Innovation
Will the cloud help or hinder open source?
Experts weigh up the impact of cloud computing on open-source software and Linux
![toby-wolpe.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/69f6b927c3b2b76f766ff1c4083a4419d18d3a2a/2014/07/22/9950a392-1175-11e4-9732-00505685119a/toby-wolpe.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Widespread take-up of cloud-computing services could make the choice of software and operating systems less of an issue than it is today. But will that strengthen or weaken the position of open-source software, including Linux?
That was the question posed to a group of experts — Linux International's Jon 'maddog' Hall, IBM's Linux advocate Bob Sutor, Professor John Darlington of Imperial College London, and Derek Kay of Deloitte MCS — at the recent Cloud Expo Europe conference in London.