If your ticket to the Intel Developer Forum got lost in the post this year, there is still an opportunity to get some of the news emanating from the chipmaker's annual programmer convention online. Top line updates include thoughts from Intel software group VP Renée James, who has outlined her (and presumably her employer's) vision for what she calls "transparent" computing.
James talks of an open development ecosystem where software developers write code that will run across multiple environments and devices. "With transparent computing, software developers no longer must choose one environment over another in order to maintain profitability and continue to innovate," said James.
"Consumers and businesses are challenged with the multitude of wonderful, yet incompatible, devices and environments available today. It's not about just mobility, the cloud, or the PC. What really matters is when all of these elements come together in a compelling and transparent cross-platform user experience that spans environments and hardware architectures. Developers who embrace this reality are the ones who will remain relevant," she said.
Corporate marketing-friendly headlines aside, what Intel is really doing to further the future cause of programmers is reinforcing its commitment to ensuring HTML5 adoption accelerates (and remains) an open standard. The firm has emphasized the importance of HTML5 and related standards and that the implementation of this technology by developers should remain open to provide a robust application development environment.
James reinforced Intel's commitment to HTML5 and JavaScript by announcing that Mozilla, in collaboration with Intel, is working on a native implementation of River Trail technology. It is available now for download as a plug-in and will become native in Firefox browsers to bring the power of parallel computing to web applications in 2013.
James also announced the Intel Developer Zone, a program designed to provide software developers and businesses with tools, communities, and resources to help them engage with peers. The program is focused on providing resources to help developers "embrace evolving market shifts" and maximize development efforts across form factors, platforms, and operating systems.
The Intel Developer Zone includes: development resources in the form of software tools, training, developer guides, sample code, etc. It will later introduce an HTML5 Developer Zone focused on cross-platform apps, guiding developers through actual deployments of HTML5 apps on Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows, and Tizen.
