“At Linux in the long run I expressed the opinion that Linux in
general could suffer when Linus Torvalds steps aside or dies. That
opinion is generally unpopular with the Linux community, but I
think it’s defensible…“The ‘succession doesn’t matter’ arguments boil down to
demonstrating that Linus Torvalds doesn’t do all that much now, so
succession really won’t change much. Defenders are also quick to
argue that Linux is only responsible for the kernel anyway and that
most of the obstacles to widespread popularity come in other areas,
like the Desktop. Those arguments definitely have truth in them,
but there’s more to it…”