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2012

Twitter Joins The Linux Foundation As Silver Member For More Open-Source Street Cred

August 28, 2012 0

New York — During the past few years, the tech industry has witnessed a substantial number of of Internet companies are joining the Linux Foundation. Taking a fast flip through some of the illustrious Linux Foundation members, a list which includes Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and now the micro-blogging outfit Twitter has decided to join the Linux Foundation as a “Silver” tier member, a nonprofit that oversees the open-source Linux operating system.

It is no wonder, just what makes those big companies get involved with the Linux Foundation, as the micro-blogging service is the latest amongst a slew of large IT companies such as Samsung, Nvidia, and Broadcom signing up with the non-profit organization.

The news over the weekend was confirmed by Chris Aniszczyk, open source manager at Twitter, tweeting that the sponsorship decision has “been in the works for awhile.” Twitter signed on as a silver member, which requires annual membership dues of $15,000.

In fact, the Linux Foundation is a non-profit organization that sponsors further development of the Linux kernel through corporate sponsorship from a lot major hardware and open source vendors, it is dedicated to “fostering the growth of Linux.” Sponsors get more of a say as to how Linux is developed, and the projects on which the foundation is working.

“Not only is Twitter is developed on Linux, but open source software is vital to its technology strategy,” said a Linux Foundation rep informed VentureBeat via email.

Elaborating further, the rep said, “It is investing even more in the platform now as the company expands and positions itself for the future. Linux has become even more dominant among web-based companies as the ‘hacker way’ has become pervasive among the newest generation of startups.”

On the other hand, embracing the ideals of open-source, at least in spirit, has become increasingly common among web startups, particularly in the Bay Area. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously wrote a “hacker way” mini-treatise into his company’s SEC IPO filing.

Like many websites that manages endless web traffic, Twitter functions on thousands of Linux servers. Over 400,000,000 tweets are sent out every day on Twitter at an average steady rate of 4,500 tweets a second, according to Aniszczyk.

Explaining the technical importance, it said, “Linux and its ability to be heavily tweaked is vital to our technology infrastructure,” Aniszczyk quoted by TechCrunch, which first reported the news. “By joining The Linux Foundation we can support an organization that is important to us and collaborate with a community that is advancing Linux as fast as we are improving Twitter.”

Interestingly, Aniszczyk is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech titled “The Open Source Technology Behind a Tweet” at the upcoming LinuxCon, which takes place this week in San Diego.