Developer eases United Linux fears

Linux developer Conectiva has moved to allay fears that the recently announced United Linux project will see the end of downloadable binaries and ISO files, and mean a mess of new licensing.

The Brazilian firm has taken the lead to show users that the introduction of a unified Linux operating system would not cause upheavals in the community, as predicted by major Linux distributor Red Hat, which remains unconvinced.

Following the announcement on behalf of Caldera, SuSE, Turbolinux and Conectiva two weeks ago about the creation of United Linux, the community has speculated that the operating system's arrival will be marked by a number of "bad things" for users.

Concerns over licensing changes and the unavailability of binaries and freely available ISO files from which to install Linux top the list.

But Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo, one of the co-founders of Conectiva and a well-respected kernel hacker himself, recently posted a message to the Conectiva mailing list stating that its offering of United Linux would be made available to the public along existing lines.

Carvalho de Melo said that "other pre-existing offers would be maintained, under the same pricing structure and with the same availability of binaries and source code currently known to the community".

Given that Conectiva has always made its ISOs and other files freely available to the general public, this news is likely to be welcomed by the Linux community.

Although Carvalho de Melo's words cannot really be classed as an "official" announcement, if the other United Linux contributors follow suit it could put the industry's mind at ease.