From Linux on the go, to Linux everywhere.

The below links to very encouraging Linux Mobile device news. In fact, it seems the mobile industry has embraced Linux and taken the ball and run, so-to-speak.

Mobile Linux
Mobile Linux redux

And of course the Android initiative kicked off by Google. This recent surge is actually a strengthening of the position of Linux on mobile phones and smart mobile devices.

Nokia has a linux based smart mobile presence with the N800 and N810. Motorola's new RAZR2 V8 which shares many of the features touted by Apple's iPhone. Along with it's cousin the Motorola Z6.

So why so many Linux devices in the mobile market? I suggest, as others have, it came about as simply the proper evolution in a market which had no real monopoly governing to the handset makers and carriers which OS and application suites should ship on their devices. There simply was not a juggernaut of a software company doing everything in it's power to maintain the number one position by any means necessary. Including spreading FUD, paying distributors to only use their software, and basically binding the industry to it's expensive but not particularly innovative or growing solution.

A parallel can be seen in the embedded market. How many embedded devices run Linux today? From the DVRs and TiVo's of the world, to the ethernet ready smart storage systems, to the minimal configuration network devices that drive the infrastructure of our data centers. This trend is not reversing. Again, all the manufacturers of this hardware have to pay to use the ubiquitous Linux operating system and the GNU tools it ships with is to make the source code available. Compared to per seat, or per CPU, or per whichever the software vendor thinks might be more. This gives smaller but more agile companies an opportunity to compete technically while not getting smoked on a discount that only a big iron company could offer.

All this success without even mentioning the success Linux has had in the data center. Where old hardware which in the past may have been thrown out has been re purposed with a sparkling new Linux OS running a copy of the companies Wiki or running as a back up DNS server. And new servers are constantly ordered to be the web servers and the data base servers which are slowly migrating off of it's older cousin UNIX. There have even been inroads to traditional deployments controlled by Microsoft, with samba based file and print serving. E-mail and calendaring etc.

These devices just keep working until the hardware fails.

With the final crack in the armor starting to expose itself in Microsoft Vista, and the release of inexpensive PCs running some version of Linux. The gPC and the Asus eeePC as consumer models. The XO One Laptop Per Child also very clearly runs Linux. Dell is selling a handful of models of with Ubuntu pre-installed. I recommend buying from System76. But also you can get the gOS from the gPC directly from ZaReason along with their different laptop configurations. As I mentioned, I'm buying from System76 due to their availability of what I deem a high end laptop in the 15.4" form factor this holiday season.

I'm just rambling along here, but I'm excited for this time and for Linux because there truly are many options for the technology user to use something freely off the shelf these days, and not have a software company make you pay for the honor of using their software which then in turns treats you like a criminal right out of the gate. As a consumer who finds it important to know what software runs his gadgets, I'm going to buy the gadgets I know to be running the software I want to use.

Update: 12/14/07

A nice interview mirroring some of the above talking points.