Oracle Joins Free Standards Group at the Highest Level

Andy Updegrove writes “Oracle’s announcement yesterday of its “Unbreakable Linux 2.0” program, aimed squarely at Red Hat, understandably overshadowed another announcement Larry Ellison made in the same speech. That announcement revealed that Oracle has joined the Free Standards Group (FSG), at the highest level of membership. Why the FSG announcement is important has to do with why the FSG is important. The Oracle press release includes a statement by FSG Executive Director Jim Zemlin that phrases it as follows: “The Free Standards Group is the standardization and certification authority for Linux. Without a commonly adopted standard, Linux could fragment, proving costly for ISVs to port their applications to the operating system and making it difficult for end users and Linux vendors alike. With the LSB, all parties – distribution vendors, ISVs and end users – benefit as it becomes easier and less costly for software vendors to target Linux, resulting in more applications available for the Linux platform. All major Linux commercial and community organizations support the Free Standards Group.”