Red Hat -- we rely upon Linus Torvalds, Alan Cox, David Miller and Stephen Tweedie

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

Interesting quote from Red Hat's June 4 SEC S-1 filing:


WE RELY ON THE SUPPORT OF LINUS TORVALDS AND OTHER PROMINENT
LINUX DEVELOPERS
 
    Our ability to release major upgrades of Red Hat Linux is
largely dependent upon the release of new versions of the Linux
kernel by Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the kernel.
The Linux kernel is the heart of the operating system. Mr.
Torvalds and a small group of engineers are primarily responsible
for the development and evolution of the kernel. If this group of
developers fails to further develop the Linux kernel, we will
have to either develop it ourselves or rely on another party to
develop it. This development effort could be costly and time
consuming, and could delay our product release and upgrade
schedule. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the kernel
would be available from a reliable alternative source. In
addition, any failure on the part of the kernel developers to
further develop the kernel could also stifle the development of
additional Linux-based applications. Moreover, if Mr. Torvalds or
other prominent Linux developers, such as Alan Cox, David Miller
or Stephen Tweedie, were to join one of our competitors, or if
they were to decide to no longer support us and our products in
particular, or Linux in general, our business, operating results
and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.


-- 
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org
love@cptech.org
202.387.8030; fax 202.234.5176