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Linus Moves To OSDL, Will Work On Kernel Full-Time
worldwideweber writes "With the announcement of the release of the 2.5.72 version of the Linux kernel came the news that Linus Torvalds will be leaving Transmeta for OSDL to work on the linux kernel full-time. The email calls this a leave of absence for about one year." Update: 06/17 17:19 GMT by T : As many readers have pointed out, the length of Linus' leave is not actually specified in this email.
Trying not to be overly cynical here is a bit difficult. When Transmeta needed publicity they hired Linus which gave them un-rivaled, and often uncritical, coverage in the US which certainly will have helped in fund-raising. The initial visions and hype have not lived up to their expectations, and especially in the low power end of the market where ARM processors continue to dominate.
Now that Transmeta are trying to move into a more corporate sphere there is less demand for a posterboy like Linus.
Its great that Linus is dedicated to the Linux kernel full time, but how much of this is leaving through dedication (for a year) and how much is a result of disappointment at Transmeta not living up to its hype.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
i guess that Linus was too expensive for Transmeta. I don't doubt, that he's worth all the money he earns, but Transeta employs him mostly for PR reasons (that's why they left him so much freedom). But you have to have some sales to support PR. I already wondered for some time, if it pays off for Transmeta financially.
But Linus is so popular, i don't think he will ever encounter serious employment problems.
For my part, i thank Transmeta for employing Linus. As i don't own any shares, i had the profit from Linus' work without any cost.
Bye, Martin
That letter is awesome. It's great to have a real, honest, genuine human-being to rally behind.
This is the greatest things about open-source: the people. People who are willing to donate so much time and effort to the benefit of everyone on earth as opposed to people who want to screw over the world so they can make themselves rich.
We're much better off than those cheering on phony, cut-throat business men who run and jump around a stage like monkies to the tune of Gloria Estefan.
Why bother.
First reaction to a moron who can't remember FOUR letters when making a lame google reference!
OSDL!!!! not ODSL!!!!!!
Nice troll. I'll answer anyway.
1) Who knows? XFree86 draws my windows just fine. 3d is plenty fast using Nvidia drivers. 90% of desktops users won't care what's going on "under the hood".
2) See 1. Prolly does need a clean up, but I'd say the same about Windows registry. LFS gives good reasons for locations, and there's also good reasons to retain Unix-ness.
3) Bollocks. Development is astronomically fast.
4) Usability is being addressed by both KDE and Gnome. Again, how much maintaining does the average user actually do? As far as software management goes, if RedCarpet or Up2Date is too hard, I honestly don't know how much easier it would need to be.
Mods, please take a look at parent. I don't think it's a troll. I think it's just an attempt at humour.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
That being said, linux will not go mainstream until my mother can use it. That won't happen until several things are resolved.
1) printer setup utilities SUCK
2) sound card setup utilities SUCK
3) Most other setup utilities suck (too a lesser degree) also.
The apps are really improving, but sysadmin for the typical home user requires way more time and thought than they are willing to put into it.
If my mom buys a new printer for her Windows machine, she plugs it in and uses it. If she was using linux, she would end up returning the printer.
Is this related to Transmeta wanting to distance themselves from Linux until the SCO bull$hit is resolved?
WTF?
What in the hell would Transmeta be afraid of? Getting a letter saying something like this: "We don't like one of your employees, so we are going to sue you for damages."
One of the reasons that American companies sue is because they expect more mileage out of the resultant fear than would ordinarily result from the actual litigation. Let's not throw gasoline on a fire, shall we?
So let's see, we could :
1) Scrap KDE and Gnome, put *all* the code into XFree itself, that way everyone is stuck with whatever "paradigms" you think up
2) Stick every single configuration file into one GIANT configuration file, which would be so big and monsterous that it would require a binary format, along with a special program to edit it and a bunch of API calls to modify it
3) Make 7-10 different versions of the OS, all built on essentially the same thing, but each requiring their own set of patches and updates
4) Launch a huge marketing campaign to brainwash people into thinking your product delivers a great "experience"
Well then you'd just have Windows.
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
Two words: command line. Until you can press a button in a pretty window it's not friendly enough for the masses.
Hey, MS spends $5bn in R&D for a lousy OS. A single chappie named Linus maintains the entire Linux kernel in his spare time! Can't say that any more...
On the other hand, the Linux kernel supports many, many more platforms than Windows, has hundreds of features that Windows does not and handles hundreds of devices, filesystems, network topologies and tools that Windows has never added or given up on for lack of resources.
That the relatively small number of people maintaining Linux can do so without having to get rid of large portions of the OS is actually rather staggering. Just look at how hard it is for the BSD folks. They do a good job, and I don't belittle them at all. But, it takes a long time to add new features, and they are now in a perpetual mode of catch-up except in a few key areas that each of the BSDs focuses on and manages well.
Linus has managed Linux VERY well, and while many of his choices were controvercial, the end result has always been a platform that held together and held developers longer than any other project I've ever seen (on average, certainly some other projects like sendmail or bind have had key developers much longer).
Kudos to Linus and may Linux live long and prosper.
"Basically he didnt quit outright, I guess he wants to keep his options open."
Exactly, i'd bet it probably has something to do with his stock options. Usually you have to exercise your options 30 days after leaving a company, but if technically he hasn't left, then he could hang on to his stock options just in case they are ever worth something again.
Thats just what microsoft loves, they start a meme that "shared source=open source" BSA, MPAA, RIAA etc starts a meme that "sharing =piracy" How many people out there do you think now think that open source means youre a bunch of software pirates, and that linus is the leader of them? Theres no such thing as the "shared software" movement, its the open source software movement. Shared software could be anything from linux to the latest commercial isos you get from kazaa
How many of us can honestly say that we're doing what we love to do? And not just "working at an appropriately geek/tech job" either. I mean, this guy started a project as a hobby, people found value in it, and now he gets a salary to maintain it as he sees fit. When you look at history, even people like Michaelangelo who got to do what they liked doing, and got paid to do it, still had to work on someone else's project. "Michaelangelo, paint this ceiling, something in a biblical motif." Even top athletes get told who to play and when. Not many people have, or have ever had, as sweet a deal as Linus. I have several projects, as well as other non-geeky hobbies, that I scarcely have time for. I wish I could get paid to work on them. Heck, I'd settle for simply having more time for them without pay.
Constitutionally Correct
1. Work on open source projects
2. No profit
3. Get jealous; go to
4. No profit
5. Return to open source projects
6. No profit
7. Being considered the leader of the FREE world, one of the best coders, most honorable people, having made a contribution to all of humanity instead of a contribution only to himself...
8. Priceless
Saying that he managed VERY well is the understatement of the century.
I mean, the way this guy handles politics is AMAZING.
I have a hunch that, long after the kernel is forgotten, Linus ( and Linux ) will be case studies in administration courses.
He's THAT good.
Cheers,
The work he has done on Linux over the past six years has been done with Transmeta's blessing, support and appreciation, but they wanted him on the clock to help code the emulation/translation software they need to make their chips a viable product. I'm guessing that task is somewhere between designing an ISA and writting a kernel. Given what others have said about his psychic debugging skills, I'd imagine Transmeta found him very suited to the job.
SCO could alledge that:
* Transmeta hired Linus primarily to do work on the kernel for them (i.e. have a Linux kernel ready to go when their chip came out, both so linux would run and in case Microsoftware didn't.)
* While working for them he, as part of his work, distributed (thus copying) the allegedly-SCO's IP that was allegedly ported into Linux by IBM or others, or that he ported some in himself.
So therefore Transmeta was involved in the IP "theft", yadda yadda...
Or any of a number of variations on the theme.
But I doubt that has anything to do with Linus leaving Transmeta. (If nothing else, SCO could still sue them after he's gone.)
I imagine that, now that Transmeta's first chips are out, most of the Transmeta-specific kernel work is done. So if Linus stays he's likely to get sucked into other software that's less kernel-specific, losing his kernel focus to the detriment of Linux. On the other hand, he can focus on the kernel full-time at his new site, to the benefit of Liunx, Transmeta, Linus' peace of mind, and a whole lot more.
Linus sounds like he feels uncomfortable being paid by Transmeta for kernel work - even it really IS a big help to Transmeta for the kernel to continue to prosper. Going to somewhere where this is no longer an issue in HIS mind (regardless of whether it's an issue for his management) is good all around.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
No, it will work much like iptables. You will provide it with a set of filter rules which it will enforce. Changes to the ruleset will not require kernel recompilation, only a reload of the filtering module or service.
The logic behind placing it directly in the kernel is the same as always, speed.