this Linux Foundation Over the years, it has become the wrong name. It goes far beyond the scope of the Linux kernel’s butler, becoming a huge umbrella costume for a thousand open source projects. Cloud Infrastructure,,,,, Safety,,,,, Digital wallet,,,,, Business Search,,,,, Financial Technology,,,,, mapand more.
Last month, Openinfra Foundation – the most famous OpenStack – Become Latest Member Stability further consolidates the Linux Foundation’s position as the “basic foundation”.
Linux Foundation Appeared in 2007 From a merger of two Linux-centric nonprofits: Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and free standard group (FSG). With founding members such as IBM, Intel and Oracle, the Foundation’s Raisond’être challenged the “closed” platform at the time, which basically meant doubled Linux in response to Windows’ domination.
“Computing is entering a world dominated by two platforms: Linux and Windows,” said the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation. Jim Zemlin (As shown above), then. “While managing under one roof provides some consistency for windows, Linux provides freedom of choice, customization and flexibility without forcing customers into vendor lock-in.”
A “Portformation”
Zemlin led the charges at the Linux Foundation for about twenty years, through technology waves (e.g. Mobile,,,,, cloudand – Recently – AI. Its evolution from Linux-centricity to covering every corner of technology reflects the way the technology itself cannot remain the same – it continues to evolve and, more importantly, intersects.
“There are no more iPods or floppy disks on the technology,” Zemlin explained to TechCrunch in an interview. Kubecon Last week in London. “I realized early on that if the Linux Foundation becomes a lasting institution for collective software development, we need to be able to bet on many different forms of technology.”
This is what Zemlin calls the “portfolio approach” and is similar to the diversification of a company, so it does not depend on the success of a single product. For example, combining multiple key projects under one organization allows the Foundation to benefit from vertically specific expertise in networking or automotive-grade Linux while leveraging a wider range of expertise, patents, data privacy, cybersecurity, marketing and event organizations.
Being able to pool such resources across projects is more important than ever, as businesses are linked to an increasing number of regulations (e.g. EU AI law and Cyber elasticity method. Instead of every project having to fight a good fight alone, they are supported by a company-like foundation Some of the largest companies in the world.
“At the Linux Foundation, we have experts working in vertical industries, but they are not lawyers, copyright experts or patent experts. They are not experts in conducting large events or developer training,” Zemlin said. “That’s why collective investment is important. We can create technology in an agile way through a project-level technical leadership approach, but in all projects, all projects have a set of tools that can jointly create long-term sustainability for all of them.”
This was highlighted by the convergence of Linux Foundation and Openinfra Foundation last month. For beginners, OpenStack is an open source, standards-based cloud computing platform that emerged from a joint project between Rackspace and NASA. Transition to the same name basis 2012, before Rename change As the Openinfra Foundation, its initial focus was followed.
Zemlin knows Jonathan BryceFor years, Openinfra Foundation CEO and one of the original OpenStack Creators. These two foundations have been collaborated in common initiatives, e.g. Open infrastructure blueprint white paper.
“We realize that we can work together to address some of the challenges we are now in terms of regulatory compliance, cybersecurity risks, open source code, because it [open source] Zemlin said.
For the Linux Foundation, the merger also brings experienced technology leadership into a foldable state, working in the industry and building a product for the people who Some of the largest organizations in the world.
“It’s hard to hire people to lead technical collaboration work, they have technical knowledge and understanding, they understand how to develop an ecosystem, know how to run a business and have a level of humility that allows them to manage an ultra-wide human base without inserting their own selves,” Zemlin said. “This ability to pass influence – not many people have this skill.”
This portfolio approach goes beyond individual projects and foundations and extends to an increasing number of independent regional entities. The nearest branch is LF India,emission Just a few months agobut the Linux Foundation introduced Japanese entity A few years ago, in 2022 Launched a European branch Support growth Supervision and Digital Sovereignty Agenda Spread throughout.
this Linux Foundation Europeone of them A few projects For example Open Wallet Foundationallowing European members to work together in isolation, while also gaining mutual membership in the wider Linux Foundation global clothing.
“Sometimes, in the name of digital sovereignty, people want to work with other EU organizations, or governments want to sponsor or give specific efforts, and you just need to get EU organizations involved.” [Linux Foundation Europe] Allow us to delineate needlework two things – they can work locally and have digital sovereignty, but they don’t throw out global engagement that makes open source so good. ”
Open Source AI Factors
Although AI is undoubtedly a major step in the field of technology and society, it has also pushed the concept of “open source” to the mainstream stage in ways traditional software does not have – causing controversy.
Meta, for example, positioned its Llama brand AI model as open source, although They are definitely not According to most estimates. This also highlights some of the challenges of creating one The definition of open source AI Everyone is satisfied and now we see an AI model with “openness” in terms of access code, datasets and business constraints.
Linux Foundation, already LF AI and Data Basicssome of them 75 projectsreleased the Model Open Framework (MOF) last year, Design brings A more nuanced approach to definition of open source AI. The Open Source Project (OSI) of the “Open Source Definition” uses this framework in its own open source AI definition.
“Most models lack the necessary components to fully understand, audit and repeatability, and some model manufacturers use restrictive licenses while claiming that their models are “open source”,” MOF Paper Author Written at that time.
Therefore, MOF provides a three-layer classification system that rated its “integrity and openness” model as “code, data, model parameters and documents”.
This is basically a convenient way to determine the true “open” of the model by evaluating which components are exposed and under what permissions. Just because a definition is not strictly “open source” doesn’t mean it isn’t enough to help develop security tools that reduce hallucinations, Zemlin said, for example, is important to address these differences.
“I talk to many people in the AI community, which is a wider group of tech practitioners [compared to traditional software engineering],” Zemlin said. What they told me was that they understand the importance of open source, meaning the importance of ‘something’ and the importance of open source. What they were frustrated with is too tuition at every level. What they wanted was predictability and transparency and an understanding of what they actually got and used.”
Chinese AI Dear DeepSeek It also played an important role in open source AI dialogue, appearing along with performers, efficient open source models How to subvert Current proprietary participants such as Openai Plan to release your own model future.
However, according to Zemlin, it’s all just another “moment” in open source.
“I think it’s good for people to recognize the value of open source in developing any modern technology,” he said. “But open source has these moments – Linux is the moment of open source, and the open source community can generate better cloud and enterprise computing and telecom operating systems than the world’s largest proprietary software company.
VC reverse
A quick peek reveals two broad categories in a series of projects at the Linux Foundation: Like the OpenInfra Foundation, the categories it has acquired and the categories it has created from within, just like the Open Source Security Foundation (Openssf).
While it may be easier to acquire an existing project or foundation, it may be more important to start a new project from scratch, as it is working to meet at least partially unmet needs. This is where Zemlin calls “art and science.”
“Science is the open source code that you have to create value for developers in these communities where artifacts are created, everyone wants – that’s where all the value comes from,” Zemlin said. “This art is trying to figure out new opportunities for open source to have a significant impact on the industry.”
That’s why Zemlin mentions what the Linux Foundation does similarly to the “reverse venture capitalist” approach. Venture investors look for the right product market in the name of making money, and the entrepreneurs they want to work with.
“Instead, we look for the ‘project market’ right – will this technology have a significant impact on a particular industry? Can we bring together the right team of developers and leaders to achieve this? Is this market big enough? Is this technology influential?” Zemlin said. “But we don’t make a lot of money like VCs, but we go all out.”
But no matter its massive projects have achieved fruitful results, the elephant of not ignoring the room: the Linux Foundation is no longer related to Linux, and hasn’t been around for a long time. So, should we expect to rebrand into something more bland, but like an open tech foundation?
Don’t hold your breath.
“When I put Linux Foundation swag into a coffee shop, someone would often say, ‘I love Linux’ or ‘I use Linux in college,'” Zemlin said. “It’s a powerful home brand and it’s hard to get rid of it. Linux itself is a positive idea, it’s really influential and successful, symbolic of open source.'”
