Yesterdays news that Intel want to support two different Ultra Mobile PC markets with two completely different device types was big news. Huge news. It sends the message out that Vista is not good enough for consumer UMPCs. That must have hurt Microsoft yesterday.

Today, there’s another announcement which sends out the message that even the basic personal computing model of local data and processing is not fit for ultra mobile PCs. In an article found on iTnews Australia, there’s an announcement that Glide, the Web2.0 Internet application suite, is to be released in a Linux optimised versions for Intel’s Ultra Mobile PCs.

“Glide provides a user-friendly desktop interface for Linux, a powerful suite of applications and seamless interoperability with Windows, Macs and a wide selection of cell phones,” said TransMedia Chairman and CEO, Donald Leka. “In addition, we are also making available an optimized Linux version of Glide for Intel powered ultra mobile PCs.” [from Antara]

This is obviously an Intel backed project because third party commentary on the product comes from Intel’s Ultra Mobile Ecosystem leader, Pankaj Kedia

Glide is taking an innovative approach in offering web based consumer services for anytime, anywhere access

There’s no detail about whether Glide2.0 will come by default as part of the Linux-based MID package and no detail about when this is going to happen although its already possible to sign up and register a Linux device at GlideDigital.com or GlideMobile.com

There’s a payment model forming here that could allow for a new wave of very cheap UMPCs. If Intel wants WiMax and 3G on every MID then there’s a strong possibility that the cellular carriers could distribute these consumer UMPCs through a subsidised sales channel. The Glide portal can also be branded which makes at even more attractive for carriers. The whole set-up makes it a whole lot easier to imagine the possibility of picking up a free UMPC with a  data contract in the not-to-distant future.

At 0200GMT tomorrow, the first of the keynote speeches will be kicking off in Beijing at Intel’s Developer Forum. Having seen many of the presentations and looked quite closely at the schedule its clear that there’s a lot going on out there. For the UMPC market, there’s four main things to look for.

1 – Details about how Intel sees the UMPC market splitting and when? 2007 or 2008? If it’s 2007 then we need to consider McCaslin. According to the presentations seen in the last 24 hours, it looks like Intel thinks it will happen in 2007.

2 – Is McCaslin a single hardware platform, like Centrino, that will support both Intel’s UMPCs and MIDs? McCaslin could be platform with a common CPU and a few options on GPU. According to the MIDLinux information, there is support for i915 (GMA900) GPU which means that maybe the MIDs would only support GMA900 graphics. This means that the Samsung Q1 Ultra is not a MID! Its running Vista+Aero and its priced at $1200 (according to our Samsung source.) The question remains, if $1200 is a business level device, how much should a consumer-level device be? I think we are talking at $800 and down here.

3 – There are 4 devices to be announced. Will the devices be MIDs or UMPCs. One of the devices shown at CeBIT (and categorised as a consumer device with the same target market as a MID) was running Windows. One could be the new prototype we saw via ZDNet today. I feel quite sure I saw this on a screen at the Amtek stand in CeBIT but I’m not 100% sure.

4 – RedFlag MIDLinux. Will it be for Intel hardware only? Downloadable? Backwards compatible with i915 and i945 based UMPCs (Q1, R2H, UX etc)

The agenda for the IDF can be found here and it looks like there are at least 6 events that could be of interest. Keynotes, Chalk Board sessions, the HP Mobility talk and all the track sessions.

Those of you that have VIA-based devices and have upgraded to Vista (eo 7110, Samsung Q1b, OQO Model 02) might be interested to know that new Vista-compatible drivers where posted by VIA today.

The driver version is: 02/15/2007, 6.14.10.0354;16.94.53.06

Annoyingly there’s no change log so I can’t give you any more info until someone reports back. I don’t have any VIA-based stuff here to test it on (although I’m expecting one next week.)

VN800 version (Amtek T700 variants)

VX700M version (Samsung Q1b, OQO Model 02)

Fingers crossed that these are the final versions that are to be shipped with the OQO Model 02, Amtek T770 and Medion UMPC and that they support video acceleration.

Zdnet.co.uk are reporting on a UMPC prototype spotted at IDF.

You know what, when I was at CeBIT, I was in a meeting on the Amtek stand and on the table next to me, someone was getting shown a CAD drawing. It was exactly like this. If its an Amtek device then its probably further down the line than prototype status.

I’m not sure how easy the sunken keyboard will be to use though.

Something that got lost in the transition from Carrypad to UMPCportal was the market status of UMPC devices in the product portal. I’ve just upgraded the product overview page to include this now so you’ll find it a lot easier to see what devices are just rumors or are really available to order.

Here’s a description of the product status’

• Expected = Products we have full specifications on but no formal press release or corporate website information.
• Launched = Products that have been confirmed as in planning by the manufacturer. Either through a press release or a trusted source.
• Available = Products you can order. (Includes pre-order and includes availability in any part of the world. Regional availability is usually detailed in the notes on the product specific page.)
• OEM = Products that are available only from the original manufacturer. Generally not available for single purchase and are often re-branded by resellers.

You can type these values into the search field to get an instant overview. For example, start just type ‘ava’ into the filter box and all the other devices will be removed. Very handy!

I also have a status of ‘Watchlist’ which is for devices that are rumored or for which we don’t have enough data to make a datasheet. These devices appear on the separate Watchlist page.

Devices that are end-of-life only appear in this End of Life table.

Obviously I can’t guarantee that everything is 100% correct but its usually quite up to date. If you see errors, let me know.

I hope the changes help you choose your UMPC. In a few days we will have finished adding battery life information which should help you even more.

Jenn at Pocketables has done some benchmarking of the Q1P and Sony UX180P that show the difference between a Pentium-M and a Core CPU quite nicely.

But the really important thing to note is that after time, the UX180p performance for things like startup, standby, resume have changed dramatically. UMPCs really need to be kept ‘clean’  if you want to get the best out of the them. A badly managed high-end UMPC is going to be a complete waste if you let it get clogged up with background software. Some devices are even delivered with huge amount of background software. The R2H for example. This UMPC is so heavily loaded at build time that many users are shocked at how slow it is.

I will be getting a Q1P later this week and am looking forward to seeing how it performs.

You can see a bit more detail about the *nix structure used in MIDLinux in this image taken from one of the still-to-be-presented IDF presentations. [click to enlarge]

You can see why parts of the UI look the same as Maemo, its using Hildon. (I assume, then, that Hildon is an open source widget set?)

The Window manager is Matchbox. You’ve got BlueZ in there handling Bluetooth. Other slides in the PDF show that the browser is based on Mozilla.

18 seconds boot time sounds great. 3.5 seconds from standby is even better. In comparison, Ghz-class UMPC’s with XP take around 5 seconds.

I can’t wait to see what the Maemo and Pepper communities say about this.

Rupert Goodwin is excited now. The mainstream press is starting to focus on what’s going to happen at IDF this week.

When Rupert asked Mooley Eden (Intel Mobile) about whether x86 would have the same power/efficiency as ARM-based embedded hardware, Mooley said ‘Wait 24 hours’

This could be an extremely significant 48 hours for UMPCs. Intel will announce details about McCaslin, the platform that will support UMPCs in 2007. They will probably give more detail about the UMPC-specific chipset that is planned for 2008 (that’s probably the bit that Mooley is referring to) and will introduce a concept that could split the UMPC market in two. The MID. A consumer-focused, operating system optimised version of a UMPC that will run Linux.

I estimate that in terms of UMPC news, this could be the biggest 48 hours of the year.