IBM releases Journaled File System to open source

IBM cemented its commitment to Linux today, announcing a series of new initiatives -- including the contribution of code and four developers to building an enterprise-class journaled file system. Lack of such a system has hampered to some degree Linux's adoption by enterprise-class and ecommerce customers. And no surprise: a journaled file system is needed to ensure the integrity of data after a system failure. IBM is clearly committed pushing Linux as a key part of enterprise computing strategy. Two weeks ago it announced it would put Linux on all its server hardware product lines. "We want to bring Linux apps to all of our platforms," IBM's top Linux champion, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, said at LinuxWorld Expo. How successful IBM and other vendors will be able to take Linux to the enterprise market, Wladawsky-Berger said, depends "on the priorities of the Linux community". He referred to Linux Torvalds' earlier keynote address, where the father of Linux noted the operating system's modular ability to run on anything from a refrigerated supercomputing to a Web browser on a kitchen fridge, and everything in between. Basically, Wladawsky-Berger said that's a lot of ground to cover. What the enterprise market needs, he said, is "applications interfaces". As long as enterprise customers have applications that work and don't crash, he said, "they could care less about the plumbing underneath". He made clear the company will continue development of its enterprise-tested and proprietary Unix variant, AIX, at least until the level of demand for Linux becomes clearer. "Predicting the evolution of operating systems software, especially in mission-critical systems, is very difficult," Wladawsky-Berger said. IBM also announced availability of its ViaVoice voice recognition technology for Linux (it won't be open source); thin-client Linux systems with software from Caldera's Lineo; an application developer kit for small business apps, developed with Caldera; and a Linux beta version of NetObject's Web page design tool, TopPage. ® Read more cool open source news and views at Wide Open News, a partner of The Register.