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Responding to the news of an incendiary study that 'directly challenges Linus Torvalds' claim to be the inventor of Linux,' Torvalds emailed LinuxWorld to say 'Okay, I admit it. I was just a front-man for the real fathers of Linux, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus'.

The controversial study by the President of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Kenneth Brown, draws on three decades of Linux and Free Software heritage and concludes 'To this day, we have a serious attribution problem in software development because people have chosen to scrupulously borrow or imitate Unix.'

The study highlights the dangers of using an operating system, parts of which are contributed by developers that 'speak of intellectual property rights with open contempt,' said Gregory Fossedal, a Tocqueville senior fellow.

Torvalds said he was fed up with being a front man for Santa and Toothie: 'I've lived a life of subterfuge, always afraid that somebody would find out the truth. I'm actually relieved that it's over, and that the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute has finally uncovered the lie.'

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institute receives Microsoft funding.