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'..."

Re:Explain to me..

[Zachary Kessin]

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.

Taking Over

[njvic]

Now it sounds like the 2.2 kernel is up for grabs to someone who is 'good at refusing patches and being ignored'...

OK here's the chance for a question I've always had to be answered.

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 timing.

[digrieze]

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).

a year to get an MBA?

[Anonymous Coward]

i highly doubt that.. it takes AT LEAST 3, if lucky, years to get an MBA..

Re:Well if it's up for grabs...

[BlackHawk-666]

I think they mean getting ignored by Linus when he submits patches to him. Linus is world famous for ignoring patches multiple times and never replying to emails.

To Quote My Parents

[Raven42rac]

"You're taking a year off, do you want to be a loser or something?" Is Alan like, insecure about his job prospects, or just likes learning? I would err towards the latter.

Re:MBA?

[grug0]

Yeah, America is just so darned under-productive and economically lagging behind powerhouses like Europe and Japan.

To get back to the point, perhaps the guy wants to round out his education and skills. I know many people who find specialising in science and technology alone stifling.

An MBA has Nothing To Do With Coding Jobs

[Carnage4Life]

Apart from being 'funny', honestly why would Alan Cox need any degree or certification? He can go to any Linux development company and put his resume on the table:

All of Alan Cox's credentials as a kernel hacker can get him is a job as a coder (software developer, senior developer, development lead, etc). In some places it may be enough to get him a job as a software architect depending on the kind of company he tries to get work at.

However if Alan wants to break into upper management or start his own company then all his l337 kernel hacking skills aren't worth a hill of beans compared to the knowledge he could get from an MBA and the doors it opens.

Funnily enough, I was just thinking about going back to school for an MBA in a year or two but wondered if it would be a bad idea for a person so interested in technical pursuits. But if Alan Cox can do it I don't see why I can't.

Thanks for the inspiration Alan.

Re:a year to get an MBA?

[Anonymous Coward]

It might take three years if you are slow or part time or getting a dual degree. There are a number of executive and accelerated programs that cost more but deliver the same degree as a standard program and they complete in 12-18 months.

In fact, the executive programs may be better for your career. The executive programs are usually cohort programs and your cohorts are usually already high ranking executives at big companies. So the contacts you get are worth the extra cost.

The $699 question...

[adamofgreyskull]

...what uni is he going to? Moreover..how many geeks would apply there just to be near him? :o)

Vice Linus Torvalds Who?

[4of12]

I've always been impressed with how much Alan Cox does for the Linux kernel.

He's technically very sharp and handles an incredible amount of incoming patches, very professionally.

For his talents, he ought to be paid handsomely, but for a number of years he's simply been a trusted chief lieutenant in charge of operations for the Linux kernel. Linus gets his mug on the magazines, while Alan Cox is pretty much known only in the geek community.

I hope Alan's MBA brings him the money he deserves. However, Linux kernel development will hiccough a bit more without him releasing all these 2.6.x-ac? kernels.

Re:MBA?

[mcgroarty]

Hint: Armed with an MBA, he'll be every venture capitalist's wet dream.

all that will be viable is lawyers and finance

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan wrote: all that will be viable is lawyers and finance [slashdot.org]

Alan is VERY smart. Is his quote above the real reason, why he seeks an alternative career opportunity? Tech as a profession is dead if you're living in the first world.

Welsh!!!

[tvm662]

Well good luck to Alan.

No doubt he will breeze throught the MBA, but learning welsh is another matter, its a really really hard language to learn.

For example in most languages you have to learn how the verbs change in the sentance, but in welsh the nouns change too! For example the welsh word for Wales is Cymru, but when you say Welcome to Wales, "Croeso i Gymru", the C changes to a G. My patents both tried to learn and found it very hard. But then Alan may be like a lot of Welsh people who learnt welsh at school and has forgotten it since in which case picking it up again might not be too bad.

Tom.

Life after Linux

[BigGerman]

I understand there is a small group of people (4-10) who are the highest level developers of Linux kernel. They are maintainers of the particular version trees, large areas of the kernel, etc.
This group is very small. What will happen when significant percentage of them loses interest in further kernel development? What will happen if Linus himself moves on?
And how does Linux situation compare to other OSS projects - Apache, BSD?

Re:Welsh!!!

[Viol8]

Welsh isn't the only language the nouns change in, Russian is notorious for it. In fact sometimes almost the entire word can change depending on case , plurality etc.
Of course all the verbs , adjectives and adverbs change too just to make it really fun and natural russian speakers have a tendency to slur words
together making it impossible sometimes to understand what they're saying. I know how a voice recognition system feels now when you
say "I see you" and it comes out with "Icy ewe".