Standing at the headwaters of the ecosystem that is Linux is the Linux Foundation and its executive director Jim Zemlin. The Linux Foundation was forged out of the merger of the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and the Free Standards Group in 2007 as a new group with a new mandate for Linux.

Now some 20 months after the Linux Foundation was created, Zemlin is claiming the group is succeeding and argues that it will remain relevant for the next 50 years. The Linux Foundation's goal is to promote and develop the Linux platform as it ramps up against Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Unix and embedded OS vendors.

"Things have gone better than I would have expected," Zemlin told InternetNews.com. "We're in the business of growing the Linux platform and making sure the development process of Linux is maintained in a way that is productive and safe."

The Linux Foundation also has the task of making sure that key developers of Linux such as Linus Torvalds have a neutral place to work. Torvalds is employed by the Linux Foundation.

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