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Initial Version of MeeGo OS Released To Developers
Intel and Nokia have released the initial version of their open-source MeeGo mobile operating system, a merger between Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo. The companies want developers to test and further develop the MeeGo OS, which ranked last in a recent survey of developers. The full release of MeeGo is expected in May.Giant chipmaker Intel and mobile-phone maker Nokia have released initial code to developers to test the new
Nokia and Intel released the initial version of the operating system as the next step in the merger of two software platforms. MeeGo, which is Linux -based, was created to run on multiple hardware platforms and on a slew of computing devices, including in-vehicle infotainment, smartphones, netbooks and connected televisions.
"This is a result of many months of work by the Maemo and Moblin developers," said Suzy Ramirez, an Intel spokesperson. "The project release of MeeGo version one is targeted for second quarter 2010, with products coming in the second half of 2010."
A Development Release
So what does opening the new OS mean for the open-source community? Developers now have access to the distribution infrastructure and the operating system from the Linux kernel up to the middleware layer, according to Ramirez.
Thursday's initial release of MeeGo is so developers can download and test it.
"For developers, this software is not yet meant for application development, but for creating the platform itself," Ramirez said. "We advise platform software developers to contribute their modifications to the project frequently, work to get their submissions accepted and tested, and to track the evolution of the code base on a daily basis."
Additional steps leading to the first full release of MeeGo, slated for May, will be unveiled in the next few days.
While two companies are behind the MeeGo project, some observers wonder whether it will be enough to compete against the likes of Android, the iPhone OS, Google's Chrome OS, Palm's webOS, Samsung's bada, and Microsoft 's Windows Phone 7 Series.
MeeGo placed last in a list of platforms which developers are interested in developing. The 1,200 developers surveyed were most interested in developing for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7, according to an Appcelerator survey.
Forrester analyst Ian Fogg said the goals of the initiative are lofty, but Nokia and Intel need quality and speed that will result in a perfect execution of MeeGo. To accomplish that, the companies need to focus on gaining rapid traction in the mobile market, he said.
Not Yet for Consumers
Asked about the weak interest from developers, Ramirez said Intel is not seeing that.
"By uniting Maemo and Moblin into MeeGo, Nokia and Intel have significantly expanded the global market opportunities for developers," she said. "MeeGo can be deployed across many computing-device types, and so will be a leading choice for application and services innovation."
MeeGo also has Qt application development, which enables developers to write applications once and deploy them on MeeGo and other platforms such as Symbian, Ramirez added.
The release has no immediate benefit for consumers. Over time, however, Intel and Nokia expect MeeGo will provide Internet, computing and communications experiences to consumers using high-performance devices. With MeeGo, consumer phones are expected to have rich graphics and multimedia and multitasking capabilities.
"MeeGo increases consumer choice," Ramirez said. "As it will run on multiple device types, people can keep their favorite apps whenever they change devices or upgrade; they are not locked in to one kind of device or manufacturer."
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