OStatic

This week, much of the talk in the smartphone arena surrounds the new Android-based Droid phone, which is the result of a partnership between Verizon, Motorola and Google. Lost in the buzz over the phone--for many people at least--is that the Droid, like all Android phones, is Linux-based. Early reports show that there were approximately 100,000 Droids sold on its opening weekend, which is nothing to shake a stick at. Meanwhile, there will be approximately 20 Android phones by the end of this year, and the operating system is spreading out beyond phones as well. So just how Linux-based is Android, and is its Linux heritage a good thing?

Remember the Milk is beloved by many people as an application for tracking to-do items and setting reminders. It's been available for use on Android mobile phones for some time, but as JKOnTheRun notes, the application has just had a significant upgrade and supports the new Droid phone. You can run Remember the Milk as a widget on your mobile phone screen, and it works well the high-res screen on the Droid. Check out more here.

It was only back in March that questions were swirling about the fate of Android, Google's open source operating system. Now, of course, Android is flourishing, with approximately 20 new handsets to be on sale by the end of the year, and questions being raised about the fate of Windows Mobile as Android spreads out. Today, JKOnTheRun has a thank you letter to Google posted, in which James Kendrick says that Android has fired up the smartphone space. It's worth reading. Check it out here.

The [Android-based] Motorola Droid is set to launch in the U.S. in just a few days, and a GSM version has already stormed the shores of Europe, reports JKOnTheRun. Some reviewers have already noted that the Droid doesn't have multitouch for pinch and zoom features in its photo app and web browser--as the iPhone has. But the GSM version of the Droid, dubbed the Milestone, has multitouch for photos and browsing. Check out JKOnTheRun's thoughts on what will be in the U.S. version here, with a video.

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.

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.

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?

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.