Re: I must say that sometimes he seems to have a point
"Although describing even minor mistakes with crackling vituperation does seem a bit on the er, emotional side."
As has been pointed out here a number of times the vituperation only comes in the most egregious situations where the developer hasn't responded to more gentle persuasion. Oddly enough neither el Reg nor anyone else posts regular articles on the lines of "Linus politely rejects a patch". Or maybe not oddly because it would quickly get boring.