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Linus Moves To OSDL, Will Work On Kernel Full-Time 400

Posted by timothy from the send-linus-more-penguins-for-his-desk dept.
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.
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Linus Moves To OSDL, Will Work On Kernel Full-Time More

Linus Moves To OSDL, Will Work On Kernel Full-Time

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  • Go, Linus, go... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Will this mean we get kernel releases daily? Like in the old times? Will we have 3.0.0 this xmas? I'm soo exited!!!!

  • Kernel Mailing List Email (Score:5, Informative)

    by haydenth ( 588730 ) <haydenth.msu@edu> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:48AM (#6221230)
    From: Linus Torvalds
    To: Kernel Mailing List
    Subject: Linux v2.5.72 and a move to OSDL
    Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 21:35:09 -0700 (PDT)

    Ok, I waited too long for 2.5.71, so here's a more timely 2.5.72
    release.

    It's extra timely largely because the hash list poisoning found some
    problems in the RPC code, making NFS break. Trond found and fixed the
    breakage, so 2.5.72 should work fine in an NFS environment too. Let's
    see if the list poisoning shows any other dodgy list users. Knock wood.

    Also, Arnaldo has cleaned up a lot of the networking code to use the
    generic hash lists, instead of the old ad-hoc net-specific list walking
    code. That code has been tested pretty well, but please holler if you
    see something.

    Changelog for other details appended.

    The other big news - well, for me personally, anyway - is that I've
    decided to take a leave-of-absense after 6+ years at Transmeta to
    actually work full-time on the kernel.

    Transmeta has always been very good at letting me spend even an
    inordinate amount of time on Linux, but as a result I've been feeling a
    little guilty at just how little "real work" I got done lately. To fix
    that, I'll instead be working at OSDL, finally actually doing Linux as
    my main job.

    [ I do not expect a huge amount of change as a result, testament to just /how/ freely Transmeta has let me do Linux work. My email address will
    change to "torvalds@osdl.org" effective July 1st, but everybody is
    trying to make the transfer as smooth as possible, so we'll make sure
    that there will be sufficient address overlap etc to not cause any
    problems ]

    OSDL and Transmeta will have a joint official (read: "boring". You
    should have seen the bio - that didn't make it - that I suggested for
    myself for it ;) press-release about this tomorrow morning, but I just
    wanted to say thanks to Transmeta. It has been a special place to work
    for, and hello to OSDL that I hope will be the same.

    Snif. I'm actually all teary-eyed.

    Linus

  • Yes, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by jkrise ( 535370 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:51AM (#6221236) Journal
    Has he got his clearance certificate from SCO?
    Have the Chinese agreed to 'release' him from Transmeta?
    (this last one hurts a bit)...
    while extolling the Linux kernel, we used to say:
    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...

    Anyways, all the best!

    • Re:Yes, but... (Score:4, Funny)

      by KingDaveRa ( 620784 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:55AM (#6221251) Homepage
      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... Well, now he has all the spare time in the world. Maybe we should get him a part time job, cleaning or something, then he's still not working on the kernel fulltime?

    • Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ajs ( 35943 ) <ajs.ajs@com> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @08:38AM (#6221940) Homepage Journal
      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.

      • Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Saint Stephen ( 19450 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @10:54AM (#6223224) Homepage Journal
        The actual number of people maintaining the NT Kernel is comparable. The Kernel perf team (with whom I worked) is about 3 people. That total team responsible for the kernel is maybe 50 people -- similar #s for SQL Server.

        There are hordes of "evangelists" and "managers" surrounding the core team. But within the small core group, the personalities and philosphies of the NT team and the Linux folks are remarkably similar, with the minor exception that neither understands why the hell the other exists!

  • Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:52AM (#6221240) Homepage

    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.

    • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:57AM (#6221262)
      I was looking at transmeta based notebooks, couldn't seem to find one that shipped without windowsXP. Hands up anybody who thinks this strange.
      • hands up! however, i have a transmeta based notebook and can't say anything bad about it (other than XP being there, which i'm required to keep...). with two full batterys i get about 10 hours of juice, which is just awesome. and as far as processing power, how much do you really need on a laptop? most of the time you're just surfing the web and writing so it's not that important to have a render-farm of processing power.

      • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by samhalliday ( 653858 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @08:56AM (#6222085) Homepage Journal
        why bother with putting GNU/Linux on a laptop? i mean, we are all so fussy over which version of what-not we want anyway, that we'd just end up cfdisking it anyway... :-/

        the best you can ask for with a laptop is a ditributor who is prepared to sell it OS free, and knock a few £ (or $) off the asking price because of that.

        • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by dasunt ( 249686 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @10:26AM (#6222939)

          The nice thing about Linux/BSD (compared to Windows) is that for older laptops, Linux gets you more bang for the buck.

          I'm not sure what your typical laptop usage is for, but I tend to use my laptop for email, news, coding and light web browsing.

          Either I'm stuck with older windows OSes and unpatched software, or I can throw in a debian cd, install only what I need, and have a fast enough system for 90% of what I do.

      • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by mj01nir ( 153067 ) * on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @11:05AM (#6223337)
        Yeah, especially when they came out with Midori [transmeta.com] and were touting embedded devices. Sadly, Midori hasn't been updated in almost two years. I still run it on my Compaq IA-1 [ia1hacking.com] and it does what I need it to do, but it would be nice to see some new features / updated packages.

    • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:14AM (#6221339)
      I've been critical of Transmeta for their hype-building. But one should give them credit for attempting a very tough feat: trying to build an x86 compatible CPU that is faster than both Intel and AMD. This is *not* easy. Particularly since they came on the scene right in the middle of particularly fierce AMD/Intel performance competition. They failed, so they repurposed their design for small power requirements, which is respectable and a reasonable attempt to recover the original investment. And now they find that beating ARM isn't that easy either, eh? Quelle surprise.

      • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Horny Smurf ( 590916 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @09:15AM (#6222238) Journal
        except that they weren't "trying to build an x86 compatible CPU that is faster than both Intel and AMD" -- they were trying to build a low-power x86 compatible chip.


        Unfortunately, the CPU isn't the biggest power hog in a notebook, and their cost/power/speed ratio wasn't much better than slowed down pentiums.


        I'm actually very excited by their technology. But the only Crusoe laptops I've seen for sale have had tiny screens and huge price tags. It would be less expensive to buy an iBook/PowerBook and virtual PC than most Crusoe laptops.

    • Re:Transmeta, Linus and Marketing... (Score:5, Funny)

      by geesus ( 545118 ) <paul@nOsPAM.crib.ath.cx> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:23AM (#6221381) Homepage
      Have you SEEN linus? If hes a posterboy then I have a shoe in at beauty contests ;)
    • Wrong!!! Transmeta hiring Linus was not merely for publicity. They needed his coding expertise. Unless, of course, you say that he was party to this, just to justify your speculation - after he was allowed to speak about what Transmeta is doing (it was secret for years) he spoke in superlative terms about the innovation and excitement involved in creating the code-morphing technology that Transmeta implemented in their Crusoe chips.
      As Torvalds tells it, "The first day ... when they were giving me a feel for what went on at Transmeta. I went back to the hotel that evening and I thought, "These people are CRAZY!" This was more than three years ago, when Transmeta had not a single chip. The simulations ran at GLACIAL speed. Still, The next day, I basically decided that, if I am to go to work for a company, I want to go to work for a company that does something fun - something interesting. And the first, initial reaction that, 'These people are crazy!' is a positive reaction in that sense." So why choose a chip company, when every Linux start-up in the world was after him? Torvalds explains, "I've obviously gotten a lot of job offers from Linux companies, but I didn't want to polarize the Linux market. I'm really happy being an engineer at a company that is very interested in Linux, but is not seen as a Linux company. We're a chip company where Linux is seen as part of a much larger strategy - and that's something I find very comfortable. Besides, Transmeta has been able to give me opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have had. It's also a very cool vehicle for doing debugging, when you control the whole chip!" And Torvalds' skill as a debugger is legendary around Transmeta. "He's a god," says Dave Taylor, a co-developer of the original Quake who gave up being CEO of his own company to work for Transmeta. "He can look at a Linux display and somehow predict, just from the way it misbehaves, exactly where, in 100,000 lines of code, the problem is. And, nine times out of 10, he's right."
      Read the rest here. [linuxtoday.com] Also, this [linuxjournal.com] might also be of interest. So no, he was not just a posterboy there.

      • And Linux... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by MosesJones ( 55544 )

        And the number of Linux purposed Transmeta systems out there ? Or Server based systems ? Transmeta is aiming at the notebook market where Linux is pretty much unheard of, then at the lower-scale where again the majority of systems are not Linux.

        I have no doubt the guy is brilliant, but isn't it a bit strange given the markets Transmeta aimed at that they wanted lots of Linux development.

        • Re:And Linux... (Score:3, Interesting)

          by crisco ( 4669 )
          Get on Google and search for Transmeta and blade and see for yourself.

          RLX Technologies helped push the 'blade' server concept to the place it is today, with most of the major hardware companies offering something along the same concept in the pages of the trade glossies. RLX started with the original Crusoe chip and continues to make Transmeta servers, as seen in this article.

  • This comes at a surprising time... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by greppling ( 601175 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:53AM (#6221247)
    ...as he is just about to hand over maintenance of 2.5/2.6 to Andrew Morton. So maybe he actually hopes to do some hacking again, instead of just integrating other peoples' work. Cool!

    • Re:This comes at a surprising time... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by chabotc ( 22496 ) <chabotc&gmail,com> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @08:16AM (#6221748) Homepage
      Actually if you break ./ tradition and read the article, you'll notice it says "I do not expect a huge amount of change as a result, testament to just /how/ freely Transmeta has let me do Linux work"

      The motivation he gives for the move seems to involve more around "Transmeta has always been very good at letting me spend even an inordinate amount of time on Linux, but as a result I've been feeling a little guilty at just how little "real work" I got done lately"

      If anything, if he's switching desks and work envirioment, it'll slow him down for a little bit to get settled in again

    • Re:This comes at a surprising time... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @08:57AM (#6222089) Homepage
      The actual rumors are that he is going to spearhead the jump to the 3.0 kernel...

      A major rewrite is rumored to be in store for linux to give us some features that other OS's only dream of.

      But these are purely the wil rumors that are running around and I give no credibility to.

  • Again!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Spackler ( 223562 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:54AM (#6221250) Journal
    OSDN, The parent of Slashdot, has filed a lawsuit against Linus today for cut-and-pasting the first three letters of OSDN.

    CmdrTaco was quoted and saying "Linus and this Shift-Insert stuff is getting WAY out of control".

    Linus was unavailable to paste in a reply.

    • Re:Again!!! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:05AM (#6221295)
      In the latest development in the OSDN and OSDL. SCO (a leading supplier of litigation to businesses) has threatened to sue both OSDN and OSDL for using the letters 'S' and 'O'.

      Dunce Mcbribe was quoted as saying "The letters 'S' and 'O' are our intellectual property and we believe that they occur in the names of many businesses".

      The world was to busy laughing to reply.

    • mind you, he might be using an transmeta XP laptop

  • Linus career path (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:55AM (#6221255)
    1. Work on open source projects
    2. No profit
    3. Get jealous; go to .com startup; startup tanks
    4. No profit
    5. Return to open source projects
    6. No profit

    • Re:Linus career path (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mbrod ( 19122 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @12:47PM (#6224424) Homepage Journal

      1. Work on open source projects
      2. No profit
      3. Get jealous; go to .com startup; startup tanks
      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

  • Too expensive for Transmeta? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mseeger ( 40923 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:55AM (#6221257)
    Hi,

    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

  • Predicted itinerary... (Score:5, Funny)

    by AlphaSys ( 613947 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:57AM (#6221263)
    His itinerary includes a brief stop-over in Utah, during which time he will hunt down Darl McBride and maul his body beyond recognition. His court defense will be temporary sanity and David Boies will merrily defend him to acquittal.

  • "I'm actually all teary-eyed." (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @06:57AM (#6221264)
    There's a leak in the Linus kernel, someone please post a patch.

  • Guy is crazy! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OpenSourced ( 323149 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:01AM (#6221281) Journal
    Leaving his new, shiny, recently minted e-mail address in the open like that, with all the nasty spammers that prowl the wilderness. Poor, poor address. I notice that his "old" address is properly obscured, but the "new" one is not. Sad mistake :o(

  • Slashdot effect (Score:5, Funny)

    by stephanruby ( 542433 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:02AM (#6221282)
    Now, let's not all sell our Transmetta stock at the same time...

  • It made the NYTimes and Kudos to Transmeta (Score:5, Informative)

    by NZheretic ( 23872 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:02AM (#6221283) Homepage Journal
    Its made the NYTimes: Prominent Programmer Will Leave Transmeta [nytimes.com].

    Kudos to Transmeta for hiring Linus in the first place ( even if they did transport him to the USA in reach of overlitigious bastards such as The SCO Group ) and supporting his work on Linux for so many years.

  • Hmmm, SCO related? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LinuxGeek ( 6139 ) <djand.nc@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:02AM (#6221284)
    Is this related to Transmeta wanting to distance themselves from Linux until the SCO bull$hit is resolved? Hopefully it will be quick, but I can't help but wonder what kind of ace SCO is holding in reserve. Even if they don't really have an ace, businesses seem to be preparing themselves for the possibility that SCO may win a partial victory.

    • Re:Hmmm, SCO related? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by mormop ( 415983 )
      I can't help but wonder what kind of ace SCO is holding in reserve

      I can't wait to see what kind of ace IBM have in their huge patent library. If SCO claim they didn't know their own code was in their own version of Linux they may have overlooked IBM code being there as well

    • 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?

  • Interesting timing. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Picass0 ( 147474 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:02AM (#6221285) Homepage Journal
    A year's leave also just happens to give him time where he could be an expert witness or consultant in certain legal matters [slashdot.org].

  • List poisoning clearification. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:03AM (#6221287)
    Excuse my ignorance but what is List Poisoning?
    I feel like I should know this but I don't.

    • Re:List poisoning clearification. (Score:5, Informative)

      by SpaceLifeForm ( 228190 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:57AM (#6221603)
      My reading on this is as follows.
      An entry on a linked list is to be freed.
      Upon it being removed from the list, it's pointers (prev/next) are 'poisoned'
      by being set to hopefully really, really invalid addresses.
      This is to catch any bad code that continues to use the now invalidated pointers.
      The bad addresses should cause an opps instead of allowing the code to possibly trash other valid data structures.

      Clarifications welcome.

  • Changes (Score:5, Funny)

    by slashd'oh ( 234025 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:07AM (#6221304) Homepage
    There's something about these two changes I find amusing. I admit I have no idea what they mean, which is probably why:

    Daniel Ritz:
    o [PCMCIA] fix yenta unload oops

    David S. Miller:
    o [TCP]: Use proper time_*() comparisons on jiffies

    • Re:Changes (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:17AM (#6221351)
      yenta unload: now with 20% more chutzpah there, goyim

    • Re:Changes (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm just quessing here, but I think the following explains everything:

      'yenta' is probably just a some PCMCIA card driver module that you can load and unload. Unloading causes an 'oops' which means a kernel bug (access to some unallocated memoryspace etc.).

      'jiffies' are one kind of time units. On 2.2 and 2.4 series, jiffies run at 100Hz - on 2.5/2.6 series, it will run at 1000Hz. It's just an incremental value that is used in time related jobs.

      One related problem is a 'jiffie wraparound' that causes uptim

  • About OSDL... (Score:5, Informative)

    by sould ( 301844 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:11AM (#6221324) Homepage
    from here: [osdl.org]


    OSDL is dedicated to enabling Linux and Linux-based applications for data center and carrier-class deployment. We provide the crucial hardware for testing and development at this level, giving open source developers around the world the resources needed to bring Linux further into telecommunications and the enterprise. We are an independently governed, non-profit organization supported by 21 industry leaders.


    Sounds cool

  • Linus: so thoughtful, human, and down to earth. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lethyos ( 408045 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:13AM (#6221338) Journal
    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.

    • Re:Linus: so thoughtful, human, and down to earth. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by drix ( 4602 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @01:46PM (#6224983) Homepage
      Time to brush up on your Ayn Rand and your ESR. Most open-source developers (including me) couldn't care less about "the benefit of everyone on earth", "the common good", or any of those other throwaway commie bromides. We're doing it to "scratch an itch"--either we want some software that doesn't currently exist, and the fastest way to make it exist is to fire up a project and harness the collborative power of the Internet; or we're intellectually attracted to some or another project that our day job doesn't let us touch on. Assuming we even code for a day job. It has way less to do with altruism than you make it sound. Humans are selfish.
      • Time to brush up on your Ayn Rand and your ESR. Most open-source developers (including me) couldn't care less about "the benefit of everyone on earth", "the common good", or any of those other throwaway commie bromides.

        I love it. You even used the word bromide. Let's see if we can't work the phrase "angular planes of his face" into there too...

  • Additional related stuff. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bootsy Collins ( 549938 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:17AM (#6221355)
    I submitted this a few hours ago (always a bridesmaid, *snif*), along with two links not in the story above. One was to the NY Times story [nytimes.com] about it. The other was to this story [wired.com] which just came out at Wired . . .a brief interview with Linus about his efforts to stand apart from political issues surrounding Open Source, which refers to the discussion here on Slashdot [slashdot.org] about his opinions on incorporating DRM into the Linux kernel (among other things).

  • OSDL money (Score:5, Funny)

    by lovebyte ( 81275 ) * <lovebyte2000&gmail,com> on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:23AM (#6221379) Homepage
    From the nytimes article, about OSDL:
    The organization was created with an investment of $20 million from I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Computer Associates, NEC and Fujitsu.

    What no SCO?

  • The rats are abandoning the sinking ship! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Gnulix ( 534608 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:30AM (#6221408) Homepage
    Finally the SCO suit is showing some effect! Linux's leader is abdicating and fleeing the scene. Exactly as the nazis left Germany and took up hiding in South America.

    I guess that this means we can all get back to conducting serious business based on SCO Unix - the bread and butter of many a development company.

    (In 20 years time we'll probably see Torvalds daughter marrying the Swedish king!)

  • Changing jobs... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheShadow ( 76709 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:42AM (#6221479)
    While we are posting stories about people changing jobs...

    Just last week I started a new job after a long and tedious four and a half year tenure at my former job. In this new job I'll finally get to work on things other than fighting fires. I'm very excited. Just thought everyone would like to know.

  • Sue SCO (Score:3, Funny)

    by gspr ( 602968 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @07:43AM (#6221480)
    He should just sue SCO and live off the money... relaxing in a fabulous villa, doing a bit of kernel coding every now and then ;-)
  • ...posted on Slashdot, you ARE the alpha geek.

    That is all.

  • Wired article (Score:4, Funny)

    by OS390 ( 626227 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @08:55AM (#6222072)
    I was reading wired and they were talking about how after people leave their jobs after being interviewed in Wired. Barry Diller left Vivendi right after he was interviewed, and some other that I can remember because I left the issue at home. This was in the letters to the editor section for anyone that has a copy. One of the editors guessed that since Linus was getting interviewed in this months article, he was going to leave. He said something to the point of " anyone looking for a decent Unix programmer" in reference to Linus. Somebody should have the damn article.

    • Re:Wired article (Score:3, Informative)

      by wka ( 23275 )
      The piece mentioning Barry Diller, Howard Schmidt, and Linus can be found online here [wired.com]. It's the intorduction to their letters to the editior section.

  • Press release from Transmeta (Score:5, Informative)

    by heretic ( 5829 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @09:04AM (#6222160)

    Here's the press release [transmeta.com] alluded to in Linus' email. Still no mention of his leave being limited to one year.

    Linux Creator Linus Torvalds Joins OSDL

    First OSDL Fellow Will Devote Himself Exclusively to Linux Development

    BEAVERTON, OR, and SANTA CLARA, CA, June 17, 2003 â" OSDL, a non-profit, global consortium of leading technology companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux, and Transmeta Corporation (Nasdaq: TMTA), the leader in efficient computing, today announced that Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, will join OSDL as the first OSDL Fellow.

    As an OSDL fellow, Linus will work exclusively on leading the development of Linux, the open source software that he created in 1991 as a university student in Finland. Torvalds will dedicate himself now full-time to guiding a distributed team of thousands of Linux developers around the world. At OSDL, he will have hands-on access to its state-of-the-art computing resources and test facility. He will also help set priorities and direction for the Lab's different industry initiatives.

    "It feels a bit strange to finally officially work on what I've been doing for the last twelve years, but with the upcoming 2.6.x release it makes sense to be able to concentrate fully on Linux," Torvalds said. "OSDL is the perfect setting for vendor-independent and neutral Linux development."

    Founded in 2000, OSDL has data centers in Portland, Oregon and Yokohama, Japan used by Linux developers around the world. With investment backing from Computer Associates, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC and others, the lab sponsors key industry projects, including industry initiatives to enhance Linux for use in corporate data centers (Data Center Linux) and in telecommunications networks (Carrier Grade Linux). OSDL is increasingly being recognized as the center-of-gravity for the Linux industry: an important and independent central body that invests in the growth and innovation of Linux for the benefit of customers.

    "OSDL is a leading Linux-industry advocate with the single-minded focus of accelerating its use throughout the enterprise," said Stuart Cohen, OSDL CEO. "Linus' decision to join us is a confirmation of the importance of our mission. OSDL is the only organization where Linux developers, customers and vendors can all participate as equals. The addition of Linus' perspective and guidance to the Lab will enhance our value to all three of these groups."

    Linux is the fastest-growing operating system in the world. Revenue for Linux-based servers grew 62% in 2002, while overall sales of servers dropped 8%, according to Gartner Dataquest, a market research company. By 2007, Gartner predicts that Linux may grab 15% of the worldwide market.

    "Linus Torvalds adds tremendous credibility to OSDL's efforts to drive the evolution of Linux forward into enterprise computing and carrier environments," said George Weiss, vice president and research director for the research firm Gartner. "The computing market is still questioning how far and how fast Linux can go as an enterprise-ready platform. With Linus at OSDL, many will be looking for leadership from the lab for answers to those questions."

    Torvalds will join OSDL on leave from Transmeta Corporation, where he is currently a Transmeta Fellow. Transmeta is an OSDL member and worked with OSDL on the transition. "Linus has made substantial technological contributions as a member of our development team here at Transmeta," said Matthew R. Perry, president and CEO, Transmeta Corporation. "Transmeta appreciates and fully supports Linus' strong interest in devoting his attention and energy to certain emerging industry-wide Open Source initiatives at OSDL."

    About OSDL

    Founded in 2000, OSDL is dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux in the enterprise. Supported by a global consortium of IT industry leaders, OSDL provides state-of the-art computi

  • Cmdr Taco to take leave of absence (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @09:24AM (#6222310)
    Newswire:
    Cmdr Taco is taking an extended four-year leave of absence from Slashdot and will be going to the University of Michigan to learn Journalism. He'll also be taking courses in reality, spelling, housekeeping, grammar, shopping, ethics, marital skills and parenting, just in case he ever grows up, in which case he'll need minimal competency in all of these areas of human interaction.

  • Things I imagine "OSDL" might stand for (Score:5, Funny)

    by robson ( 60067 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @09:58AM (#6222646)
    Since I'm ignorant enough not to know what OSDL stands for, and lazy enough that I don't feel like searching for it, I'm just going to make something up. Here are my top 5 so far:

    1. Open Source Developer Land
    2. Oprah's Singular Dance Legends
    3. Oops, Stallman Dissed Linus
    4. O'Reilly Still Dignifies Linux
    5. Official Simpsons Disco Library

    (I suspect I'm on to something with #2...)

  • what a sweet deal Linus has (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ChristTrekker ( 91442 ) on Tuesday June 17, 2003 @10:25AM (#6222922)

    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.

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