The news of Con Kolivas, a Linux kernel developer, quitting that role, along with an interview in which he explains why, could and should make loud noises around the Free Software community which is often touting GNU/Linux as the best operating system one could use, and not just because of freedom you have with it.

Today kernel developer Con Kolivas announced that he will stop developing his Linux patch which improves desktop performance. For people who have followed recent discussions about his SD CPU scheduler and about the inclusion of his swap prefetching patches in the Linux kernel this will not come as a surprise.

Bootloader Syslinux developer Peter Anvin, since 1992 kernel developer, gives an insight into his work. In the video, he tells of how Intel let him "get on with his Linux thing" while at the same time seek his advice in Linux matters, which he enjoys.

A few weeks back Con Kolivas returned to the Linux kernel scene after parting ways with kernel development for two years. Con, who has contributed a great deal to the Linux kernel in the past particularly with CPU schedulers, returned and introduced BFS.

The last 12 months in Linux kernel development may have been less than exciting, but that may be just a breather before what's coming up next, according to kernel developer and Linux Weekly News editor Jon Corbet.

Master Linux developer, Linus Torvalds, announced on July 8 that the new Linux kernel 2.6.22 is now available. While this new kernel has many new features, it's really more of a bug-fix release.

"There is quite a lot of noise about Con Kolivas, and his recent quiting Linux kernel development. Kolivas has made enormous contributions in the way of improving desktop usability and responsiveness, drawing attention to this increasingly coalescing factor when few people were paying attention, presumably something of which Torvald’s himself was not aware..."

"Lead kernel developer Linus Torvalds announced the official release of Linux 2.6.28 on Wednesday. The new version introduces some noteworthy changes that will put the kernel in a strong position for growth and advancement in the coming year..."

Canonical's Steve Conklin presented the Patchtracker in the kernel roundtable during the first day of the international Ubuntu Developer Summit.