OSDL, FSG Merge to Create Linux Foundation

The Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group are merging to form the Linux Foundation, which will provide services that allow open-source products to effectively compete with those of proprietary platforms like Microsoft Windows.

The new Linux Foundation will be led by Jim Zemlin, the former executive director of the FSG and who told eWEEK that the two organizations were coming together under one roof to create a new dynamic in the market that would protect, promote and standardize the Linux platform.

The merger is pending ratification by the two organizations respective memberships and is expected to be completed in early February.

"The combination of the two groups really enables the Linux platform and all the members of the Linux Foundation to work really effectively," Zemlin said in an interview.

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"I clearly understand what the charter of the organization needs to be: we need to provide services that are useful to the community and industry, as well as protect, promote and continue to standardize the platform," he said.

Whats next in Linux desktop standardization? Click here to read more.

Zemlin also committed the foundation to structural changes that would let individual community members play a greater role in its technical work.

"Our work groups will be completely open to participants ranging from big companies to individual hobbyists, while our governance model will also allow for individuals to serve on the board of directors," he said.

Up to five individuals would be able to serve on the 15-member board, which would be critical in helping the foundation broaden its base, increase participation, become more responsive to the community and collaborate technically together more effectively.

"This organization needs to be responsive to everyone who has a big investment in the platform, and that includes industry and the community, which is invested through blood, sweat and tears," he said.

Acceptance of Linux in the enterprise was now a "slam dunk," with the open-source operating system showing double-digit annual growth and a being a multi-billion dollar industry.

Read more here about how some Linux allies worked together to rebut Microsofts Get the Facts campaign.

"So we are now entering into a new world of increased competition, particularly in enterprise data center deployments, essentially between the open-source and proprietary development methodologies characterized by Linux versus Windows. So what is needed is someone to promote the platform in a vendor-neutral way," Zemlin said.

Michael Goulde, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, told eWEEK that while merging the OSDL and FSG was the right move, it was not without potential pitfalls. "Weve been down this path before: creating a single, vendor-neutral standard—remember Spec 1170 [now known as the Single Unix Specification] and the Open Software Foundation vendor-neutral implementation, OSF/1?"

What is different this time is that this is a "truly vendor-neutral effort with a licensing scheme that is more consistent with the goals. Its free software license enables anyone to develop, enhance and use Linux and its derivatives. Having a single body to drive the standard and the technology forward is a good thing," he said.

The closest analogy today is probably the Eclipse Foundation, at least in terms of overall direction, Goulde said, adding that the plug-in standard is to Eclipse as the LSB (Linux Standard Base) is to Linux: "an enabler for growth and expansion."

Part of the foundations mission was to promote a safe haven for Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel who also works for the OSDL, and other key Linux kernel developers, as well as providing legal protection programs like the Legal Defense Fund, the Patent Commons and managing the Linux trademark, he said.

Next Page: Staff members to stay.