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"Linux is going nowhere at the desktop"

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CIOL Bureau
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MUMBAI: WINTEL is still alive. Long live Intel and Microsoft. If Linux aficionados out there believed that with Intel backing their initiatives of Linux OS becoming an alternative OS to Windows at the desktop would become a forceful thrust, then may be it is time to step back and jettison those ideas. It was with absolute certainty that Anand Chandrasekher, corporate vice president, Intel Corporation, said during the Q&A session at the Intel Innovation Meet in Mumbai, "We would like all OS to run and be available on our platform. While Linux is going good at the back end, at the client side, it is going nowhere."

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Needless to say, Intel is trying to do what Microsoft did through the late 80s and all of 90s; it is trying to "siliconise" everything.

Well, possibly everything, considering that Intel believes that Moore's law is likely to stand the test of time for at least another 15 years. So, with so much transistors that can be packed on to a single chip and only that much speed going to be of essence at the desktop, what better way to go other than cramming all those features which were outside of the chip to the inside of the chip.

Hence, Intel is attempting to "siliconise solutions to the needs of the customer" through their platforms, which in Intel's parlance, "is a collection of technologies, both silicon and software." That's more definition to confound ordinary folks.

Heretofore, platforms meant the hardware and/or the OS. With this, there is another twist and just how successful Intel will be in creating another "Centrino" will be interesting to see in the coming years. There is a defined strategy to these platforms. Among the areas that Intel will be looking at to build these platforms would be digital homes, mobility, enterprise, and other segments and across worldwide markets. In other words, everywhere.

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