Way back in January, the Linux Foundation launched a search — a global search — to find something that was sorely missing. No, not Linus's car keys: the face of Linux. Just three months later, they have.

Sure, one could argue that Linux has a face, either in the person of developer-in-chief Linus Torvalds or, perhaps more recognizably, in Tux, the instantly recognizable Linux mascot. However, what Linux really needed was a face to face the stereotypes in the advertising put out by the "other OSes," and that's just what they went looking for. In late January, the foundation launched the "We're Linux" video contest to find a user-created video that "showcases just what Linux means to those who use it, and hopefully inspires many to try it."

Entry was open until March 15, when the contest's judges went to work narrowing down more than ninety submissions to a list of finalists and, of course, the winner — with the community's help, naturally. Earlier this week, five finalists were announced:

• The Future is Open by Elías Poveda Sirvent
• The Origin by Agustin Eguia
• Linux AD - What does it mean to be free? by Amitay Tweeto
• Challenges at the Office by Waseem Daher
• Linux Pub by Sebastien Massé

All five finalist videos, along with all the submissions, can be viewed on the Linux Foundation's video site.

So, who won? The LF kept that bit of information to themselves, holding out to make the grand announcement in San Francisco at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit. Until yesterday, that is, when the winner was revealed:

Amitay, who hails from Bet Shemesh, Israel, won free hotel/airfare/registration for the Linux Foundation Japan Symposium, to be held in October in Tokyo. First runner up went to The Origin by Agustin Eguia, and second runner up to Linux Pub by Sebastien Massé.

The panel of judges responsible for selecting these five, and ultimately, deciding who would be taking that free trip to Tokyo, were:

• Matt Asay of CNET and Alfresco, Inc.
• LF Board member Larry Augustin formerly of VA Software.
• Jono Bacon of Ubuntu.
• Joe Brockmeier of openSUSE.
• Melinda Mettler of the School of Advertising at the Academy of Art University.
• Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media.