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Linux Fund Loses MasterCard Funding Source

Posted by kdawson on from the bucks-for-tux dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Linux Fund was established in 1999 to provide grants to free and open source software projects from funds raised via a credit card featuring a picture of Tux, the Linux penguin. This credit card was offered through MBNA America Bank, which was purchased in 2006 by Bank of America. Last week, LinuxFund credit card holders received mail from Bank of America informing them that the LinuxFund card would be discontinued. Linux.com has a few details about the end of the credit card including statements from executive director David Mandel, assuring that the LinuxFund will look different but will continue. In the past, the LinuxFund provided one-time grants of $500-$1,000 USD to many projects including SDL, FilmGimp, Xiph.org Foundation, CrystalSpace, K12LTSP, and Kismet. The LinuxFund stagnated in 2003, and in 2005 it was revitalized by new leaders and by 2006 provided a stable $6,000 per year contribution to a number of larger projects including Wikipedia, Blender, Debian, Gentoo, and OpenSSH." Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.

4 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It does not matter that much... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are very naive if you think this. Linux got to the point it is today because of the push by big money for Linux. Novell, Red Hat, and IBM have all been instrumental in pushing Linux to where it is today. If Red Hat and SuSE (now Novell) hadn't made viable commercial solutions for Linux, it would not have even competed with AIX, HP-UX and Solaris. IBM has been such a huge source for Linux that they even made their OS more compatible with it, when they introduced AIX 5L (guess what that 'L' stands for). AIX uses similar command syntax as Linux, it is also the only one of the three (AIX, HP-UX and Solaris) that I have seen provide RPM support. Many of the open source packages that have been ported to AIX can easily be installed using an RPM, instead of having to use the default AIX installation mechanism or re-compiling source yourself. All the ports for HP-UX and Solaris that I have seen, still use the OS default installation mechanisms, which are not always the most intuitive or friendly to use.

    Honestly, I think a lot more Linux development and advancement has come from BIG money then it ever did from the volunteers. There are a good deal of contributions being made by people with a monetary interest in the success of Linux.

  2. I've had one for years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've had one of these for years. I work for Microsoft. It's mildly amusing to pay for stuff in the company store with the cards (though I probably wouldn't do that if Balmer or Gates was behind me in line, not that it's likely to happen...).

    (posting anonymoosely because, yes, I'm a coward... ;-) )

  3. Oh come ON! by Colin+Smith · · Score: 5, Funny

    Though I probably wouldn't do that if Balmer or Gates was behind me in line You only live once!

    --
    Deleted
  4. Re:It does not matter that much... by gujo-odori · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I do not dispute this, one thing that needs to be remembered is that many of the people now being paid to work on Linux by Red Hat, IBM, et al, are the same people who worked on Linux for free for a long time and brought it to the point where those companies thought it worth paying people to work on it.

    If you look at the percentage of code in Linux that was written by people now being paid to work on Linux but who were volunteers when they contributed it, a different picture might emerge. This doesn't discount wholesale contributions of code such as XFS by SGI or JFS by IBM, but without the work of volunteers, including those now being paid, Linux would simply not exist.