The Free Standards Group, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting open source software standards, and the LSB workgroup today announced the availability of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) 3.0, an essential component for the long-term market success of Linux.

The Free Standards Group also announced today that Red Hat, Novell, the Debian Common Core Alliance and Asianux are all certifying to the latest versions of their operating systems to the LSB, marking the successful deployment of a true global standard for Linux.

A well supported standard for Linux is the necessary component to Linux's continued success, the group says. " Without a commonly adopted standard, Linux will fragment, thus proving costly for ISVs to port their applications to the operating system and making it difficult for end users and Linux vendors alike," it said in an official statement. "With the LSB, all parties -- distribution vendors, ISVs and end users -- benefit as it becomes easier and less costly for software vendors to target Linux, resulting in more applications available for the Linux platform. The vision of a standard Linux balances the needs of the competitive distribution ecosystem with the requirements of end users and independent software vendors for interoperability. "

The Free Standards Group also announced today that Computer Associates (CA), one of the largest independent software vendors for Linux, has joined the organization and is pledging resources to the FSG's new manageability project. This brings ISV representation in the FSG to a new height and adds to the other notable ISV members announced this year (BakBone, Covalent Technologies, Fortify, Hyperic, Levanta, Lymeware, Open Country, UGS, Veritas and others).

"The effective standardization of Linux implementations is essential for the growth of the market and for organizations to obtain maximum value from their technology investments," said Sam Greenblatt, senior vice president and senior technical advisor at CA. "Our participation in the Free Standards Group will enable CA to play a leading role is maintaining the quality and integrity of the Linux Standard Base, thereby strengthening the Linux community and ensuring the universal applicability of commercial Linux management solutions."