Adobe and Ubuntu play nice with Intel's Menlow, but no sign of Microsoft

Angus Kidman
Wednesday, 19 September 2007 22:42

Your IT - Home IT

Intel's ultra-mobile computing plans for Menlow and Moorestown continue to advance, and the processor giant is talking up partnerships with Ubuntu, Adobe and even Apple as it gets ready for a 2008 release of Menlow-based devices and the eventual appearance of multi-core mobile systems. However, its silent feud with Microsoft doesn't seem to have cooled down much.


Menlow -- a combination of the Silverthorne processor, WiFi capability, graphics and other core computing components -- is designed for use in what Intel likes to describe as a mobile Internet device (MID), which combines the performance and flexibility of a notebook PC with the portability of a mobile phone. Menlow-based devices should appear mid-2008, according to Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of Intel's ultra mobility group.

In a keynote presentation at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Chandrasekher heavily emphasised the browser compatibility of systems using its architecture as a major advantage for mobile Internet services. As owners of current generation smart phones know all too well, many Internet sites designed for use on PCs crash spectacularly when accessed on anything else.

Adobe's Flash technology is a particular offender in this space, so it was no shock to see the company's mobile and device solutions vice president Al Ramadan spruiking the advantages of its Adobe Integrated Runtown (AIR) platform, which allows Flash content to run unchanged on multiple operating systems. "The innovation that's happened inside of the web inside Flash is just remarkable," Ramadan said, confirming an early 2008 release for the finished AIR platform and Adobe's companion Media Player.

Mark Shuttleworth, the head of Ubuntu sponsor Canonical, also made an appearance to discuss how Linux might get a foothold in this new consumer electronics market. "We can taste the beginnings of the pervasive Internet," he said. "Linux is the right platform to make all of that possible. While there is a lot of new work being done, in the free software space we have fantastic raw materials. Linux is an Internet powered OS that is secure and reliable."

Read on to discover why Microsoft wasn't around and how Intel sees the iPhone competing in this space.