SAN FRANCISCO - In a move that could potentially bring Linux to the masses, eight of the world's top consumer electronics
vendors have formed an alliance to promote development of the open-source operating system (OS) for use in digital devices
including audio and visual equipment and mobile phones.
Sony, Royal Philips Electronics and Matsushita, which makes the Panasonic brand, are among the founding members of the CE
Linux Forum (CELF), which was announced Tuesday. Its goals include defining the technical requirements that will make Linux
more suitable for consumer devices and promoting wider use of the OS in the consumer electronics industry, according to a
joint statement.
The CELF will publish its list of requirements and take submissions from Linux developers who contribute to their goals. Work
to be done includes reducing the time it takes to start up and shut down the OS, improving its real-time capabilities, reducing
memory requirements and improving power management capabilities, the group said.
The move appears as something of a blow to Microsoft, which has been promoting the use of its own software in DVD players,
televisions and other electronics gear. Bill Gates, the company's chairman and chief software architect, has been the opening
speaker at the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the past several years.
Formation of the CELF builds on an announcement in December by Matsushita and Sony, who said they had agreed to enhance the
Linux platform for use in their audio and video products. At that time they also said they were considering establishing a
forum to promote the wider use of Linux with participation from peers in the industry.
Since Linux is an open source product, vendors can access its source code and make whatever changes they like so long as they
share their modifications freely with others. The software also carries no license fee, which could make it well suited to
the consumer electronics market where sales volumes are often very high.
A spokeswoman for Royal Philips said the company is interested in using Linux for "networked" electronics products which can
be linked together throughout the home. They might include stereos, speakers, printers and virtually any other type of electronics
gear, said Jeannet Harpe, a communications manager with Philip's consumer products group.
"(Consumer electronics) products are becoming more complex so we need a new kind of operating system. By joining these eight
companies together we think we can maybe design and enhance the Linux OS," she said.
Linux is already used in some consumer devices, Harpe noted, including Philips' iPronto, a universal remote control that has
a Wi-Fi connection and doubles as a Web surfing tablet.
The spokeswoman wouldn't comment on any timing for the Linux development work. She also wouldn't discuss the relative strengths
and weaknesses of Linux compared to other operating systems, saying only that Philips sees opportunities for the open-source
platform.
Besides defining requirements for a variety of extensions to Linux, the CELF's main goals include "collaborating and reaching
consensus with open source projects" and the broader community of Linux developers and promoting the use of "CE Linux," as
the group called it, in the industry.
Linux code developed for the industry can be submitted to a CELF Architecture Group and Steering Committee, the group said
Tuesday. Code that is accepted will be included into the CELF source tree, which itself will be open to the public, according
to the group's Web site.
The other members of the group are Toshiba, Hitachi, NEC, Samsung, and Sharp. IBM is also "pursuing membership in the group"
and plans to be an active participant, according to the CELF statement. IBM couldn't immediately be reached for comment early
Tuesday.
More information is available at: http://www.celinuxforum.org/.
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