As the uncertainty surrounding Meego continues, the Linux Foundation and the LiMo Foundation has announced a new open source OS project based on Linux under the name 'Tizen'. The project will be hosted by the Linux Foundation and governed by a Technical Steering Group consisting of Intel and Samsung.
Tizen is an open source, standards-based software platform supported by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and silicon suppliers for multiple device categories, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, and more. Tizen will offer an innovative operating system, applications, and a user experience that consumers can take from device to device.Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation's executive director has said that the Meego code will be carried over to Tizen.
Tizen will provide a robust and flexible environment for application developers, based on HTML5 and Wholesale Applications Community (WAC). With HTML5's robust capabilities and cross platform flexibility, it is rapidly becoming the preferred development environment for mobile apps and services. The Tizen SDK and API will allow developers to use HTML5 and related web technologies to write applications that run across multiple device segments, including smartphone, tablet, smart TV, in-vehicle infotainment, and netbook.
All the existing Meego applications will run on Tizen also. Initial release is being planned for the first quarter of 2012.