The Linux Foundation on Wednesday plans to announce an event enabling Linux users to interact with the Linux community, including high-level maintainers and developers.

The first Linux Foundation End User Collaboration Summit is planned for October 13 to 14 in New York City. Users can connect with the Linux kernel community, the foundation said. The intent is to bring together sophisticated end-users and senior Linux developers to hopefully accelerate innovation and adoption of Linux.

"The open source development model is unique. End users not only give feedback on the software; they're a fundamental and critical part of the community, submitting patches and developing new features themselves," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation, in a statement released by the organization. "Before this event, however, there was no neutral forum that would advance and optimize this collaboration. The End User Summit will fill this gap and accelerate problem-solving for Linux."

The free, invitation-only event will feature an address by Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian and a question-and-answer session with Zemlin. John Corbet from LWN.net will spotlight where the Linux kernel is headed during the next 12 to 24 months.

Also speaking is Paul Cormier, executive vice president and president of products and technologies at Red Hat.

There will be discussions between end-users and Linux maintainers, including Andrew Morton and James Bottomley. A panel will be held featuring Linux users from the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, AIG Credit Suisse, and Fidelity National Information Services.

Interested persons can apply for an invitation on the Linux Foundation's Web site. Participants will be selected based on their potential for high-quality discussions with the kernel community, the foundation said.