OSDL and Free Standards Group Merge into the Linux Foundation

Published: January 23, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Open Source Development Labs, an industry consortium established by key IT vendors who wanted to get a hand in steering the development of Linux and other open source programs, yesterday announced that it has merged with the Free Standards Group, the home of the Linux Standards Base specification, to create a new entity called the Linux Foundation.

The handwriting was perhaps on the wall when Stuart Cohen, who was running OSDL, quit in early December. Last May, OSDL laid off nine of 57 of its staff members, which seemed at the time more like belt-tightening and refocusing of its initiatives. But it may have been a precursor to larger changes that were a-foot.

OSDL is one of the stewards of the open source software movement, a standard bearer (literally and figuratively) for Linux, an organization that gets its money from IT vendors who want to see Linux thrive, and the place where Linus Torvalds gets his paycheck. OSDL was founded in 2000, and sponsored hardware for open source coders, tested software, and employed key open source developers. The organization was initially backed by seven companies--notably Intel, IBM, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, and CA; eventually another 60 companies, including all the major and most of the minor commercial Linux distributions, various universities, and lots of independent software vendors, all kicked in money to be a member of the OSDL club.

The FSG's most important work is controlling the Linux Standard Base, a set of standards that keeps Linux from forking. Many of the same key hardware and Linux distribution players are part of the FSG, so the merger of the two organizations does not change the balance of power in the combined organization very much. Except that Cohen is not in charge. Jim Zemlin, who used to be the director of the FSG, is now the director of the Linux foundation.

"Computing is entering a world dominated by two platforms: Linux and Windows," explained Zemlin in a statement. "While being managed under one roof has given Windows some consistency, Linux offers freedom of choice, customization and flexibility without forcing customers into vendor lock-in. The Linux Foundation helps in the next stage of Linux growth by organizing the diverse companies and constituencies of the Linux ecosystem to promote, protect, and standardize Linux."

What he didn't say is that it has been obvious for some time that the Linux community has needed a unified organization to steer Linux. IT vendors don't want to pay twice for something that does half of what needs to be done--which is provide legal protection to open source developers, ensure backward compatibility and standardization across many Linux distributions, and promote Linux itself as an alternative to other platforms. Here's the main thing you need to worry about with the Linux Foundation: Linus Torvalds still has a job, which means he won't get disgruntled and go out and create another new platform. .

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