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Linus Torvalds [1969-0] Finnish

Rank: 101
Businessman, Software Engineer

Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and, for a long time, principal developer, of the Linux kernel; which became the kernel for operating systems such as the Linux operating system, Android and Chrome OS.

Technology, Trust, Positive, Computers, Cool, Design, God, Good, Home, Intelligence, Politics, Power, Science, Sports

Quote	Tags	Rank
The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.	Technology	101
I'd much rather have 15 people arguing about something than 15 people splitting into two camps, each side convinced it's right and not talking to the other.		102
My name is Linus, and I am your God.	God	103
I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.	Good	104
When you say 'I wrote a program that crashed Windows,' people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those with the system, for free.'		105
Shareware tends to combine the worst of commercial software with the worst of free software.	Computers	106
I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.	Science	107
I don't actually go to that many conferences. I do that a couple of times a year. Normally, I am not recognized; people don't throw their panties at me. I'm a perfectly normal person sitting in my den just doing my job.		108
To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person's trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together.	Power, Trust	109
I'm sitting in my home office wearing a bathrobe. The same way I'm not going to start wearing ties, I'm also not going to buy into the fake politeness, the lying, the office politics and backstabbing, the passive aggressiveness, and the buzzwords.	Home, Politics	110
See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.		111
Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.		112
If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.		113
Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to 'good design sense'.	Design	114
I'm perfectly happy complaining, because it's cathartic, and I'm perfectly happy arguing with people on the Internet because arguing is my favourite pastime - not programming.		115
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.		116
No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal.	Cool	117
I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things.		118
I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up.		119
I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.		120
Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed.		121
The thing I love about diving is the flowing feeling. I like a sport where the whole point is to move as little as humanly possible so your air supply will last longer. That's my kind of sport. Where the amount of effort spent is absolutely minimal.	Sports	122
Any program is only as good as it is useful.		123
Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.		124
I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.		125
I used to be interested in Windows NT, but the more I see it, the more it looks like traditional Windows with a stabler kernel. I don't find anything technically interesting there.		126
I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.		201
Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense.		202
Non-technical questions sometimes don't have an answer at all.		203
People enjoy the interaction on the Internet, and the feeling of belonging to a group that does something interesting: that's how some software projects are born.		204
There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.		205
I don't think I'm unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light.		206
There's innovation in Linux. There are some really good technical features that I'm proud of. There are capabilities in Linux that aren't in other operating systems.		207
I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire.'	Technology	208
Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.		209
I actually think that I'm a rather optimistic and happy person; it's just that I'm not a very positive person, if you see the difference.	Positive	210
Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.	Technology	211
Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.		212
Before the commercial ventures, Linux tended to be rather hard to set up, because most of the developers were motivated mainly by their own interests.		213
I'm generally a very pragmatic person: that which works, works.		214
I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.		215
In many cases, the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works correctly or not seems to be secondary.		216
Programmers are in the enviable position of not only getting to do what they want to, but because the end result is so important they get paid to do it. There are other professions like that, but not that many.		217
Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.	Intelligence	218
In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.		219
In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.		220
By staying neutral, I end up being somebody that everybody can trust. Even if they don't always agree with my decisions, they know I'm not working against them.	Trust	221
The economics of the security world are all horribly, horribly nasty and are largely based on fear, intimidation and blackmail.		222
An individual developer like me cares about writing the new code and making it as interesting and efficient as possible. But very few people want to do the testing.		223
That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.	Positive	224
Every once in a while an issue comes up where I have to make a statement. I can't totally avoid all political issues, but I try my best to minimize them. When I do make a statement, I try to be fairly neutral.		225
When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well enough for my needs, and having sources available can be a life-saver.		226
Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the edge.		301
I don't try to be a threat to MicroSoft, mainly because I don't really see MS as competition. Especially not Windows-the goals of Linux and Windows are simply so different.		302
I never felt that the naming issue was all that important, but I was obviously wrong, judging by how many people felt. I tell people to call it just plain Linux and nothing more.		303
I've been very happy with the commercial Linux CD-ROM vendors linux Red Hat.		304
In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.		305
The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that I can depend on in return.	Trust	306
The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies.		307
What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.		308
Turtles are very stable and have been around forever. But they have problems adapting. When humans came along, turtles came under serious threat. Biodiversity is good, and I think it is good in technology as well.		309
I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat.		310
I'm a technical manager, but I don't have to take care of people. I only have to worry about technology itself.		311
In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things that I have absolutely zero interest in doing myself.		312
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.		313
I personally think of Linux development as being pretty non-localized, and I work with all the people entirely over e-mail - even if they happen to be working in the Portland area.		314
I've felt strongly that the advantage of Linux is that it doesn't have a niche or any special market, but that different individuals and companies end up pushing it in the direction they want, and as such you end up with something that is pretty balanced across the board.		315
I think of myself as an engineer, not as a visionary or 'big thinker.' I don't have any lofty goals.		316
A consumer doesn't take anything away: he doesn't actually consume anything. Giving the same thing to a thousand consumers is not really any more expensive than giving it to just one.		317
Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.		318
I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.		319
I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.		320
Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.		321
The thing with Linux is that the developers themselves are actually customers too: that has always been an important part of Linux.		322
You won't get sued for anticompetitive behavior.		323
The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.		324
I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.		325
I don't see myself as a visionary at all.		326
I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.		401
There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible and one of the bigger technical projects in this area, and it changed how people looked at it because Linux took both the practical and ideological approach.		402
Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.		403
I get the biggest enjoyment from the random and unexpected places. Linux on cellphones or refrigerators, just because it's so not what I envisioned it. Or on supercomputers.		404
If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over, the end result is bad.		405
I lose sleep if I end up feeling bad about something I've said. Usually that happens when I send something out without having read it over a few times, or when I call somebody names.		406
It's a personality trait: from the very beginning, I knew what I was concentrating on. I'm only doing the kernel - I always found everything around it to be completely boring.		407
What I find most interesting is how people really have taken Linux and used it in ways and attributes and motivations that I never felt.		408
Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day.		409
Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.		410

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