A new mobile and device operating system based on Linux, Tizen, has just recently been announced. Yes this is Tizen Linux-based Mobile OS. Led by a technical team composed by Intel and Samsung, Tizen will support multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks, and in-vehicle infotainment devices. This new open source project is hosted at the Linux Foundation and will completely open.
Targeted in the first quarter of 2012 for the initial release and in the mid-2012 for the device to come to market, Tizen combines the best open source technologies from LiMo and the Linux Foundation and adds a robust and flexible standards-based HTML5 and WAC (Wholesale Applications Community) web development environment within which device-independent applications can be produced efficiently for unconstrained cross-platform deployment.
Morgan Gillis, the Executive Director of LiMo Foundation said: “LiMo Foundation views Tizen as a well-timed step change which unites major mobile Linux proponents within a renewed ecosystem with an open web vision of application development which will help device vendors to innovate through software and liberalize access to consumers for developers and service providers. LiMo will maintain its focus on providing the industry with a broadly backed vendor- and service-neutral ecosystem grounded in the spirit of open and unconstrained opportunity that is embodied by Linux.”
The Tizen’s APIs which is based the HTML5 and other web standards will cover various platform capabilities such as messaging, multimedia, camera, network and social media. Tizen additionally carries a state-of-the-art reference user interface enabling the creation of highly attractive and innovative user experience that can be further customized by operators and manufacturers.
I think the project will have a lot of potential and open more competitions or be an alternative to the existing mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android.
Source: Linux Foundation, Tizen Blogs