Eighteen-year old crowned Linux king

Responsibility for maintaining the Linux kernel has been handed over to an 18-year old Brazilian programmer.

Marcelo Tosatti, a developer at Conectiva has been chosen by Linus Torvalds to take over the job from Wales-based Alan Cox.

Tosatti will have to shoulder the responsibility of deciding the path of the 2.4 version of Linux. He will also have to work on updates to make Linux compatible with new machines and other devices. Thousands of people will be affected by his work.

Alan Cox explained he has various other projects he wants to work on but by no means plans to vanish from the Linux scene.

He told silicon.com: "We (Torvalds and Cox) independently felt he was the right person. His age really isn't a consideration - he's been hacking on code, including the kernel for several years. He works for a vendor and if you dealt with him just by email you wouldn't realise he was that young."

He's got a point. Bill Gates was 20 when he started Microsoft and Linus Torvalds was about 20 when he started Linux hacking.

Read the Alan Cox diary here: http://www.linux.org.uk/diary/