Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a non-profit development consortium. Linux

It was officially founded on January 21, 2007 by merging Open Source Development Labs and Free Standards Group.

Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux, provides resources and services to the open source community, funds Linux creator Linus Torvalds

It has about 70 members:  AMD, Cisco Systems, EMC Corporation, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NEC, NetApp, Novell, NTT, Oracle, Siemens, Unisys, Sun Microsystems, Canonical Ltd., VIA, Fujitsu, Qualcomm, NVidia.

In March 2011, PingWin Software became the first Russian organization to join the Linux Foundation, a non-profit Linux development consortium. As part of its membership in the Linux Foundation, Pingwin Software intends to strengthen cooperation with other companies interested in software and contribute to the development of Linux through the Open Compliance program, which develops tools for tracking possible licensing conflicts and develops specifications for the exchange of license information. Another important task of Pingwin Software is to work on the development of LSB (Linux Standard Base) as a key way to ensure compatibility of products and solutions in the Linux world.

Activity

Linux Foundation is not developed by Linux and does not compete with existing Linux companies, but contributes to the development of Linux, concentrating efforts in the following areas:

• Protect Linux by supporting key Linux developers and providing legal services. The Linux Foundation manages the Linux trademark and provides developers with legal protection of intellectual property through projects such as Open Source as Prior Art, Patent Commons Project, and sponsorship in the Linux Legal Defense Fund.

• Standardizing Linux and improving it as a platform for software developers. Linux Standard Base (LSB) and Linux Developer Network projects are aimed at this.

• Providing a neutral environment for cooperation and development. The Linux Foundation serves as a neutral representative of Linux, authorized to respond to aggression from competitors. The Linux Foundation also provides space for discussion by the technical community, application developers, industrial customers and end users of the pressing issues facing the GNU/Linux "ecosystem" in areas such as desktop interfaces, accessibility, printing, application packaging, and many others.

History

2022: Creating an organization to develop an open digital wallet infrastructure

On September 13, 2022, the Linux Foundation announced the creation of the OpenWallet Foundation to support the development of compatible open source digital wallets. Read more here.

2021

Creating the NextArch Foundation to Develop a Microservice Architecture

On November 2, 2021, the non-profit Linux Foundation Technology Consortium announced the creation of the NextArch Foundation to develop a microservice architecture. Read more here.

Launch your organization to develop 3D games

In early July 2021, the Linux Foundation announced the creation of the Open 3D Foundation, which will develop 3D games and modeling technologies. The project is launching with the Open 3D Engine (O3DE), a new version of the Amazon Lumberyard game engine. Read more here.

Launch of open digital infrastructure project for agriculture

In early May 2021, the Linux Foundation launched an open digital infrastructure project for agriculture. The AgStack Foundation is designed to ensure cooperation between all parties interested in the development of the international agricultural sector, including private business, governments and academia. Read more here.

Start asynchronous API project

In late March 2021, the Linux Foundation announced the launch of an open source asynchronous API project known as the AsyncAPI Initiative. The product is already in use by several large enterprise technology companies. Read more here.

Launch your organization to create Open Source mobile software development tools

In early March 2021, the Linux Foundation launched the Mobile Native Foundation, designed to encourage the creation of open source tools for mobile application development. Read more here.

2019

OpenPOWER Foundation came under the wing of the Linux Foundation

In August 2019, the OpenPOWER Foundation alliance came under the auspices of the Linux Foundation, thanks to which an independent platform was created for the further joint development of the architecture, without reference to a specific manufacturer. The OpenPOWER consortium includes more than 350 companies by August 2019. More than 3 million lines of system firmware code, specifications and diagrams necessary to create Power-compatible chips have been transferred to the community. Read more here.

Hyundai's entry into the Linux Foundation

In early January 2019, Hyundai joined the Linux Foundation and the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) project, whose supporters are developing a free platform for automotive infotainment systems, telematics solutions and dashboards. The South Korean company has become another automaker that is seriously exploring opportunities to introduce open source software into vehicles. Read more here.

2018

A new set of rules around which disputes flared up

 In September 2018, the Linux Foundation Board of Directors adopted a new Code of Conduct for developers - Code of Conduct (CoC). The innovations coincided with the vacation of Linus Torvalds, who took a break from managing Linux development to think about his way of communicating with people. He also apologized to  anyone who left the community because of his criticism.

In the interest of creating an open and benevolent environment, we, on the rights of those who contribute to and support projects, commit to make community participation without oppressing anyone regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender and expression, level of experience, education, socioeconomic status, nationality, appearance, race and sexual orientation, the new rule book says.[1]

As conceived by the authors of the updated code of rules, the initiative should solve problems related to discrimination and improve the emotional environment among developers. However, there were also opponents who called Code of Conduct an attempt at excessive regulation and even threatened to remove the code they wrote from the Linux kernel.

Linus Torvalds

The  open source community is actively discussing  whether the updated code of conduct is capable of ending incidents of harassment and sexual abuse. In the development environment itself, there is no consensus on this matter.

Critics say that such rules take the community away from meritocracy and self-organization into the area of ​ ​ imposed frameworks and mixing politics into an area where only technical aspects previously dominated.

If earlier the key factors were professional literacy, qualification, code level and developer contribution, now personal qualities become the criterion for participation in development. Concerns also raise the possibility of putting  pressure on developers by exploiting past rule violations, staging provocations, or citing misbehaviour outside the community.

The text of the rules, according to their opponents, contains only empty chatter, populism and declaration of uppercase truths, and the code itself splits into the community and allows you to manipulate developers. It is curious that the developers who did not support the rules were harassed, although it is from it that the code should be protected.

The rules state that any criticism must be set out constructively, and those to whom it is addressed must think comprehensively about the remarks. It is forbidden to apply vocabulary with sexual connotations, derogatory comments, personal or political attacks, private or public harassment.

In March 2015, members of the Linux community signed up to the Code of Conflict in a team written by Greg Kroah-Hartman, replacing Linus Torvalds as curator of Linux kernel development while on vacation. Then Torvalds approved the innovation, which was supposed to moderate his own temperament in the first place. He did the same for Code of Conduct.

Introduced in September 2018, the Linux developer code takes into account the principles of another, more widespread and inclusive code of conduct in the OpenSource communities of Contributor Covenant, created by developer and lawyer Coraline Ada Ehmke. It replaces Code of Conflict.

A number of large companies supported the new set of rules, including Intel. The chipmaker welcomes the building of friendly, impartial communities, said Imad Sus, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intel Open Source Technology Center, commenting on the adoption of new behavior rights among developers.

Google became a platinum member of the Linux Foundation

At the end of June 2018, Google became a platinum member of the non-profit organization Linux Foundation, which oversees a wide range of work related to the development of Linux. Read more here.

Tencent became a platinum member of the Linux Foundation

At the end of June 2018, Tencent announced that it had received platinum partner status with the Linux Foundation. This maximum possible level indicates the growing attention of the most expensive Chinese IT company to open source software products. Read more here.

2016: Microsoft Membership

November 16, 2016 it became known about the entry of Microsoft into the Linux Foundation. The American software giant has become a platinum member of this non-profit organization.

Platinum status gives Linux Foundation members the right to include a company representative on the organization's board of directors. From Microsoft, he became the chief architect of Microsoft Azure, John Gossman.

Microsoft joins Linux Foundation

Platinum members of the Linux Foundation make a one-time contribution of $500,000. In addition to Microsoft, such a status has such large companies as Cisco, Fujitsu, HPE, Huawei, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics. There are also so-called gold sponsors of the Linux Foundation: these include Google, Facebook and a dozen other companies promoting open source software.

By joining the Linux Foundation, Microsoft expects to strengthen cooperation with the community and companies involved in the development of open technologies. Microsoft also intends to take part in the development of open initiatives related to cloud and embedded technologies. In particular, the corporation is interested in the development of the Node.js Foundation, OpenDaylight, Open Container Initiative, R Consortium and Open API Initiative projects.

Microsoft became an active participant in many projects. We see how the company is stepping up in terms of developing open technologies, "said Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin.

IDC analyst Al Hilwa believes Microsoft has taken the right step by joining the Linux Foundation and thereby expanding the software development ecosystem beyond Windows.

I must say that Microsoft began to engage in Linux projects long before joining the Linux Foundation. Among such products is SQL Server on Linux, which will hit the market in mid-2017. On November 16, 2016, Microsoft announced public testing of SQL Server DBMS for the Linux platform.^[2]

2015: Linux-Free World Cartoon Series Completed

On December 19, 2015, the Linux Foundation announced the completion of the A World without Linux cartoon series^[3].

As part of this action, cartoons have been prepared that demonstrate the use of Linux in certain industries - from filmmaking and social networks to mobile phones and space missions.

World Without Linux Final Episode: Free Burger (2015)

World Without Linux Episode #5: Space Exploration (2015)

World Without Linux Episode #4: Avatar Reimagined (2015)

World Without Linux Episode 3: Can I Follow You? (2015)

World Without Linux Episode 2: Are We There Yet? (2015)

World Without Linux Episode 1: What's the Name of that Song? (2015)

2012

In the spring of 2012, the Linux Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports Linux, announced that it included four new companies, one of which is the largest manufacturer of graphics chips NVidia. This step could be a serious turn for a company that has taken a closed approach to its development for many years.

Nvidia has long been entrenched in the status of a company that occupies a dual position regarding Open Source. Despite the fact that Nvidia has been releasing graphics drivers for Linux for a long time, their code remains closed, which does not allow Linux developers to fully integrate Nvidia drivers into their distributions, and the Open Source community to investigate and optimize these drivers. On the other hand, the company does not interfere with attempts to reverse engineer its Linux drivers, which are being conducted by the Nouveau open source project.

Another notable factor that will make Nvidia face Open Source is competition. Nvidia's two main rivals in the production of graphics chips, Intel and ATI, are already included in the Linux Foundation, and both are actively participating in the development of OpenSource graphics. Now that the third largest chipmaker has joined competitors under the fund, we can expect it to have to follow in their footsteps.

In addition to Nvidia, Fluendo, Lineo Solutions and Mocana are new members of the Linux Foundation. Fluendo developers support GStreamer, the Linux sound subsystem, and are also the creators of the multimedia codec package for reproducing proprietary video formats. The Japanese company Lineo produces electronics based on embedded Linux systems, and Mocana produces security systems for mobile devices on a variety of platforms.

Notes