Founded | 2000 |
---|---|
Type | 501(c)(6) organization |
Focus | Linux kernel|Linux |
Location | |
Origins | OSDL & FSG |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Method | Promotion, protection, and standardization of Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. |
Members
|
500+ Corporate Members, and a multitude of Individual Members |
Key people
|
|
Website | www |
Open Source project under The Linux Foundation | |
Headquarters | San Francisco, Calif. |
Key people
|
Dan Cauchy, Executive Director |
Website | www |
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit technology trade association chartered to promote, protect, and advance Linux and collaborative development and support the "greatest shared technology resources in history." It began in 2000 under the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and became the organization it is today when OSDL merged with the Free Standards Group (FSG). The Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and lead maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies, including prominent technology corporations such as Cisco, Fujitsu, HP,IBM, Intel, Microsoft,NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, and Samsung and developers from around the world. In recent years, the Linux Foundation has expanded its services through events, training and certification, and open source projects. Projects hosted at the Linux Foundation include Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP), Hyperledger, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Cloud Foundry Foundation, Node.js Foundation, and many others.
While The Linux Foundation's original message is to promote, protect, and standardize Linux "by providing a comprehensive set of services to compete effectively with closed platforms," the organization has extended the scope of its work to include many areas of the professional open source software industry as a whole. Such areas include blockchain technology, high performance computing (HPC) and container technology.
The origin of The Linux Foundation can be traced back to 2000 when the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) was founded. OSDL was a non-profit organization supported by a global consortium that aimed to "accelerate the deployment of Linux for enterprise computing" and "to be the recognized center-of-gravity for the Linux industry."