In a blog post written this morning, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin praised the Raspberry Pi foundation's $35 Linux computer, which met tremendous demand when it launched this week. In his blog post, Zemlin discussed the important role that the Linux platform plays in enabling innovation around low-cost computing.

The Raspberry Pi foundation launched with the aim of building an inexpensive system that could be used to teach computer programming to young students. They developed a pair of bare ARM boards priced at $25 and $35 that include a 700Mhz ARM11 CPU and a 256MB of RAM. The devices are roughly the same size as a deck of playing cards.

The $35 model entered the manufacturing stage last month and finally became available for purchase this week. Demand for the product was so prodigiously high that both of the foundation's retail partners were unable to keep their websites running in the hours after the official launch. The $25 model is expected to come later this year.

The Raspberry Pi boards will run Linux, which means that users of the product will have access to a mature desktop software platform for the hardware at no additional cost. As Zemlin explained in his blog entry this morning, the availability of Linux and open source software played a major role in allowing the Raspberry Pi foundation to fulfill its low-cost computing goal.

"Raspberry Pi is showing just how well Moore's law is at work and how consequently important free software is to the world of computing. For the price of four Raspberry Pi's, you can't even get a copy of Windows 7 at Best Buy," he wrote.

Zemlin also emphasized the important role that Linux and inexpensive hardware like the Raspberry Pi boards can play in encouraging innovation by reducing the startup costs for prototyping new mobile and embedded products. The only impediment to such innovation, he said, is the dysfunctional patent system, which can significantly inflate the cost of developing new kinds of products.

"The next technology innovator doesn't have to spend a fortune prototyping ideas or taking out licenses with everybody under the sun. With $25 and free software you can get started building something cool," he said. "The only thing holding back this form of innovation is the billion dollar price of patents these days. This speaks miles to the power of getting the tools of innovation into the hands of many and the sad state of our current patent system. The only thing that holds back the next Steve Jobs is being sued by the company started by the late Steve Jobs."

His reference to Apple is likely an allusion to the lawsuits that the company has launched against its Linux-using rivals in the mobile industry. Although companies like Motorola and Samsung are equipped to fight back, defending against patent lawsuits is far too costly and difficult for independent innovators who don't have deep pockets and large defensive patent portfolios.

Patent licensing can significantly inflate the total cost of bringing new ideas to market. The possibility of an injunction makes it very risky to build technical products at all. The rise of software patents, which are often ambiguous and broad, has greatly exacerbated the problem.