The Linux Core Consortium: Second time is a charm?

A few thoughts on the recently-announced Linux Core Consortium (LCC).

Providing that none of the members of the LCC go rabidly litigious and anti-Linux, as SCO did shortly after joining the UnitedLinux effort, the LCC has a fair shot at long-term influence. It's encouraging that the group includes vendors that work with RPM-based and Debian-based distributions, but I'd like to see more from Novell/SUSE and Red Hat than the approving noises they've made so far. If Novell and/or Red Hat decide to embrace the LCC Common Core distribution, then the effort will no doubt be a success. If Novell and Red Hat snub the Common Core for their releases, it's hard to imagine how the project can be successful. It's one thing for those companies to say they approve, and yet another for them to actually jump on board.

I'm also curious whether or not the LCC folks will go the UnitedLinux route in terms of distributing the core distribution. The UnitedLinux distribution was not made available for public download or testing, which limited its usefulness as a community standard.

The LCC effort should be a no-brainer for Sun. Sun execs continue to take pot-shots at Red Hat, claiming that Red Hat's Enterprise Linux amounts to "vendor lock-in." If Sun truly wants to contribute to a universal Linux standard, then the company should be fully behind the LCC.

The LCC is a topic we'll be coming back to. I'd like to hear what your thoughts are in the meantime. Is the LCC a great idea, or just an attempt to catch up to Red Hat by second-string Linux vendors?