Sign in / up

back to article Samsung plunges $500k into Linux Foundation

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 …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Nigel Steward

    Good news

    That Samsung has donated to Linux, hopefully they might also support LibreOffice.

    NJSS

    4 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Good news

      Why would they?

      It has no benefit to their hardware.

      0 1
  2. Patrick O'Reilly

    It's the least they can do.

    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.

    2 0
    1. DAN*tastik
      Reply Icon
      Headmaster

      "WHOSE majority"

      If you try to replace the "hoos" sound with "who is" and it doesn't make sense, then it's "who's".

      Can't help it...

      2 0
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "WHOSE majority"

        Pedant fail!

        2 1
  3. heynownow

    daft

    I wonder if one of their top execs considered plonking down their wons into open WebOS instead. That would make so much sense.

    0 0
  4. ElectricFox
    Linux

    Orders of Magnitude

    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.

    3 0
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So much for it all being free software. There's still plenty of money changing hands to get some sort of control or influence in Linux land.

    1 1
    1. Neill Mitchell
      Reply Icon

      Or less cynically...

      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 ;)

      0 0
    2. Basil Fernie
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      If it looks like EEE, and it smells like EEE...

      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$.

      0 0

  6. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Makes a lot of sense

    Samsung's product range extends far beyond consumer goods. I've no doubt that their heavy engineering and ship building products, all of which need intelligent control systems, will end up using Linux based solutions.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like