Is this a trend? First Valve is investing in Linux (by developing their platform for it) and now Samsung.<p>Whilst there has obviously been commercial investment in the past , I'm assuming the majority of it was for enterprise server stuff or embedded things. This is to build user facing stuff.<p>Perhaps companies are realizing that the only way to escape the nets of MS/Apple and their walled gardens is to invest in open technology.
This is not so much an investment, but a PR move to remind the world that Samsung continues to be involved in mobile Linux.<p>Samsung is investing much more substantial amounts of R&D money into Tizen, a Linux-based mobile OS with a HTML5 UI layer (co-developed with Intel). That's their real hedge against Apple and Google.
This is all about Tizen. Samsung, and its associates and partners in various markets around the world, knows that iOS can be competed with, rapidly, by a Linux-based alternative. It has been proven already with Android, and as we all well know .. there will be next generations.<p>Tizen could be a next-gen mobile/integrated platform, and it could well be that Samsung are the only ones who have anything to do with it, because there is one thing about a Linux-based approach: it is multi-variate. Tizen will be Samsungs Linux, but HTC might do something similar, and Creative Labs could even dust off Plaszma/ZiiOS and produce a shudder effect through the lower-end markets, too.<p>The Distro Wars won't be over for a while, I think, once this starts happening.<p>Edit: I want to add that I think that things like the Sharp/Samsung engineers' experience with AngstromOS and so on are sort of behind this.
I think this article was more newsworthy when they accidentally quoted it as 500M instead of 500K (thats how I saw it on my Twitter feeds). The update to reflect the correct amount makes the title feel out of place.
Samsung emerged as one the top vendors and gets revenue in order of billions due to Android. Hence it would be surprising if they <i>don't</i> invest in Linux.
If Samsung worded it "We're donating $500k to support the great work the Linux Foundation does with FOSS" then I might give them a nod. But to say they are investing $500k (a paltry sum) to battle iOS is kind of sad. Why even say that, it sounds so petty.<p>So your only motivation is to attack Apple? It's not to simply support the legion of open source developers that have been giving you free software for years?
I do not know if it is Firefox, NoScript, RequestPolicy or just me but the AppleInsider page looks like the default mobile formatted version of most websites.
For a company the size of Samsung this is not a large amount, but it's certainly not a small amount either.<p>Articles like this make me feel like I'm back on slashdot sometimes. Am I alone?
Oh, wow $500K... Most people I know have houses worth more than that. Are Sumsung taking the piss out of Linux here? I get $500k if the entire FreeBSD Foundation budget but you'd think more money means they can pay to hire even more great developers. You don't battle iOS with $500K.