Linux standards body formed

An industry association known as the Free Standards Group (FSG) has been set up to revitalise the push for standards in the Linux market.

The group aims to establish core functionality within the operating system so that applications will run on any version of the platform, and to ensure that the software supports several international languages.

FSG is a combination of two ad hoc bodies - the Linux Standard Base and the Linux Internationalisation Initiative - and has already received funding pledges and support from a number of Linux players. Details of the funding will be released later this month. Companies backing FSG include Caldera Systems, Corel, IBM, SAP, SCO, SGI, Sun Microsystems, SuSE and Red Hat.

Daniel Quinlan, FSG chairman, claimed the group's formation was "critical" to ensure that Linux does not fragment further.

Dirk Hohndel, SuSE's chief technology officer, said: "Clear cut standards will be the basis to get even broader support from ISVs, as well as customers for the Linux platform."

"The combination of well-defined standards and choice of vendors gives an obvious signal against any monopolistic tendencies in the software industry," he added.