A tip of the hat to Linux's European friends

Europe is giving Linux and Open Source a hand.

It's true. Because of the "No Patents" position of the EU, Microsoft has been forced to back up a few steps. As a matter of fact, MS has been told they have to share. Grudgingly, they have been.

Of course, They go fighting it tooth and nail, kicking and screaming Never without a court order and usually heavy fines to encourage them, but they are indeed sharing.

How has this helped Linux and OpenSource? One way is with SAMBA.

The SAMBA project alone has benefited tremendously from the forced interaction. They have been better able to incorporate features and functionality that was difficult, if not outright impossible, without the information from MS.

Because of that, future versions of SAMBA will allow Linux to be much more inter-operable with and in a mixed network. This increases the productivity capabilities of Linux.

This access to MS information would not have been possible without the EU's position and subsequent actions.

European governments have been giving Linux the earliest and strongest outreach of support. You will find quite a few articles proclaiming the benefits reaped by European government agencies in their move to Linux in some form.

For example, France has adopted Linux almost wholeheartedly. The news of the ways they are adopting Linux in their government offices and at almost all levels has made international news several times.

Other national governments and cities, municipalities, etc.. have made headlines by adopting Linux. Yes, some have made news by switching back and forth from Windows to Linux, back to Windows again, but no matter the turn out, Linux has been brought to the international spotlight time and again by Europe.

Think of it this way, the guy who brought Linux to us is himself from Europe. True, he now lives in the U.S., but he was born, raised and was educated across the pond.

Suse Linux, originally came to us by way of Germany, which is in, you guessed it, Europe.

Mandriva, formerly Mandrake, is a distro that originated in and still is based in France. Which is, the last time I checked, in Europe.

Ubuntu,by Canonical, though described and labeled in 'African' terms, has it's offices and core team based in London, a city in England, which is, that's right, in Europe.

There is no way I can touch in one article how many ways Europe impacts Linux in a positive way. I also don't want to give the impression that only Europe has been a supporter and benefactor to Linux as a whole. This one article is just to give proper credit where it is due.

Europe and it's people have made and continue to make a tremendous contribution to Open Source and Linux.

I just wanted to say thanks.