Intel pushes Meego

THE MEEGO (NÉE MOBLIN) operating system (OS) will become the foundation for four Linux distributions for original equipment and design manufacturers (OEMs and ODMs), Intel announced at the Meego Conference that is taking place in San Francisco.

Hot on the heels of the Meego 1.2 announcement, Intel has closed deals for partner implementations with Linpus, 4tiitoo, China Standard and Red Flag Software. In fact, "reshuffled the deck" would be a more appropriate term, as these are already Intel software partners.

Last time we checked, Meego 1.1 was struggling to get WiFi running on "certified" Eee PCs, which weeks later, as the issue dragged on, became a running joke amongst Eee PC users.

Meego 1.2 will be used as the core OS for a new generation of devices including tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment and more. With Meego version 1.2 Intel, whose Linux efforts are carving out a beachhead in ARM territory, has piled on some handset-friendly features and brought it up to speed with other more popular mobile OS offerings, adding haptic interfaces, improved mobile network support and improved multimedia streaming, amongst other features.

The OS core and GUI will be adapted by each individual vendor to match the requirements of their specific hardware. However, the common code base, as the name implies, will continue to be developed by Intel with new updates every six months, giving OEMs and ODMs some peace of mind about lifecycle timing and some valuable marketing aids when planning new products.

You aren't likely to see these devices branded with their creators' logos, as they are mainly OEM and ODM businesses, but they'll definitely be out there. µ