Portland Project releases desktop "technology preview"

The community open source effort, the Portland Project, is releasing its
first software that ties together the two leading Linux desktop environments
(KDE and GNOME). One of the biggest issues for adoption of Linux on the
desktop has been that every application developer needs to choose one, two or
more desktop vendors and that adds cost and time for shipping Linux-ready
applications. All major ISVs would prefer one desktop environment for Linux.

In December, "Portland" brought together scores of Linux desktop projects to
get them all to focus on addressing the problem and driving consensus. It
appears to be working.  


Portland Project Ships First Peek at a New GNOME KDE World

First set of common interfaces for GNOME and KDE Linux desktops available in
technology preview for Independent Software Vendors 


LINUXWORLD CONFERENCE, BOSTON, April 4, 2006   Two of the open source
movement's largest backers today announced the first set of common interfaces
for GNOME and KDE to help overcome one of the most significant barriers to
Linux adoption on the desktop. The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a
global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux® and open
source software and home to the Desktop Linux (DTL) initiative, and
freedesktop.org, the open source project focused on interoperability and
shared technology for X Window System desktops, today announced the
technology preview availability of the first set of common interfaces for
GNOME and KDE versions of desktop Linux.

The software, developed by the so-called "Portland Project" named for its
roots in the city where leaders in open source desktop Linux gathered last
year, aims to dramatically simplify the process of porting and integrating
applications on GNOME and KDE Linux desktops. The protocols are being
released to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for testing and the first
beta is expected next month. The final set of the interfaces are slated for
inclusion in the Linux Standard Base, the Linux industry's standard of record
for interoperability between applications and the Linux platform. The
Portland Project technology preview is available at
http://portland.freedesktop.org.

"The Portland Project protocols are a godsend for ISVs like CodeWeavers,"
said Jeremy White, CodeWeavers. "It makes basic desktop integration tasks
much simpler, slashing development time and reducing development hassle.
Further, as it becomes commonly adopted, it will allow ISVs to ship a single
product that will nicely integrate with whatever environment the user
chooses." 

The initiative also stands to give PC makers and enterprise application
companies, such as Dell and SAP, added incentive to increase the development
and general availability of Linux-based products.

"The Portland Project is moving fast to deliver common interfaces that will
give PC makers the nudge they need to make Linux a serious element of their
business strategy," said Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL. "OSDL is happy to play a
role in this important and promising effort that exemplifies the power of
collaboration and which will have a large impact on the advancement of Linux
on the desktop and the emergence of the open source application suite." 

The Portland Project's technology preview is focused on two sets of
interfaces: a suite of command line tools and a set of library Application
Program Interfaces (APIs) known as DAPI. The DAPI APIs are part of a
service-oriented architecture that Linux vendors can use to provide
customized services while maintaining a common set of interfaces across
desktops. 

"We are confident that the Portland interfaces will increase the use of Linux
on the desktop and will drive both demand for, and contributions to our
software," said Jeff Waugh, a director of the GNOME Foundation board.
"Portland will further encourage third party development for enterprise and
small business applications on the Linux desktop platform."

"Ultimately, the common set of interfaces allows ISVs to write applications
that integrate with any operating environment the user chooses," said Thiago
Macieira, one of KDE's technical directors. "Our developers have worked
together with ISVs to make this possible and we think this effort adds real
value throughout the Linux desktop ecosystem." 

The Portland Project was established in December 2005 to improve
interoperability issues for ISVs whose applications must work regardless of
Linux distributor or desktop environment. This effort is expected to give way
to increasing adoption of Linux on the desktop and open source applications
for the office. The first Portland beta will be released in May 2006 with
final release of Portland 1.0 expected in June 2006. 

"The Portland Project's release schedule is dependent on continued input and
collaboration from the community, Linux vendors and ISVs," said Waldo
Bastian, Linux client architect at Intel. "We expect that with the level of
involvement we've seen in just the last three months that we will closely
meet our schedule and that the additional feedback from ISVs on this
technology preview will make the 1.0 release rock solid." 

About freedesktop.org
freedesktop.org was formed in March 2000 to encourage cooperation among open
source desktops for the X Window System. An X desktop is a graphical
environment designed to give a technologically advanced, user-friendly face
to the X Window System running on UNIX-like operating systems. Most X
desktops also provide a development infrastructure for writing applications
that integrate well with the desktop. 

About Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) 
OSDL   sponsor of Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel - is
dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux-based operating
systems in the enterprise. Founded in 2000 and supported by a global
consortium of major Linux customers and IT industry leaders, OSDL is a
nonprofit organization that provides state-of-the-art computing and test
facilities available to developers around the world. With offices in China,
Europe, Japan and the United States, OSDL sponsors legal and development
projects to advance open source software as well as initiatives for Linux
systems in telecommunications, in the data center and on enterprise desktops.
Visit OSDL on the Web at http://www.osdl.org/.

OSDL is a trademark of Open Source Development Labs, Inc. Linux is a
trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of
their respective holders.
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