At the beginning of September I left Fermilab, and Scientific Linux, to work for Red Hat.  Although I knew it would create a bit of a stir, I didn’t expect it to hit the news as big as it did.  As I read through all the comments and articles, there was alot of totally false ideas.  I could either comment on all of them, or comment on none of them.  I chose to comment on none of them.

But there are a few things I just have to comment on.

Did Red Hat recruit me to stop Scientific Linux? No.  I had been feeling restless since the beginning of 2010, and actively looking for a different job for over a year.  I had job applications with Red Hat through most of that.  Through all of my interview, hiring, and orientation meetings, nobody told or asked me I had to leave the Scientific Linux community.  That has been a personal choice.  I needed a clean break.

There is another SL developer that knows everything I know.  True – Connie Sieh.  I was A lead developer of Scientific Linux, I was not THE lead developer of Scientific Linux.  Connie Sieh and I worked on Scientific Linux from the beginning.  Both of us could do any part of Scientific Linux development at any time.  I usually did the much more visible parts, and did alot more of the community relations.  Connie usually did more of the behind the scenes work.  But Connie knew everything I knew.  She could do anything I could do.  People shouldn’t underestimate her.

Troy