Linux fans welcome forecast

Portland area called leader as open-source software masters the mainstream

By Jon Bell

The Portland Tribune, Dec 28, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

One of the ongoing revolutions in computer technology is proving to be relatively quiet, increasingly popular and, you may be surprised to learn, directed in part from a five-story office building in Beaverton.

It’s the continued proliferation of Linux, the free open-source operating system that’s becoming a ready alternative to Microsoft Windows and other mainstream systems. And, armed with a new study suggesting robust growth for Linux, the Beaverton-based Open Source Development Labs Inc. is leading the Linux charge.

“We are the center of gravity for Linux,” said Stuart Cohen, the lab’s chief executive officer. “You can make the argument that there’s more leadership around Linux here in Portland than anywhere else in the world.”

Founded in 2000, the nonprofit lab is dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux. It’s home to Linux creator Ñ and now Portland resident Ñ Linus Torvalds, and counts technology giants Intel Corp. and IBM Corp. among its 70 members. The media-shy Torvalds did not respond to several requests for an interview.

Of its 40 local employees, roughly half are engineers who write code and do testing for Linux; others assist with any business, technical, legal or market issues that may arise in the areas of data center, carrier grade and desktop Linux.

The open-source lab and Linux fans everywhere last week welcomed the results of a study by the Framingham, Mass.-based research firm IDC that suggested Linux is no longer a niche phenomenon. By 2008, the study found, overall Linux marketplace revenues for hardware and software that run on Linux could reach $35.7 billion, up from about $12 billion in 2003. Microsoft’s total revenues in 2003 were $32.2 billion.

As an epicenter for Linux, the lab is hoping to see the report’s findings to fruition.

“The work at OSDL is really, really, really important in terms of helping to keep the movement together on a technical basis,” said Dana Blankenhorn, who writes an open-source blog for the Corante news service.

Cohen said the lab, which has a second facility in Japan, has been working with customer advisory councils in the United States, Asia and Europe on the global expansion of Linux. It also interacts with governments in places like China and Europe, where officials are more willing to consider open-source technologies such as Linux.

The lab also has added a legal defense fund to deal with the copyright, patent and intellectual property issues that constantly arise over open source and Linux.

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