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Alan Cox Leaves Red Hat

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bet-wherever-he's-going-he'll-have-electricity-and-heat dept.

ruphus13 writes "Alan Cox — one of the lead Linux kernel developers at Red Hat — is leaving the company after 10 years and is heading to Intel, where he can focus on more low-level development tasks. Some are speculating whether this is indicative of a shift to a more 'application-centric' vision at Red Hat. From the article: 'Red Hat is integrating more application related, user- and enterprise-centric tools into its well-established "low-level," "core" development and support tools. It'd be more worrisome if Red Hat neglected to strike out in this direction. Cox was with Red Hat for ten years, and regardless of any suspected change of course within the company, that's a fair amount of time.'"

3 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. There is speculation... by Chris_Jefferson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Where does there always have to be speculation, from completely uninformed people? From my little knowledge of Alan Cox, from mailing lists, he always seems like the kind of guy who likes the lower-level details, and I imagine that few companies will be more interested in tweaking and improving the low levels than Intel. If they saw his obvious talent, and offered him a better job at better pay, then why not move? Alan Cox leaving Redhat doesn't have to say anything bad about them, maybe it says something good about Intel, and the things they are getting more involved in?

    --
    Combination - fun iPhone puzzling
    1. Re:There is speculation... by Spoke · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking.

      For as long as I've been following (and been ever so slightly involved in) Linux development, oh, say from the mid-late 90s, Alan Cox has nearly always been there hacking primarily on device drivers.

      Intel has steadily picked up more Linux kernel hackers over the past 5 years or so who seem to focus on device drivers (e1000 NIC drivers) but also employ others who have very broad-based and deep knowledge of the kernel. Alan Cox seems to be a good fit with his long history of kernel development and focus on low-level drivers.

      So good for Alan for changing things up a bit, and good for Intel for hiring another full-time Linux developer! Hopefully this leaves room for Red Hat to pick up another developer in his place.

  2. Alan Cox is a Good Influence by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What I have observed about Alan Cox in the lkml:
    1. Does not buy into hero worship of kernel developers no matter how senior.
    2. Does not get nasty when outsiders address him in the mailing list.
    3. Is a champion of 'perfect is the enemy of the good' principle.
    4. Does not froth at the mouth when someone mentions business reasons for needing a particular addition or change.

    There are many on that list with big names that stumble on one or more of the above.