openMosix According to news posted on SourceForge forum, Moshe Bar, openMosix founder and project leader, has announced plans to end the openMosix Project, effective March 1, 2008.

openMosix is a Linux kernel extension for single-system image (SSI) clustering that allows building a cluster from a bunch of ordinary networked computers. Applications are able to benefit without the need for specific modifications.

By breaking new ground in OS theory in areas such as Distributed Shared Memory and other challenging areas, openMosix had found itself in the hearts of many. In fact, there are many individuals who have learned Linux-kernel development through openMosix, which has been used in computing curriculum, laboratories, and research.

The official reason for this closure is:

The increasing power and availability of low cost multi-core processors is rapidly making single-system image (SSI) Clustering less of a factor in computing. The direction of computing is clear and key developers are moving into newer virtualization approaches and other projects.

However, this post on Slashdot is critical of the decision, offering an alternative explanation:

Top developers have left and they lack the means or motivation to continue. Their official claim of multicore CPUs making clustering redundant is somewhere between highly improbable and totally absurd, as has been pointed out elsewhere.

According to Slashdot, there are a few alternatives to openMosix: bproc, which is considered to be ancient; MOSIX, which is hard to obtain unless one is a student; and kerrighd, which is as of yet immature.

Do you think that the ending of the openMosix project will have a major impact on the future of open source?