Consortium to push Linux in consumer devices

In a challenge to Microsoft Corporation, eight of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies recently formed a consortium to boost the development of the Linux operating system for use in consumer digital devices right from televisions to mobile phones.

The eight founding members of the group are Matsushita Electric Industrial, Sony Corp, Hitachi, NEC Corp, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Samsung Electronics, Sharp Corp and Toshiba Corporation. 

The Consumer Electronics Linux Forum aims to improve performance of the open-source OS to make it suitable for running smart TV sets, audio gear, DVD players and other home entertainment devices.

Microsoft has spent billions of US dollars developing products for this market, and consumer electronics manufacturers fear that Microsoft could extend the dominance of its Windows OS from personal computers to all consumer electronics devices.

Linux has established itself as a viable alternative to Microsoft in enterprise and server computing but is yet to emerge as a potent force on the PC desktop or other consumer devices.

Some of the forum’s initial goals will be to reduce start-up and shutdown times for the OS, bolster its power management capabilities to help lengthen battery life in devices, and reduce its memory requirements.

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