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Intel’s CEO has said that he sees the revolution that is about to happen around mobile internet devices (MID) such as the Eee PC and other Atom-based sub-notebooks will be "centred round Linux", in an interview with Associated Press.
Speaking about the level of development in the market Paul Otellini said that much of the demand in the laptop market was being driven solely by sub-notebooks: "I’ve not seen energy like this from our customers in a long, long time. Everyone views this as being sort of hyperexpansive to the existing market."
Only ten years ago, Windows and Intel were so closely intwined that as the Associated Press noted, the two firms were known as ‘Wintel’; however, today’s reality was far different with Otellini saying when asked what involvement Microsoft’s OS would play in the future of MIDs, he suggested the firm’s continued insistence in retiring XP would significantly hurt its presence in the market.
"Vista has a larger memory footprint, larger graphics requirements and a higher price point," he said. "This is all about low-cost computing. I see much of the activity in mobile internet devices, sort of the evolution of the handset, being centred around Linux.
His comments will come as a major blow to Microsoft. Only yesterday, the firm’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie identified Open Source as the firm’s greatest threat.
