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Linux invades government servers (ZDNet)

[Posted January 8, 2003 by corbet]

Here's the latest Meta Group pronouncement on ZDNet; this one looks at Linux in government. "The international governmental focus on developing and using Linux on servers negates one of Microsoft's arguments against the rival OS--that little is being invested in developing the alternative platform. However, the danger is that these large organizations as well as vendors (e.g., IBM and Hewlett-Packard) using Linux will create semi-proprietary branches in Linux development (known as "forking"), which is what happened when the hardware makers of the 1980s adopted Unix."

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Posted Jan 8, 2003 18:07 UTC (Wed) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link]

Your summary might lead folks to think that the Meta Group is raising fears about forking. But in their very next paragraph they write:

We believe Linux development will not result in significant branching. High-level officials at IBM involved with Linux work have said they specifically want to avoid the mistakes of Unix, and they recognize that only by maintaining a single Linux version can they hope to counter the Microsoft tide. Therefore, they plan to release any advances in the Linux kernel that they develop back to the open-source community, and will concentrate their proprietary efforts on the layers above the kernel (e.g., WebSphere).

Linux invades government servers (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 8, 2003 19:27 UTC (Wed) by Peter (guest, #1127) [Link]

You quote:

they recognize that only by maintaining a single Linux version can they hope to counter the Microsoft tide. Therefore, they plan to release any advances in the Linux kernel that they develop back to the open-source community

Wow, isn't that big of them? And here I thought vendors were required by the GPL to do exactly that.

Linux invades government servers (ZDNet)

Posted Jan 8, 2003 21:41 UTC (Wed) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link]

Not really... the GPL only requires that they make the source of any changes available to anybody to whom they sell the binary.

Of course, they have to make the source available under the GPL, so the customers are free to give it away if they so choose. As such, it's probably easier and cleaner if the vendor just gives it away to the whole world to begin with.

-Rob