Is Intel Stalling Or Dropping Its Support Of MeeGo?

There's been much news generated this morning concerning a report that Intel may be backing off of their support for MeeGo. I've received several emails about it, IRC messages, etc. However, I've tried to resist writing about it, as from my initial communications with various stakeholders and others, it appears that the report is largely bullshit.

This rumour largely comes from DigiTimes that says "Intel reportedly plans to temporarily discontinue development of its MeeGo OS due to a lack of enthusiasm for the platform from handset and tablet PC vendors. Instead, Intel will focus on hardware products, with its handset platforms to be paired with either Android or Windows Phone in 2012, according to industry sources."

However, according to my sources that I've checked with so far, this is not the case. There is no indication that Intel is backing down from MeeGo. They are dedicated to it, and hell, they should be. MeeGo is wonderful and I, among many others, are much more fond of this Linux distribution over Android. Intel has a lot riding on MeeGo, including hiring many of the former Nokia MeeGo developers in Helsinki when Nokia parted ways with MeeGo for Microsoft Windows Phone 7. They also have a lot of good work coming soon to MeeGo.

Unless Intel all of a sudden decided to follow the moves of Hewlett-Packard, MeeGo isn't moving. There may be some changes coming up, but Intel doesn't appear to be dropping or otherwise suspending support for MeeGo.