“Thousands of computer hobbyists and software developers who
together honed the Linux operating system from their homes and
small offices could soon have their first central physical lab for
testing new versions of the operating systems and application
programs built to run on it.”
“In a validation of the growing popularity of Linux, Intel,
I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and several other computer companies plan
to announce Wednesday that they will jointly create and finance a
laboratory for developing and testing advances in the onetime
renegade operating system.”
“Working with prominent Linux developers and promoters, the
companies said, they plan to open the Open Source Development Lab
in Portland, Ore., by the end of the year, then create several
satellite offices around the country to support it….”
“Linux developers, industry analysts and participants in the
project said a leading reason Linux had not been moved onto these
superpowerful computers was that Linux programmers have not had
access to the hardware needed to experiment with and test new
programs.“