With Linux on the desktop still a hotly debated topic, can you imagine Linux on the cell phone?Actually, you are probably more likely to have it on your cell phone before you see it on your desk. I had a talk with Jacob Lehrbaum, product manager for mobile and wireless at MontaVista Software the other day. The reason for the call was their announcement this week of the Mobile Linux Open Framework. The idea behind it is to light a fire under the wireless infrastructure players. These include the carriers, the application developers and the handset manufacturers to consider Linux as the best operating system for handsets. To do that they want to create a “plug and play software ecosystem” according to Linux Devices.com. A set of standard specs for chip makers and application developers to design around for a Linux-based cell phone.Of course three of the best arguments in favor of Linux on a cell phone are no royalties, source code availability and a huge community devoted to making such a product better. The selection of which operating system to use on a handset is not made by the handset manufacturer alone. This industry takes so many twists and turns, some days the carriers dictate what they want to see the handset manufacturers supply and some days the handset makers tell the carriers this is what you should standardize on to get the best applications on our handsets.The market is wide open. Currently, best estimates say that under 1 percent of all the cell phones sold last year, something like 120 million, had either Symbian, Microsoft, Palm or a Linux operating system. Rather they had proprietary OSes created by the handset manufacturers. This will change as cell phones become more capable. The manufacturers will see that it doesn’t pay to reinvent the wheel for a more capable OS when there are already operating systems out there that can handle a wider feature set. Instead they will select from one of the above OSes. I think Linux on the cell phone has a real chance. What do you think? Send me an email at ephraim_schwartz@infoworld.com. Technology Industry