I just watched steves response. It actually made me less 'on his side'. Sure you dont have to give him a heads up, but you have a personal relationship with the guy even if its just on a peer / youtube colleague level. He went to the roast for fucks sake. So you'e met the guy and were presumably friendly.
It's as pedantic to say "I didnt have to contact him first" as it is to say "we auctioned not sold!" It seems like really bad form and it almost seems in bad faith and makes his original, valid criticisms, feel like a hit piece.
this isn't nvidia or it's fucking Linus.
I also didn't get the impression that linus's ltt forum post was his official response/action plan. And for Steve to say "whatever they say or do now we wont believe them" seems incredibly immature and unprofessional.
Theyve grown too fast and Linus knows it. They've conceded as much and theyve taken steps to address it- hiring a senior manager for the lab and a new CEO. Those are pretty significant.
Steve's response video was a bit self-righteous and absolutely the behavior of a teenage PC gamer.