Back in the day I had a Compaq iPaq running Qtopia. It was a hot little package with a full bore Linux OS on a device about as big as a Treo and for circa 2001 it was hot stuff. That’s why I’m kind of excited yet disappointed with the OpenMoko review by Ars. They delve into the device but basically come out reporting that not much has changed since 2001 in the mobile Linux front.

While Android promises to keep its distance from Linux and offer a stable platform for development, OpenMoko is basically stuffing the same apps into the same package, turning on the same kernel, and hoping for the best.

I love me some Linux and this looks like a promising platform for hobbyists. However, if anyone is going to win in the handset game it’s not the folks who port Tux Racer to a microkernel. As a proof of concept and a fun device, OpenMoko looks like a winner. As an enterprise-ready powerhouse I’m betting on Google.

We shall see, I suppose.