Sun, Linux Foundation, Microsoft to Debate Operating Systems

The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the use of Linux, is set to debate the future of operating systems with Microsoft and Sun Microsystems at the upcoming Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit.

Linux Foundation officials have confirmed keynotes and panelists for the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, now in its third year. The summit will take place April 8 to 10 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,” the Linux Foundation said on its Web site.

The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, sponsored by Intel, is an invitation-only event featuring some of the key proponents of Linux, including “core kernel developers, distribution maintainers, ISVs, end users, system vendors and other community organizations.”

According to the announcement, the event will also 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.“

There also will be a Linux kernel panel focusing on what comes next for Linux. Panelists will include leading maintainers of the kernel such as Greg Kroah-Hartman, Andrew Morton, Keith Packard and Ted Ts’o.

According to the announcement, “The Annual Collaboration Summit will be co-located with the CELF [CE Linux Forum] 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.”