In a challenge to Microsoft Corp eight of the world's leading consumer electronics companies announced Tuesday that they were forming a consortium to boost the development of the Linux operating system for use in consumer digital devices from televisions to mobile phones.
The eight founding members of the group are Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Sony Corp, Hitachi Ltd, NEC Corp, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Samsung Electronics Co, Sharp Corp and Toshiba Corp. Unconfirmed reports said that IBM Corp also planned to join.
The Consumer Electronics Linux Forum aims to improve performance of the open-source operating system to make it suitable for running smart TV sets, audio gear, DVD players and other home entertainment devices, a press release said.
Microsoft has spent billions of US dollars developing products for this market, and consumer electronics manufacturers fear that Microsoft could extend the dominance of its Windows operating system from personal computers to all consumer electronics devices.
Linux has established itself as a viable alternative to Microsoft in enterprise and server computing but has yet to emerge as a potent force on the PC desktop or other consumer devices.
Unlike the proprietary nature of Windows, open-source software allows vendors the ability to access the operating system's source code and make changes as long as they share their modifications with others. In addition the software carries no license fees.
Some of the forum's initial goals will be to reduce start-up and shutdown times for the operating system, bolster its power management capabilities to help lengthen battery life in devices, and reduce its memory requirements.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
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