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Android, Here Are Your Open Source Competitors
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The various announcements made at MWC this year show that Android dominance in the world of mobile Linux is coming to an end. Android, of course, will continue to remain strong but we are about to witness a new era of Mobile Linux which will be non-Android.
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012:
Gone are the days when Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone used to be the competition for Android. Android has so far enjoyed immense love from the open source community as it hardly had any alternatives so far. But times look changing now. Android will soon have quite a few competitions from the open source world itself, leave alone iOS and Windows Phone.
Android has been the main contender in the world of Mobile Linux. Yes there were a few other names like LiMo, Maemo, Moblin and MeeGo, but they failed to get as much attention and growth as Android received.
This year’s Mobile World Congress has shown Android its new challenges. The various announcements made at MWC this year show that Android dominance in the world of mobile Linux is coming to an end. Android, of course, will continue to remain strong but we are about to witness a new era of Mobile Linux which will be non-Android. Have a look at these options:
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1. Boot to Gecko: When Mozilla announced its venture in the world of mobile operating system, it made sure that it was heard. The company is already doing great with its free Web browser Firefox and the company now aims to repeat history with its new open source operating system for mobiles that can slash the prices of the smartphones almost drastically. Mozilla is currently working on a project dubbed as 'Boot to Gecko' which will compete with Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS. With the help of this operating system, the OEMs will be able to generate smartphones which will be almost '10 times cheaper' than an iPhone. If you are thinking about the features, let us assure you, the OS promises to offer similar experience as compared to the other 'expensive' smartphones. Mozilla aspires to develop a complete standalone operating system for the open Web which is based on Linux. Mozilla has taken support of names like Telefonica, Adobe, Qualcomm and Deutsche Telekom to bring a new kind of Linux to the world of mobile operating system.
2. Tizen: When Tizen, the successor of MeeGo was announced in September last year, the open source industry was curious to know what the new open source platform will be all about. The preview of Tizen’s source code is already out and it seems that Intel and Samsung have really worked on making the platform attractive. Huawei has recently joined the board to support Intel-backed open source project. A beta release of Tizen’s source code and SDK have come out which show that the platform features an upgraded UI framework and Web APIs. The Tizen Association claims that this will enable development of rich Web applications. However, the SDK features support for Windows as well as Ubuntu Linux. Huawei has revealed its plans to venture into Tizen handsets for a range of markets. This means we will soon have Mobile Linux in the form of Tizen.
3. Ubuntu for Android: Canonical, the maker of Ubuntu distro, has announced Ubuntu for Android which will offer a full desktop OS experience when the user connects their smartphones to a computer screen and keyboard. The Ubuntu for Android works in the same way as it does on a regular PC. Ubuntu for Android is like running full Ubuntu OS on your smartphone along with Android, with a shared kernel. So with Ubuntu for Android, the smartphone works like any other Android phone but as soon as it is connected to a dock with a monitor, you get to see the Ubuntu desktop experience on the attached screen. Due to the multiple core processors, users can use their mobile phones and desktop at the same time. It offers the same unity user interface and lets the users access certified applications including Chrome and Firefox.
The good point is that all the data and services remain consistent between the Ubuntu and Android environments, including unified Android and Ubuntu contacts, messages and calls through desktop, synched calendars and close integration with social networks. With this effort, Canonical aims to deliver a customised version of Ubuntu which can be played with Android to share data and services simultaneously. This is a major step in the direction of running Ubuntu on smartphones, tablets and TVs, as promised by Mark Shuttleworth back in October. Ubuntu for Android will need 1 GHz, dual-core CPU, Open GL, ES/EGL, 2GB free space on disc, shared kernel driver with associated X driver, HDMI Video Out, USB host mode and around 2GB of RAM.
Canonical has said that wireless carriers can also load their branded applications and services as part of the Ubuntu desktop.
Diksha P Gupta, EFYTIMES News Network
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Daily App Review: Klik For iPhone |
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