Advanced

Alan Cox: Moving on from Red Hat

Posted by Sander_Marechal on · 29 comments
LXer Linux News; By Sander Marechal ('s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands) 		Mail this story
Print this story

Linux Kernel developer Alan Cox has announced that he will be departing Red Hat for Intel. In an e-mail to the editors he explained that this move allows him to spend more time with his family and work even closer on the low level stuff that he really likes. Alan has been working on the Linux kernel since the early days in 1991 and has been contracted and employed by red Hat for ten years.

Linux Kernel developer Alan Cox has announced that he will be departing Red Hat for Intel. In an e-mail to the editors he explained that this move allows him to spend more time with his family and work even closer on the low level stuff that he really likes. Alan has been working on the Linux kernel since the early days in 1991 and has been contracted and employed by red Hat for ten years.

Subject: 	Moving on from Red Hat

I will be departing Red Hat mid January having handed in my
notice. I'm not going to be spending more time with the family,
gardening[1] or other such wonderous things. I'm leaving on good terms
and strongly supporting the work Red Hat is doing. I've been at Red Hat
for ten years as contractor and  employee and now have an opportunity to
get even closer to the low level stuff that interests me most. Barring
last minute glitches I shall be relocating to Intel (logically at least,
physically I'm not going anywhere) and still be working on Linux and free
software stuff.

I know some people will wonder what it means for Red Hat engineering. Red
Hat has a solid, world class, engineering team and my departure will have
no effect on their ability to deliver.

Alan
[1] I note that both the family and garden probably think I should

  Nav
» Read more about: Story Type: Announcements, News Story; Groups: Community, GNU, Intel, Kernel, Linux, Red Hat

» Get new stories by e-mail: nightly or as they are published

« Return to the newswire homepage

  Related stories
» More like this

Comments (29)

9 earlier comments in the full thread.

tracyanne ·
Quoting:Why is Alan Cox moving to the criminal organisation???


Of what crimes where they convicted?
Sander_Marechal Story submitter ·
@Scott & Carla: Thanks, but it was pure luck. I happened to check my mail mere seconds after the message arrived and posted it immediately.
Scott_Ruecker ·
I got it too but was at that time "caffeine deficient" and didn't even think to post it, unlike Sander thank goodness.. ;-)
tuxchick ·
Well, Alan didn't write to me, and I had my coffee. So credit is due :)
dinotrac ·
How did Roy manage to find a plot in this one? Alan Cox??

Please.

FWIW, I am sure -- and I certainly hope -- that they did pay him handsomely. He's worth it.
jezuch ·
Intel already employs some prominent Linux developers, BTW, and it has a comfortable spot near the top of the list of most prominent employers in LWN's regular "who wrote Linux" summaries. So, Roy, I guess we're using a criminal kernel, then.
penguinist ·
Alan,

A lot of us appreciate your outstanding kernel contributions over the years. Good luck in your new association with Intel.
schestowitz ·
jezuch,

It's not about employees. As Carla put it at the time:

http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-09-12-03...

"FOSS keeps people honest. That’s the #1 reason there is such strong, well-funded opposition to it. Honesty is Kryptonite to anyone who makes their living peddling lies. The big lie that gets my goat every time is these big tech companies that continually boast of their innovation. All they innovate are stagnation and barriers to innovation"

“The poster child for this is the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). Whatever you may think of OLPC itself, it spawned the netbook revolution. All those titans of industry have had the resources since forever to invent the netbook on their own. They all badmouthed and undermined OLPC. Now they can’t crank out their own OLPC ripoffs fast enough."

http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2006/09/intels_open_so...

http://kerneltrap.org/node/7184

“EX-INTEL ENGINEER CHARGED IN FRAUD ”

http://tinyurl.com/5vfvjs

http://charbax.com/2008/01/04/intel-diamondville-and-menlow-...

“2 days before Intel CEO Paul Otellini would unveil the Classmate 2 or the Intel-powered XO at the CES, Intel announced that they are quitting the OLPC board.”

“Intel claims that they are quitting because of Nicholas Negroponte wanting them to stop the promotion of the Classmate/Eee to education in third world countries, but I think that the real reason is that Intel does not have a good enough processor for the OLPC project to use as an alternative to the AMD Geode LX-700.”

“Intel has not been able to develop a processor to match the price, power consumption and performance requirements of the OLPC project. Paul Otellini could have looked like a fool at the CES if he had to unveil an Intel powered XO that was performing worse in terms of price and power consumption compared to the AMD powered one. “

(”Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ”)

[url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid={400315B0-E375-4920-B300-784220BEFE35}&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo]http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-pay...[/url]

Securities fraud (I know there was a recent 1-billion-dollar suit for their bribes with Dell)

Lenovo got financial help from Intel, claim [kickbacks]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37670

Negroponte says Intel should be “ashamed of itself”

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733

Then there was Microsoft’s bribe in Nigeria, where Intel also funded the cost of Classmates (selling at a loss):

http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-...

http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/pub...

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124

http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/11/intel_tortellini_epi...

http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/keyboard/olpc_patent_infrin...

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9827611-16.html?part=rss&...

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071203061340580

etc etc

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1636915.cms

”Intel eliminates salary allowances to stop fraud […] The Times of India had reported in September last year that the company was conducting a serious investigation into malpractices related to allowance claims, resulting in the exit of several hundred employees.”

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEED91631F...

Intel settled, i.e. bailed out. “In that suit, Intel has denied Intergraph’s accusations of fraud, theft of trade secrets and anticompetitive conduct.”

That 1999 settlement could be interesting. It’s also here:

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-7254914_IT...

FTC chief has antitrust plate full.

More here: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/browse...
Read the whole comment
bigg ·
Professor Schestowitz:

You may not care about my opinion, and I certainly don't care about yours.

But I will say that you know how to hurt FOSS at all times and in all places. You can find something bad to say about anyone, any company, any contributor to FOSS. Don't you get tired of trying to divide the community? Just once you should contribute something.

I can guarantee that both Alan Cox and Intel have done a lot more for FOSS than you ever will. Alan Cox knows why he went to Intel. If it's for the money, good for him, you are in no position to judge him. BTW, how much to you get paid from Microsoft?
tuxchick ·
I don't care for the slur on Alan Cox, which I missed on first read. "Why is Alan Cox moving to the criminal organisation??? They must have paid him handsomely." Alan is an honorable man and one of the pillars of Linux, and doesn't deserve to be slimed. For shame, Roy.
Sander_Marechal Story submitter ·
Agreed. Keep the slurs on your own site Roy.
azerthoth ·
@Roy, thanks for driving home my point from another thread, it's not about the man because all a man is, is who his his employer is. So I'll remind you as I did them, of Linus' days at Transmeta. A little more thinking cap and a little less tin foil hat, kthxby.
dinotrac ·
azer -

I fear you ask something unreasonable of Roy.

Have you ever seen a field goal kicker out of uniform? Not much to see.

What would Roy be without tin foil?
schestowitz ·
I have a lot of respect for Alax Cox. The bad word went to Intel, not him (maybe it was phrased poorly and now I can see it).
tuxchick ·
Brand X likes you too: Editor's Note: Holiday Greetings and Good Wishes, and The Big Story That Got Missed http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2008122401735OSCYKN

Alan Cox: Moving on from Red Hat http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/2008122302335INRH
Scott_Ruecker ·
Your so good to me Carla, I don't deserve you..lol!
azerthoth ·
As long as the check clears on time she'll remain your friend. I was 2 days late with one payment last year and she hasn't been nice to me since.

/humor
dinotrac ·
Azer -

She let you go 2 days?

Boy, have I got a bone to pick!
tuxchick ·
It's just business, sheesh. Anyway you got to meet my good friend Bruno.

Post a comment

A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.

Your message:
|||||
10
Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help

Sign up and post (it is free)  or  Log in and post