Open-source guru Ted Ts'o named to Linux Foundation posts

Longtime Linux and open-source programmer and activist Theodore "Ted" Ts'o, who is responsible for maintaining the Linux kernel file system for the open-source project, has been named the new chief platform strategist for The Linux Foundation (LF).

In an announcement today, the San Francisco-based nonprofit said that Ts'o will work on a variety of Linux technology topics, including the Linux Standard Base standardization efforts. Ts'o will also have a two-year fellowship at the foundation, after which he plans to return to IBM, according to the consortium, which is dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux.

Ts'o, well known in the open-source community and an early Linux developer, could not be reached for comment today.

"We couldn't be more thrilled to see Ted join the LF," Jim Zemlin, executive director of the foundation, said in a statement. "There are very few people in the world with the unique background and breadth of experience that Ted holds in both Linux and enterprise computing. He was the first North American kernel developer, a pioneer in Linux file systems and one of the original organizers of the Linux Standard Base. His experience will be an invaluable addition to our team."

Ts'o has been a senior technical staff member at IBM since 2001. One of his recent projects there was to lead a worldwide team to create an enterprise-level real-time Linux product.

In March, Ts'o won the 2006 Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software in recognition of his work. He has also served as a project leader in the development of Kerberos, a single sign-on authentication system, and worked on the Open Network Computing Remote Procedure project.

A 1990 graduate of MIT, where he earned a degree in computer science, he was a founding board member of the Free Standards Group.