UNITED LINUX

1
UNITED LINUX

• Harry Spiegelman
• Daniel Baer

2
United Linux

• Planned Release at end of 2002
• Targeted for businesses and enterprise-level
  platforms
• A single distribution will contain a unified
  code base from the 4 participating companies.

3
United Linux

• Currently under development by four companies
• Caldera-US
• SuSE-Germany
• TurboLinux-US
• Connectiva-Brazil

4
United Linux

• The four companies will keep their own
  distributions for other markets besides the
  enterprise market.
• The advent of UnitedLinux reduces the number of
  major Linux distributions to five, the others
  being Red Hat, Mandrake, Debian and Slackware
• Red Hat dominates the current Linux market

5
Components of UnitedLinux

• SuSE will act as the systems integrator for the
  distribution.
• The other companies will have quality and
  assurance roles.
• This should give companies more time and
  resources to produce more value-added products.
• Special attention paid to the Linux Standards
  Base (LSB).

6
LSB

• Project by the Free Standards Group to
  standardize some basic Linux components and make
  the platform more accessible to developers.

7
Architecture
8
Advantages

• Top Linux vendors can contribute their expertise.
• Stability-UL will be developed on top of a sold
  and well tested foundation.
• UL raises QA standards equal to those of
  expensive proprietary systems.
• Certification-being certified by major
  hardware/software vendors aids in compatibility
  issues.

9
Red Hats Response

• "Too many distributions hamper the migration of
  applications to Linux, so if this effort by
  Caldera and others consolidates distributions,
  this is a good development. But in Linux,
  application support is everything. Red Hat Linux
  Advanced Server has it today. Time will tell if
  the Caldera group's distribution will achieve the
  same level of support"
• --- Mark de Visser, Vice President of
  Marketing, Red Hat.

10
Mandrakes Response

• Mandrake feels that there is no need for such a
  consortium to exist.
• Mandrake criticized UnitedLinux's restrictions on
  distributing its software, saying that the
  restrictions go against the principles of
  open-source software.
• Also said that ULs approach is bordering on
  proprietary

11
Support for UL

• According to research firm IDC, a 2001 survey of
  800 North American and Western European companies
  found that 40 of the respondents were either
  using or testing Linux in their organizations.
• Nearly every major business technology vendor has
  expressed their support for UnitedLinux,
  including AMD, Borland Software Corporation,
  Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Progress, and SAP.

12
Benefits

• World-wide support of a unified product for end
  users.
• ISVs and IHVs only have to certify to one
  distribution of Linux.
• Increased compatibility with emerging
  technologies.

13
Release Information

• Quarter 2-2002- Alpha release
• Quarter 3-2002-Beta release
• (both IHVs and ISVs porting UL)
• Quarter 4-2002-General availability

14
Product Detail

• Main Components
• Kernel 2.4.18 or higher
• glibc 2.2.5
• gcc 3.1
• Xfree86 4.2
• KDE 3.0

15
Product Detail contd

• Standards
• LSB compliant
• LiN18ux compliant (worldwide compatibility
  standard-APIs)
• gb18030

16
Conclusion

• The presence of competition generally strengthens
  each combatants product.
• The end user is the ultimate winner.
• What is your opinion?

17
Sources

• http//zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-943064.html
• http//zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-928518.html
• http//techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/mai
  n/0,14179,2873416,00.html
• http//techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/spe
  cialreport/0,14622,6023121,00.html
• http//www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/newss/4226/
  1/
• http//www.unitedlinux.com/en/faqs/index.html
• http//www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5266683781.html
  
• http//newsforge.com/newsforge/02/05/31/228254.sht
  ml?tid23
• http//news.com.com/2009-1001-929851.html
• http//news.com.com/2100-1001-929394.html?tagfd_t
  op
• http//www.unitedlinux.com/en/whitepapers/index.ht
  ml