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Intel finds a way to let go of MeeGo

Chip giant's Linux-based operating system is set to fade away after merging with another Linux platform under another name.

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Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers

Here we go again. Like the Moblin operating system before it, Linux-based MeeGo will be merged out of existence.

MeeGo will become Tizen, Intel announced today.

"Intel joined Linux Foundation and LiMo Foundation in support of Tizen, a new Linux-based open source software platform for multiple device categories," the company said in a statement. "Tizen builds upon the strengths of both LiMo and MeeGo and Intel will be working with our MeeGo partners to help them transition to Tizen."

The initial release of Tizen is expected in the first quarter of 2012, enabling the first devices in the market mid-2012, Intel said. The operating environment will support smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, Netbooks, and in-vehicle infotainment devices, Tizen said on its Web site.

Tizen development will be open and led by a technical steering team composed of Intel and Samsung.

The Tizen project, hosted at the Linux Foundation, will "offer" an operating system and a "robust, flexible standards-based HTML5 and WAC Web development environment."

Meego began as Moblin, an OS for small devices like Netbooks and smartphones. But its shot at the consumer device market came to an abrupt end earlier this year when Nokia ditched it in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform. LG, less unceremoniously, also backed away from the OS after initially indicating it might use it on a smartphone.