Linux United

This Document

This document defines the purpose and intent of Linux United, and its basic structure. The implementation of the project will not be discussed in this document.

What Is Linux United?

The Linux United organization provides a forum for discussion and implementation of standards for the Linux community. The organization brings together the Linux community in an effort to enhance the useability of Linux and to help position it to become a competitive mainstream operating system. Several projects from the Linux community are currently being integrated into this effort to ensure that Linux United remains open to views from around the net, and continues to be a valuable source of information and services to the Linux community.

What's in a Name?

The first thing that is known about an organization is it's name. The name represents the organization, and should do so in a positive way. This organization can be referred to in two ways: "Linux United" whenever possible, and "linuxunited" in all other cases. It may be abbreviated as "LU" when appropriate.

The name in this case represents the intent of the organization very closely. Linux United was created to bring the Linux community together to provide a united effort in making Linux a successful mainstream operating system.

Why Linux United?

To convince businesses that Linux is a viable operating system solution several points must be addressed.

Companies currently percieve Linux as being unusable because there is no centralized support.
LU will make finding support easy by providing databases of resources including companies, consultants, and free resources such as mailing lists.
Companies want an easy way of reporting and tracking bugs
Currently there are several individualized bug tracking systems in existence. LU will provide a comprehensive tracking system that will cross reference bugs to projects and allow easy status checks on bugs.
Businesses underestimate the momentum of Linux
By providing a central location for tracking news, bugs, projects, etc. LU shows that Linux is a project that has a lot of momentum behind it.

Linux United Structure

The Linux United project closely mirrors the Linux effort. The Linux operating system currently exists in two major parts: infrastructure (news, project catalogs, bug tracking, volunteer databases etc.) and implementation (the Kernel, distributions, packages etc.) Both parts are essential to the growth and development of Linux.

The infrastructure part of this project coordinates active projects from around the Linux community. This helps these projects in several ways. It adds consistency, avoids redundancy, and increases visibility of the individual projects.

The projects involved consist of services that are much needed. Volunteer databases, product catalogs, bug tracking, etc. are all being actively developed. but are currently being implemented by individual groups. Linux United provides a forum for these groups to share ideas, and to work towards a common goal that is beneficial to Linux.