Ubuntu, the hugely popular distribution (what's a distribution?) of Linux, is most commonly seen and used as a desktop. It does have a strong server edition. The new Ubuntu MID edition now targets the new market of internet enabled Mobile devices (MID = Mobile Internet Devices).
Produced by the Ubuntu Mobile and embedded community, the idea is to promote the use of Linux on mobile devices that are getting popular everyday. Sale trends are already showing that more of us are using internet enabled mobile devices everyday. Such devices are rapidly adding newer capabilities to their portfolio. Gone are the days when the idea of a mobile device was pretty much a fancy phone with camera and some colorful icons. Today these devices are getting smaller, cover a large variety of uses. GPS, MP3 player and Web Browsing are just a few examples of such uses.
So far the OS for these devices has pretty much been a closed-source or proprietary affair. There have been a few attempts at porting linux to specific mobile devices (see: Linux for devices), but nothing mainstream. Ubuntu hopes to be able to change that with Ubuntu MID edition. At present this effort is sponsored by Ubuntu and Intel.
In addition, Ubuntu MID holds the promise of extend todays desktop user experience (Flash, Ajax, etc) and internet applications like social networking, video sites, blogging, etc.
I for one am a bit vexed at not being able to try this out at once. I usually use a virtual machine to do this. Sighh .. they dont have one for MIDs. Well, not that i know of (let me know if you do..).
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