Mobile Linux Goes Mainstream

This is a nice little article on the move of Linux onto mobile phones, helped by Motorola and PalmSource. “Open source proponents often make the mistake of thinking everything can go the open source route. Yet, mobile devices have a lot of technology that is highly proprietary, such as wireless stacks, media, and codecs. There is still a lack of clarity around what is free open source and what is proprietary intellectual property.”
I’m not sure what this will ultimately mean for mobile content. One of the biggest costs in producing mobile content is porting to the different handsets, and whether Linux will be just another OS to be supported or be easier to port to because of its open source nature is not something that I know. Likewise, whether there are a lot of developers out their dying to write content for mobile phones is also beyond me. Outside of China (where Linux already has a high penetration in the marketplace, possibly due to the Chinese governments policy of promoting home-grown Linux over foreign software) Linux will probably take off with enthusiasts long before the general populace, as it has done with desktops.

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