“Five years ago, Linus Torvalds faced a mutiny. The reclusive
Finn had taken the lead in creating the Linux computer operating
system, with help from thousands of volunteer programmers, and the
open-source software had become wildly popular for running Web
sites during the dot-com boom. But just as Linux was taking off,
some programmers rebelled. Torvalds’ insistence on manually
reviewing everything that went into the software was creating a
logjam, they warned. Unless he changed his ways, they might concoct
a rival software package–a threat that could have crippled Linux.
‘ ‘Everybody knew things were falling apart,’ recalls Larry McVoy,
a programmer who played peacemaker. ‘Something had to be
done…'”