text: Counting the Hops (Forbes.com) Forbes.com - Like Network Appliance, many top tech firms are snapping up Linux programmers, hoping to influence the way the operating system evolves. The trick is to hire programmers closest to Linux creator Linus Torvalds. Torvalds oversees Linux development, but he delegates pieces of the system to the 25 or so code maintainers,like Trond Myklebust at NetApp.Maintainers in turn break their projects into smaller pieces, overseen by submaintainers.