Linus to work full-time on Linux

[Gary Wilson]

June 17, 2003
Linus Torvalds Joins Development Group
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 3:30 p.m. ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- The creator of the Linux
operating system is joining a global development group
to focus on further improving the open-source
software.

Linus Torvalds said Tuesday he is taking a leave from
his research job at chip-maker Transmeta Corp.

He will become the first fellow at the Beaverton,
Ore.-based Open Source Development Lab, which is
funded by high-tech companies to, among other things,
enhance Linux for corporate data centers. At the lab,
he will focus on the next major revision of the Linux
core, or kernel.

``It feels a bit strange to finally officially work on
what I've been doing for the last 12 years, but with
the upcoming 2.6.x release it makes sense to be able
to concentrate fully on Linux,'' he said.

Torvalds, then a university student in Finland,
created Linux in 1991 to bring the power and
reliability of the Unix operating system to relatively
inexpensive computers based on Intel Corp.
microprocessors. He freely distributed the software,
requiring that improvements also be open and freely
distributed.

In recent years, it has become a low-cost alternative
to proprietary Unix operating systems such as
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP/UX, IBM Corp.'s AIX and Sun
Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris. Some companies and
government agencies also have embraced Linux over the
dominant Windows operating system from Microsoft Corp.

The research firm Gartner predicts Linux may have 15
percent of the worldwide server market by 2007.

Torvalds, who joined Transmeta before it launched its
Crusoe microprocessor in 2000, is taking an indefinite
leave from the chip maker. Neither he nor the company
have elaborated on his role at Transmeta since he
joined six years ago.

The Open Source Development Lab is sponsored by
Computer Associates, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel,
NEC and others.



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