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Interview with Linus Torvalds from NYT Magazine 368

Posted by michael from the geeks-need-dates dept.
aelfric35 writes "David Diamond drills Linus on topics from filesharing (sharing is good) to SCO (trying to claim paternity on his child) to his rivalry with Bill Gates (doesn't care enough to be a nemesis) in next week's New York Times Magazine."
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Interview with Linus Torvalds from NYT Magazine More

Interview with Linus Torvalds from NYT Magazine

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  • Funny (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KrispyKringle ( 672903 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:55PM (#7069554)
    He's not stupid, but he really does come across as only interested in the technology. He admits it, of course, and far be it for me to hold that against someone. But it strikes me as funny that someone who really seems to be limited, by choice, to the technology, would be looked to as a ideological leader, as well.

    This isn't criticism. But I think to some degree, there are those who are ideological leaders--Lessig springs to mind; his philosophical and legal insight is incredible--and there are technological visionaries. But the two aren't necessarily the same.

    • Re:Funny (Score:3, Funny)

      by taion ( 304184 )
      Hmph. He comes across as being somewhat arrogant, too, with comments like, "Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."

      Oh well. I'll probably be modded down into oblivion for this.

      • Re:Funny (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Slack3r78 ( 596506 )
        Really, I thought that was one of the funnier comments in the interview. And it's typical Linus. You'll see he prefaces this with a statement about "I don't really care enough to consider myself to be Microsoft's nemesis." Which is the absolute truth. It wouldn't break his heart to see Microsoft go away, but he's not actively seeking to make it happen either. But just the same, who WOULDN'T want their baby to become the biggest, coolest thing on the block?

      • Re:Funny (Score:2, Insightful)

        by bucketoftruth ( 583696 )
        I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect. I think the way he phrased it was ominous, but I honestly believe that he has loftier goals than simply running MS out of business. He is truly an engineer's engineer.

    • Re:Funny (Score:2, Informative)

      by The Kow ( 184414 )
      But it strikes me as funny that someone who really seems to be limited, by choice, to the technology, would be looked to as a ideological leader, as well.

      When did he get elected to ideological leader status? Don't you have to take a stand to be a leader? Maybe I'm not versed enough in my Linus-lore, but I don't recall him ever making a big push to be 'heard' on anything very ideological in nature.

      This is both a critique and a request for more information, mind you - I am fully aware of the possibility

    • Re:Funny (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:26PM (#7069709)
      I thought it was pretty well understood that RMS is the "Free Software" ideological leader ( who as it happens is also a technological visionary ), ESR is the "Open Source(tm)" spokesperson for pragmatism (and also a technological visionary), and that Linus' rallying cry is, was and likely always shall be:

      "Show me the code."

      To the extent that he is the "ideological" leader of anyone I know it's always for his basic folksy refusal to be anyone's ideological leader. We like him. We don't "follow" him.

      Did I miss a meeting or a memo or something?

      KFG
      • I like Linus's description of himself from RevolutionOS:

        "Think of Stallman as the Great Philosopher, and think of me as the Engineer."

        Granted, it's totally bogus -- I would argue that Stallman has put more work ('engineering') into the GNU toolset than Linus has put into Linux, but it's still a nice way of thinking about it.

      • Re:Funny (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Sphere1952 ( 231666 )
        ""Show me the code."

        To the extent that he is the "ideological" leader of anyone I know it's always for his basic folksy refusal to be anyone's ideological leader. We like him. We don't "follow" him.

        Did I miss a meeting or a memo or something?"

        If "Show me the code" isn't an ideology then what is an ideology? Sure, Stallman created the fundament of Free Software -- just like John the Baptist -- but it was Linus who shoved the 'path' up their noses.

        I follow Linus in the same sense I'd follow someone up a

    • Look Man (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:27PM (#7069712) Homepage Journal
      Technology is a fickle mistress. The minute you lose your focus on it, it starts to leave you. Most people just take what they want from it (A lot of money, usually) and then move on to focus on other things. I see a lot of aging programmers with families, content to do the least they can do without getting fired, until such time as their skills are no longer marketable.

      Some people want more from technology than a one night stand, more than the brief two or three year period where youthful enthusiasm overcomes the need for comfort in a lonely world. Sure the people who choose that road will mostly die cold and alone in a gutter somewhere, but by god they'll have ridden the lady technology for all she was worth! And, ultimately, isn't that as valid a path as anything else you could choose?

      • Re:Look Man (Score:5, Insightful)

        by kfg ( 145172 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @12:03AM (#7069876)
        "I see a lot of aging programmers with families, content to do the least they can do without getting fired, until such time as their skills are no longer marketable."

        To be at least somewhat fair to at least some of these aging programers they have been taught to act like this by the companies they work for.

        Remember, most of older guys got into it for technology and the joy of it. There was no money in particular "back in the day." If you didn't do it for the love it there was no reason to do it all.

        Get kicked around, treated like shit, turned into a code monkey and generally be made to understand you're a disposable cog in the machine and it's easy to go through the motions, take the checks as long as they last and cover your own ass.

        As they say, no one else will.

        Most of these guys had young wives, young children and young mortgages before they learned the score and then got stuck.

        There are a few of us who have decided it's better to walk the razor's edge, and there is often a price to pay. Fabian Pascal even has trouble just writing and talking about technology these days, let alone getting "a good job" because of his absolute dedication to the technology, rather than buzzword compliant commercial products. RMS is, well. . .RMS. Thompson, Ritchie, Stroustop et al have given us Plan 9. . .and nobody seems to care.

        It ain't easy being gree. . .er, a geek.

        Although it isn't exactly the path I've chosen for myself I'm not inclined to over criticise those older guys just trying to make it to retirement in one piece.

        KFG
      • Toss in an analogy of technology as a girlfriend and the geeks shall unite with many a +1 Insightful.

        Now every geek shall proclaim loud across the land. "I have a girlfriend!! And her name is technology!"

        Not that I don't agree with your post :)
      • Linus is married and has, IIRC, 4 children.

        It's like he's achieved some sort of transendental geek state.

      • Re:Look Man (Score:5, Interesting)

        by TheOldFart ( 578597 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @02:32AM (#7070432)

        Ha! I guess if nothing else, this is a field I AM an expert on. My name above is what it is for a reason. See... I still have the drive, I still work long hours all night long but I do it because this is what keeps me going. I have no problems working with young engineers. They are mostly enthusiastic and that is mutually contagious. I have a special disdain for the marketing types who come and go like flies over a pile of shit. Those who don't have a clue what we produce but are responsible for selling it, transforming all you do into "numbers Wall Street will like" (completely disregarding the merits or what the people who will ultimately buy it want).

        My love for technology is an alternative to how I see the world. A world no different than any other point in time. People still kill people because of religion and greed. What's the difference between the Taliban and those radicals Christian coalition types? In other words, I see the world as mostly utterly fucked with very few exceptions. When we specialize in certain aspects of science, we focus our attention into a different world away from the ugly reality out there.

        Linus is an ideological leader no matter how you look at it. Even if he doesn't think that way or want it, he has no choice. In a funny way it reminds me of "Life of Brian". I can see him waking up one morning and opening the windows naked to a crowd of crazed followers clamoring for his words.

        The problem with this crowd or any other is that there will always be those who want to use it for their own agendas and end up tainting the whole thing in the process (see "Fucked up world with exceptions" above).

        What is even funnier is that we, more than any other group on the planet, control every aspect of everyone's life. The power we have as a group is greater than anything else. Nonetheless, we have no cohesion or goals. Just happy little shits doing whatever they tell us... A hear a lot of complain about jobs going out to India for instance. A recent interview with Scott McNeally was quite open (and extremely insulting in the process) about it. But what do we, as a group do? Sit with our collective thumbs stuck up our collective asses.

        Blah... I'm mumbling...

    • it strikes me as funny that someone who really seems to be limited, by choice, to the technology, would be looked to as a ideological leader

      "Ideological" is probably the wrong term, but his pragmatism definately can be considered an ethical guidline for how to conduct oneself in business.

      Too many people are vested in the "old ways" of company loyalty, destroy all competition, and take your customers for every penny they have to realize the value that Open Source and Free Software are offering business at
    • Come off it.

      Not every great thinker is a Demagogue. Looking at the amount Linus has changed our world, can you think of anyone from 1991 that has had as big a sustained impact?

      Some change comes from behind the scenes, by folks who are just happy to do. The puppies who need to be patted on the head and told how famous and important they are can kiss my behind.

    • 'scuse me, are you talking about Linus or Bill? You got me lost here.
  • I actually found most of it to be kind of dull, until the last line.

  • Sounds like a bad episode of Springer (Score:3, Funny)

    by dankdirk77 ( 690855 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:57PM (#7069562)
    SCO you little slut! So many people have had your code you ain't never gonna get custody (picks up a chair and hurles it downstage).

  • Ah, you have love Linus ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by petabyte ( 238821 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:57PM (#7069566)
    Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

    Just reading that made me smile. Everybody takes this whole MS vs. the world thing so seriously its great someone can sit back and still have fun with it.
    • Amen.

      World domination takes away from the time that could be spent hacking.

    • Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

      Just reading that made me smile. Everybody takes this whole MS vs. the world thing so seriously its great someone can sit back and still have fun with it.

      You know, Mr. Gates would likely get a chill, not a chuckle.

      There is nothing more scary than someone bent on your destruction, who truly doesn't give a flying fuck about you, and actually has the weapons to disp[ose of you. No chance to fight to the death
    • It's going where it's going, in its own pace, it doesn't have any intention of ramming anyone down, but if an 800lb gorilla like Microsoft happen to stand in the way, well too bad for the gorilla.

      Also, feel free to add SCO somewhere in this analogy, but I'm just sick and tired of them so I won't. Preferably in excruciating pain and suffering.

      Kjella
    • ...from a technology angle, Microsoft really has been one of the least interesting companies.

      Cuts like a knife. Go Linus!

  • Linus is cool - Linux users aren't (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:58PM (#7069574)
    Linus is really cool. He is just a geek engineer interested in technology. This is _good news_.

    However, I read over here that peolpe don't want to believe that Linus is only interested in the technology! They WANT to see only what they want to see: A HERO who will take down MS.

    Linus is not that. He is an engineer. But people just want their hero... and then they get dissapointed when Linus adds bitkeeper or adds DRM to the kernel. Because these Linux users only see what they want to see.

    • Re:Linus is cool - Linux users aren't (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SaXisT4LiF ( 120908 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:56PM (#7069840)
      But people just want their hero... and then they get dissapointed when Linus adds bitkeeper or adds DRM to the kernel. Because these Linux users only see what they want to see.

      Possibly flamebait, but whatever...

      I'm sorry, but the only thing linux users want to see is the source. If bitkeeper or DRM gets added to the kernel, it's completely within your right under the GPL to go into the source and remove it. That's the beauty of open source development.

      People use Linux because (A) it works and (B) it gives them the assurance that if they want to change the way their system works they can.

      End of line
    • Next you will say he wears mismatched armour, and doesn't wield a Holy Avenger +6 keyboard!!!

    • Actually, I think people see Linus as the guy who created the thing which will take down MS.

      He's not a hero for taking down MS, he's a hero for creating this really cool thing and setting it in motion in the correct direction. We all chose to get in line behind it and help it along. His little beastie will take down MS by itself, but is not organic so can not be considered "a hero" itself.

      Perhaps we're all heroes then...

  • Oh, GOD! (Score:5, Funny)

    by PurpleFloyd ( 149812 ) <`zeno20' `at' `attbi.com'> on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:59PM (#7069577) Homepage
    When asked about SCO, Linus likens it to a paternity case and has this to say:
    Even though SCO has refused to undergo the technical equivalent of DNA testing, and
    even though my (and other people's) DNA is probably all over Linux [emphasis mine].
    I feel so... dirty.

  • Linus quote: (Score:5, Funny)

    by bersl2 ( 689221 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @10:59PM (#7069578) Journal
    So either we should make it a law that all geeks have dates -- I'd have supported such a law when I was a teenager -- or the blame is really on the companies who sell and install the systems that are quite that fragile.

    I second that.

    Both parts.

  • i knew it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by b17bmbr ( 608864 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:00PM (#7069583)
    Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

    actually, he is right. you don't start out with the goal of destroying anyone. you just do it better and viola', world domination. of course that doesn't apply to microsoft. they didn't do it better, just marketed it better.

    • It's voila (Score:3, Informative)

      by SysKoll ( 48967 )
      you just do it better and viola', world domination.

      It's voila, you insensitive clod! Viola is a music instrument. Or an admission you viola-te spelling.

    • you just do it better and viola', world domination.

      This has never happened in the past... what makes you think it will start now?

      of course that doesn't apply to microsoft. they didn't do it better, just marketed it better.

      Microsoft didn't get to their position by marketing. Making that claim is simply being disingenuous. They rose to their current position through a combination of great timing, shrewd contract negotiation, and "good enough" products.

      First they got a contract with IBM for DOS becau

  • Here is the text... (Score:5, Informative)

    by AmigaAvenger ( 210519 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:00PM (#7069586) Journal
    what is the purpose of having registration on the NYT site anyway?? here is the text...

    You gave Linux, the operating system, to the world free, in effect jump-starting the open-source movement. Now this previously obscure company, SCO Group, claims ownership of some of the code and threatens to close the door on open source and Linux. I suppose it's to be expected that when you send your offspring out into the world, you have to be prepared for your kid to run with a crowd you don't approve of.

    Oh, Linux has grown up, and it's running with a crowd that I certainly never expected, like I.B.M. and Hewlett-Packard. That's not the issue. SCO is claiming parenthood of that child and now wants to make money off the earnings of that child. Even though SCO has refused to undergo the technical equivalent of DNA testing, and even though my (and other people's) DNA is probably all over Linux.

    So does this issue matter to you personally?

    I've tried to stay away from distractions. But especially since they have started threatening to send invoices to Linux users, it may eventually escalate to the point where I have to start taking legal steps.

    Is file-sharing, which has the recording industry so up in arms, the ''dark side'' of open-source attitudes?

    Sharing is certainly not bad in itself. In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved. What the recording industry is so worried about is obviously something totally different -- the ''sharing'' of stuff that isn't yours to share in the first place.

    O.K. So what are your views on sharing music files?

    I don't actually think about it much; I listen to the radio if I listen to music. What I do find interesting is how the file-sharing thing ends up changing how people think about computers and copyright law. Some of it is a bit scary: just the fact that your question equated sharing with something bad is a pretty scary statement in itself. What also bothers me is the apparent dishonesty of especially the R.I.A.A., claiming that file-sharing is destroying their business and that they are losing billions of dollars on it. There's been a number of studies done, and it looks like the major reason for the dip in CD sales ends up being lack of interest in the music produced. And let's face it -- how many boy bands can you try to sell before your revenues start dipping?

    We've been getting hit with a lot of viruses and worms lately. What's your idea for ending the attacks?

    When you have people who hook up these machines that weren't designed for the Internet, and they don't even want to know about all the intricacies of network security, what can you expect? We get what we have now: a system that can be brought down by a teenager with too much time on his hands. Should we blame the teenager? Sure, we can point the finger at him and say, ''Bad boy!'' and slap him for it. Will that actually fix anything? No. The next geeky kid frustrated about not getting a date on Saturday night will come along and do the same thing without really understanding the consequences. So either we should make it a law that all geeks have dates -- I'd have supported such a law when I was a teenager -- or the blame is really on the companies who sell and install the systems that are quite that fragile.

    Since you moved to Silicon Valley from Finland in 1997, how has the region's aggressive approach to money-making affected you?

    Oh, how I hate that question. I've actually found the image of Silicon Valley as a hotbed of money-grubbing tech people to be pretty false, but maybe that's because the people I hang out with are all really engineers. They came here because this is where the action is. You go out for dinner, and all the tables are filled with engineers talking about things that won't be available to ''normal people'' for a few years. If ever.

    People position you as the nemesis to Bill Gates. He started Microsoft and you started Lin

    • Re:Here is the text... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:20PM (#7069678)
      I've notified NYT that you've posted their copyrighted works illegally. I'm sure ./ will have to remove your post after they receive a cease and desist order. The registration is in place to protect the NYT's property, not for you to smile at while you circumvent it.

      • Re:Here is the text... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Bored Huge Krill ( 687363 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:47PM (#7069799)
        can somebody please explain to me why this was modded down? The post makes a perfectly correct, and fair point. I don't see any redundancy in pointing it out *each* and *every* time somebody pulls this crap.

        Please, people, you're giving us a bad name. I wince every time I hear somebody say something like "Linux people don't respect copyrights". I do. Please don't give anybody reasons to think otherwise. Posting copyrighted material here just because "registrations suck" is utterly, completely, inexcusable, and you should be ashamed of yourself if you think it's ok

        Krill

      • Mod parent up, mod moderator down (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jerryasher ( 151512 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:52PM (#7069822)
        The registration is there because the NYTimes wants it there. The copyright is theirs.

        The GPL depends on copyright.

        Don't infringe on copyright. Fair use is not the reposting of the entire article, especially when the registration makes it plain the NYTimes does not want it reposted.

        And what is with the moderators modding that down?

        • EXACTLY! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @01:06AM (#7070111) Journal
          The solution is not to steal links, not to screw over users, but simply to *disallow links to sites that require registration*. It's really simple. Slashdot editors do that as a matter of policy, with a *single* exception -- the NYT and NYT-related resources. The rationale is that they started linking to the NYT before their "no registration" policy came into place. I could never figure that out, and find it incredibly frusterating. I'd like to see a poll -- "Should we allow NYT links?" without a CowboyNeal option.
      • NYT registration has absolutely no impact on protecting NYT property. It is there purely as a tool to gather data about their readers.

        The data it collects includes demographics based upon certian suppositions, including the number of computers you have contact with in different IP address ranges, and the frequency with witch you read online. This data is converted into information that the NYT uses to sell advertizing space to their advertizers.

        If the NYT wanted to protect their copyrights you would be re
        • If the NYT wanted to protect their copyrights you would be required to have a _Payed_for_ registration that you would have to log into, the content would only be available in an encrypted format and you would have to actually read it with an application that is distributed either by the NYT, or by a vendor that they use to provide that service.

          That's a subtle troll, right?

          So, if we wanted SCO to respect the copyright on the Linux kernel, we'll have to do all of that?

          And if I write an article on my websi

    • Re:Here is the text... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mcrbids ( 148650 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @03:37AM (#7070637) Journal
      what is the purpose of having registration on the NYT site anyway??

      By requiring a login/pw, NYT gets a "copyright protection device" and therefore gives them the additional weight of the DMCA against anybody who copies their material.

      You sir, are in fact of law, providing a "Copyright Protection Circumvention Device" actionable under the DMCA by posting this on /. - did you think of that?
  • looks like he's in dire need of a shave, I have a razor I could lend him.
  • >(trying to claim paternity on his child)

    For a moment, flashbacks from the movie Twins [imdb.com] ran though my mind! Stuff along the lines of: "Kernel 2.4, you were created from the code of many great men, and you have all of their abilities. You can parse 12 languages, run for years without crashing, and even interface with eccentric hardware. You truely are superior to the other kernels."

    GAH! *thud*

  • Open source Dating.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nlinecomputers ( 602059 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:12PM (#7069642)
    So either we should make it a law that all geeks have dates -- I'd have supported such a law when I was a teenager


    So Linus supports open source dating. Well I can support that but the putting up a girlfriend on CVS for anyone to "contribute" to is just sleezy. On the other hand back in high school there was this girl that might have been the open source poster child...

  • Torvalds the Destroyer! (Score:3, Funny)

    by D.A. Zollinger ( 549301 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:14PM (#7069649) Homepage Journal
    To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

    Uh-huh. Sure. As unintentional as a bull in a china shop.

  • Diamond Dave (Score:4, Funny)

    by isny ( 681711 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:17PM (#7069665) Homepage
    For a minute, I thought David Lee Roth [dlrarmy.com], a.k.a. Diamond Dave, was giving the interview.
    So?? Linus? About this kernel thing? Yow! Are all those distributions guar-ar-ra-ra-ra-ran-teeeeedd... to satisfy?

  • Let's rephrase (Score:3, Funny)

    by (void*) ( 113680 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @11:20PM (#7069673)
    "Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."


    In other words, Linus doesn't care about the collateral damage! Just like a terrorist! <falsetto> Oh the humanity, someone stop the terrorist!</falsetto>

  • I loved the final quote from Linus: Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect. It really sums up the whole exercise.

  • Am I the only one who read this and wondered when Linus got divorced and got into a custody battle for his kids?

    [not trying to make light of that -- making light of my misreading]
  • Hey, I like the "They're smoking crack." interview MUCH better..

    Really, this was just a Q&A on how Linus "feels" about a few issues. There are no heavy hitting questions asked nor answered.

    I wish there had been something more interesting that might have prodded people to investigate and hopefully switch to Linux.

    Quite bland if you ask me, however, his closing statement made it all worth reading the rest;

    I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."

  • the 50th angle (Score:3, Insightful)

    by civilengineer ( 669209 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @12:08AM (#7069895) Homepage Journal
    Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

    I know atleast 50 people have posted their opinion on the same line. Here's my angle. I would not want MS destroyed, period. That would end up being a total utter disaster for the world. What should happen inturn is that due to increasing competition from OSS, MS should adapt and improve. They should get more aggresive on innovation and diversify into various fields where their already existing talents and resources can be used without interfering with other players illegitimately. Meanwhile OSS should also improve rapidly to provide alternatives and induce change in the world.
    • I would not want MS destroyed, period. That would end up being a total utter disaster for the world.

      Really? Why? Granted, there might be a few minor economic and (possibly, though highly unlikely) some technological impacts, I see absolutely nothing to suggest that it would be a global disaster.

      Global deflation is a disaster. A meteor hitting earth is a disaster. A tidal wave wiping out a village is a disaster (for significant size value of village :-). But some company going tits up? Well, sucks to b

      • in the long run, if things happened slowly, yes, there would not be a dissat Assume, within the next one year MS says its done doing business and its not doing anything more. And bill gates retires and dissolves MS. First up there will be no support for existing windows installations. Are there really better alternatives 'today' ?(sounds like flaimbait but its not. Anyone will agree that windows is the best OS 'today', or 'this year'). Then it would be all up to linux which has still a long way to go.But, t
        • Anyone will agree that windows is the best OS 'today', or 'this year'

          Ummmmm... I don't.

          this abrupt change will push the whole world back by 5-10 years. (Well, maybe if not a pushback there will be stagnation).

          You mean like the stagnation we've been suffering through for the last 5-10 years? Has windows really changed much since Win95?
  • You know, in any article/interview/publication about or of Linus I've ever read, he always comes across so balanced. He isn't out to convert anyone, though he ackolwedges that will probably happen. He doesn't hop on the latest technology bandwagon (file sharing good/evil, Gnome/KDE, MS/Linux). He's just a guy that seems to have a level head that just wants to help create a great OS.

    And change the world in the process!

    Seems like the "geek" world could use a lot more like Linus!
  • Quote, Linus :-

    I just can't see myself in the position of the nemesis, since I just don't care enough. To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

  • David Diamond co-wrote Linus's autobiography for those of you not in "the know"

  • Fileshareing vs. OSS (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @06:44AM (#7071138) Journal
    I find it funny that the author implies a link between music file sharing and OSS.
    The MS world has been sharing programs (intentional and not) forever. Many ppl still use a program just to try it out. Others flat out steal it with no intetion of paying. That has been the norm in the MS world, not the exception.
    While p2p and decss was started in the OSS world, neither has really been about stealing info. Decss was simply trying to preserve our right to view movies that we bought and paid for. p2p was simply a scalable way to move files vs. a slashdot effect. I personally do not know of anybody who does linux who trades in movies or music.
    I do know a number of ppl from the MS world (and I think a few from the mac) who trade constantly in both. When I ask them about it and the copyright, the attitiude is who cares. Even the best p2p and rippers are from the MS world now, not OSS, due to market demand.
    Oddly enough, if RIAA and MPAA really wanted a workable solution they should work with the OSS world to get something started that could be moved back to MS. I doubt that they wil though.

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