operating systems

China Unicom, one of China's three largest wireless operators, plans to introduce its own mobile operating system to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android OS in China.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the wireless operator, which is building a third-generation wireless network that competes with China Mobile and China Telecom, is developing a new mobile OS brand known as "WoPhone."

The new operating system is based on Linux, and it's geared toward mobile handsets and tablets. Companies that plan to build devices using the new OS include China's ZTE, … Read more

BARCELONA--Intel has shown off a developer preview of the tablet user interface for its MeeGo Linux operating system at Mobile World Congress here.

At the same time today, the company also addressed Nokia's withdrawal from the long-term development of MeeGo for mobile phones, with software and services chief Renee James saying the company was "disappointed" with its Finnish partner.

The user interface is based on dynamic panels and does not resemble the Netbook variant of MeeGo--the only version to be shown off so far on a mobile computing device. The tablet UI was demonstrated by Intel … Read more

Because I'm still digging out from last night's snOMG, here's an update of a post I wrote a few months ago.

Haven't yet upgraded your home PCs to Windows 7? No surprise there: a single upgrade license retails for $119.99, which I find outrageous for an operating system--even one as solid as Windows 7.

As you may recall, several months back Microsoft rereleased the Windows 7 Family Pack, a three-PC upgrade edition of Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit or 64-bit, your choice). The price: a much more reasonable $149.99.

If you didn't pull … Read more

The bottom line: If you like living your digital life in the browser, then Chrome OS will be a siren that's hard to resist. It's fast, geared for an Internet tether yet able function on its own, and it's a bold step into the future of how operating systems work.

Review: It's the Chrome channel. Google's new operating system, currently available to readers only in beta and only on Google's specially designed, limited-edition prototype notebook called the Cr-48, is all Chrome, all the time. If you absolutely loathe the Chrome browser, it's highly … Read more

The big geek news this week was Google's public beta launch of the Chrome OS and its prototype Chrome notebook, the Cr-48. It's a significant product for Google and for computing in general. Will this new platform finally break the hold that traditional operating systems and software have on computing? Has the shift already happened? Who needs operating systems today, anyway? Or is Chrome OS just another "network appliance" initiative that's doomed to fail?

Our guests today are Stephen Shankland, CNET senior writer, and Steve Fox, former editor in chief of CNET and now editorial director at PC World.

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Show notes and talking points… Read more

The Google Chrome Web Store, which went live today, is a big gift to Web developers: it's a marketplace, like Apple's iOS App Store and Google's Android Market, that lets developers put their apps in a place where users and buyers are likely to be looking for them. It also collects money on developers' behalves.

Unlike most of the apps for iOS or Android, developers don't really have to program a new app for the Google Web Store to get it into the market. Especially in this early stage of the store, many of the "… Read more

Haven't yet upgraded your home PCs to Windows 7? I can understand why: a single upgrade license retails for $119.99, which I find exorbitant for an operating system--even one as solid as Windows 7.

As you may recall, about a month ago, Microsoft rereleased the Windows 7 Family Pack, a three-PC upgrade edition of Windows 7 Home Premium (32 bit or 64 bit, your choice). The price: $149.99. That's a little more like it.

If it wasn't "like it" enough for you, though, your patience just paid off: Dell Home has the Windows 7 Family Pack for $119.99 shipped. (… Read more

A peek at the source code behind Google Docs by a third-party blog site offers a tantalizing hint of some features that may be around the corner.

The Web site Google Operating System (no relation to Google itself) revealed yesterday that it dug into the source code of Google Docs to find a message that said simply: "Coming soon: Third party applications, cloud printers, and sync devices."

Cloud printing, which lets you print to any local or shared printer without the need for a print driver, is a feature that Google has teased for awhile. The company has … Read more

Out of all of Google's acquisitions, the company's acquisition of the maker of the Android mobile operating system was its "best deal ever," a company executive said at an industry conference yesterday.

Speaking at the Stanford Accel Symposium yesterday, David Lawee, Google vice president of corporate development, reportedly praised the 2005 buy of Android for an undisclosed sum. His comments were first reported by VentureBeat.

It's hard to argue with Lawee's contention. Five years after the acquisition, Android is appealing to customers around the world. During the second quarter alone, the mobile operating system … Read more