Developer Week in Review

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Mobile, mobile, mobile! Plus: The true story of the Linux kernel.

by James Turner | @blackbearnh | +James Turner | Comment | 8 December 2010

As the eight days of Hanukkah come to an end, let's see what presents the developer community got in the last week.

Google's day(s) in the sun

Big news this week for both of Google's mobile platforms. On the Android front, the awaited Gingerbread release (2.3) of the OS was spotted in the wild, and handset owners everywhere got to play the "Will My Phone Support The New OS?" game. Google also is giving sneak peaks of the 3.0 release, said to be optimized for tablets. No doubt that Google, like the rest of the world, has taken note of the obscene iPad sales figures and wants to play in the tablet space, too. The 3.0 release is codenamed Honeycomb. No word yet if it has a big big byte.

Meanwhile, Google's other operating system, Chrome OS, is starting to become a little less vaporware-ish. Manufacturers are preparing to turn out notebooks with early versions of Chrome OS, with a target of mid-2011. Now that Google has two operating systems in-house, they can take things to the logical conclusion and sue themselves for patent infringement.

Just what we need, another mobile OS

One of the big stories this year has been how smartphones (especially iPhones) have been stealing market share of handheld gaming from dedicated platforms like the PSP. Sony certainly seems to be taking notice, as they have a announced that starting in March you'll be able to get your hands on the unholy hybrid of a PSP and a phone.

Here's an early cheat code, exclusive to Developer Week in Review: To make free calls to Poland, hit UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, START, UP, SQUARE.

Linux: The operating system the industry built?

One of the great stories of our time is how a rag-tag group of developers working out of their parents' basements created one of the great operating systems of the 20th century (that would be Linux). What many of us have known for some time is that while there's a diverse and distributed group of developers who keep the kernel fed and happy, most of them have ID badges and medical benefits.

In some ways, the reality that Linux is fueled largely with corporate bucks is even more remarkable than the myth of the Dorito-eating horde. Linux is pretty much unique in that it represents a large, successful project run cooperatively between companies that otherwise seem to spend most of their time suing each other. It's like the World Health Organization of software, only with less global politics.

That's it for this week. Suggestions are always welcome, so please send tips or news here.