“I’m leaving the Linux world and Intel for a bit for family reasons,” he wrote. “I’m aware that ‘family reasons’ is usually management speak for ‘I think the boss is an asshole’ but I’d like to assure everyone that while I frequently think Linus is an asshole (and therefore very good as kernel dictator) I am departing quite genuinely for family reasons and not because I’ve fallen out with Linus or Intel or anyone else. Far from it I’ve had great fun working there.”
Cox also made it clear that — contrary to speculation on Slashdot — he is not quitting Linux because of the recently released Fedora 18 distribution. “In fact I run several distros (Fedora still included),” he wrote on Google+. And he added that he “may be back at some point in the future.”