MeeGo was a hybrid of Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo and Tizen is expected to be a similar work developed with help from Samsung. Developers are expecting to see the first release of the new OS in the first quarter of 2012. The MeeGo operating system is only two years old and some have been wondering what would come of the project that was started between Nokia and Intel. Today, it is clearer, the MeeGo OS is gone and Intel will put more effort in completing the Tizen project for early 2012 launch. Intel did say they plan to work with MeeGo users and developers to get them transitioned to the Tizen OS.
In a short blog post, Intel’s director at the Open Source Technology Center, Imad Sousou said, “We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5. Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a Web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been.” The confusion might come as many realize this announcement comes only a couple days after Nokia planned to launch the N9 MeeGo powered smartphone.
Tizen is going to be an operating system that will be used for tablets, smartphones, and smart TV’s, netbook and vehicle information systems. The project will be hosted by the Linux Foundation and with an early 2012 launch the first devices are expected in mid-2012. The Linux Foundation said the goal of the new OS is to make it easy to run browser-based applications, compared to most OS focused on running apps mainly on a smartphone platform. Some say the operating system will play along with the advance and popularity of HTML5 based applications. Imad Sousou also said, “Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been. Emphasizing HTML5 means that APIs not visible to HTML5 programmers need not be as rigid, and can evolve with platform technology and can vary by market segment.”
Intel said they will be busy over the next couple of months working hard to make sure the transition of MeeGo to Tizen goes as planned. The main goal is to make sure that developers can get access to the Tizen OS.
