Moblin goes to Linux Foundation

According to a report in the New York Times today, Intel's Moblin project is to move under the stewardship of the Linux Foundation. The Moblin project is designed to provide an open source Linux based operating system that supports Intel's Atom processors and that can be used on a variety of hardware from netbooks to in-car systems. Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation says the move is "a departure for Intel" noting that Intel "has the resources and the internal staff to create innovative technology on their own". Zemlin believes Intel sees Moblin as a strategic platform and wants to open up the project by placing it in neutral hands.

Although the Foundation will be in charge, Intel is expected to maintain a major influence, due to the number of people they have working on the Moblin project. Zemlin predicted that this would change noting "As people earn their stripes, it will open up". Competition in the mobile Linux sector has increased in the past year, with Google's Android and LiMo also vying for hardware makers attention. Moblin is also to be used by Genivi, an alliance of car makers, to create a Linux for "in-car infotainment", although prototypes shown so far have been based on Wind River Linux. Last month, the Moblin project released a second alpha version of Moblin for netbooks using the Intel Atom processor.

(djwm)