The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
Keeping key developers independent, including Linus Torvalds, and standardizing Linux have been named as two of the key activities of the newly formed Linux Foundation which has been established through a merger of the two leading Linux organizations. The overarching aim, however, is to compete with Microsoft Windows.
The two main Linux bodies, the Open Source
Development Labs (OSDL) and the Free Standards Group (FSG), have merged
to form the Linux Foundation, announcing that they will provide a
comprehensive set of services to compete effectively with closed
platforms, which primarily means Microsoft Windows.
Founding platinum members of the Linux Foundation include Fujitsu,
Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell, and Oracle. Jim Zemlin, former
executive director of the Free Standards Group, leads The Linux
Foundation. Other members of the new organization include every major
company in the Linux industry, including Red Hat, as well as community
groups, universities and industry end users.
"Computing is entering a world dominated by two platforms: Linux and
Windows. 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," said
Zemlin. "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."
The Linux Foundation will continue to sponsor the work of Linux creator
Linus Torvalds and other key developers and employ a shared resources
strategy to collaborate on platform development.
OSDL and the FSG were important forces behind open source adoption and
played key roles in preventing fragmentation of the Linux market.
According to the the Linux Foundation, for Linux to remain open and
attain the greatest ubiquity possible, important services must be
provided, including legal protection, standardization, promotion and
collaboration.
Late last year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raised the spectre of
patent challenges to Linux distributions, a view bolstered by an
indemnity agreement signed between Microsoft and major Linux
distributor Novell.
The merger is pending ratification by the two organizations' respective
memberships and is expected to be completed in early
February.
David Bass
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