IBM, HP, Intel, NEC Announce Open Source Lab

cmuncey writes: "Salon has an Associated Press article that IBM, HP, Intel, NEC have announced an 'Open Source Testing Lab' for testing Linux for large corporate systems that will open by the end of the year in Portland, OR. The main four sponsors are putting up a couple of million and Red Hat, Turbolinux, Linuxcare, VA Linux, Dell and SGI are also kicking in. The lab itself will be run by a nonprofit corporation that will be neutral in picking the projects to be tested. Sounds a bit better Mindcraft, doesn't it?"

In case you were wondering, the article tell us that "Linux is seen as an alternative to proprietary operating systems like Microsoft's Windows and Apple [sic] OS." Certifications, labs like this, and Official Stamps of Approval mean perhaps more than they ought (corporate decision making being what it is) but that's hard to get around. And it sounds like they'll get to play with cool toys! ;)

Comments

Question regarding dell's hardware, etc

[abrager]

Does anyone think that this will have an effect on the amount of proprietary hardware (for lack of a better word) that is included with their systems? For example, Dell saves some of its BIOS information on a hidden hard drive partition (much cheaper than CMOS). Compaq used to (I don't know if they still do) do the same thing on their Proliant servers. Hopefully we'll get some standard hardware here and less trouble getting systems to work with n*x.

Comments, anyone?