OStatic

Is Moblin, the open source mobile operating system initially launched by Intel and now overseen by the Linux Foundation, a potential thorn in Microsoft's side? It seems from Microsoft's own stance toward the early stage netbook- and smartphone-focused OS, that it is not. There are also reports that Microsoft may in fact favor Moblin among Linux-based operating systems aimed at computers that Windows might otherwise run on.

Last week, at the Intel Developer Forum conference, Microsoft's Silverlight team demonstrated the Silverlight 3 web application framework running on both Windows 7 and Moblin Atom chip-based devices.? The announcement from the Silverlight team was very ecumenical, describing the Novell-sponsored open source Moonlight implementation of Silverlight as aimed at the broad range of Linux platforms, while Silverlight 3 will be especially adept at running on Moblin. What is Microsoft's real stance toward Moblin?

As Slashdot, Moblin Zone, and ZDNet UK are reporting, the very first netbook preinstalled with Moblin version 2 for Netbooks is likely to launch next week, very probably at Intel's Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, or at Portland's LinuxCon. ZDNet UK did an interview with Imad Sousou, head of Intel's Open Source Technology Center, in which he implied as much. Sousou has also confirmed that Moblin version 2 will be made widely available after that, with many new features.

While Microsoft's Windows 7, due in October, is going to be aggressively pushed in the netbook space, Moblin will join Ubuntu and Google's upcoming Chrome OS in the effort to keep innovative open source operating systems going in the fast-growing netbook space. Intel has handed stewardship of Moblin over to The Linux Foundation, which could help its chances. Netbooks represent an important frontier for open source adoption and innovation, and I have my own guess at who will be shipping the first Moblin v2 netbook.

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A Moblin netbook by this fall? The first netbook pre-installed with the Moblin v2 operating system technology may reach market in October--on Asus' Seashell system.

There is a lot of hubbub about Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system and its prospects on netbooks, which remain a hot-selling hardware category, but what about Linux on netbooks? Asus and others were early to deliver Linux-based netbooks, Dell continues to offer Ubuntu-based systems, and there are new, Linux-based operating systems that may have bright netbook futures.

We've made the point several times?that Linux and open source applications can get a big boost by being successful on lightweight, inexpensive portable systems.? Still, if you go to a retail outlet to shop for a netbook, you rarely see Linux. Why is that, and what prospects does Linux really have on netbooks?

A press release issued by Mandriva and Turbolinux today announced they are joining the Moblin project and continuing their collaboration through Manbo Labs.

Manbo Labs employs Mandriva and Turbolinux engineers to develop the core components of a Linux distribution tailored for Atom processors.