01.18.11
Mageia Joins the Open Invention Network (OIN) as Linux Consortia Grow
Summary: A Mandriva derivative/fork joins the OIN while many more companies huddle around Linux organisations such as the Linux Foundation
THE GNU/LINUX system is growing very strong, very quickly. OIN too is growing strong with a new addition almost every week and a former Novell employee, Joe Brockmeier, has been trying to explain how OIN works, including its blind spots, e.g.:
OIN, in other words, isn’t a magic bullet for companies that are doing business on top of Linux.
Mageia joins OIN based on very few reports (Mageia is a new and thus obscure distribution).
As we explained before, the Linux Foundation and the OIN are closely related and the Linux Foundation too is growing at an incredible pace (we covered this in the daily links). The most jaw-dropping addition was Broadcom (just earlier this month) and IDG said that “IP management company Protecode and Timesys both joined this week, and Cybercom and GoAhead will join Broadcom in announcing their own membership next week.”
“Hopefully,” wrote Groklaw, “they are also going to join Open Invention Network.”
The addition of Protecode shows that the Linux Foundation is really not selective, however even if Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation or the OIN (it is said to have been invited), that would not jeopardise the GNU/Linux world; to the contrary — it would probably defang Microsoft to a high extent. █
