MOBLIN ZONE

Lisa Morgan

Software, devices, and services are going to get a lot more interesting over the next few months as the true capabilities of the Moblin V2 project release are revealed. ISVs, OEMs, ODMs and service providers will be using the framework to offer new user experiences that can be created easily and deployed quickly and cost effectively.

Moblin, is an integrated software platform and development environment designed to take full advantage of systems running on the Intel® Atom™ processor. It has already been embraced across the industry as a means of differentiating products and services.

The new version, Moblin V2, features an optimized software stack from the kernel to integrated applications, allowing designers to concentrate on building experiences rather than grappling with compatibility and performance issues. According to Stan Mo, manager of product marketing and planning at Intel, Moblin V2 combines the kind of power, interoperability, and ease of use that developers and end users seek.

"Everyone wants to differentiate and monetize their products and services,” said Mo. “Moblin V2 gives them the flexibility to select technologies and tools which meet their development needs, and the ability to target a broad range of compatible platforms to maximize their overall revenue potential.”

A number of enhancements have been made to Moblin V2. Four of the most significant improvements involve the user interface (UI), performance enhancements to the graphics subsystem, Fast Boot, and seamless integration of social networking services.

The new Moblin V2 UI is a significant step forward in aesthetics and technology for the new generation of Atom-based device platforms. Moblin V2 uses Clutter. It gives users an advanced set of graphics libraries, allowing developers to easily manipulate 2D and 3D objects in a three dimensional space. Clutter abstracts the complexity out of OpenGL and OpenGL ES development, and exposes the Moblin V2 graphics optimizations and hardware acceleration, providing a simple way to program sophisticated user experiences and applications.

From a consumer perspective, Moblin’s new UI integrates a rich, simple and easy to use design with direct access to common activities like email, web surfing, playing media and social networking.

"Our approach with Moblin V2 was to design device specific user experiences and interfaces, but with a familial resemblance, making it easy for our users to move across different platforms and gain direct access to the activities they want,” said Mo. “In addition, we have been very mindful of cross-platform software compatibility and compliance, which helps developers to deliver to multiple platforms such as netbooks, MIDs and Media Phones.”

Consumer perceptions of mobile devices (vs PCs) can be affected by boot speeds – that is, how quickly the device boots into an environment where the user can begin to do useful things. Fast Boot experience is a set of OS loading optimizations and tuning software that enables Moblin devices to boot in as little as five seconds. This feature makes Moblin well suited for mobile experiences and devices where the user expectation for instant availability and simplicity of operation directly affects their perception of the quality of the overall product.

Integrated social networking is also a compelling feature of the Moblin stack. From the user interface, a series of live panels allow the user to send and track statuses and comments from their favorite social networking services in real time (Twitter, LastFM and Flikr are available today, and more are in the works).

"Moblin is a great platform for social networking because its integration into the user experience makes it fun and easy to keep up with friends and family while you are listening to music or browsing the web,” said Mo. “And Moblin’s standards-based Linux foundation makes it possible for developers to adapt and design in new services and capabilities with ease.”

At the present time, a lot of developers, OEMs and ODMs are working in fragmented Linux environments and are looking for some common Linux solutions. Moblin V2 provides high levels of application compatibility across multiple OSVs (Operating System Vendors) and platform segments, giving developers access to a large user base.

“Atom was intended to span across different devices ranging from embedded devices to netbooks,” said Mo. “It made sense to have a software stack that delivers compatibility to our developer ecosystem across different platforms and optimizes their business models for what had traditionally been a highly fragmented device marketplace.”

Specifically, ISVs can now use Moblin as a common software base to develop applications that can be distributed across a wide variety of Linux OS releases and devices. And because the market is maturing and the number of devices is growing, Mo anticipates Moblin will evolve rapidly in the software and service areas.

“You’re going to see more innovation because development efforts and costs can be spread across platforms,” he said. “Moblin V2 provides a common foundation largely missing from the devices arena. From here, developers and the open source community can focus higher up the stack in services and end-user applications.”

In this environment, many customers are trying to increase revenues while reducing the development and porting costs of software and services across multiple form-factors, platforms and operating systems.

Many are differentiating themselves by customizing the combinations and types of services and brands they deliver to their customers. Although this kind of approach is usually very difficult to execute in the devices market, it achieves a high level of synergy between the platform and its capabilities. The flexibility also allows OEMs, ODMs and service providers to more accurately deliver what the user values, and is willing to pay for.

Because Moblin V2 is built on standard Linux, it’s easier to take advantage of existing revenue models via the web and numerous available runtime environments or through the delivery of an application store. As a result, Moblin customers can become more agile, taking advantage of greater options and opportunities available to them as the marketplace evolves.

“Choice is insurance for customers delivering services,” states Mo,”No one really knows what the next big thing will be or who will deliver it, but we feel pretty confident that Moblin will be one of the first platforms to have it when it does.”

Look for software, devices, and services based on Moblin V2 in the coming months that take advantage of the new UI, performance enhancements, and broad compatibility.

Related Links

Moblin V2 Documentation

http://moblin.org/documentation

Moblin V2 Downloads

http://moblin.org/downloads

Tags

Moblin V2, Clutter, social networking, Intel Atom processor, mobile Linux, Twitter, LastFM, Fastboot