One of the great things about WindowsMobile is the fact the the OS is signed and sealed by MS before it goes onto an OEM device which means that an app which runs on the emulator sholuld run on any physical device (of same version at least). I applauded Android’s entry into the market because I feel it will open up devices in a way netither WindowsMobile or Symbian can, becuase of their limited market penetration, price and technology. I believe Android drives a simliar standard down to devices that would never be able to run WindowsMobile or Symbian due to cost or power. However, I’m slightly worried that implementations by manufacturers may lead to a uneven ISV playing field because of what and how is delivered to be an ‘Android’ device. This leads me to think that the compatibiltiy and capability problems that have plagued Symbian may turn up in Android. To a certain degree its inevitable because certain ‘Android’ phones will be below the ideal feature quality bar, but I would have liked to have seen more plans for certification of the OS platform so ISV’s can actually write once and run everywhere. If only Microsoft could have generated the critical mass to have WindowsMobile on bog standard (featureless) phones as well as high end devices. Trouble is, I think that particular train has left the station now, and after 5 years of pushing water uphill as an ISV, I see that most of the water got away. If half of Samsung, Motorola and LG phones ran WindowsMobile it would be a wildly different story.
So, I now watch with interest to see some real implementations ie not on the emulator. Of course I’m referring to deep device system stuff as opposed to fluffy graphics for a game. Anyway, we’ll see….
Filed under: Linux, Tech — tim CARMICHAEL @ 2:50 pm
Instant on computing is something I’ve been interested in for a long time, ie the ability to have a fixed function workstation that does what I need (and only that) which is always instantly available after powering on, like a TV.
I’ve never been able to build this myself because the raw materials always prevented it, primarily the BIOS startup time. But Asus are just about to ship a new motherboard with an embedded Linux in firmware based on SplashTop. This means that the OS is there almost instantaneously after powering on, with a fixed set of apps which are initially a browser and Skype. You can then boot a disk based OS from SpashTop, but often you won’t need to just to use a browser and hopefully soon, Acrobat.
The downside is the cost of the motherboard as its a premium model and full size, but if this principle could be extended to a mini-ITX form factor with a tiny case and low power then it would make a great home appliance using web based office tools and picture editors etc.
I’m keeping my eye on this, not for this implementation, but what I might be able to do real soon. There’s a brief intro video here:
Is not here yet … sorry if you thought I was announcing it, or had written a driver in my spare time. I’m just as annoyed as the next geek that SUN’s brilliant filesystem is not available under Windows for use at home. or is it ….
I was pondering whether I could build a Solaris 10 based home server with a ZFS pool. Well of course I could, I really meant should. Microsoft WHS is quite well packaged and NTFS does have some elements of ZFS (or at least those that I need sans 128 bit addressing) so is it worth the bother? I’m still pondering, but I do like the extreme geek factor involved of a stripped out ZFS only Solaris home server.
