So, a few days ago, I got a spankin’ new T-Mobile G1. This has resulted in a lot of hands-on experience with the user interface of Google’s Android platform. I can’t help but compare the Android OS to Openmoko Linux. After all, both use Linux kernels.

No offense to the Openmoko developers, but I think that Openmoko pales when compared to Android. Below are reviews of two Openmoko user interfaces.

OpenMoko Train Wreck from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.

More OpenMoko Train Wrecking (Now with Qt!) from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.

The main problem I see with Openmoko is that it has attempted to borrow too much from desktop Linux. For example, Openmoko uses the X11 protocol, which is far too bloated for a mobile device. Because Openmoko borrows so much from desktop Linux, some of the problems of desktop Linux have been inherited by Openmoko, and the less-powerful hardware of mobile devices makes the problems worse.

In contrast, the Android platform uses more of their own code, and I think the results are visibly better.

At the same time, there is talk of Android on netbooks, because Android beautifully does many of the things that you would expect from a typical netbook.

Combine all of this, and you get an interesting question.

What if, Android, having shed the problems of an Openmoko-style phone operating system, overtakes traditional flavors of Linux in netbook marketshare?

It could happen.

If it does happen, could the same Android-style wheel-reinventing bring Linux more marketshare in the area of more powerful laptops and desktop computers? After all, didn’t Apple do the same thing by creating Mac OS X from FreeBSD?

Perhaps desktop Linux needs to see the same Android-style revolution. Android itself will probably not expand beyond the netbook.  It remove the need for “creative” methods to bring a system to visual consistency.

I believe open source software can easily be superior than a costly, proprietary equivalent, but perhaps the fact that many communities are involved in working with desktop Linux has been harming it’s ascent to the common user’s desktop.