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Linux Guru Alan Cox Takes A Year Off
An anonymous reader writes "Linux guru Alan Cox is taking a year off from RedHat and kernel development to get his MBA. For years, Alan Cox has maintained the extremely stable 2.2 Linux kernel, and more or less been Linux creator Linus Torvalds' right hand man. Now it sounds like the 2.2 kernel is up for grabs to someone who is 'good at refusing patches and being ignored'..."
and I've been lobbying for the position for quite some time now, but so far no replies.
hmmm....
Before, the story read that he was taking a year off to get his MBNA. Sheesh, I get at least two offers a month from those bohos for instant credit. :)
What does a Linux kernel coding god need with an MBA?
He just got scared off by SCO!!
The 2.2 kernel, which he maintains, is the one that SCO claims is free of supposed IP infringements. It is the 2.4 and later kernels which SCO claims were written mostly by SCO. (Millions of lines vs. a total of 4.4 million lines.)
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Liars!
The Truth is that Alan Cox has resigned from Linux development since he's not able to pay us the required development license (69,900$) we were asking to him. He preferred giving up instead of being sued to death as he deserves.
Cheers,
-- Darl MacBride
Summer job at SCO, reviewing code?
the 2.2 kernel is basicly unchanging, but that does not mean that bugs don't get found from time to time. So he is incharge of the folks who fix those, as well as updates to drivers etc.
Good Luck with your MBA Alan! I went back to finish my BA at 28 and it was not easy to do in some ways, but it was really worth it.
Erlang Developer and podcaster
That's today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
What is the process involved in getting someone to take over 2.2 kernel and who has the final say in who is selected? I have always been curious about the more politcal side of GNU/Linux and your answers would be much appreciated.
Cheers!
What team is he playing for?
I nominate Darl McBride. He has an intimate knowledge of the Linux kernel, intellectual property issues, and has a relationship with the Linux developer community.
The timing on this is incredible. The most stable kernal we've got that isn't under the SCO shadow is now effectively frozen, thereby preventing any potential code polution. Cox may have just provided the instant way out if SCO wins. I wonder if this is accidental or sheer genious?
Good luck Alan with the MBA, maybe you'll get paid what you're worth (finally).
It doesn't matter what you wrap your emotions around, Reality is a brick wall specifically designed to scramble eggs
Only if you use a Windows 9x version. Linux has superior SMP support.
What happens when one of his professors asks for an electronic copy in Word format?
Slashdot is like Playboy: I read it for the articles
Sorry, you're thinking of the wrong country. In the UK, it takes 3-4 years for a degree; 1 year for a Masters (MBA); and then the doctorates can yawn on as long as a decade, if you can come up with cunning enough proposals for funding. About the only similarity with the American system is the names, really - and the dry personalities that result from 20-odd years in academia when some folk emerge blinking into the world. :-)
"This is why men never share their feelings; because women always remember." -Just Shoot Me.
Oh, and we do get quite a few geeks applying here already for a chance to meet Alan. Most of them have seen the credit to the Swansea University Computer Society in the Linux kernel boot messages.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Again I must tell you that you are AMERICA CENTRIC
It amuses me that the very first hit on google from the query "What is an MBA" just happens to be a web site in New Zealand
Here it is: The New Zealand MBA Association
Clearly, MBA is not an America-centric term. I suspect your definition of America Centric is "anything I haven't heard of" though.
Even numberd kernels behave as you would expect Linux to behave. Odd numbered kernels behave as you would expect Windows to behave.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
But Word actually is the most useful document exchange format today...
No, Word is the worst possible exchange format. It is proprietary to one corporation, it is a vector for script-based viruses, the tools that read it (other than Microsoft's products) cannot do so reliabily and predictably, and much of the world's population cannot and should not be expected to afford the MS Office software.
Given, also, the recent revival of awareness about hidden information exchanged in Word documents, Word is not only a terrible format in principle, but it is a threat to privacy and security in a most fundamental way.
So, Anonymous Astroturfer, you should go back to your cube and rethink your strategy for spreading lies into the public consciousness.
For basic exhange of information, the best formats are plain text (for text, obviously) or PDF (for type-set documents). Other formats are just asking for trouble.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Now this sounds pretty well-rehearsed.
That's because it is true.
When will people start realizing that there are free tools to handle Word format...
Where are they? Are they 100% compatible with Microsoft's undocumented, proprietary, and volatile document format? It is impossible for these tools to live up to their promises when there is a 100% likelihood their reverse-engineering efforts came up short.
Word is the format of choice even in the free-software-world
Only when Microsoft releases a 100% complete and comprehensible document explaining every aspect of the Word formats (yes there are more than one). Given that it is not in their financial interest to do so, I can guarantee that Word will basically never become the format of choice outside of the Microsoft micro-universe.
The most likely outcome is that one of the emerging XML formats, such as that for OpenOffice.org, will become the de-facto standard for editable document exchange. By then, I hope that Microsoft will be little more than a niche figment of their former selves (not unlike SCO, soon).
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Unless you can think of another file format that copes with tables, images, headers, footers, embedded documents, version control and all the other things that most of us use on a regular basis.
Perhaps the Docbook editor being added to OpenOffice.org will provide some relief. HTML isn't totally out of question, either (except that Word screws up HTML, too). And, once OpenOffice.org picks up more steam, its own plain-text XML file format should be widely understood, too.
Non-trivial documents should be done in LaTeX or Docbook, anyway, because they are much more robust and capable than Word. Word is really only appropriate for memos or reports, at most. Textbooks and standards documents done in Word are pretty sad.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin