Torvalds flies Transmeta nest

The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, has left chip manufacturer Transmeta Corporation to devote himself to developing the Linux kernel.

The Linux legend will move to the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), a non-profit global consortium of technology companies dedicated to accelerating adoption of the open source operating system, which Torvalds created in 1991 as a university student in Finland.

As a fellow at the OSDL, Torvalds will work exclusively on leading the development of Linux with a distributed team of thousands of developers around the world.

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

"The OSDL is the perfect setting for vendor-independent and neutral Linux development."

The move was welcomed by industry watchers. George Weiss, vice president and research director at Gartner, said: "Torvalds adds tremendous credibility to the OSDL's efforts to drive the evolution of Linux forward into enterprise computing and carrier environments.

"The computing market is still questioning how far and how fast Linux can go as an enterprise-ready platform. With Torvalds at the OSDL, many will be looking for leadership from the lab for answers to those questions."

Founded in 2000, the OSDL's data centres in Portland, Oregon and Yokohama, Japan are used by Linux developers.

With investment backing from Computer Associates, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, NEC and others, the lab sponsors industry projects, including initiatives to enhance Linux for use in corporate data centres (Data Center Linux) and in telecoms networks (Carrier Grade Linux).

Stuart Cohen, chief executive at the OSDL, said: "Torvalds's decision to join us is a confirmation of the importance of our mission.

"The OSDL is the only organisation where Linux developers, customers and vendors can all participate as equals.

"The addition of Torvalds's perspective and guidance to the lab will enhance our value to all three of these groups."

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