Published: 3 May, 2012
Tizen, the open source operating system created by merging LiMO and MeeGo, has released its initial sourcecode. The OS, which is supported by the Linux Foundation, runs on Intel Atom N2800 and N2600 processors and ARM chips.
It is unlikely to find more than a niche role in consumer mobile devices, since both its component parts failed to do so - MeeGo was itself a combination of Nokia Maemo and Intel Moblin, but was sidelined by the latter after Nokia defected to Windows Phone; while the LiMO Foundation hoped to create an operator driven Linux platform, but gained limited traction against Android. The most likely homes for Tizen, whose lead supporters are Samsung and Intel, will be in other connected devices, such as cars, a market where MeeGo was carving out a role. And it will have its eye on the emergence of new, slimline web operating systems, which run a browser on a cutdown Linux base and support cross-platform applications. Other also-rans in the smartphone game, such as webOS, are also hoping for a second chance in this wave.
Tizen boasts strong support for HTML5 and the carrier driven WAC (Wholesale Application Community). Release 1.0 of the sourcecode, called Larkspur, is now available from the Tizen Technical Steering Group (TTSG) along with some other updates to simplify development. The TTSG wrote on its blog that it was improving and adding to the SDK and sourcecode and adding bug fixes and additional features.
This release also includes a browser-based tool called Simulator which supports the Tizen APIs and allows web applications to run and be debugged. There are also enhancements to provide more flexibility around templates and debugging tools, an emulator to test Windows and OpenGL acceleration for Linux. In addition, the TTSG says it has improved its community infrastructure by adding a bug tracker and wiki.