Next Sidekick to run on NetBSD?

Fans of the Sidekick, who have fretted over the smartphone's fate since the purchase of manufacturer Danger, Inc. by Microsoft, apparently don't have Windows CE in their favorite handset's future. Instead, Microsoft's looking for... NetBSD programmers?

Danger had been rumored for years to be reworking their product line to run OpenBSD, but the status of that effort had been unclear since Microsoft's purchase of the company a year ago.

The Hiptop3 blog, which recently broke the news of early marketing info on the Sidekick 2009 (aka the Blade), had the details Tuesday morning on various sightings of OpenBSD-related Sidekick queries.

The post that's excited a raft of attention concerns a search by San Jose-based Insight Global, putting out a call for "a talented NetBSD software developer interested in helping ship the next generation of Danger's Sidekick platform." That developer spot would involve "commercializing the NetBSD platform for an embedded mobile computing device, focusing on performance and optimization, bug fixing, and integration with Danger's higher-level platform code, with an emphasis on kernel and driver support" -- in other words, under something at least resembling the Sidekick's usual graphical interface.

A call to Insight Global confirms that though the listing's not current, it's legit -- the company has in the past put out the call for OpenBSD programmers for Danger deployment. (They do have a Danger product-management position open at the moment; interested?) As for the broader picture, T-Mobile representatives confirm that a new Sidekick's on the way this year; beyond that, more news as news develops.