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Linus Torvalds quits Transmeta

Posted on 17 Jun 2003 at 12:24

Linus Torvalds, the brains behind the Linux operating system is to take a 'leave of absence' from his job at chip designers Transmeta and work full time on the Linux operating system. He has accepted the position of 'Fellow' at the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), an organisation which helps to build Enterprise class Linux software.

From his email announcing his move Torvalds is unclear whether the move is permanent or temporary. However, the move will come at a crucial time for Linux. Should SCO win its battle with IBM over the use of Unix code in Linux - with the implicit threat that SCO will go after the major Linux disties, the Linux community will be scrambling to rebuild the operating system with 'clean' code. Torvalds's leadership and guidance will be crucial.

And who is one of the backers of OSDL? None other than IBM, along with HP, Intel, NEC and Hitachi. The plot thickens...

In the email, Torvalds says '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.'

Quite what all this means for Transmeta remains to be seen. Through the Torvalds connection the chip designer managed to garner far more publicity than a normal start up although its products have found themselves struggling in the market. Without Torvalds presence, it may well find itself struggling to survive.