Intel reportedly plans to back off MeeGo OS

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110901PD217.html

by ssclafani • 15 years ago

18 19 15 years ago

yuvipanda• 15 years ago

A dead OS is finally buried.

rbanffy• 15 years ago

Open source never dies. It may lie dormant until someone decides to resurrect it. It may die when the last copy of its source is erased. That's not likely to happen, as most of it is already scattered around dozens of source-control repos.

ilikepi• 15 years ago

> Open source never dies.

Your assertion immediately led me to try to come up with a counter-example, and the first candidate that popped into my head was FVWM95[1]. This was a dumb choice of course, as it was a popular package in its day, and it's not that old in the grand scheme of things. I suppose there's a decent chance that a few people out there still run it on old machines, perhaps even just for the novelty. In fact, the shot of the full desktop[2] reminds me that I still occasionally use xcalc, partly because of its light weight and partly I suppose for the nostalgia of it.

To your point, I'm sure there are plenty of software projects whose last remnants exist only on dusty tape cartridges in the basements of university computer science departments. For practical purposes, it seems reasonable to call these "dead". I'd bet there are many more projects in this state than there are people willing to resurrect them. It's safe to say though that MeeGo has a ways to go before it reaches this point.

[1] http://fvwm95.sourceforge.net/

[2] http://fvwm95.sourceforge.net/screenshot-full.gif

daliusd• 15 years ago

It would be sad day because I really love my Nokia N950.

MatthewPhillips2• 15 years ago

Strange that they say this now, there have recently been a few Meego OS based netbooks come out. I believe the Asus was even a top seller on Amazon for a short time.

lambda_cube• 15 years ago

They (as in Intel) don't say that, it was a rumour from "industry sources". Intel say that ``it remains committed to MeeGo''.

cletus• 15 years ago

Isn't this akin to pulling the plug on a brain-dead patient?

Also in breaking news: Fusion Garage cancels plans for a JooJoo 2. Film at 11.

firefoxman1• 15 years ago

Certainly not the same as killing WebOS, but MeeGo was a nice OS.

cookiecaper2• 15 years ago

This is an unsubstantiated rumor.

I don't know if anyone here actually read the article, but it's just a couple paragraphs that say Intel will be releasing an Android or Windows phone in the near future and that they've "temporarily" put MeeGo on hold due to lack of interest.

Quoted immediately after this is an Intel statement asserting that "[Intel] remains committed to MeeGo..."

icefox• 15 years ago

Agreed, flagged. Write some catchy headline and inserting a denial by the company gets link. I just heard....

Microsoft reportedly plans to temporarily discontinue development of its Windows OS due to a lack of enthusiasm for the platform from handset and tablet PC vendors. Instead, Microsoft will focus on hardware products, with its handset platforms to be paired with either MeeGo or Android Phone in 2012, according to industry sources.

In response, Microsoft said it does not comment on industry speculation or rumor. The company did say it remains committed to Windows and will continue to work with the community to develop and help meet the needs of customers and end users.

beagle32• 15 years ago

Which is PR speak for "we're killing it but not yet confirming".

MeeGo is way behind Android with much less to offer, and much less investment. If it's not dead yet, it will be because of this "temporary" hold, which Android (which is just as cheap for manufacturers) continues to make huge leaps.

Sadly, Intel would be better off scrapping MeeGo and the Itanium - but for now, they don't officially do either.

cookiecaper2• 15 years ago

MeeGo also has a much broader set of target platforms along with some other fundamental philosophical differences. Android is exclusively a mobile OS and it diverges significantly from a typical Linux install, whereas MeeGo is much more standard and can run normal applications without too much trickery, as I understand it.

MeeGo could be very interesting. Every distribution doesn't need to have the goal of "crush Android, become #1 marketshare". MeeGo could even get there eventually, but I don't think that's ever been a priority for the Intel/Nokia team.

And let's not forget that MeeGo was formed by combining Maemo and Moblin; both Intel and Nokia were working on the software independently before Elop sold out to his buddies at Microsoft, so there's not necessarily a reason to believe that Intel doesn't have an interest in continuing the project independently.

There is still a lot of hope for MeeGo as far as I'm concerned. It'd be a shame if Intel dropped it merely because Nokia has become a Microsoft pawn and Android is going on to (at least short-term) dominance of the mobile phone market.

_3ex72• 15 years ago

Does anyone know what effect this will have on the clutter project?

pavlov2• 15 years ago

MeeGo uses Qt rather than Clutter, so probably not much.

nedrichards• 15 years ago

[n.b. I work for Intel on MeeGo]

MeeGo Netbook uses Clutter. It also supports Qt applications. Other products from our partners have used Clutter and I would expect them to use Clutter in the future.

Intel reportedly plans to back off MeeGo OS

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