This promotion of Linux by the world's largest consumer electronics
companies and broad rejection of microsoft WinCE is some serious
business. It may be the start of the "next big thing" that could get the
IT industry working again.
The CELF Forum announcement below, combined with the IBM Pervasive
Computing lab mentioned here:
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/wireless/library/wi-pvc/
and here:
http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/06/27/1822226.shtml?tid=7
are starting me to question whether Linux winning on the desktop is
important or even relevant.
Will a new generation of advanced consumer electronics running Linux
make desktop computers (and microsoft's monopoly) obsolete. What if the
current depressed personal computer market never recovers because people
start buying other kinds of devices instead. It could happen. This isn't
all pie-in-the-sky. Look at the IBM lab URLs.
If the desktop computer becomes as obsolete as the horse and buggy,
shouldn't we be focused on the technology replacing it. In an age of
automobiles, who cares if microsoft owns the buggy whip industry?
A long-running war isn't always decided by the stronger of the
combatants. Sometimes a foe just gets old and dies.
Ed
BTW. "buggy whip" sounds like a good name for a new version of Windows.
An instrument of pain -- with bugs.
David Levi wrote:
>
> July 1, 2003
>
> Consumer-Electronics Makers Plan Effort for Linux Products
>
> By PHRED DVORAK
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
> TOKYO -- In a potential blow to Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest
> consumer-electronics companies agreed to promote the development of
> software to run appliances based on Linux, a free operating system that
> competes with Microsoft's Windows.
>
> Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sony Corp. and six other big
> consumer-electronics companies on Tuesday set up a forum to encourage
> the use of Linux to run gadgets such as audiovisual equipment and mobile
> phones. The forum will discuss what kinds of standards are required for
> Linux-based software on consumer-electronics products and will evaluate
> software that comes out, the companies said.
>
> The six other companies in the group, mostly Japanese firms, are Hitachi
> Ltd., NEC Corp., Philips Electronics NV, Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp
> Corp. and Toshiba Corp. International Business Machines Corp. also plans
> to become a member, the companies said. Matsushita and Sony had
> announced initial plans to cooperate on developing Linux-based software
> in December.
>
> Microsoft, whose success is founded on its Windows operating system, has
> been battling to halt the growing popularity of Linux, an operating
> system whose core code is available to anyone who wants it. First
> developed in 1991 by Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds, Linux is slowly
> gaining share in the market for software that runs servers, a key
> business area for Microsoft. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve
> Ballmer recently singled out free software such as Linux as one of the
> company's most significant challenges, and Microsoft has been
> campaigning hard to keep governments from switching to Linux-based
> software to run their computer operations.
>
> Many consumer-electronics companies such as Sony have shied away from
> using Windows-based systems to run equipment such as stereos and
> cellphones. But Microsoft is trying to bring its operating system to
> wide use in household gadgets as well, particularly through its popular
> Xbox videogame machine.
>
> Write to Phred Dvorak at phred.dvorak@wsj.com
>
>
>
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