Torvalds Rips Sun In Linux Dustup, Sun CEO Responds

Torvalds, on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, took the first shot by accusing Sun of making use of technology put forth by Linux developers but not reciprocating with anything of value.

Torvalds' remark about Sun wanting to hire Linux talent may be a reference to the company's appointment earlier this year of Debian Linux founder Ian Murdock as its chief operating systems platform strategist.

After ripping the company, Torvalds writes, "I'm not at all berating Sun, what I'm trying to do here is wake people up who seem to be living in some dream-world where Sun wants to help people."

Schwartz responded almost immediately on his blog:

Schwartz offers this olive branch: "But most of all, from where I sit, we should put the swords down - you're not the enemy for us, we're not the enemy for you. Most of the world doesn't have access to the internet - that's the enemy to slay, the divide that separates us."

He invited Torvalds over for dinner.

Though it didn't get a mention during Sun's last quarterly earnings conference call with financial analysts, Linux continues to be a growing portion of the system company's portfolio.