HP Now Platinum Member of Linux Foundation

By Kevin Parrish
published

HP now has a seat on the Linux Foundation's board of directors.

The Linux Foundation said on Monday that Hewlett-Packard is making a "strategic, long-term investment in Linux" by upgrading its membership from Gold to Platinum. This latter group of elite members also includes Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm Innovation Center and Samsung.

The Linux Foundation, established in 2000, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux. It sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and provides a neutral environment where work on the platform – including mobile, embedded, open cloud and more – can be accelerated and advanced.

The $500,000 upgrade in HP's membership means that the company will now have a seat on the Board of Directors. The company will also be directly involved in advancing Linux-based initiatives, workgroups, Labs, events, and more that support its business goals.

"Linux is a strategic asset for all major technology companies. With our Linux Foundation Platinum membership, we will have a variety of ways to maximize our investment in Linux and collaborative development that advances our own business as well as greater industry innovation," said Eileen Evans, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Cloud Computing and Open Source, HP.

HP has long been a contributor to the open source software and Linux communities, and known for its work on open operating systems and the open cloud. It currently sells the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE), and Canonical Ubuntu distributions of Linux. It also sells a wide range of Linux-based products like HP BladeSystem Servers, the ProLiant Servers, printers, networking equipment and more.

"With one of the richest and most recognized stories in technology, HP has a history of innovation and market success,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "Because of this history and innate knowledge of software development, HP understands that Linux and collaborative development can benefit its business across its product portfolio. We’re looking forward to the work we can accomplish with HP."

Currently the Linux Foundation has more than 150 members including AMD, Google, Motorola, ARM, Nokia, Sony, Panasonic, Toyota, Adobe, Hitachi and many, many more.

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Kevin Parrish
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • classzero
    Go HP Go!
    Reply
  • j2j663
    Linux FTW
    Reply
  • myromance123
    Interesting. I wonder why the sudden upgrade?
    I hope this means better driver support for their consumer based products, like the DV3500 which had that fingerprint scanner that still doesn't work under Ubuntu yet.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    otacon72"The Linux Foundation, established in 2000, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux."...it's been 12 years and Linux has what .1% market share? Not exactly doing a great job.
    Linux has been on hundreds of billions of devices across the world (if not trillions). It started with some guy's home project. You call that "not exactly doing a great job". Sorry, but I have to disagree. It's most certainly not at a mere .1% market share even in the desktop/laptop/netbook markets. It's something like 1% or 2% and then it has a huge presence in the server and lower end markets such as with network routers, phones and tablets (*smart* and otherwise), and much, much more.
    Reply
  • Soul_keeper
    i've never had a problem with HP printers in linux
    good stuff
    Reply
  • Two things:

    1 - Both AMD and Intel use Linux for chip design.
    2 - Does this mean I might be able to buy my next notebook with Linux already installed?

    Del Ramey
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    Del RameyTwo things:1 - Both AMD and Intel use Linux for chip design.2 - Does this mean I might be able to buy my next notebook with Linux already installed?Del Ramey
    You already can do that. There are many places to buy laptops, desktops, and netbooks with a Linux distribution pre-installed and there has been for quite a while now (at least several years). Prices could be a lot better in many places, but they're available.
    Reply
  • azraa
    blazorthonYou already can do that. There are many places to buy laptops, desktops, and netbooks with a Linux distribution pre-installed and there has been for quite a while now (at least several years). Prices could be a lot better in many places, but they're available.Yup, +1 on that.
    There are as well, retailers which offer notebooks without Windows or any OS, saving you money for the key and focusing your money on what you actually need: hardware.

    Not precisely a Linux guy here, I just use it ocasionally, but its a great system (Ubuntu), and having to choice to pick a notebook with it bundled its sweet.
    Reply
  • captainblacko
    myromance123Interesting. I wonder why the sudden upgrade?
    i so want to say because of Windows 8 but its not. It simply because of Linux being the underpinnings of many devices.
    Reply
  • willyroc
    Too bad about their printers, though.
    Reply