[Dclug] Linux Foundation

[Alan McConnell]

Dear Colleagues,

I'm posting an awful lot these days, it seems; but I thought I'd
write once more to give you the article below.  It is from the NY
Times, and you have to sign up with them to get it -- a PITA of
course -- so I thought I'd save you the trouble.

Best wishes,

Alan

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Group Formed to Support Linux as Rival to Windows

   By STEVE LOHR
   Published: January 22, 2007

   Linux, the free operating system, has gone from an intriguing
   experiment to a mainstream technology in corporate data centers,
   helped by the backing of major technology companies like I.B.M., Intel
   and Hewlett-Packard, which sponsored industry consortiums to promote
   its adoption.

   Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, with the system's penguin
   symbol, will assist the Linux Foundation.

   Those same companies have decided that the time has come to
   consolidate their collaborative support into a new group, the Linux
   Foundation, which is being announced today. And the mission of the new
   organization is help Linux, the leading example of the open-source
   model of software development, to compete more effectively against
   Microsoft, the worlds largest software company.

   Its really a two-horse race now, with computing dominated by two
   operating-system platforms, Linux and Windows, said James Zemlin,
   executive director of the Linux Foundation. There are things that
   Microsoft does well in terms of promoting Windows, providing legal
   protection and standardizing Windows.

   He added that the things that Microsoft does well are things we need
   to do well to promote, protect and standardize Linux.

   In data centers, both Linux and Microsoft have benefited from the
   shift to data-serving computers powered by lower-cost microprocessors
   and other industry-standard hardware using personal computer
   technology. These machines, running Linux or Windows, have
   increasingly replaced more costly, proprietary hardware, typically
   running Unix operating systems.

   That shift to industry-standard hardware has helped makers of personal
   computer chips like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, and makers of
   PC-technology machines including Hewlett-Packard, I.B.M., Dell, NEC
   and Fujitsu.

   Traditional rivals of Microsoft in the software business, including
   Oracle and I.B.M., have championed Linux to undermine an adversary and
   have tweaked their database and other software programs to run on
   Linux. Companies like Red Hat and Novell distribute Linux and charge
   companies for technical support and maintenance.

   So while Linux is distributed free, a sizable market has grown up
   around it. The yearly sales of Linux-related hardware, software and
   services is more than $14.5 billion, according to estimates by IDC, a
   research firm.

   The new Linux organization is a clear sign that we are going to
   continue to work together, said Daniel D. Frye, vice president for
   open systems development at I.B.M.

   There is vigorous competition among companies in the market for
   hardware, software and services that work with Linux, Mr. Frye said.
   But collaboration is also essential to move Linux technology forward,
   he said, and avoid the kind of splintering of the marketplace that
   occurred in the 1980s, when different companies supported different
   versions of the Unix operating system.

   The work of two other groups the Open Source Development Labs and the
   Free Standards Group will be folded into the Linux Foundation, and
   those organizations will no longer exist. Mr. Zemlin had been the head
   of the Free Standards Group.

   Stuart F. Cohen, the chief executive of the Open Source Development
   Labs, said he was starting a new venture that would use the
   open-source development model to build software applications tailored
   for individual industries like financial services.

   The Linux Foundation will pay salaries to Linus Torvalds, the creator
   of Linux, and a few other key Linux programmers. That support had
   previously come from the Open Source Development Labs.

   In an e-mail message, Mr. Torvalds noted that some of the original
   reasons for forming the Open Source Development Labs six years ago,
   like helping companies come to grips with Linux and open source in
   general, had in large part been addressed.

   Referring to the new organization, he said, The technical, legal and
   standards issues do seem to be part of a bigger whole.

   Mr. Torvalds said his role would not change. I work on the technology
   itself, not any of the other issues, he wrote. I literally just sit in
   my basement and do technical management. Nothing else.

   Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

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