AMD throws its hat into the MeeGo ring

By on Nov 15, 2010 at 8:10 AM
Software November 15, 2010

It looks like another big-name company will be throwing its weight behind the development of the open-source operating system MeeGo. Today, AMD announced that it will “provide engineering expertise” to the MeeGo project in the hopes of establishing “technical foundations for next-generation mobile platforms and embedded devices.”

“We are glad to provide engineering resources to joint industry efforts like MeeGo and expect that this operating system will help drive our embedded plans and create expanded market opportunities for our forthcoming Accelerated Processing Units,” said Ben Bar-Haim, AMD’s corporate vice president of software development.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

AMD Joins MeeGo Linux Open Source Project for Next-Generation Mobile, Embedded Platforms

AMD to Contribute Engineering Resources to Help Drive Linux-Based Open Source Operating System

DUBLIN, IRELAND–(Marketwire – November 15, 2010) – At the MeeGo Conference 2010, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it has joined The Linux Foundation’s MeeGo open source Linux project, and will provide engineering expertise intended to help establish the technical foundations for next-generation mobile platforms and embedded devices.

“MeeGo represents an exciting, open-source mobile operating system we expect to be adopted by mobile and embedded device makers over time,” said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president, software development, AMD. “We are glad to provide engineering resources to joint industry efforts like MeeGo and expect that this operating system will help drive our embedded plans and create expanded market opportunities for our forthcoming Accelerated Processing Units.”

“Built from the ground up for a whole new class of mobile computing devices, MeeGo gives companies like AMD and its partners unlimited opportunities to accelerate innovation for the next generation of computing,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “As an existing Linux Foundation member, AMD will be an important and valuable contributor to the MeeGo Project.”

The MeeGo Linux-based open-source operating system is primarily designed for mobile hardware platforms such as ultra-mobile notebooks, tablets, embedded in-vehicle infotainment systems and smart phones.

The MeeGo project is hosted by The Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. AMD is currently a gold level member of the Linux Foundation and has a seat on The Linux Foundation’s board of directors.

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  • http://www.fbloise.com Frankie Bloise

    will “provide engineering expertise” to the MeeGo project…

    And the apps? or the support from Nokia??

  • Brad

    I’m as big of an AMD fan as anyone else, but this to me looks like a bad move. There are just way, WAY too many players in the mobile OS market, and the market can’t possibly sustain them all. Also, the current status of Symbian should show the current state of Nokia. AMD should have thrown its support behind Android.

  • Flare

    AMD had two different options to pick from:

    1. Support MeeGo. Watch it continue to fail. Move to Android.

    2. Move to Android.

    Guess they went with option 1.

    • Physicalguy2001

      Support Meego.Watch it continue to fail. Move to android!!! How far in the future can you see? Or you are just dreaming?

  • Dara

    This newest version of Android fan seems like it borrows a lot from previous Apple fans.

    Maybe the problem is that they all come from a country where not knowing is apparently just as good or better than knowing.

    AMD is competing with Intel in CPUs and GPUs. They are way ahead in GPU’s (thanks to ATI) and way behind in low power mobile CPUs. They’re also very good with Linux support.

    Meego is Debian compatible and could quite possibly be the first Linux distribution (other than maybe Ubuntu, which is also more or less Debian compatible) to go mainstream.

    If Intel goes it alone, they’ll gain serious ground in low-power Linux implementations building upon their existing Moorestown platform. Worst case scenario is that they recreate the “Wintel” magic on a platform that will actually run on any hardware, including desktops, servers and mobile devices.

    It’s a good move because AMD has the Linux experience to get in early at a relatively low cost to make sure that they remain competitive with Intel in next-gen hardware.

    • gunmetalskyline

      This all sounds very interesting , that worse case scenario you mention could be very feasible considering Meego is a joint project between Nokia and Intel. Though to add I have no clue how much nor what kind of input Intel has on the development of Meego. Any clue

      • Dara

        It’s open source, they can have as much input as they want.

        What Intel are probably working on hardest is getting a Moorestown/Meego device to outperform ARM-based solutions.

        They’re also working on the UI, and they’ve created an app store. The way that it’s set up now, it seems like Intel is concentrating on the netbook branch of Meego. Nokia is working more on the smartphone side. In both cases, each company is sticking with what they know.

        Maybe Nokia’s recent decision to use GPU acceleration heavily on the N8 got AMD thinking about the possibilities.

      • Garth

        Wow, you are one delusional dimwit.

        Meego is a dead turd.

      • Anonymous

        hmm that was informative, really intel has helped establish an app store for Meego? I guess Ovi is out of the picture in terms of meego support? but that would be alittle strange considering that you can possibly use QT for Meego app development. My assumtion is you can bring over alot of the existing apps from ovi that use Qt to be used on Meego?)

        it seems that the 1st Nokia based Meego handset will be the N9 (not including the N900) and it’s supposedly powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It would be interesting to see AMD develop a CPU and GPU in collaboration with Intel that would initallly only be available on Meego based handsets (possibly tablets). I guess time will tell what’s happens .

      • Dara

        gmsl:

        Intel calls it AppUp and it’s aimed at netbooks. The Ovi store is probably going to stick around as well for more mobile apps, but I would expect both of them to overlap.

        You can definitely use QT apps for Meego and that’s what Nokia said they’re going to focus on exclusively. They also own it, so I’m not sure that Intel has the same enthusiasm for it.

        Garth:

        Android’s nice but it’s not a real OS. Far too many limitations. Don’t worry though, Meego devices will likely be able to dual boot Android or, if they’re fast enough, run it as a virtual machine.

      • Dara

        gmsl:

        Intel calls it AppUp and it’s aimed at netbooks. The Ovi store is probably going to stick around as well for more mobile apps, but I would expect both of them to overlap.

        You can definitely use QT apps for Meego and that’s what Nokia said they’re going to focus on exclusively. They also own it, so I’m not sure that Intel has the same enthusiasm for it.

        Garth:

        Android’s nice but it’s not a real OS. Far too many limitations. Don’t worry though, Meego devices will likely be able to dual boot Android or, if they’re fast enough, run it as a virtual machine.

  • http://bit.ly/samirsshah समीर शाह

    AMD, now, understands that her competition is ARM, AND NOT INTEL.

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