What if Linus died?

[mengle]

I apologize in advance for the morbid question but I'm curious what would happen to Linux if Linus passed away? Is there enough cooperation at the top levels to keep the kernel going or would there be some sort of split in the Linux community? I'm curious about anyone's comments or ideas?

[mairving]

It is open-source so Linus is not the only one working on it. It would be a great loss but Linux would still be developed. It would probably not be as bad as if Bill Gates died. Mainly because their stock would nosedive.

[Trogdor]

I think you mean, not as good as if Bill died.

[mengle]

Ha, Ha. Trogdor the Burninator. Very nice! I renamed my the cat, "The Cheat".

[evulish]

I call my mom Homestar.

</troll>

[serz]

Originally posted by mairving
It is open-source so Linus is not the only one working on it. It would be a great loss but Linux would still be developed. It would probably not be as bad as if Bill Gates died. Mainly because their stock would nosedive.
Agreed.

[sasKuatch]

I also agree, but who would jump in knee-deep into a kernel (a small program's one thing to pick up) and continue working on it?

I dunno, I can't ever understand anybody's work.

[Satanic Atheist]

Hmmm. If Linus bought the farm...

Well, I can see Microsoft shares going through the roof, Bill Gates forcing Dubya to issue a national holiday, lots of Linux users being rather peeved and the conspiracy theorists going into overdrive.

And if all that happens, Satan will be skating to work.

(Lets hope Bill goes first so we can set the pace for a party).

James

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by sasKuatch
I also agree, but who would jump in knee-deep into a kernel (a small program's one thing to pick up) and continue working on it? Oh, I don't know, maybe people like Ted T'so (author of much filesystem code), Alan Cox (the maintainer of kernel 2.2 IIRC), Jens Axboe, H. Peter Anvin, Jeff Garzik, Marcelo Tosatti (maintainer of 2.4), Ingo Molnar (O(1) scheduler, among other things), Rik van Riel, Rusty Russell, Stephen C. Tweedie, Al Viro, Robert Love, Richard Gooch, etc., etc.

Maybe the thousands of people subscribed to linux-kernel.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe they'll all disband and they'll have to be replaced... :eek:

(:p)

[questionasker]

i cant believe you could think of such a thing.

:aghast:

[Kaligraphic]

The seas would run black, the sky grow pale,
The winds would howl, the mountains quail,
The dead in their graves would rise to say,
In words echoing to the final day,
A toast to the man with the nine-foot penis,
The hacker we all know and love as Linus.

[CaptainPinko]

Originally posted by Kaligraphic
The seas would run black, the sky grow pale,
The winds would howl, the mountains quail,
The dead in their graves would rise to say,
In words echoing to the final day,
A toast to the man with the nine-foot penis,
The hacker we all know and love as Linus.

LINE-us does not rhyme wit PEE-nis, but thanks for coming out.


--

ps- where is the cheat?

[mengle]

Hmm...I think more what I meant was if people thought there was enough unity in the linux community to keep things going without ending up in a lot of battles. I would guess that Linus' individual control over the present kernel is enough to keep everyone in line who has differeing opinions about what should and shouldn't be included. In a way, it seems to me that Linus is kind of a dictator (since he has the final say on everything) which tends to make things efficient. If he was gone (please help us, no) it seems like there would be more room for democracy (i.e., arguments) and the potential for splinter groups to form or for things to slow down to a snail's pace as more debate is opened up to a larger group (Think congress or any other deomcratic or republic type government - doesn't exactly strike me as very efficient per se).

[leonpmu]

1) I read in an article the other day (I think one of my Linux mags) that Linux was preparing someone as it were to eventually replace him, so I think that maybe he too has started to consider an eventuality like him quitting or , heaven forbd, had an accident of some sort

2) There is some controversy over the pronounciation of his name and the OS some call it LIENIX (phonetics) other LEEENUCKS, so if our fantastic poet was using the second promounciation, it would, erm, rhyme.

just my 2c

[mrBen]

If you watch Revolution OS (and you really should) in the interview Linus says that he doesn't mind how people pronounce his name, because they do it differently in each country, but that Linux should always be pronounced Lin-(to rhyme with bin)-ux (with a short sound, rather than a long 'ucks', so that the emphasis is on the first syllable).

[Parcival]

1) Linus is smart - so he surely has already considered what could/should happen once he's no more.

2) If you don't believe in democracy, that's your problem - but the longterm successes in a democracy override the temporary efficiency of fascism by far.

[sasKuatch]

Originally posted by bwkaz
Oh, I don't know, maybe people like Ted T'so (author of much filesystem code), Alan Cox (the maintainer of kernel 2.2 IIRC), Jens Axboe, H. Peter Anvin, Jeff Garzik, Marcelo Tosatti (maintainer of 2.4), Ingo Molnar (O(1) scheduler, among other things), Rik van Riel, Rusty Russell, Stephen C. Tweedie, Al Viro, Robert Love, Richard Gooch, etc., etc.

Maybe the thousands of people subscribed to linux-kernel.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe they'll all disband and they'll have to be replaced... :eek:

(:p)

Well, that's reassuring enough, thanks.:)