If Danger's going to switch up its Hiptop platform strategy in the
era of Microsoft ownership, you think that it might be to... oh, we don't know, something even remotely Microsoft-related. Granted, shoehorning Windows Mobile 6.1 onto a
Sidekick LX sounds like a match made in hell, but at the very least, they could start with a Windows CE base and attach a bunch of Danger-specific stuff with wood glue until the end result looked familiar to users. Alas,
Hiptop3 is reporting its own sources in combination with some telling open job positions and notes from Danger employees to suggest that the
upcoming Sidekick LX 2009 -- possibly to be known as the Sidekick Blade -- will actually feature an entirely new kernel based on NetBSD. Our only guess is that this fancy little project started well before the acquisition completed, and in the interest of getting a thoroughly modern, 3G- and GPS-equipped Sidekick into the market as quickly as possible, maybe Redmond begrudgingly greenlighted the remainder of the project. Good on you, Microsoft.
posted Jan 31st 2009 5:20AM
What does this mean, "entirely new kernel based on NetBSD"?
I think even MSFT knows they could use a little OS diversity with the stinky pinky that is Win mob 6... Sidekick is more of a consumer oriented device anyway, it needs an OS more focused on the phone/social networking/multi-media aspects to keep the "iPhone generation" interested.