Linux Foundation Press Releases

Japan Linux Symposium Early Registration Begins; Linus Torvalds to Deliver Opening Keynote

jennifer — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:20:19 +0000

Japan Linux Symposium Early Registration Begins; Linus Torvalds to Deliver Opening Keynote

The Linux Foundation announces details of the inaugural Japan Linux Symposium and the opening of early registration; Linus Torvalds to Speak in the Opening Keynote Session

TOKYO, June 29, 2009 - The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the opening of early registration for the inaugural Japan Linux Symposium (JLS). The event, a new annual technical conference designed to provide a collaboration and education space in the Pacific Rim covering all matters Linux, takes place October 21 – 23, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

JLS will bring together top talent from Japan, Asia Pacific, and around the world, including a unique blend of core developers, administrators, users, community managers and industry experts. It is designed not only to encourage collaboration but to support future interaction between Japan and other Asia Pacific countries and the rest of the global Linux community.

“The Japan Linux Symposium is a historic opportunity for attendees to collaborate with the leaders of the worldwide Linux community,” said Jim Zemlin. “In this economic climate, the use of Linux and open source software is even more strategic to companies looking to innovate while reducing costs. By attending the Japan Linux Symposium, attendees will gain the knowledge and connections they need to advance their careers and their companies’ interest in Linux. It’s a once in lifetime opportunity to meet and learn from these Linux luminaries.”

JLS’s opening Keynote Sessions, taking place on October 21st, from 13:00-17:00 at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo in Tameike, Tokyo, are jointly hosted by The Linux Foundation, the Japan OSS Promotion Forum and the Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA). They will address the theme “Linux/OSS to Develop Open Innovation” with speakers including:

• Linus Torvalds (Linux creator)
• Yukihiro Matsumoto (Ruby creator)
• Anthony Williams (co-author of “Wikinomics”)

The JLS Conference Sessions (including presentations, tutorials, BOF sessions, keynotes and community mini-summits) will take place on October 22nd and 23rd at Akihabara Convention Hall in Tokyo. The conference program will be announced by the end of July.

The early bird registration fee is US$200 until August 31st, and US$300 thereafter.

While there is a fee to attend the Conference Sessions, there is no charge to attend the Keynote Sessions, as they are sponsored and co-hosted by the Japan OSS Promotion Forum, The Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA). If you are only planning to attend the Keynote, please register.

Save 30% on Registration Fees – Become an LF Individual Member and Attend for US$140
Become a Linux Foundation Individual Member (Only US$99 Annually) and receive a number of great benefits, including a Linux.com email alias and 30% off your registration fees for JLS. View other Membership Benefits/Become an Individual Member.

JLS Co-Located with the 9th Annual Linux Kernel Summit
The Linux Kernel Summit brings together the world’s leading core kernel developers to discuss the state of the existing kernel and plan the next development cycle. This two day conference is invitation-only and focuses on development and innovation through sessions and workshops that encourage interaction and discussion between kernel developers and industry leaders. It will take place in Tokyo on the three days preceding JLS.

Thank You to Our Sponsors
The Japan Linux Symposium and the Linux Kernel Summit are generously sponsored by companies and organizations from both Japan and the US who actively and continually support the promotion and growth of the Linux platform.

Japan Linux Symposium Sponsors:
Platinum Sponsors - Hitachi, NEC and Intel
Gold Sponsors – FUJITSU, CE Linux Forum and HP
Silver Sponsors - VA Linux Systems Japan and NTT DATA CORPORATION
Bronze Sponsors - MIRACLE LINUX, MontaVista Software and Renesas Technology

Linux Kernel Summit Sponsors:
Presenting Sponsor Intel
Host Sponsors – Hitachi and NEC
Dinner Reception Sponsors – IBM and Google
General Sponsors - FUJITSU, CE Linux Forum, VA Linux Systems Japan, HP and Red Hat

Media Sponsors of JLS:
@IT, Computer Technology, Computerworld, DataCommunication, EE TIMES Japan, Enterprise Watch, gihyo.jp, IT Leaders, IT Media, japan.internet.com, NIKKEI Linux, Slashdot Japan, SoftwareDesign, SOURCEFORGE.jp, ThinkIT and Tokyo IT Newspaper

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of both, or either of these events, please contact us at events@linuxfoundation.org

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing resources and services that include exclusive events and online collaboration, including LinuxCon and Linux.com. For more information, please visit the Foundation website.

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.

IBM’s Bob Sutor Featured in Open Voices Podcast Series

jennifer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:03:52 +0000

Vice president of Linux and open source at IBM talks about the Linux desktop, ODF and cloud computing, among other topics.

Provider of Interactive Teaching Solutions Joins Linux Foundation

jennifer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:47:44 +0000

Provider of Interactive Teaching Solutions Joins Linux Foundation

mimio® embraces Linux as an important and affordable platform for interactive teaching technologies

SAN FRANCISCO June 9, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, announced today that mimio® has become the newest member of the Linux Foundation.

mimio, a leading provider of interactive teaching solutions, recognizes the increasing importance of Linux within educational communities worldwide, as well as the benefits of deploying Linux as a means of lowering per-student IT costs. As one of the first interactive teaching technologies to support the Linux operating system, mimio supports both Linux device driver and cross-platform capabilities, making it the only interactive teaching solution available in Linux.

“The Linux Foundation is a driving force behind the development of global open platform solutions. We are proud to partner with them to provide more solutions to meet the needs of the education community,” said Manny Perez, director of engineering.

As the newest member of the Linux Foundation, mimio will use popular tools such as the “App Checker” to ease code development as it makes Linux applications more portable than ever before.

mimio is one of the most portable and affordable interactive teaching solutions available today and continues to expand its solutions to assist and connect teachers. mimio will continue that expansion with its launch of a Linux version of mimio Studio 6 software for interactive whiteboards and a teacher community portal next month. By working with the Linux Foundation and its members, the mimio community website will be an even greater asset to teachers who can collaborate and trade ideas and interactive lesson plans for their classrooms.

“Community collaboration is the heartbeat of Linux, and it is encouraging to see teachers around the world using mimio and Linux to advance education,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation. “We welcome mimio to the Linux Foundation and look forward to working with them to support Linux in the classroom.”

As a member of the Linux Foundation, mimio will also be invited to take part in popular Linux Foundation events, such as the upcoming LinuxCon to be held September 21 – 23 in Portland, Oregon.

About mimio
mimio is a leading provider of interactive teaching solutions that enable teachers, trainers, presenters, and collaborative teams to capture, manage, share and interactively create and present information and ideas. mimio® products have won more than 25 industry awards and are used in classrooms, offices, and conference rooms around the world. Most recently, mimio was awarded the “Best in Tech” award from Scholastic Education for 2009. Part of Newell Rubbermaid’s innovative global technology brands, these solutions enable businesses, educational institutions, and consumers to more efficiently capture, share, manage and organize information.

About Newell Rubbermaid Technology Global Business Solutions
In a world that demands greater productivity and measures it at every opportunity, Newell Rubbermaid’s global technology solutions provide businesses, educational institutions, and consumers with innovative and easy ways to share, manage and organize information with improved efficiency and satisfaction. Our global technology brands are organized into four solutions:
• DYMO® Printing and Labeling Solutions are comprised of DYMO label makers and label printers, postage printing and CD/DVD printing solutions (www.dymo.com).
• CardScan® Contact Management Solutions are comprised of CardScan business card scanners and contact management software featuring CardScan At Your Service™ (www.cardscan.com), and DYMO File™ software for document scanning into digital files (www.dymofile.com).
• Endicia® Internet Postage Solutions are comprised of Endicia online shipping and mailing solutions (www.endicia.com) as well as customized postage solutions (www.pictureitpostage.com).
• mimio® Interactive Teaching Solutions are comprised of mimio interactive whiteboard technology, digital ink recorders and student response systems (www.mimio.com).
These global technology brands complement the growing family of leading Newell Rubbermaid brands including Calphalon®, EXPO®, Goody®, Graco®, Irwin®, Lenox®, Paper Mate®, Parker®, Rolodex®, Rubbermaid®, Sharpie® and Waterman®.

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Linux Foundation Expands Individual Membership Program with New Benefits and Linux.com Email Address

jennifer — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:11:45 +0000

Linux Foundation Expands Individual Membership Program with New Benefits and Linux.com Email Address

Individual membership supports the organization that promotes and protects Linux while connecting users to exclusive benefits

SAN FRANCISCO, June 3, 2009 — The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced it is expanding its individual membership program, adding a host of new features and benefits including a Linux.com email address (ex: name@linux.com).

The email address allows members to publicly represent their support for Linux and to demonstrate their community participation. Other benefits of the membership program include a weekly “Linux Briefing Book” in the form of an exclusive email with highlighted news and analysis to keep users well informed. This and other features help connect developers, IT administrators, and business executives with unique information, tools and events that help to advance their careers and stay current with the Linux platform.

By becoming a member of the Linux Foundation users are helping the organization that employs Linus Torvalds and supporting programs that promote and protect Linux. The new membership program also comes with opportunities to influence the direction of the Linux Foundation, such as running for a Foundation board seat and voting in the board election.

The annual membership fee for individuals is U.S. $99, which pays for itself after using the new 30% discount for standard LinuxCon registration, or the new 20% discount for Linux Foundation training courses.

“The collective results of thousands of individual contributions are what have paved the way for Linux. This membership class enables more people to have an impact on the operating system while enjoying benefits such as major discounts off of industry events,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation, “And, if you are tired of the e-mail roysmith3526@mail.com now is your chance to switch to roy@linux.com.”

Other new discounts and benefits available to members today include:

• 20% discount on registration fees for Linux Foundation training courses;
• 35% off O’Reilly Books and E-Books;
• 35% off No Starch Press Publications;
• 15% off subscriptions to Linux Journal;
• $10 off every $40 order on ThinkGeek.com for the life of membership (excluding shipping and taxes), among others; and
• a free Linux Foundation T-shirt for proclaiming support for Linux.

To join the Linux Foundation as an individual member and to see a full list of benefits and discounts, please visit our membership page. By joining by July 19, 2009, new members will get 20% off of O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention (OSCON 2009).

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.

Linux Foundation Announces LinuxCon Conference Schedule; Linus Torvalds to Participate in Keynote Panel

jennifer — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:49:15 +0000

Linux Foundation Announces LinuxCon Conference Schedule; Linus Torvalds to Participate in Keynote Panel

Business, developer and operations tracks present the latest developments in Linux and surface new opportunities for job seekers

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2009 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the confirmed conference schedule and speakers’ lineup for this year’s LinuxCon. The event, a new annual technical conference designed to provide a collaboration and education space for all matters Linux, takes place September 21 – 23, 2009 in Portland, Oregon at the Marriott Downtown Waterfront.

LinuxCon brings together the end user and developer communities to meet and learn from their peers, as well as to teach others. LinuxCon eliminates the traditional tradeshow environment to provide a forum where attendees can educate themselves on the latest technical advances of the Linux platform.

“LinuxCon will provide a physical meeting place where all Linux stakeholders can discuss their work and have an impact on advancing the Linux operating system,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “In today’s economic environment, Linux skills are in high demand, and gaining access to new information and advanced knowledge provides the right foundation for a productive career path. LinuxCon comes at just the right time.”

LinuxCon, co-located with the annual Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC), has confirmed more than 75 sessions in three distinct tracks - Business, Developer and Operations – as well as tutorials and a special Keynote Panel.

Confirmed session highlights include:
Keynote Panel
• A Roundtable Discussion on the Linux Kernel: Moderated by kernel developer and maintainer James Bottomley and featuring Linux creator Linus Torvalds, the panel will address the technology, the process and the future of Linux.

Business
• Matt Asay, vice president of business development for Alfresco and recognized CNET blogger, will detail the true cost of Linux and open source in “Beyond the Hype: The True Cost of Linux and Open Source.”

• The 451 Group industry analyst Jay Lyman will discuss how community Linux translates into the enterprise with his session titled, “What does Community Linux Mean to the Enterprise Now?”

Developer
• Jon Corbet, Linux kernel contributor and co-founder of LWN.net, will give his perspective on the state of the Linux kernel in “The Kernel Report” session.

• Marcel Holtmann, who works for the Open Source Technology Center at Intel, will present “New Connection Manager for Embedded Linux Systems.”

Other Developer sessions will address GPL exceptions and their legal implications; KVM and virtualization usage models; tracing; kernel regressions, and embedded systems, among other topics.

Operations
• Associate Director at Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Vinod Kutty will share his own experiences with deploying Linux in “Implementing Enterprise Linux on x86 Servers: Benefits, Challenges and the Things You Don’t Know That May Hurt You.”

• Javier Soltero, chief technology officer of management products at SpringSource, will discuss how to manage data in a virtual environment with his session titled “Virtually Impossible? Successfully Managing the Virtual Data Center.”

The Operations track will also feature topics such as securing and managing virtual images; server management with Puppet; server profiling and auditing; building packages for multiple distributions; and a variety of other sessions of interest to systems administrators and architects.

Tutorials
Tutorials will provide attendees with the opportunity for hands-on interaction with the Linux community’s highly respected kernel developers. Confirmed tutorials include, among others:

• Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux kernel developer and leader of the Linux Driver Project, will host a session on how to “Write a Real, Working Linux Driver.”

• Paul Moore, creator of NetLabel and developer at HP, will go into detail on “The How of NetLabel.”

To review the full LinuxCon schedule, including previously announced keynotes, please visit us here.

Early Bird, Member and Corporate Discounts
A variety of discounts are still available: The early bird discount will be available until June 1, 2009 at $299; companies get a 15 percent discount when they send three or more people; and Linux Foundation Individual Members and Linux Plumbers Conference attendees receive 30% off of LinuxCon registration. To register to attend LinuxCon, please click here. For more information on discounts, email us.

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Linux Foundation Unveils New Linux.com

jennifer — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:02:26 +0000

Linux Foundation Unveils New Linux.com

For the community, by the community, Linux Foundation launches framework to connect Linux users and developers and find the next “Ultimate Linux Guru”

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2009 — The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the formal launch of Linux.com. The Foundation took over stewardship of the site in March, at which time it began soliciting input from the community to help define the new Linux.com via its Ideaforge web tool. Today, it unveils the results of that input and a new online home for all things Linux.

The new Linux.com will connect Linux users and developers, and by showcasing their skills through its guru listing, will connect individuals to jobs and collaboration opportunities. Instead of a static information site, the new Linux.com will empower the Linux community to share its knowledge, get questions answered, download the right software and find hardware to solve problems.

Visitors can register today and immediately begin contributing to the community and build their Linux guru standing. Other community functionality includes allowing users to have their own blog hosted by Linux.com, review products in the product directory, and submit “HowTo’s” and tutorials to help their fellow Linux users or developers.

Ultimate Linux Guru Wins a Dream Linux Machine Signed by Torvalds
Users can earn points toward becoming a “Linux Guru” by participating in different activities on the site. Each year, the top Linux.com user will be recognized as the “Ultimate Linux Guru” and be given a fully loaded “dream” Linux notebook personally signed by Linus Torvalds as recognition of his or her guru status. The top five contributors to Linux.com annually will receive invitations to the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and have a seat at the Linux.com planning meeting as community representatives. And, the top 50 annual Linux gurus on Linux.com will be included in a yearly report from the Linux Foundation: those high ranking users will be able to showcase their status and knowledge to potential employers or consulting opportunities. More information, including “Guru” point values, is available at the site.

“Code and online participation is the new resume, and we want Linux.com to provide a framework for Linux experts to help each other and showcase their talent, knowledge and skills and ultimately improve their careers,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation. “We’ve also found that Linux users have a passion for improving the platform. Linux.com is the community’s resource, and the more information that is shared on Linux, the more benefit to all who participate. We think that active participation on Linux.com will result in an easier to use, more robust Linux platform.”

Linux.com is designed to mirror the Linux community process by hosting a collaborative framework where users and developers can connect and increase the collective Linux knowledge and resources for new and advanced users alike. The site is the central source for informed Linux information, software and documentation covering the server, desktop, mobile, and embedded areas. Linux.com also extends the Foundation’s existing content and community programs available at www.linuxfoundation.org.

Major Linux.com features include:

• News
The Linux.com News section features original content and analysis as well as content from Linux Foundation workgroups, including FOSSBazaar and MoblinZone.

• Community
Highlights from the community section include an area where individuals can form or promote Linux and open source related groups. They can connect with other members as well as showcase their events, meet-ups and activities. The event features should prove valuable for users wanting to educate or participate in the Linux community and find conferences, user groups, or other meet-ups in their area.

• Distribution Central
This section showcases original content from each of the community “distros” with contributions directly from representatives from Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu. Community managers and developers such as Jono Bacon, Joe Brockmeier, Paul Frields, Martin Krafft and Karsten Wade will join in conversations to help Linux users understand and use the leading Linux “distros.”

• Learn
Highlights from this section include a centralized repository for Linux Documentation, including Man Pages and “HowTo’s” from the Linux Documentation Project. In this section, users can also post questions or answer other user or developer questions to increase understanding of the Linux platform.

• Directory
The site’s directory is a user-contributed and user-reviewed database of software applications that run on the Linux operating system; Linux-compatible hardware components; and books, hosting, and other professional services available from the Linux ecosystem. This section also aggregates Linux application downloads to create an application store for Linux.

Inaugural Linux.com sponsors include Intel, NetApp, Novell and Red Hat.

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Linux Foundation Announces LinuxCon Keynotes

jennifer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:38:31 +0000

Linux Foundation Announces LinuxCon Keynotes

The first-time Linux event welcomes industry experts to share latest advancements and opportunities for the platform

SAN FRANCISCO, April 22, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced confirmed keynotes for the year’s highly anticipated LinuxCon. LinuxCon combines the developer and end user communities to produce more than 75 sessions that address “all matters Linux.” The event takes place September 21 – 23, 2009 in Portland, Oregon at the Marriott Downtown Waterfront.

The LinuxCon keynotes represent both community and industry, with community luminaries such as Mark Shuttleworth and industry experts such as IBM’s Bob Sutor. Confirmed keynotes include:

• Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager, Novell;
• Bdale Garbee, open source & Linux chief technologist at Hewlett Packard, and well-known kernel developer;
• Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu distribution and Canonical; and
• Bob Sutor, vice president of Standards and Open Source at IBM.

LinuxCon welcomes everyone who has a stake in Linux. Linux users and developers will meet and learn from their peers as well as teach others, such as up-and-coming developers and new Linux users. LinuxCon eliminates the traditional tradeshow environment to provide a forum where attendees can educate themselves on the latest technical advances of the Linux platform.

Three tracks – developer, business and operations – will provide the foundation for sessions that include tutorials, keynotes, a technology showcase and targeted mini-summits on topics such as mobile, desktop and embedded, and much more. LinuxCon will be co-located with the annual Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC), which attracts a star-studded pool of technical talent.

Registration is now open for LinuxCon. Early Bird registration costs $299 per person (until June 1, 2009), and Standard registration costs $399 (until August 14, 2009).

To get additional details or register for the event, please visit the LinuxCon website. To get updates via Twitter, follow the Linux Foundation here.

Linux Foundation events provide kernel developers, IT professionals, end users, senior executives, industry experts, and the media with a vendor-neutral, nonprofit forum in which collaboration and education advance knowledge and accelerate the advancement of Linux. The events provide a platform for new Linux and open source developments to be revealed and discussed.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, The Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org.

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Linux Foundation Announces “We’re Linux” Winner

jennifer — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:54:31 +0000

Linux Foundation Announces “We’re Linux” Winner

Twenty-something graphic designer Amitay Tweeto wins trip to Tokyo for his video “What Does It Mean To Be Free?”

SAN FRANCISCO, April 9, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the winner of its “We’re Linux” video contest.

Amitay Tweeto, a 25-year-old graphic designer from Israel, beat out 90 contest entrants to win the grand prize for his video “What Does It Mean To Be Free?” Tweeto will receive a trip to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the Linux Foundation’s Japanese Linux Symposium in October 2009.

The “We’re Linux” video contest was launched in December and encouraged Linux enthusiasts to create one-minute videos showcasing what Linux means to them, as well as to convince other people to try it. Ninety Linux users from around the world entered videos in the contest, which attracted a wide variety of submissions and drew more than 100,000 combined views of the entries.

In addition to the grand-prize winner, two runners-up are being recognized. The winning videos can be viewed on the Linux Foundation video site:

* Grand-prize winner: “What Does It Mean To Be Free?”

* Runner-up: “The Origin”

* Runner-up: “Linux Pub”

A combination of community votes and a panel of judges determined the winners:

• Matt Asay, CNET blogger and executive at Alfresco, Inc.;
• Larry Augustin, venture capitalist and former chairman of VA Software,
and Linux Foundation board member;
• Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community manager;
• Joe Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager;
• Melinda Mettler, director, School of Advertising at the Academy of Art
University; and
• Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media, Inc.

“The ‘We’re Linux’ contest has really highlighted the diversity and creativity of the Linux community,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation. “We’re honored to be able to provide a forum where Linux users can share their passion and experiences with Linux. The level of participation reflected in both the submissions and voting process represents the strong, expansive Linux user community.”

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit Kicks Off Today in San Francisco

jennifer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:43:54 +0000

Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit Kicks Off Today in San Francisco

Industry heavyweights, Linux insiders meet this week to identify areas for advancing the operating system

SAN FRANCISCO – April 8, 2009 — The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today will kick off its annual Collaboration Summit. The brightest minds in the Linux server, desktop, mobile and embedded communities, among others, are gathering at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco, Calif., to translate ideas into the projects that will advance the operating system in the year ahead.

The Summit includes keynotes and panels on the following topics:

• Moblin State of the Union. Host-sponsor Intel will talk about the future of mobile Linux in its Moblin State of the Union keynote and demonstration, presented by Imad Sousou, Director of the Open Source Technology Center, Software and Services Group.

• Linux Foundation, Microsoft and Sun: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? For the first time, executives from each organization will sit down at one table to debate the future of the respective operating systems. Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin will moderate the discussion, which will include Sam Ramji, Director of Platform Strategy, from Microsoft, and Ian Murdock, Vice President of Developer and Community Marketing at Sun.

• Oracle Keynote: Linux in the Enterprise, the Journey, Milestones and What’s Ahead? Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect at Oracle, will talk about the company’s unique business model that has Linux at its core.

Also at the Summit today, Al Gillen, program vice president, system software at IDC, will deliver a presentation titled “The Opportunity for Linux in a New Economy.” The presentation is based on a white paper, sponsored by The Linux Foundation and available today, which looks at the impact of the current economic conditions on the computer industry, and how the Linux ecosystem will ride through this disruptive time. The presentation presents IDCs expectation that the Linux ecosystem will be less impacted by the downturn and recover more aggressively than other platforms.

The IDC white paper can be downloaded here.

“Linux is the long-term winner in the OS market and its strengthening position will be molded by the major stakeholders meeting at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit over the next three days,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation.

Other keynotes and panels to be delivered today will come from Linux kernel developers and representatives at IBM, Novell and Red Hat, among others. The agenda for Thursday and Friday will include the ISV Summit, which will focus on sharing the latest advancements in Linux and looking at best ways to work among the community. Other panel discussions and workgroup focus will be on high-performance computing, file systems and systems management, among others.

The filesystem session, for example, will include a review of the Linux file systems and IO workshop and the Linux file system roadmap going forward. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask specific questions about Linux file systems strategy and give feedback on the future direction of file systems development in Linux.

The Summit is in its third year and is heralded as the only place where Linux community developers, distribution and system vendors, ISVs, and end users meet face-to-face and collaborate. While there are a variety of industry and developer conferences, the LF Collaboration Summit is the only one to bridge the worlds of community and industry, while allowing end users to access and influence these two important groups. It is designed to accelerate collaboration and problem solving in the Linux community by bringing key stakeholders together in a neutral setting.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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News from the Summit: Linux Foundation to Make the openSUSE Build Service Available Through Linux Developer Network

jennifer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:00:20 +0000

The Linux Foundation to Make the openSUSE Build Service Available Through Linux Developer Network

Latest build service release includes support for ARM-based embedded devices

SAN FRANCISCO (Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit) – April 8, 2009 – The openSUSE Project and the Linux Foundation today jointly announced that the openSUSE Build Service will be added to the Linux Developer Network (LDN). The openSUSE® Build Service is the only development platform that enables developers to package software for all major Linux* distributions, and is used to provide transparent infrastructure for the creation of the entire openSUSE distribution. Additionally, the openSUSE Project, a Novell sponsored and community-supported open source project, announced a new release of the openSUSE Build Service with support for compiling for the ARM platform.

“This is part of our ongoing mission to provide not only information, but real tools for Linux developers to empower them and make deploying applications on multiple Linux distributions as painless as possible,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs for the Linux Foundation. “The openSUSE Build Service is a huge step forward for developers and ISVs that want to package their offerings for all major distros quickly and easily.”

The Linux Foundation will be providing an interface to the openSUSE Build Service via the Linux Developer Network site, so that developers can create packages for all major Linux distributions via LDN. The build service enables developers to create packages for CentOS*, Debian*, Fedora*, Mandriva*, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu*, in addition to openSUSE and SUSE® Linux Enterprise. The addition of the openSUSE Build Service to the LDN compliments LDN’s popular AppChecker application, which enables developers to create portable applications for Linux. The build service is a perfect tool for LDN’s overall goal of assisting developers to deliver these portable applications.

The openSUSE project is also releasing the 1.6 version of the build service that includes support for compiling packages for the ARM platform, which is primarily used for embedded devices. The support for cross-architecture build support means that developers can create RPM or Debian packages for openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. This work has been contributed by 5e DataSoft GmbH, working as part of the openSUSE community to add support for embedded devices based on ARM. 5e provides solutions based on openSUSE.

“Of all the Linux distros, we’ve found openSUSE to be the best platform for our solutions,” said Martin Mohring, chief technology officer at 5e DataSoft. “Because the openSUSE Build Service is GPL’ed, we’ve been able to add features and work with the openSUSE project to integrate them into the official build service.”

Jürgen Geck, chief technology officer at Open-Xchange, said, “openSUSE Build Service enables us to concurrently build Open-Xchange for all of the leading Linux platforms — making the process extremely efficient and guaranteeing a final product that is broadly compatible. The service is free, its underlying software infrastructure is released under GPL, so there is no lock in.”

The latest release of the build service also includes support for building openSUSE appliances, live CDs, installable USB images, Xen* images, and VMware* images. Developers can now create their own custom openSUSE distribution using the build service.

Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager, said, “This is the culmination of years of work by the openSUSE Project. The openSUSE Build Service has always been intended as a tool that would accelerate the general adoption of Linux. It’s gratifying to see the build service becoming part of the Linux Developer Network and being embraced by the larger community.”

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

About openSUSE
openSUSE is a community distribution sponsored by Novell to promote the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE delivers everything Linux developers and enthusiasts need to get started with Linux. Hosted at www.opensuse.org, the project features easy access to builds and releases. It also offers extensive community development programs for open access to the development process used to create SUSE Linux Enterprise.

About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.

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Novell, openSUSE and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Linux Foundation to Host Moblin Project

jennifer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:47:33 +0000

Linux Foundation to Host Moblin Project

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced it will host the industry’s most advanced and open Linux-based mobile project, Moblin.

Created in 2007, the Moblin project will be supported by the Linux Foundation. With technical support from the industry’s highly respected kernel developers and a neutral, third party host, the Moblin project is primed to be the most advanced and open mobile Linux platform.

Moblin is an open source project that supports Linux-based software platform and is optimized for the next generation of mobile devices including netbooks, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), in-vehicle infotainment systems, and other embedded devices. In this economic climate, these markets are among the fastest-growing in computing, and Linux is increasingly considered the OS of choice for vendors who require more attractive margins, faster time to market and custom branding.

The first developer meeting for the Moblin project under the Linux Foundation will take place at the Annual Collaboration Summit beginning next Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

“Moblin offers a truly open platform and already has some of the best and brightest minds focused on its architecture and development,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “Through the Linux Foundation, an even broader community can contribute to Moblin becoming the predominant Linux-based platform for mobile devices.”

“The Linux Foundation is the perfect environment to take Moblin to the next level,” said Doug Fisher, vice president Intel Software and Services Group, and general manager System Software Division. “The open source process delivers multiple benefits to any project, including faster innovation and increased technology visibility.”

Fifteen operating system vendors have committed to distribute Moblin-based products, including Asianux, Canonical, DeviceVM, gOS, MontaVista, Novell, and Wind River, among others.

About Moblin
Moblin is an optimized Open Source Linux software stack and technology framework that delivers visually rich Internet and media experience on Intel® Atom™ Processor-based devices including MIDs, netbooks/nettops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and embedded systems. Moblin is hosted at www.moblin.org, and is an open source project where key Moblin technologies are incubated and enhanced by the Linux open source community. Moblin based operating system products are created and distributed by Linux Operating System Vendors (OSV). For more information, please visit www.moblin.org.

About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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Worldwide Support for the Linux Foundation Moblin Announcement

jennifer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:45:46 +0000

Partners come out in strong support of the Moblin project.

Canonical
“As a member of the Linux Foundation, we welcome the Moblin project as it offers a comprehensive framework for developers to drive innovation in the mobile device market,” says Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project. “Moving to the Linux Foundation will promote further innovation and reinforces the synergies between Moblin and the Ubuntu community.”

CS2C
“There are a lot of mobile Linux efforts taking place, but Moblin is truly one of the most open and has the most support at the kernel level,” said Mr. HAN Naiping, President, China Standard Software Co., Ltd. “Intel and Linux Foundation have done a really smart thing by partnering to advance this project.”

gOS
“As the Moblin community grows, it allows our company to innovate higher in the stack,” said David Liu, Founder & CEO of Good OS. “This allows us to add customized offerings for our customers and better, low cost netbook-based cloud solutions.”

Linpus
“Linpus believes strongly in the Moblin project and has been a long term participant in the Moblin community,” said Stephen Lim, President and CEO of Linpus. “In fact, with the help and support of Intel and others in the community, we have contributed in two important areas of the project, fast boot and battery life. We are pleased that the LF will continue this community focus.”

Miracle
“MIRACLE LINUX CORPORATION, as one of the founding members of Asianux, is working on Moblin-based products in many categories, including MID and embedded markets,” said Takashi Kodama, President and CEO of MIRACLE LINUX CORPORATION. “We will keep on this direction with the leadership and value offered through the Linux Foundation, as we expect it will enable us to
serve our customers better.”

Mandriva
“Mandriva delivers Moblin based products from netbooks to home appliances and set top boxes,” said Hervé Yahi, CEO of Mandriva. “We see tremendous volume growth in numerous market segments due to the flexibility and innovation of the software stack and the combination of lower cost devices. The addition of the Linux Foundation’s neutral collaborative environment and wide network of technical, business and legal arenas will accelerate our opportunity.”

MontaVista
“Today’s actions from Intel and the Linux Foundation are an important step for the embedded device market and the open source community,” said Rusty Harris, CEO, MontaVista Software Inc. “With Intel’s Atom architecture and the Linux Foundation’s bringing key Linux contributors together, Moblin is primed to be a leading platform in this marketplace. We look forward to helping embedded device manufacturers bring commercial devices to market quickly and cost effectively on MontaVista Linux and the Moblin platform.”

Novell
“Moblin is a key project for the acceleration of Linux on desktops and mobile devices,” stated Markus Rex, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions at Novell, and the former CTO at the Linux Foundation. “Moblin will allow companies to come to market quicker- thus being more competitive. Also, with the stewardship of the Linux Foundation, and with the support of Intel, this will ensure the success of mobile computing enhancements.”

Red Flag
“Red Flag, as one of the founding members of Asianux, is the first company to have productized an offering for Moblin. Our team is comprised of extremely proficient developers, who are able to take the innovations of open source and deliver them to customers,” said Mr. Dong Jia, Chairman of Asianux/President & CEO of Red Flag. “We are eager to see the LF add their expertise and community development to increase the innovations that we then deliver to customers.”

Turbolinux
“Turbolinux has been and remains committed to deliver Moblin-based products,” said Claude Zhou, General Manager of Turbollnux China. “We welcome the leadership offered through the Linux Foundation, as we expect it will enable us to extend our innovatation and deliver more value to our customers.”

VietSoftware
“As a member of Asianux, VietSoftware is committed to deliver Moblin-based products, being strongly confident in innovation offered by Linux Foundation and rising popularity of mobile devices in the market, which are based on Intel’s Moblin platform,” said Dr. Tran Luong Son, General Director of VietSoftware.

Wind River
“The Moblin project offers a comprehensive framework for developers to drive innovation in multiple markets, including the mobile and automotive infotainment device markets,” said John Bruggeman, chief marketing officer, Wind River. “Wind River is a leader with Moblin technologies and has a long history of leading initiatives hosted by the Linux Foundation. We’re convinced that by having the Linux Foundation host Moblin we will see accelerated innovation and broader ubiquity for the project and Linux in general.”

WTEC
“As the 5th member of Asianux, WTEC will continue to push for the adoption of great open source software whenever it applies. The open source adoption of open source in Thailand is slow but growing consistently and we believe we are on the right track,” said Phiroon Phihakendr, Managing Director of WTEC. “As an open source advocate, WTEC truly appreciates the leadership and innovation Intel and Linux Foundation bring. Moblin will have a bigger impact on our mobile life in the near future.”

Xandros
“We are delighted to see that the Moblin project has come under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, home of the Linux kernel and other community projects vital to the culture and business of open source,” said Andreas Typaldos, CEO of Xandros. “The Moblin optimizations we introduced with ASUS on the Eee PC helped launch the netbook revolution, and we look forward to further Moblin enhancements that will take mobile computing to new levels of richness, speed, and convenience.”

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Leading European Software Services Firm Joins Linux Foundation

jennifer — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:53:01 +0000

Leading European Software Services Firm Joins Linux Foundation

credativ to help represent international community and collaborate on Linux Standard Base

SAN FRANCISCO, March 30, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that credativ has become the newest member of the Linux Foundation.

credativ, an independent consulting and services company focused on free software and open standards, will participate in advancing the Linux Standard Base (LSB), which establishes common standards across the different Linux distributions. Additionally, as one of Europe’s largest employers of Debian developers, credativ has a particular interest in encouraging collaboration focused around Debian development.

“credativ will bring important contributions to the Linux Foundation,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation. “credativ brings to the membership new, on-the-ground experience in Europe where we see some of the most progressive approaches to Linux and open standards. We’re looking forward to working with them.”

The Linux developer and user communities are strong in Europe where the UK government recently announced a 10-point action plan to encourage greater use of open source software in the public sector. credativ’s participation in the Linux Foundation will further streamline LSB efforts across geographies.

“We see steady growth in the Linux and open source software market, and our customers are looking for services and support that are based on common standards,” said Dr. Michael Meskes, CEO at credativ. “Our Linux Foundation membership will help us serve the community and our customers by advancing efforts related to the Linux Standard Base and the desktop.”

As a member of the Linux Foundation, credativ will take part in the Desktop Linux and LSB workgroups, as well as participate in popular Linux Foundation events.

About credativ
credativ is an independent consulting and services company with offices in Mönchengladbach, Jülich and München in Germany, Rugby in the United Kingdom and Orangeville in Canada. The company specializes in designing and implementing professional business solutions using Free and Open Source Software. credativ was founded in Germany in 1999, opened offices in the UK in 2004 and in Canada in 2007. credativ has operated the Open Source Support Centre (OSSC) since May 2006, offering professional 24/7 Enterprise Support for numerous Open Source projects. The group employs 45 people in its offices in the UK, Germany and Canada. http://www.credativ.com/

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Linux Foundation, Microsoft and Sun Debate Future of Operating Systems at Annual Collaboration Summit

jennifer — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:05:07 +0000

Linux Foundation, Microsoft and Sun Debate the Future of Operating Systems at Annual Collaboration Summit

For the first time, market adversaries meet at the same table to discuss the path forward; leading market research firm to present Linux growth projections

SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced newly confirmed keynotes and panelists for its Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit. The Summit, now in its third year, takes place April 8 – 10, 2009 at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.

For the first time, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems will sit down at one table to debate the future of the respective operating systems. Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin will moderate the discussion, which will include Sam Ramji, Director of Platform Strategy, from Microsoft, and Ian Murdock, Vice President of Developer and Community Marketing at Sun.

Other agenda highlights at this year’s Summit include:

• IDC Program Vice President, Systems Software, Al Gillen, will share new findings on operating system forecasts and talk about the impact of the economic downturn on the operating system market.

• Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect at Oracle, has been confirmed to deliver the opening day keynote. Screven will talk about the company’s unique business model that has Linux at its core.

• Host sponsor Intel will talk about the future of mobile Linux in its Moblin State of the Union keynote and demonstration, presented by Imad Sousou, Director of the Open Source Technology Center, Software and Services Group.

• A panel on community contributions and participation will be presented with speakers that include Jono Bacon, community manager at Ubuntu; James Bottomley, kernel developer at Novell; Joe Brockmeier, community manager, openSUSE; Dan Frye, vice president, open systems development, IBM Systems and Technology Group; and Karsten Wade, Fedora Project.

• An annual favorite, the Linux kernel panel will focus on what’s coming next. It will be moderated by LWN.net editor-in-chief Jon Corbet, and panelists will include the community’s leading maintainers Greg Kroah-Hartmann, Andrew Morton, Keith Packard and Ted Ts’o.

Sponsored by Intel Corporation and returning to San Francisco in 2009, the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit is an exclusive, invitation-only gathering of the brightest minds in Linux, including core kernel developers, distribution maintainers, ISVs, end users, system vendors and other community organizations. It is the only conference designed to accelerate collaboration and encourage solutions by bringing together a true cross-section of leaders to meet face-to-face to tackle and solve the most pressing issues facing Linux today.

The Annual Collaboration Summit will be co-located with the CELF Embedded Linux Conference and the Linux Storage and Filesystem Workshop. For more information on the Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit, please visit: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/collaboration-summit.

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Linux Foundation’s “We’re Linux” Contest Enters Final Week

jennifer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:03:28 +0000

MEDIA ADVISORY

Linux Foundation’s “We’re Linux” Contest Enters Final Week

With more than 35 videos submitted so far, the competition heats up as March 15 deadline draws near

SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2009 – The Linux Foundation’s user-generated “We’re Linux” video contest enters its final week today. Final submissions for the contest that began in January are due this Sunday, March 15 at midnight ET. Contest winner(s) will be revealed at the Linux Foundation’s Collaboration Summit on April 8, 2009, in San Francisco.

More than 35 videos have been submitted so far for the contest that seeks to find the best user-generated videos that demonstrate what Linux means to those who use it and inspire others to try it. The winner of the contest will receive a free trip to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the Linux Foundation Japan Linux Symposium in October 2009.

Videos are being ranked by the community with final decisions being made by a panel of judges that includes, Matt Asay, CNET blogger and executive at Alfresco, Inc.; Larry Augustin, venture capitalist and former chairman of VA Software, and Linux Foundation board member; Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community manager; Joe Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager; Melinda Mettler, director, School of Advertising at the Academy of Art University; and Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media, Inc.

To subscribe to the Linux Foundation’s video forum feeds, please visit: http://video.linuxfoundation.org/rss.xml.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms.

Linux Foundation to Build New Linux.com Community

jennifer — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:27:33 +0000

Linux Foundation to Build New Linux.com Community

SourceForge and Linux Foundation partner to facilitate online community collaboration

SAN FRANCISCO and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 3, 2009 – The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, and SourceForge, a leader in community-driven media and e-commerce, (NASDAQ: LNUX) today announced that the Linux Foundation will be the new host for Linux.com, taking over the editorial and community stewardship for the site. The two companies will collaborate to create a vibrant and long-lasting community destination for Linux users and developers.

Effective today, the Linux.com domain, which saw 21% growth in traffic in 2008, will be transferred to the Linux Foundation. SourceForge will support the Linux Foundation by continuing to sell the advertising for Linux.com.

The new Linux.com site will transform in the months ahead from solely being a news source to a collaborative site that will be “for the community, by the community.” Much like Linux itself, Linux.com will rely on the community to create and drive the content and conversation. While the Linux Foundation will host the collaboration forum, the site will feature the real Linux experts – users and developers – and give them the tools needed to connect with each other and with Linux. Linux.com will also extend the Linux Foundation’s existing content and community programs available on www.linuxfoundation.org. Linux.com will provide crucial content, tools and community services to galvanize the power of this group. It will also showcase information for business users of Linux.

“We are thrilled to add Linux.com to our list of programs in service to the Linux community,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “SourceForge is demonstrating its commitment to the Linux and open source community with this arrangement. We look forward to showcasing the power of collaboration through Linux.com and our on-going alliance with SourceForge. We intend for Linux.com to be the central forum for Linux information, community and collaboration.”

“For SourceForge, this is both an opportunity to continue serving the Linux community and to represent the Linux Foundation with our company’s media expertise, said Jon Sobel, group president, media at SourceForge. “We appreciate that, on the modern web, doing both things well is a hallmark of good companies, and we look forward to jointly supporting a successful effort for the community.”

Linux Foundation Solicits Community Input for Site
The Linux Foundation is currently working on a new beta version of the site that it will release in a few months. Starting today, it is launching an “IdeaForge” designed to gather opinions and ideas from the Linux user community on the future direction of the site. Users can give feedback today at Linux.com by logging into IdeaForge. Existing forums and content will be made available so as not to disturb existing users of the site.

About SourceForge
SourceForge’s media and e-commerce web sites connect millions of influential technology professionals and enthusiasts each day. Combining user-developed content, online marketplaces and e-commerce, SourceForge is the global technology community’s nexus for information exchange, goods for geeks, and open source software distribution and services. SourceForge’s network of web sites serves 35 million unique visitors each month* and includes: SourceForge.net, Slashdot, ThinkGeek, and freshmeat.net. For more information or to view the media kit online, visit www.sourceforge.com. (*Source: Google Analytics and Omniture, January 2009.)
SourceForge, SourceForge.net, Slashdot, freshmeat, and ThinkGeek are registered trademarks of SourceForge, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or product names are the property of their respective owners.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org.

Linux Foundation Announces Training Program to Meet Increasing Demand for Linux Talent

jennifer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:45:09 +0000

Linux Foundation Announces Training Program to Meet Increasing Demand for Linux Talent

Program kicks at Annual Collaboration Summit, provides advanced courses taught by leading community developers

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2, 2009 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the Linux Foundation Training Program, which will kick off with courses taught at the Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit April 8 - 10, 2009 in San Francisco.

While the Linux server market is predicted to reach $50 billion dollars in three years, and the embedded and mobile Linux markets continue to explode, the picture is less rosy in other corners of the IT market. Developers are being laid off, and many are looking to careers in the Linux and open source sector. The freelance marketplace Odesk (www.odesk.org) recently reported that the number of Linux-related jobs posted on its boards has increased more than 1400% since 2006. The Linux Foundation’s Training Program will help meet this demand for industry, and provide the tools for a new generation of programmers.

Built in concert with its Technical Advisory Board (which comprises leading maintainers from the Linux community), the Linux Foundation’s Training Program will feature courses taught by many of the actual community developers. The Linux Foundation’s Training program will be vendor-neutral, technically advanced and built in conjunction with the actual leaders of the Linux development community themselves. The Linux Foundation training classes will give attendees the broad, foundational knowledge and networking needed to thrive in their careers today.

The Training Program will debut with the following classes:
• Essential Linux Device Driver Development Skills
• Creating Applications for Linux
• Kernel Debugging and Performance

Students who register for these first Program offerings will get an automatic attendee pass for the Collaboration Summit. For more
details, please visit the Training Program Website.

“We’ve received consistent feedback from companies worldwide that the rising number of Linux deployments is putting new demands on a talent pool that needs more Linux-related developers,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation. “We believe the Linux Foundation can provide a vendor-neutral forum in which students can learn from the community’s most influential contributors in order to drive their careers in more lucrative directions.”

The Training Program will consist of in-person courses at the Linux Foundation’s events, including its Collaboration Summit, End User Summit and LinuxCon, in-person classes in cities around the United States (dates to be announced) and onsite, custom courses for companies that want to ensure their developer core remains current. Graduates of the Program will gain access to resources at the Linux Foundation, which will provide students networking opportunities with the developer and vendor community through a variety of its events and activities.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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MIPS Technologies Joins the Linux Foundation

jennifer — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:44:06 +0000

MIPS Technologies Joins the Linux Foundation

Leader in semiconductor IP committed to growth and promotion of open source technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, February 23, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that MIPS Technologies (NasdaqGS: MIPS) has become a member of the Foundation. MIPS Technologies is a leading provider of industry-standard architectures, processors and analog IP for digital consumer, home networking, wireless, communications and business applications.

By joining the Linux Foundation, MIPS Technologies will help drive growth and promotion of Linux among its customer base and beyond. MIPS Technologies joins a leading group of companies who are experiencing business success and market expansion based on customer leverage of Linux and open source technologies.

“A large majority of MIPS developers are using Linux for product development,” said Udi Kalekin, vice president of software engineering at MIPS. “We are pleased to join the Linux Foundation as part of our commitment to maintaining and enhancing our contribution to the Linux community. We envision an evolution in consumer platform support on multi-core systems powered by Linux, and our work with the Linux Foundation will accelerate this process.”

“Companies such as MIPS Technologies are making smart decisions in tough times,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “The company’s work on Linux and desire to collaborate with its peers and the community will only help to increase its already strong market position. We’re looking forward to MIPS Technologies’ contributions to the Foundation.”

About MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NasdaqGS: MIPS) is the world’s second largest semiconductor design IP company and the number one analog IP company worldwide. With more than 250 customers around the globe, MIPS Technologies is the only company that provides a combined portfolio of processors, analog IP and software tools for the embedded market. The company powers some of the world’s most popular products for the digital entertainment, home networking, wireless, and portable media markets—including broadband devices from Linksys, DTVs and digital consumer devices from Sony, DVD recordable devices from Pioneer, digital set-top boxes from Motorola, network routers from Cisco, 32-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (650) 567-5000 or visit our homepage.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit Linux Foundation.
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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. MIPS and MIPS-Based are trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and other countries of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks referred to herein are the property of their respective owners. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.

Linux Foundation Opens Registration for Annual Collaboration Summit, Posts Call for Participation for LinuxCon 2009

jennifer — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:14:13 +0000

Linux Foundation Opens Registration for Annual Collaboration Summit, Posts Call for Participation for LinuxCon 2009

Community members prepare for the year’s most anticipated Linux-focused events

SAN FRANCISCO, January 27, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that registration is open for the Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit taking place April 8 – 10, 2009 in San Francisco. Also available today are further details, including the Call for Proposals (CFP), for both the Annual Collaboration Summit and LinuxCon 2009.

For the first time, the Linux Foundation is inviting all members of the Linux and open source software communities to submit a proposal for its Annual Collaboration Summit, its cornerstone event. Summit CFP submissions are due February 15, 2009. LinuxCon submissions will be due April 15, 2009.

A large portion of the program this year will be dedicated to desktop developers focused on Mobile Linux. Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), mobile phones, Netbooks, and In-Vehicle Infotainment are expected to populate the world as the economy puts new pressures on companies and consumers, and as competition in the PC industry continues to cross new boundaries in innovation. The Linux community, including developers, vendors and ISVs, will use the Summit to advance the Linux operating system for its role in this global movement. The Moblin Project, for example, will host The Moblin Summit onsite to gather leading vendors and developers together to collaborate with other members of the open source community.

Another focus for the event will be High Performance Computing, where critical workload requirements will be debated among community members. Other tracks include the Systems Management Summit and the ISV Summit, where software vendors can come together in one place with every major Linux “distro” to discuss application portability and other key opportunities in the year ahead.

The Annual Collaboration Summit, presented by host-sponsor Intel
Corporation, will be co-located with the CELF Embedded Linux Conference and the Linux Storage and Filesystem Workshop. The winner of the “We’re Linux” video contest (http://video.linuxfoundation.org) will also be revealed at the Summit, where the winning video and honorable mentions will be screened for the event’s attendees.

Please visit the Linux Foundation’s Annual Collaboration Summit site for more information.

“Linux Foundation’s events provide the only vendor-neutral forum for the Linux community to collaborate face-to-face,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “This year’s event lineup, including the Annual Collaboration Summit and LinuxCon, are critical for advancing the operating system and providing vendors, developers and users with the right tools for their day-to-day work.”

LinuxCon 2009
LinuxCon, which takes place September 21 – 25, 2009, is a new annual technical conference that is being produced in the spirit of open source development – for the community by the community. The program committee includes recognized community members, including:

• Joe Brockmeier, Novell
• Matt Domsch, Dell
• Bdale Garbee, HP
• Dirk Hohndel, Intel
• Gerrit Huizenga, IBM
• Ari Jaaksi, Nokia
• Vinod Kutty, CME Group
• Amanda McPherson, The Linux Foundation
• Craig Ross, The Linux Foundation
• David Schlesinger, ACCESS
• Tsugikazu Shibata, NEC
• Elena Zannoni, Oracle

To get additional details, please visit the LinuxCon 2009 site.

Linux Foundation events provide kernel developers, IT professionals, end users, senior executives, industry experts, students and the media with a vendor-neutral, nonprofit forum in which collaboration and education advance knowledge and accelerate the advancement of Linux. The events provide a platform for new Linux and open source developments to be revealed and discussed.

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Linux Foundation Announces Formal Kick Off for “We’re Linux” Video Contest

jennifer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:49:57 +0000

Linux Foundation Announces Formal Kick Off for “We’re Linux” Video Contest

User-generated video campaign taps grassroots community talent to elevate strengths of Linux

SAN FRANCISCO, January 26, 2009 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the formal launch of its “We’re Linux” video contest. The contest seeks to find the best user-generated videos that demonstrate what Linux means to those who use it and inspire others to try it. The contest is open to everyone.

The “We’re Linux” contest officially begins today and will be open for submissions through midnight on March 15, 2009. The winner(s) will be revealed at the Linux Foundation’s Collaboration Summit on April 8, 2009, in San Francisco and will be awarded with a trip to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the Linux Foundation’s Japanese Linux Symposium.

In response to early and resounding community input, the campaign has been renamed from the original “I’m Linux” to the “We’re Linux” video contest. This name embodies the essence of community and better expresses how Linux is represented by more than any one person or company.

The winner will be determined by a combination of online rankings and a panel of judges that includes:

To become a member of the Linux Foundation’s Video forum, view early submissions, and to submit your own video for the “We’re Linux” contest, please visit the LF Video Forum.

“While Microsoft spent large sums of money on advertising last year to attempt to reinvent itself, and Apple continued to use well executed yet traditional techniques for advertising its alternative, Linux will be best represented by using the same kind of collaborative model used to develop the operating system,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation.

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Linux Foundation Appoints Ted Ts’o to Position of Chief Technology Officer

jennifer — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:28:05 +0000

Linux Foundation Appoints Ted Ts’o to Position of Chief Technology Office

Linux Kernel Developer Ted Ts’o to lead Linux Standard Base and ISV relationships, among other initiatives

SAN FRANCISCO, December 18, 2008 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Linux kernel developer Theodore Ts’o has been named to the position of Chief Technology Officer at the Foundation.

Ts’o is currently a Linux Foundation fellow, a position he has been in since December 2007. He is one of the most highly regarded members of the Linux and open source community and is known as the first North American kernel developer. Other current and past LF fellows include Steve Hemminger, Andrew Morton, Linus Torvalds and Andrew Tridgell.

Ts’o will be replacing Markus Rex as CTO of the Linux Foundation. Rex was on loan to the Foundation from his employer Novell. He recently returned to Novell to work as the acting general manager and senior vice president of Novell’s OPS business unit.

As CTO, Ts’o will lead all technical initiatives for the Linux Foundation, including oversight of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and other workgroups such as Open Printing. He will also be the primary technical interface to LF members and the LF’s Technical Advisory Board, which represents the kernel community.

“Ted is an invaluable member of the Linux Foundation team, and we’re happy he is available to assume the role of CTO where his contributions will be critical to the advancement of Linux,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “We’re also very grateful to Markus Rex for his assignment at the Foundation and thank him and Novell for their commitments to Linux and the LSB.”

“I continue to believe in power of mass collaboration and the work that can be done by a community of developers, users and industry members,” said Ted Ts’o, chief technology officer at The Linux Foundation. “I’m looking forward to translating that power into concrete milestones for the LSB specifically, and for Linux overall, in the year ahead.”

Since 2001, Ts’o has worked as a senior technical staff member at IBM where he most recently led a worldwide team to create an enterprise-level real-time Linux solution. He will return to IBM after this two-year fellowship at The Linux Foundation.

Ts’o has been recognized throughout the Linux and open source communities for his contributions to free software, including being awarded the 2006 Award for the Advancement of Free Software by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

Ts’o is also a Linux kernel developer, a role in which he serves as ext4 filesystem maintainer, as well as the primary author and
maintainer of e2fsprogs, the userspace utilities for the ext2, ext3, and ext4 filesystems. He is the founder and chair of the annual Linux Kernel Developers’ Summit and regularly teaches tutorials on Linux and other open source software. Ts’o was project leader for Kerberos, a network authentication system used by Red Hat Enteprise Linux, SUSE Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows. He was also a member of Security Area Directorate for the Internet Engineering Task Force where he chaired the IP Security (ipsec) Working Group and was a founding board member of the Free Standards Group (FSG). Ts’o studied computer science at MIT, where he received his degree in 1990.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Elects New Members

jennifer — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:22:02 +0000

Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Elects New Members

Peer-elected board brings community perspective to The Linux Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO, December 9, 2008 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the results of its 2008 Technical Advisory Board (TAB) election, which drew record numbers of candidates and voters.

The TAB consists of ten members of the Linux kernel community, who are annually elected by their peers to serve staggered, two-year terms. The TAB collaborates with The Linux Foundation on programs and issues that affect the Linux community. The TAB chair also sits on the board of The Linux Foundation.

The newest board members, elected to serve two-year terms, are:

• James Bottomley, Linux Kernel maintainer of the SCSI subsystem, the Linux Voyager port and the 53c700 driver;
• Kristen Carlson Accardi, kernel developer at Intel and contributor to the ACPI, PCI, and SATA subsystems;
• Christoph Hellwig, (one-year term), software architect and developer in the storage software sector;
• Chris Mason, Oracle Kernel development team and creator of the Btrfs file system;
• Dave Jones, maintainer of the Fedora kernel at Red Hat; and
• Chris Wright, employed by Red Hat, maintainer for the LSM framework, and co-maintainer of the -stable Linux kernel tree.

The TAB is completed with the remaining four members, who are serving out the rest of their two-year terms: Jonathan Corbet, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Christoph Lameter and Arjan Van de Ven.

“The Technical Advisory Board plays a key role in helping the Linux Foundation and its members understand how best to collaborate on projects that help advance the Linux operating system for all its stakeholders,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs for The Linux Foundation. “We highly value the contributions of the community in the Foundation, and the TAB ensures that we stay focused on core priorities that have a positive and direct impact on their work.”

The TAB participates in The Linux Foundation’s annual events, such as its Annual Collaboration Summit taking place in San Francisco in 2009. The TAB and other community members will also participate in the first ever LinuxCon, scheduled for next fall. More information on Linux Foundation events can be found here: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/events/

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms.

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Linux Foundation Workgroup Tackles Federal Mandate for Next-Generation Internet Protocol

jennifer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:22:44 +0000

Linux Foundation Workgroup Tackles Federal Mandate for Next-Generation Internet Protocol

Collaborative effort helps Linux “distros” obtain IPv6 certification

SAN FRANCISCO – November 24, 2008 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that its IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) Workgroup has enabled the major Linux “distros” to meet the U.S. Federal Government’s Department of Defense (DOD) mandate and certification requirements for this next generation Internet protocol.

IPv6 is the next-generation Internet protocol designed to replace the current version, IPv4, which has been used for nearly 20 years. Due to the explosive growth of the Internet, it is expected that IPv4 addresses will be exhausted within just a few short years, resulting in an urgency for IPv6 compliance.

To accelerate IPv6 migration, the U.S. Federal Government put into place a mandate for all of its agencies to meet the next-generation Internet protocol requirements for any computing and networking equipment they acquire.

The Linux Foundation, with leadership from Venkata Jagana, Senior Technical Staff Member and Chief Architect of Networking within IBM’s Linux Technology Center, formed a Linux IPv6 Workgroup to collaboratively address this major undertaking and enable Linux-based machines to be next-generation Internet ready out of the box. Other active workgroup participants included HP, Nokia-Siemens, Novell and Red Hat.

“In early 2000, IBM recognized the need for Linux to be both IPv6 compliant and interoperable and started making development contributions by working with the Linux community and distros,” said Kathy Bennett of IBM’s Linux Technology Center. “Today, that effort, along with Linux Foundation’s IPv6 WG efforts, have benefited the Linux industry in achieving the Department of Defense IPv6 certification at a level which is leading in the industry.”

“The IPv6 mandate and ensuing requirements are such major undertakings that it makes it difficult for any one company to deal with it all on its own,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “This is exactly the kind of work and collaboration that the Linux Foundation can facilitate, and which results in real technology advancements for the Linux operating system.”

The Linux Foundation IPv6 Workgroup reviewed the mandate requirements and performed a detailed IPv6 gap analysis to identify where Linux needed to be adapted. As a result, existing Linux features, such as ICMPv6, DHCPv6, MIB support and IPSec for IPv6, are now updated to conform to the Department of Defense requirements.

For more information on the Linux Foundation’s IPv6 Workgroup and its analysis, please visit the IPv6 Workgroup website.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms.

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Linux Foundation Publishes Study Estimating the Value of Linux

jennifer — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:33:53 +0000

Linux Foundation Publishes Study Estimating the Value of Linux

New report finds the value of developing a Linux distribution to be worth $10.8 billion

SAN FRANCISCO – October 22, 2008 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced it is publishing a new report written by Amanda McPherson, Brian Proffitt and Ron Hale-Evans on the value of Linux development. The paper finds that it would take approximately $10.8 billion to build the Linux community distribution Fedora 9 in today’s dollars with today’s software development costs. It would take $1.4 billion to develop the Linux kernel alone.

The report, titled “Estimating the Total Development Cost of a Linux Distribution,” is available today.

This report is an update of a 2002 study done by David A. Wheeler that examined the Software Lines of Code (SLOC) present in a typical Linux distribution (Red Hat Linux 7.1). At that time, Wheeler found that it would cost over $1.2 billion to develop a Linux distribution by conventional proprietary means in the U.S.

The authors examined the Fedora 9 distribution using Wheeler’s tools and methods, specifically the SLOCCount tool that estimates value and effort of software development based on the COnstructive COst MOdel (COCOMO). The report goes into detail on the methods used, how they specifically apply to the Fedora distribution and the Linux kernel, and what an estimate of Linux’ value really means.

Highlights of the paper include:

– How Much Does a Full Distribution Cost?
Using 2008 salary figures, the tests published in the paper revealed that if developed today, the full set of Fedora 9 distribution packages would cost $10.8 billion. The Fedora 9 distribution contains 204.5 million lines of code in 5547 application packages. The development effort estimate comes close to 60,000 Person-Years.

– How Much Does the Linux Kernel Cost?
Applying this test to the Linux kernel included in Fedora 9 found the value to be 6.8 million lines of code worth $1.4 billion. The development effort estimate for the kernel alone exceeds 7500 Person-Years.

– How Does This Really Measure the Value of Linux?
This study reveals that collaborative development creates enormous economic value. In the past two years alone, over 3,200 developers from 200 companies have contributed to the kernel. An even larger number has contributed to full Linux distributions. Measuring the economic effort involved is imperfect, but this report clarifies why the methodology is the best approach and some of the limitations.

”This year has seen an incredible proliferation of Linux-powered devices outside of traditional Linux strongholds: devices powered by the Moblin platform, netbooks like the eeePC, mobile phones like the Gphone, and consumer devices like the Amazon Kindle. Would these products be possible without Linux?” said McPherson. “I think this points to the power of the collaborative development model. Monopolistic software companies used to be able to fund heavy R&D budgets, keeping out competition. Given the cost associated with building an OS like Linux, one wonders if proprietary companies will ever go it alone again.”

Amanda McPherson is vice president, marketing and developer programs, at the LF and leads its promotion, developer, and community-relations activities. Brian Proffitt is community manager with the LF, managing the Linux Developer Network. Ron Hale-Evans is senior specifications writer with the LF and works closely with the Linux Standard Base (LSB) developer team to create LSB specifications.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information, please visit www.linux-foundation.org.

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The Linux Foundation’s FOSSBazaar Nearly Doubles its Membership

jennifer — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:42:39 +0000

The Linux Foundation’s FOSSBazaar Nearly Doubles its Membership

Leading Linux consortia announces new members to participate in open source software governance initiative

SAN FRANCISCO, October 14, 2008 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and open source software, today announced that its Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) governance workgroup, called FOSSBazaar, has nearly doubled its membership since launching in January.

The newest members include Ars Aperta, Black Duck, BT, Krugle, Palamida, and nexB, which contribute to 15 total members today.

Like proprietary software, FOSS requires due diligence to ensure legal, financial and security compliance. FOSSBazaar is the Linux and open source community’s approach to sustaining FOSS as a dependable choice for IT departments.

During its inaugural year, FOSSBazaar has both established an online destination where collaboration on these topics takes place (https://fossbazaar.org) and appointed full-time workgroup community leader Martin Michlmayr. Michlmayr is a well-known figure that currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Open Source Initiative (OSI). He has been involved in FOSS projects for more than 10 years, including having led the Debian project for two years. FOSSBazaar has also participated in collaborative forums this year such as the Annual Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and OSCON.
“Software is increasingly comprised of components that are assembled from the open source community and other external sources,” said Bill McQuaide, Executive Vice President of Products and Services, Black Duck Software. “We are pleased to be joining the FOSSBazaar team who shares our commitment to evangelizing open source and educating software developers about how to use it safely and effectively.”
Jeremy Ruston, head of Open Source Innovation at BT Design said: “We believe that evolving good governance for FOSS is best done collaboratively, giving organizations the opportunity to share best practices and learn from one another. Through becoming a strategic partner in FOSSBazaar, we are pleased to have the opportunity to work alongside industry peers to make a valuable contribution to the FOSS community and play a key role in advancing the state of the art in FOSS governance.”

“nexB is very pleased to join FOSSBazaar because it fosters an open solution to leveraging and managing open source software in software products and enterprise IT,” said Philippe Ombredanne, CTO at nexB. “The best solutions for the open source software supply chain will come from applying open source methods and tools to the challenges at hand.”

“We are pleased to be joining FOSSBazaar,” said Mark Tolliver, CEO of Palamida. “It has rapidly become a highly valuable community site and we look forward to adding our expertise in open source management practices to make it even better and, as a result, to enable more organizations to realize the benefits of an open source strategy.”

FOSSBazaar was created as a Linux Foundation workgroup in order to share information and best practices for the adoption and management of open source software by enterprises, institutions and governments. The initiative was founded by Coverity, DLA Piper, Google, HP, the Linux Foundation, Novell, Olliance Group, OpenLogic and SourceForge.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information on the Linux Foundation please visit www.linuxfoundation.org.

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