Linus Torvalds- VC Money is Good for Open Source

jpheasant writes "Open Source startups are clearly the hottest thing in Silicon Valley right now, with every VC wanting to invest in an open source player. Linus Torvalds finally speaks up about this." This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.

The first sentence and they've already lost it

[John Nowak]

FTA:
If open source were a religion, Linus Torvalds, the Finnish engineer who wrote the core of the operating system that would become Linux, would be its prophet.

RMS? Hello?

Dude...

[Savage-Rabbit]

RMS? Hello?
 
... RMS is a deity, not a mere prophet.

Actually...

[Cryptnotic]

RMS is the crazy guy with the beard and the sign that reads "The end is near! Repent and join the hurd!"

Re:

[Workaphobia]

Most religions tend to have their prophets and deities in alignment, not at each other's throats over interpretation of religious doctrine (v3).

Re:

[$RANDOMLUSER]

From TFA:

Now, some people will argue that "balance" is bad, but those people tend to be more in the "crazy fringe," and Linux in particular was never in that camp.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Re:The first sentence and they've already lost it

[Bogtha]

Stallman wants nothing to do with open source, he's concerned with Free Software.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

RMS? Hello?

RMS is one of the few who can be what he want's. If he want to snort a spaghetti through his nose on some IT-manager-who-invited-the-man-banket.. he does it... and everyone will clap into their sweaty hands.. because RMS is the man.. and he doesn't NEED to use buzzwords.. they know that too... because he's the dude.. the man...

I use the GPL.

You're the one who 'lost it'

[renoX]

If you told RMS this, he'd probably slap you (or at least verbally abuse you): remember RMS == Free Software, not open source.

Free software != open source

[tepples]

If open source were a religion, Linus Torvalds [...] would be its prophet.

RMS? Hello?

RMS is the prophet of free software, not open source. The goals are different, even if the methods are much the same.

Re:

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Either one is BEST when it's free.

Re:

[Dog-Cow]

Have to love the /-shit mentality of throwing things out without have the slightest clue.

Linus did not abandon BK because of his issues with it. He abandoned it because he was tired of fighting with zealots over what was primarily a personal choice. Linus never required a kernel developer to adopt BK. In fact, Alan Cox never used it, even when he was in Morton's position of the stable release maintainer.

Re:Bitkeeper.

[Aim Here]

Erm, hardly. Linus didn't really drop BitKeeper; he was pushed. Larry McVoy stopped letting Open Source developers use the Bitkeeper software for free, because Andrew Tridgell decided to try making a competing free (speechwise) software client that operated with the BitKeeper server. Apparently McVoy really, really, doesn't like competition.

The people who objected to the use of Bitkeeper were proved right all along, on purely practical grounds; it's absolutely foolish for you to depend on software which can be pulled away from you at the whim of one person or one company. If I was a builder, there's no way on earth I'd use bricks, or tools, that would turn to dust if if the manufacturer decides to press a red button on the CEO's desk. That would be a disaster waiting to happen. Software is no different.

What you called 'zealots' here are really pragmatists.

Linus Torvalds is the Mel Gibson of Open Source

[Anonymous Coward]

not deliberately trolling... but he seems like the kind of guy who gets drunk and says things that a lot of people are actually thinking, but are too ashamed to say aloud even when drunk.

Re:

[hey!]

There's a particular kind of stupidity that is the exclusive property of the highly intelligent. It is a byproduct of being accustomed to being right when everyone else around you is wrong.

Ten years ago, Linus could be counted on to say something reasonable, diplomatic and humble in any controversy. Over the last ten years, he has started to develop the kind of verbal swagger that to software engineers is what slurred syllables are to the prize fighter.

One can only imagine the corrosive effects on the brai

VC Money

[Cycloid Torus]

It can be necessary, it can be useful, but having been involved with funds from sources expecting an annualized 35% return from an IPO within a very short number of years - be careful! Good smaller businesses can be overwhelmed.

When you become certain that what you have is scalable and it will suffer from not having the cash to accomplish documentation, marketing and staffing commensurate with the demand, then go for it. Folks on the East Coast might want to talk with Mike Roer http://www.cvg.org/asp/cont [cvg.org]

VC = Vietcong ?

[kalleguld]

... Or have I just seen too many war movies lately?

of course, it's Venture Capital(ist) in case you were wondering

Torvalds is a communist!!

[erroneus]

And his assertion that "VC" (Viet Cong) money is good for open source just proves it! I didn't want to believe all the stuff that Microsoft has been saying, but this is just too much!

(I'm kidding... no, really... please mod +1 Funny)

Heh, no joke

[PCM2]

I used to work at a startup where the founders would occasionally give venture capitalists the big tour. We rank-and-file workers, well aware that any VC investor would inevitably install its own stooges in senior management and basically undermine and overthrow the company for short-term gain, referred to these people as "Victor Charlie."

Money for prototype?

[daybyter]

I guess it's easy, if you have a long ongoing project, but who could you contact, if you have an OSS based idea and need some money to create a prototype?