Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Is Android the real Linux desktop threat to Windows

Android is perceptive and user friendly on mobile hardware such as the HTC Dream. There is no doubt that Android in comparison to full blown operating systems like Windows and Mac OSX.

Though Android is gaining more popularity these days but a very big benefit of Windows mobile is its stiff incorporation with Exchange, and through that to Outlook on the Desktop. If android gets together with Google Apps, then it is the first real competitor to MS Exchange but for it is necessary that we can get our Desktops to Integrate with Google Apps.

Presently we're at the native Linux desktop and drifting towards the Android desktop. The question that comes into mind is that what would then bridge those two environments? It’s damn sure that whatever be the bridge, it will offer a second Linux sandbox which runs along with Android.

Whenever we make comparison between Android and Windows it is like making comparison between Google Apps to Microsoft Office. Starting from the mobile phones environment and running uphill, Android, backed by Google, is likely to be successful where other Linux distributions have failed. It is likely to harvest support from both device manufacturers and applications vendors.

It is well known that Android has a very particular architecture. It has its own libraries and non-X based GUI, which are not favorable to running standard Linux/X applications. Also its libc version (bionic) neglects certain POSIX features and due to which it is not fully compatible. For permitting native Linux apps to run, a second sandbox atmosphere is required that can co-operate with Android. Then Android would be the master environment so as to provide all the kernel, hardware drivers, and complete software stack that it already does. A separate set of non-kernel components would be provided by the co- Linux environment. The components would be like libraries, configuration and administrative files, applications, etc.

The main reason behind this trend is that, consumers and business users equally want something they can take on the road with them. In the era of hotspots and fast speed Internet, people are opting mobile computing instead of desktop computing is- low-power consumption mobile devices which favors lightweight operating systems.

Co-Linux would be a advantage for coming netbook platforms, where some users may want to chose from the accessible native Linux apps, including educational, gaming, just plain familiar, or otherwise. It would be really unruffled if the co-Linux environment itself could be bundled as an Android app. At A1 technology our developers are working hard on this so as to overcome the limitations faced till day.