“At any time, Linus Torvalds could take his kernel and go home.
Copyright it. Join a vendor and throw his weight behind a
particular Linux version. Any of those scenarios would be
devastating to Linux as an open-source operating system. Very
simply, Linus controls Linux.”
“That he doesn’t exert his control in corporate-minded ways is
of critical importance to the Linux community.”
“What many in that community don’t want to hear, however, is
that Linux’s continued growth and success depends on a few
individuals. Despite the belief that a huge community of developers
forms and reforms Linux’s open source code base, it’s this
relatively small groupled by Torvaldsthat controls the
platform.”
“Red Hat Software Inc. proved the point in its SEC S-1 filing
for an initial public offering earlier this month”