Moblin: a First Look at Intel's Open-Source OS

What's so exciting about the netbook platform is that it gives operating system designers a chance to start again.

They can forget the old-fashioned metaphor of the desktop interface that's been around since the 1970s. They can even abandon the file system concept. Instead, they can create an operating system quite simply geared-up for online activities. The computer becomes a gateway. It ceases to be an end in itself.

Moblin is an example of a platform from which you can launch your online adventures, whatever they may be. It's a jumping off point. It's the ultimate tool for online activities. It entirely shifts the user's focus to online activities, but that's cool because it's where practically all users spend their time.

Microsoft products just don't come close. It's laughable to even think they might. Microsoft is just too tied to the old-fashioned metaphors and ways of working, and could never have produced Moblin. Not in a million years. Technologies like Moblin are just one more nail in the coffin of the Redmond giant.