Good news
That Samsung has donated to Linux, hopefully they might also support LibreOffice.
NJSS
Samsung has opened a new front in the mobile wars against Apple by upping its investment in Linux and its mobile software. Samsung will plough half a million dollars into the Linux Foundation and get a seat on the not-for-profit's board of directors by becoming a Platinum member of the Foundation, it has been announced. Linux …
For a company who's majority of consumer products are built on the Linux kernel, its the least they could do.
Based on their 2011 phone sales alone, that works out at $0.0016 per device. Add to that TV and DVD/BluRay sales and that contribution per device drops even more.
Interesting reading this artcle next to another Reg article in a similar vein today:
Samsung slams down $1.9bn for mobile chip fab
Don't get me wrong, I work very much more in the hardware/electronics side than the software side, but there are over 3 orders of magnitude between these investments. I'm going to upgrade my 10 year old Nokia to an S3 later this year, with the Android operating system a big plus point in my opinion. $500k is much better than $0, and I'm sure a _lot_ of software development is being funded outside of this. I only hope that Samsung continue to support Linux, and am sure that they give back to the open source community a reasonable portion of the benefits they reap from its existence.
A smiling Tux, because $500k has made him happy.
It means you can confidently buy a Samsung printer knowing there is a proper Samsung supplied Linux driver available.
I can't think of a case where a manufacturer has railroaded a change into the main linux kernel because they have contributed to the foundation. This is the place to be proven wrong though ;)
Just collect a couple of straws and see which way the wind is blowing.
Do not wonder, nor rejoice, that M$ is "embracing" Linux.
Do not wonder, nor rejoice, if M$ is "extending" Linux. How long would it take an M$ skunkworx project to produce a "Winux" kernel, given the amount of exposure their brightest and best are now getting to Linux?
Do not wonder, nor bemoan, that M$ is limiting OS access to future ARM devices coming from h/w manufacturers who desire to be able to provide Win8 et seq on their products. This is merely a subtle tweak on how they established MS-DOS dominance, followed by Windows dominance, in a passive market-place. It is a transition stage from Windows to Winux, while fellow-traveller Intel migrates towards the enormous ARM market.
The 3rd "E"? Not "Extinguish" nor "Eliminate" this time, but "Engulf". Closest M$ will get to admitting superiority of Linux.
We are staring at a future with no OSS distros able to run on the vast majority of ARM-based devices (an order more numerous than desktops) without M$'s say-so - unless a very major ARM user steps up, secures its own chipfab capacity, buys a major voice in the councils of Linux - and squares off for a knock-down, drag-out confrontation with the Evil Empire.
Recognise Samsung?
Of many interesting questions arising out of this scenario, just one: which way will AMD swing?
And a comment: Red Hat certainly seems to have picked up the windshift; this may have bought them another 5-10 years of independent existence before integration into M$.
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