The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), an industry consortium
devoted to improving Linux, plans to launch an initiative on Monday to bring the open source operating system to mobile phones.OSDL's Mobile Linux Initiative is intended to improve Linux for the small, but increasingly powerful, devices. It's also set up to spur development of applications, outline requirements for different mobile phone uses and host related open source development projects.
OSDL hopes the work will reproduce the success of an earlier effort pooling work by Linux software and hardware allies, the Carrier Grade project, to tailor Linux to telecommunications gear.
"There was a tremendous price-performance gain when people transitioned to Linux for the telecom equipment manufacturers. Now people are looking for that in the mobile area," OSDL chief executive Stuart Cohen said.
Mobile phones are a growing market, so it's no surprise that many companies are angling for the business. Linux allies are up against Microsoft and Symbian for high-end phones and several other, often custom-written, operating systems for the mass market.
Among the 20 OSDL member companies involved are chipmaker Intel and embedded operating system companies MontaVista Software, Wind River Systems and PalmSource. The group's in-person meeting will be Monday in Beijing, in the country where much mobile phone research and development takes place, Cohen said.
MontaVista, a specialist in Linux for gadgets and networking gear, already has a version of the operating system for mobile phones — indeed, it's used in several handsets from Motorola. Wind River and PalmSource are relatively recent Linux converts.
Intel has pushed Linux for years, funding development and working on several projects itself, and the operating system is most widely used on computers based on its chips. But while Intel is dominant in desktops and servers, it has made less headway in processors for cell phones, where its competitors include Texas Instruments and ARM.
Setting up industry consortia can involve a lot of diplomacy, and the Mobile Linux Initiative is no exception.
One problem is that at least two similar projects already are under way: one at the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum and the Linux Phone Software Forum, set up by France Telecom and its allies.
ODSL's Cohen said the three groups are working closely together to sidestep turf problems.
"We spent a lot of time in the last 60 days to make sure there's a minimum amount of duplication of effort, no competitive issues, and that what we and they are doing is consistent and complementary," Cohen said.
