Company representatives to discuss Linux mergers

• Take-overs are changing the Linux corporate landscape
• Representatives of SAP, Netways and OXID on the role of large and small companies at LinuxTag
• Eclipse Foundation, Heise and OSBF report on the impact

Corporate take-overs pose the question of whether Open Source is increasingly at the mercy of larger companies: Sun buys MySQL, Oracle buys Sun, VMWare buys SpringSource, and so on. Company representatives, project managers and association members will be discussing whether this leaves enough room for smaller and independent software producers and system integrators. They will be asking whether small and medium-sized companies can develop a profitable business that can not only survive the struggles between giants such as Oracle and IBM, but can also continue to succeed in this competitive environment.
Six participants will be discussing whether there is still room for small Linux companies on 9 June at LinuxTag 2010:

Erwin Tenhumberg, SAP, is Open Source Program Manager for the Global Ecosystem & Partner Group.

Ralph Müller, Eclipse Foundation, Directory, Ecosystem Europe, is engaged in supporting the expansion of the Eclipse community in Europe.

Oliver Diedrich is Executive Editor of the news portal heiseopen.

Jürgen Geck is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Open-Xchange and advises open source companies in his capacity as coach of the Open Source Business Foundation (OSBF).

Roland Fesenmayr is the Chief Executive of OXID eSales AG, supplier of an open source e-commerce system.

Julian Hein is Managing Partner of Netways GmbH, which implements open source solutions for IT management.

The panel discussion will be chaired by Sandro Groganz, member of the Program Committee of LinuxTag and founder of a marketing agency for open source companies.

“Users and companies alike are considering the implications of the mergers that have taken place in recent months: Many of them are delighted with the good level of support from larger companies but at the same time they fear a reduction in the innovativeness which often emanates from smaller companies. The success of free software largely depends on whether small producers and service providers can survive alongside their larger counter-parts.", explains Nils Magnus, Program Chair of LinuxTag e.V.: “After all, it is the diversity of solutions and services that make Linux and other open source software so attractive to users.”

The one-hour discussion will begin at 1 p.m. on 9 June in the London Room in Hall 7.1b. Afterwards the audience will have an opportunity to discuss the issues in an open session.

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About LinuxTag

LinuxTag is Europe’s leading event on Linux and free software. This four-day event has been taking place annually since 2007 on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. It offers the very latest information for professional users, decision-makers, developers, beginners and the community. In addition to the program of papers and a separate congress for business and public sector authorities, LinuxTag traditionally includes an exhibition featuring projects and companies associated with the open source sector.  LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin attracted a total attendance of 10,780 from all over the world. Verein LinuxTag e.V. is the non-commercial organizer of the event, which it stages jointly with Messe Berlin GmbH. More details can be found at www.linuxtag.org.