Have you heard of MeeGo? I hadn’t until today. MeeGo is a joint open source venture between Intel and Nokia using Linux as a mobile platform. The MeeGo project is attempting to gain support among developers in order to  have apps lined up before the venture proceeds. But there is more to this story than just mobile phones. MeeGo is designed to run on netbooks entry level desktops, auto navigation systems and Internet connected TV sets.

In a related article it also states that:

Will it fly? I’m not going to predict that an open-source code base will guarantee a hit for MeeGo. But like Google’s Android operating system, open-source status will make it easier and more encouraging for many third-party developers to build applications for MeeGo than for, say, Apple’s iPhone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of Android apps ported to MeeGo.

MeeGo’s real clout is that it’s backed by the world’s largest chip manufacturer and the world’s largest mobile handset maker. Unless MeeGo flops as badly as Intel’s Viiv multimedia platform, there’ll be plenty of MeeGo users out there for which to offer apps and services.

For now, Intel and Nokia are marketing MeeGo to developers, not consumers. This video from MeeGo’s technical steering group is aimed at persuading app developers to sign up.

Is anyone seeing a pattern here? For the first time in history, Microsoft may, just may, have some real competition. Apple is doing well with their operating system, Google is making threats with Chromium and now Intel/Nokia is about to introduce MeeGo,  using Linux for their own project.

Here is what is being said on the Meego site:

I’m sure you’ve heard the news: Moblin and maemo are merging! We are taking the best pieces from these two open source projects and are creating the MeeGo software platform. Both teams have worked for a long time to support the needs of the mobile user experience – and MeeGo will make this even better. We want it to be fun, focused, flexible, technically challenging and ultimately, something that can change the world.

I liked this quote ‘something that can change the world’. We are living in very exciting times. I can envision all of these new operating systems as a huge benefit for us consumers.

Comments welcome.

Source

MeeGo site