Tag: Open Source

Seen ze iPhone? Now see this. Ubuntu, the famed Linux distro now wants to conquer new territory. Way back, I’d seen this project on Ubuntu Wikis, called Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition. It seems that it’s finally reached some sort of crucial stage, for it’s now an official Ubuntu project, and is called Ubuntu Mobile. Here, check out the screenshots.

Looks nice? That’s not it. It will be designed for touchscreen interface phones, so all that stuff you see above is for tapping and flicking around. Come to think of it, this could be the year when Linux finally makes a big big mark – with Windows Vista continuing its dismal sales, and the next big Ubuntu long term support update in Hardy Heron 8.04; not to forget THE most promising office suite I’ve seen – Lotus Symphony by IBM, which is also due later this year. Lotus Symphony is still beta software, quite unstable with MS Office formats, buggy at parts – but it’s got this way amazing interface which is a fusion of Microsucks Office 2007 and OpenOffice. I think this could be THE big promising break if it’s adopted as the standard office suite when it’s done – because office suite are one helluva factor when people think of switching.

And of course, there will be Google’s Android. There are quite a few sneak previews already of what we can expect from it. In all, exciting times. Major headway can be made it convincing people that isn’t a command-line monolith from the early 90s if they see the ease if use of Linux in the mobile segment. And after that, the desktop.

Did someone say, Linux will rule?

Yada yada, I know people have already been going gaga elsewhere about the Tata Nano launch recently in India. Frankly, I’m amused by the “I can have my cake but you can’t have yours” response of the so-called environmentalists about it destroying nature. Excuse me? The bloody thing’s gonna be Euro IV compliant and and use much less fuel than any gas-guzzling SUV. In fact this IS the way of the future – smaller cars which use less resources, and the earlier we pass legislations to stop more resource intensive stuff, better will it be for humanity.

That’s not the reason why I took up writing this post either. It was, quite predictably, a story on Asus’s Eee PC, a low-cost PC running Xandros Linux which I came across on Y! News. Of course dum dum, I knew about it, but this is a review. The point I wanted to make is, that I finally see companies getting more sensible. Not in the sense of using Linux, but in the sense that some are actually breaking away from cartels fleecing the end-consumer. I mean, taking fucking Windows Vista for example – I see no reason at all for such a shitty OS with high system requirements – unless it be for the fact that PC manufacturers wanted to get cosy in bed with Microsucks by deliberately pushing users to opt for higher systems.

Back to the Nano, it’s quite astonishing to see what they could accomplish at such a low price point. Look great too. Which WILL put a lot of us bloggers in a dilemma, you see, because when we say something like “the Nano looks great!”; we’ll need to clarify whether we’re talking about the Tata thingy or the Apple thingy.