Linus working for Bill, is this true?

One of my friends a couple of minutes mentioned to me that "The Linux Team" are going to work for microsoft because they are paying them something like 3 billion dollars, is there any truth in this at all?

If so, this would be bad, because then Linux would no longer be a player in the OS market, he siad that they were remaking Longhorn from scratch and "The Linux Team" are going to be doing some coding towards it, although this would be good from a certain perspective (hopefully better coding and less resource usage) it would basically mean the end of Linux, wouldn't it?

-Jimmy S

#237325

lol, is this a joke? there is no 'linux team', Linux is not a company that has special divisions and teams. Linux is only the kernel necessary to run an OS. Different people/companies decide to add a GUI and applications to that kernel so that the user will not be totally lost.

Linus Torvals is not the sole maintainer of the Linux kernel which is the core of any Linux distro, rather, his contribution has eroded greatly in recent years. He remains the final authority on what goes into the kernel (patches, et al.) but different people work on the kernel. Only about 2% of the current Linux kernel is the original work of Linus, so that's hard evidence that the kernel will not die if Linus leaves (almost impossible).

On the other hand, the kernel is also open source, so if he and others move on to Bill, Linux will not die, but the kernel will just be enhanced by others. And there are many capable and ready people to do that as Linux is going strong now and isn't just a hobbyists system anymore.

Anyway, its obvious that he was either: a) messing with you, or , totally clueless on the issue and trying to be a smart ass.

But one thing you need to realize is this; Linux is not a company, a single OS, or a team of people. Linux, or rather, GNU/Linux is a movement with more then 200 different distro's (distributions of kernel + apps, et al.) Linux is like a giant with many heads; you cut one, nine others grow.

more info about the Linux kernel on www.kernel.org

#237327

um i think this is rediculous and he is messing with you

#237328

Sorry, I was kind of in a blind panic there, Linux going down, but he did say that one of the major operating systems is going to disapear, he said that Microsoft were teaming up with someone to get rid of someone else, possibly getting rid of unix, therby eradicating apple (unless they build their own linux distro).

Its confusing I know, if I found out anything I'll let you know, if you find out anything, please post it here.

Thank you very much.

-Jimmy S

#237331

i think he needs a swift smack in the face... spreading his false propaganda

#237332

i think you`re way too easy to cheat?

#237336

watch the movies Revolutin OS and Pirates of Silicon Valley. It explains a lot. also quite humerous.

#237371

idiots.....i hope this isn't true. however, it's very likely microsoft would be doing things like this that evil money greedy.........

#237382

watch the movies Revolutin OS and Pirates of Silicon Valley. It explains a lot. also quite humerous.

pirates was a cool movie.

#237386

I hope Bill will not read this thread , that might give him some bad ideas...

#237413

we can ban him if he ever comes here

#237646

One of my friends a couple of minutes mentioned to me that "The Linux Team" are going to work for microsoft because they are paying them something like 3 billion dollars

I'm a university student now!!!!!

hahaha very funny

#237747

Plenty of OSs have died. O/S2, BeOS, QNX. Man, I miss BeOS

#237759