Webinos open source project aimed at gadgets on the net

More than 5,400 developers have downloaded a new open-source operating system [Webinos] designed to enable digital devices to communicate with each other. They are now looking at ways in which Webinos could be used to connect a range of devices such as mobile phones, car stereos, heart monitors and TVs. Webinos is a 15m euro ($18.4m; £11.8m) project supported by more than 30 organisations, including the EU.

BMW, W3C, Sony, Samsung and Telefonica are among its commercial partners. While other operating systems that use the internet to connect devices to each other already exist, most are pre-installed and cannot be customised by individual users.

Technical co-ordinator Nick Allott told the BBC Webinos was designed to provide an alternative to "the mighty four" proprietary systems - Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla.So far people in 155 countries have accessed the Webinos website. "People want to control the technology because if you control the technology you control the money," he said. "But it should be free and open to everybody. "Where we are operating is trying to build the open-source community. That's how web browsers started."...