Updates from LinuxCon and ContainerCon, Toronto, August 2016

The Future of Linux: Continuing to Inspire Innovation and Openness

The first 25 years of Linux has transformed the world, not just computing, and the next 25 years will continue to see more growth in the Open Source movement, The Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin said during the opening keynote of LinuxCon/ContainerCon in Toronto on Monday, August 22, 2016.

"Linux is the most successful software project in history", Zemlin said, noting that the humble operating sytem created by Linus Torvalds 25 years ago this week is behind much of today's software and devices.

But the message of Linux is far more than software, Zemlin said. It's about the open exchange of ideas that's world-changing and inspiring. The concept of sharing has changed how the world thinks about technology and how it's made, he said.

"We've learned that you can better yourself while bettering others at the same time", he said. "We're building the greatest shared technology asset in the history of computing."

In the coming years, Zemlin predicts an even more rapid shift to open source, particularly in a world that now makes it nearly impossible to deploy software without collaborating and taking advantage of open resources.

The Linux Foundation itself seeks to build on the work of the past 25 years by working to create and support standards for security and open-source rights, and increasing the diversity of the Open Source movement, Zemlin said.

Vendor Spotlight: Anchore—Container Management with an Eye to Deployment

When it comes to deploying containers, it's still a bit of the Wild West—particularly if you're hosting a shared cluster. What's really inside each container? Is the OS current? Is the security sufficient? Are there unpatched bugs?

Anchore, one of the container-related sponsors at LinuxCon 2016 and ContainerCon being held this week in Toronto, seeks to change that. The company offers a product (now in beta) that aims to provide container image management and analytics. According to CTO and co-founder Daniel Nurmi, the Anchore tools allow you to create a set of standards and test your containers against those standards before you deploy them to production. If you have a shared environment, the tools can give you insight into the often opaque nature of containers. Learn more here.

John Tonello is a Global Technical Marketing Manager for SUSE, where he specializes in software-defined infrastructure. He's been a Linux user and enthusiast since building his first Slackware system from diskette more than 20 years ago.

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