Android smartphone has the trendy Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm built in, a sign that the OS could boost the prospects of cutting-edge new processors. Verizon Wireless recently inked a broad-based deal (GigaOm Pro, sub. req'd) with Google that will mean, since T-Mobile and Sprint are also on board, that U.S.-based Android phone users will have solid choice among wireless carriers. Yesterday, Acer announced that it is going to offer dual-boot versions of its popular Aspire One netbooks that run both Android and the upcoming Windows 7 OS. That could potentially help Android spread to many new users who wouldn't otherwise try it.

But, precisely because of the new horizons for Android, there are some unexpected directions it could go in, some good, some bad. Here are two scenarios that I don't think are widely expected.



Acer's "Liquid" Android Phone Gets the Trendy Snapdragon Chip

As JKOnTheRun notes, by all indications, the 1-GHz Snapdragon [processor] is rapidly becoming the smartphone processor of the power user, and Acer is working on an Android phone called Liquid that incorporates it. The phone has a large 800 x 480 screen, and an advanced camera, in additon to the version 1.6 Donut version of Android. Acer has previously stated its intent to include Android in a broad range of devices. Check out more details here.


Google Announces Dates for Next I/O Developer Conference

Search Results | OStatic - The New Wave Searchables are a framework for implementing scalable search services. They will allow searching deep web

Keep May 19 - 20, 2010 open if you plan to attend the next Google I/O Developer Conference. It's slated to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA and registration opens in January. The event brings thousands of developers together for a two-day sprint through session about some of Google's most popular products and tools, including App Engine, Google Web Toolkit, Android, and Chrome.



As Android's Horizons Broaden, LiMo's Are Likely to Shrink

JKOnTheRun reports this today: As we wait for Motorola?s Android phone, the Cliq/Dext, the company is once again confirming its commitment to the Android platform. Motorola had already stated that it was dropping Windows Mobile to focus on Android, and it?s doing the same with LiMo. Christy Wyatt, VP at Motorola, has vacated her seat on the LiMo Foundation board of directors.

According to a Motorola statement: At this time [Motorola] feels that the Android platform gives it a richer, more consistent foundation with strong support for the ecosystem and developer community.? With Android gaining so much momentum, and wooing handset makers and multiple wireless carriers alike, LiMo's mobile Linux strategy is looking fragile.



Mobile Tech Minus Open Source is Not the Best Strategy

Matt Asay and IBM's Savio Rodrigues have a couple of interesting posts up today on the topic of open source and mobile technology. RIM needs more open source argues Rodrigues, in reference to Research In Motion, which is behind the BlackBerry. Asay points out that the future of mobile, however, will be owned by the company or project that best appeals to developers, especially open source developers. From my perspective, that's true at both the software platform and application levels.


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