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See the original image at simple-talk.com

A Chat With Mr. Linus Torvalds, Father of the Linux OS

simple-talk.com — Q: "Which Linux distro do you use?" A: "I've used different distributions over the years. Right now I happen to use Fedora 9 on most of the computers I have, which really boils down to the fact that Fedora had fairly good support for PowerPC back when I used that, so I grew used to it. . ."

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  • frase, on 07/18/2008, -41/+76Linux is a kernel, not an OS.
    • Zounas, on 07/19/2008, -7/+9Linux OS is a distribution (a certain package which makes an OS) running a Linux kernel... I guess.
    • eldridgea, on 07/19/2008, -3/+28It's both.
      GNU/Linux is an OS running the Linus's Linux kernel and RMS's GNUutils.
      • sjmulder, on 07/19/2008, -9/+3The GNU/Linux thing is dumb. Why not KDE/X.org/GNU/Linux?
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -0/+7KDE and X.org are not part of GNU/Linux. Since they are usermode apps that run atop the GNU software it's pretty much ignored for naming purposes - The GNU software (including the compiler, mind you) is the real core, not KDE or X.org. You might as well just list all applications that run atop X at that point.
      • variablekin, on 07/19/2008, -7/+0GNU is not UNIX
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -1/+6[G]nu is [N]ot [U]nix, No it is not...
        What's your point? Nobody said it was...
      • lemur, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1@nmnnotmyname

        Actually, why not consider KDE and X.org as part of GNU/Linux? From a system architecture perspective, so much of the "OS" is contained in user mode applications. For example, what about standard C libraries and standard unix libraries? What about command shells and text editors? These things are basic tools essential to forming a complete OS that people can use.

        Operating systems usually provide some type of human interface. KDE and X.org are a big part of that, and they help make GNU/Linux what it is today.

        *I should qualify that KDE and X.org are not actually an *official* part of the"GNU" project, as they were developed independently, but they still belong with the system.
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Because it's too much to most people. While the graphical environment are important, they are not vital like the runtime libs or the shell. They are built atop those. They are the very base of usermode applications, while X.org and KDE are just regular applications.

        You don't even have an OS without the GNU core. Just a kernel. You can't even fix the problem from there because you can't write anything in an OS you can't even log into. If there was no desktop environment, it could be fixed by writing one. You can't write what the GNU part of the OS does inside of the OS because there would essentially be no OS.

        You can have multiple desktop environments installed - but you can't have multiple core platforms installed, or not with the current design of OS's.
      • sjmulder, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1nmnnotmyname, I see where you're coming from, and you're right.

        However, it's clear that many people refer to Linux as the whole package, not just the kernel. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that.
    • JernejL, on 07/19/2008, -2/+15Linux: DADDY DADDY THE BSD KERNEL GUYS ARE MAKING FUN OF ME AGAIN!
    • wattersm, on 07/19/2008, -8/+3Um, a kernel IS an operating system. Everything else runs on top of that.
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -2/+7A kernel alone is not an operating system...
        Boot it up and see what happens :P It's not very operational if you ask me.
      • linagee, on 07/19/2008, -5/+12@nmnnotmyname: If I boot up Windows it's not very operational either (unless being a POS counts), but somehow they have managed to call THAT an operating system.
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -0/+4Minus being a smart ass, You can't boot up Linux alone. Nothing at all to do. Besides, wouldn't you need a bootloader? Some people might not consider it part of an OS, but an OS is meant to be an all-in-one solution for a platform to work on a computer with.
      • Tenoq, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2@ nmnnotmyname -

        You mean like the BIOS? Because your computer with that OS doesn't do a whole lot now, does it? :p
      • MistaMatt90, on 07/19/2008, -2/+1Sorry, that's not true. Lots of things run below the kernel.
        Hardware-->Firmware-->Assembler-->Kernel-->OS
      • diggdiggdug, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Without the Kernel there is no linux so does that not make this a moot point.
    • ktxxx, on 07/19/2008, -2/+1Says who?
    • warriorscot, on 07/19/2008, -2/+1It just happens to be the single most important part of an operating system, without which it couldn't exist. That means it sort of is an OS.
      • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2It's not an OS, it's more like the master or central component. An OS means an Operating System - Which should be taken literally, IMHO.

        It's not like I don't think they needed to split hairs about "Linux OS", but it should still be noteworthy that Linux is in fact a kernel, and a kernel is in no way an OS. Just directly related.
      • LordVoldemort, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I'd like to see you do something with just the kernel.
    • Commodore13, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Pretentious much?
    • blankis, on 07/19/2008, -1/+1http://youtube.com/watch?v=HFKal32GP2I

      That's for you.
    • evilgold, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Yeah everyone knows that the OS is GNU/Linux! Gosh whats wrong with you people....

      /sarcasm
    • joerite, on 07/19/2008, -1/+1You are all wrong.
  • goldenratiophi, on 07/18/2008, -24/+5Find: "masturbating"
    No results.

    Find: "wanking"
    No results.

    I'm disappointed.
    • netneutrality, on 07/19/2008, -1/+40Eh.... didn't you even read it?

      "...It's what I call "mental masturbation", when you engage is some pointless intellectual exercise that has no possible meaning."

      Yup, third story in a row about Torvalds where he mentions masturbation. What a great guy! :D
  • rudeboyskunk, on 07/19/2008, -13/+38I really like Torvalds for what he's done, and what he continues to do, but I respect Stallman and his philisophies way more.
    • necromancer, on 07/19/2008, -2/+13I heard Stallman speak at my school recently... that guy is a bit of a nutjob. A nutjob who has a deep hatred for Torvald for stealing his thunder.
      • SuperMoses, on 07/19/2008, -1/+6"There was never a genius without a tincture of madness." - Aristotle
      • BalzacOG, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3No way dude. You're very wrong about that.

        We all have people in our lives who are close to us, yet annoy the hell out of us.

        Anyway, Linus was more respectful in this interview than he has been in the past.

        Respect is due.

        http://www.publicvictory.org/content/gnu-father
      • lemur, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3I don't believe RMS is a nut job. I've read a lot of things he's written and listened to a lot of his speeches. In all honestly, is perhaps the most honest, clear, and coherent politician I've EVER heard. True to his programming roots, he doesn't leave any logical gaps in his arguments at all, and I suspect part of why people hate him is because he's so thorough and correct in his reasoning.

        Yes it kind of sucks to hear that it's bad to trade future freedom and prosperity for temporary convenience in the present, especially when you are caught red handed doing it. Nobody likes to admit fault, and they especially don't want to change their ways, but I applaud Stallman for expecting the very best on a moral level in a society that scoffs at morality.

        You're probably one of those people that thinks environmentalism is stupid because everything seems to be OK *right now*
    • veilrap, on 07/19/2008, -6/+5Stallman is a ***** lunatic. Linus >>> Stallman
    • yellowswan, on 07/19/2008, -6/+1They're both lunatics…
    • digitalarcanum, on 07/19/2008, -1/+8I respect Torvalds if for nothing else, then for calling the digg community a bunch of wanking walruses, when it's true. for the most part, the community I joined a few years ago is vastly different from the ***** I see today. Congratulations digg, you're no longer relevant, and you no longer have your roots.
    • Amiga501, on 07/21/2008, -1/+1You respect a fat, dirty hobo?
      • rudeboyskunk, on 08/05/2008, -0/+1Ugh, hobos are people who travel as freighthoppers on trains. You're probably trying to say hippie or homeless person or some other such uneducated term, since making broad generalizations about people based on the way they dress is the only way for you to make up for your lack of having a real opinion.
  • Zounas, on 07/19/2008, -1/+34"Unlike many open source legends, he likes to maintain a low profile and generally refuses to comment on competing software products."

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8

    If you have an hour to watch this video, you'll hear him calling CVS and SVN users stupid and ugly and bashes Google people a bit. Also some other hilarity ensues. I have no experience nor interest in this subject but interestingly enough I enjoyed watching it.
    • pinguz, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1that was a surprisingly good watch, thanks
    • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -1/+5But it's actually funny. I'll still use SVN anyways.
    • renegadeafk, on 07/19/2008, -1/+3He also called bsd devs "Masturbating Monkeys"
    • qwuinc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2No one can really avoid stepping on toes of others occasionally, especially someone in such a position. So it's probably just easier to go ahead and purposefully insult people with good sense of humour :-P
  • shithitinthefan, on 07/19/2008, -18/+11BSD
    • lesty420, on 07/19/2008, -1/+8RIP
    • Kamujin, on 07/19/2008, -4/+2Apple's bitch?
      • wejmahtin, on 07/19/2008, -1/+3What? How the hell do you explain that? Just because Apple has adopted BSD as its core, the BSD guys are just cranking out code for apple?
    • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Reminds me of when Lewis Black said "Dick Cheney" and followed it with "That's the joke, I don't even have to say anymore."
  • xsquirrel378x, on 07/19/2008, -10/+72Cant read, too busy masturbating XD
  • twiztidsinz, on 07/19/2008, -10/+28Do not feed the troll!

    I'm looking at you Mr Masturbating Monkey, Wanking Walrus Torvalds.
    • r3negadeX, on 08/11/2008, -16/+2Your post is not relevant to this article in any way, *****.
      • r3negadeX, on 08/11/2008, -10/+4olol, I just noticed that "*****" is a valid word on Firefox's spell-checker.
      • twiztidsinz, on 07/19/2008, -2/+3I do believe him calling OpenBSD users 'Masturbating Monkeys' and Digg users 'Wanking Walrus' is very Troll-like.
        And since this article is about an interview with Linus Torvalds, and 'feeding the trolls' is continuing conversations with them, that makes my comment very much relevant.
  • mecharabbit, on 07/19/2008, -21/+6I admire Mr. Torvalds for what he did, but reading this article was like torture. WTF is a kernel? I don't care, just tell me how to make the porn sites load faster!
  • username7410, on 07/19/2008, -17/+2Fappy de fap fap
  • IllBeBack, on 07/19/2008, -14/+17Hmmm, he seems to be a 9th Level Douche with Super Extra Douchiness Powers.
    • rpgmaker, on 07/19/2008, -2/+4This interview was really good. He is a douche most of the times tho.
  • bryanedds, on 07/19/2008, -5/+53Reading these comments, it's both funny and sad how far digg.com has devolved...
  • mrjit, on 07/19/2008, -11/+4I love Linux, not Linus.
  • GogglesPaisan, on 07/19/2008, -2/+11It's even more amazing that Linus was finally able to give up that blanket...
  • dagol, on 07/19/2008, -3/+5 Kudos to Richard Morris for asking trovalds really sensible and interesting questions
  • pagno, on 07/19/2008, -10/+5Id just like to say, "Bollocks to you, Mr. Torvalds."
    Seriously, tho, Id love to switch, but theres too many things in the way. Most my my complaints come from a lack of driver support or no working alternatives to Windows apps. Like Flash, and Photoshop. GIMP doesnt support tablets, so ***** off. Read/write NTFS. 3D accelleration is a joke, besides, theres no games for it anyhow, so it doesnt matter.

    Despite what I might say, I really like Linux. Theres just no real reason to switch, yet. Dare I say it, Id be better off with a Mac. and ***** That!
    • arjie, on 07/19/2008, -0/+11Ah ha, the misinformation is strong with this one. Read-write NTFS has been available for a year now. 3D Acceleration is not as good as on Windows admittedly, but it's getting rapidly better, and there are a few games. Some, like WoW, actually work better on Linux sometimes through Wine.

      Then there's also the bit that Mr. Torvalds doesn't want you to switch. That's not his agenda at all. So you're basically talking in the wrong direction.
      • pagno, on 07/19/2008, -3/+1Touche, Mr. Arjie.

        Ill admit, its been a year or 2 since I used Linux. However, Ive been stuck on laptops with, patently, proprietary hardware, so my experience has been, I assume, "abnormal". I have run Slackware on Desktops since atleast 2000, with few problems. Ubuntu is sub-par, IMHO.

        I am not trying to cut down open-source or especially Linux. Heavens, no. I love everything those people do. I know Windows isnt perfect, but XP is pretty close. Wine Is Not Equivilant, either.

        *nix has its purpose, undeniable. But until major developers get onboard(Ill be happy with just Adobe...), it has no promise on the desktop, and its sad. Just, sad.
      • pagno, on 07/19/2008, -1/+2At the same time, "***** you, Adobe! You killed FLASH!"
      • arjie, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Odd, my experience with the older versions of Ubuntu has been quite good. I haven't been able to install the latest version on this laptop (I'm trying to get a dual boot without messing with the partitions too much), so I can't say. Maybe they've fallen behind.

        Perhaps the statement about major software is true for some people, but I, personally, got along for 3 years exclusively using Linux distros. I think it's just a matter of time, though, until marketshare is high enough for some developers to choose to develop for Linux. Somehow, I doubt Adobe will, though.

        Doesn't Adobe's Photoshop CS2 work through Wine? http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=v ...
        CS3 doesn't, though. Good luck anyway, maybe somebody will step up to build a good image editor for Linux that can compete with Photoshop if we're lucky.
      • mKdiR, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1umm..havent people been banned for running WoW through WINE?
      • arjie, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1mkdir, they were banned for playing through Cedega due to a mistake in the way Cedega was banned. Anyone who sent in their account information to Cedega got their ban rescinded.
  • iofthestorm, on 07/19/2008, -2/+34Wow, an actual technical article on digg? That's not a list, is quite long, on one page, and is interesting to boot? Dugg! I'm almost surprised that he isn't one of those people who prefers compiling everything on his own, but then I guess it would probably get tedious after spending so much time supervising and writing the kernel. Despite his random comments (and I agree with the wanking walruses sentiment, as long as I can include myself in the slashdot/reddit crowd and not digg ;-)) he seems to make a lot of sense. Also, wtf is up with the jumping comment box? The bottom edge is bouncing up and down... o_O
    • franklymister, on 07/19/2008, -0/+6Quick, someone submit a blog post called "Top 10 Things Linus Torvalds Said In His Interview!"
  • chroko, on 07/19/2008, -2/+5Okay, something is wrong with this quote:

    "Quite the reverse - patents are very much used to stop competition, which is undeniably the most powerful way to encourage innovation."

    Logically that last bit should be "the most powerful way to discourage innovation." A transcription error, perhaps?
    • aliguana, on 07/19/2008, -3/+5no, think about it: if there is no competition, if people are locked into Windows or OSX, or Windows live or Yahoo, then people who are bored with them and fed up with lockin think of new ways to do stuff. So you get people building their own OS (essentially), you get startups like Google and Digg,

      Think of it this way... if the only car you could buy was a black ford, then you can bet people would be in garages all over the world trying to make alternatives. If you lived in a country with a dictator, you can bet there would be people all over the country working on alternative political solutions. Look at technology: most modern technology comes from WW2, when we were forced to innovate: radar, code-breakers, rockets etc. Without that motivation, there would have not been as much innovation.

      So while patent-lockdown and lack of competition sucks, it gives people the motivation they need to rebel against it and make alternatives. If there is no competition it is necessary to invent it.
      • AntiLinux, on 07/19/2008, -2/+1Using your analogy -- Linux is competition to Microsoft like a bicycle is competition to your black ford.

        It works, it gets you from point A to B -- but it's a goddamn hassle.

        Nobody likes command lines -- people want to interact with their OS not learn it. Call them lazy all you like -- everytime I see a "oh it's simple just do a sudo svn co -h http://www.django.org/svn/trunk blah blah blah" I want to kick a puppy.
    • ronyu02, on 07/19/2008, -0/+12I think "the most powerful way to encourage innovation" refers to "competition", not "patents", in that sentence.
    • rpgmaker, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2He said that competition thrives innovation and patents are used to stop competition not to encourage it.
  • cabazorro, on 07/19/2008, -0/+9"It's what I call "mental masturbation", when you engage is some pointless intellectual exercise that has no possible meaning." L.Torvalds

    Ah! Mental masturbation. I need to remember that for my next status meeting.
  • mentor972, on 07/19/2008, -12/+2He calls Diggers "Wanking Walruses" and everyone still diggs this article.
    Not me.. buried.

    • ktxxx, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3I think you just got buried.
    • nmnnotmyname, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3Someone has no sense of humor.
    • hamobu, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3When he calls Diggers "Wanking Walruses" , he does not mean me. It's those other people.
  • Nossie, on 07/19/2008, -9/+4Ok first of all... Linus did not write Linux, he wrote the kernel for what has become known as Linux -- now that we have that out the way (no I'm not a GNU bigot but we do need to keep Linus in perspective)

    Regarding the Balmer 'cancer' quote, I think Linus is wrong.... and it doesn't have much to do with aggressiveness.

    I feel Steve meant it to be.... the code grows in too many ways to be CONTROLLED. No one person can take it (or any certain corporation) and make it theirs... So it continues to grow unhindered without any 'cure' aka patent trolling and/or shareholder buyout. Linux only benefits those that want to give back. Those that want to share. Balmer wants to keep the code locked up so it is always theirs, regardless of the possible benefits of the wider population. Linux is a cancer because Microsoft can not control where it goes, who uses it and what box the code is returned to.

    I bet a hell of a lot of MS employees salivate at the thought of using GNU code -- if it weren't for that damn license !
    • Kingoftherings, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7Linus did write Linux. Linux is the kernel, not the OS. What you're referring to as 'what beecame known as Linux' is a Distribution (OS) using the Linux kernel.
      • Nossie, on 07/19/2008, -5/+1If thats the case... show me this distribution called ''Linux"




        ... yes, I'm still waiting.
      • woody1987, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Linus wrote a kernel and called it Linux. A distribution (OS) is the kernel (Linux) with other software wrapped round it, i.e. Gnome, KDE or xfce and other software, most notably all the GNU stuff . Linux on its own is not an operating system, as i said, it requires other software to make it functional before it can be called an operating system.
    • YourDoom123, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Also, the article mentions that Linus gave linux the name linux, which he most certainly did not. Nor is linux = linus' minix... who did the background research for this article?
      • Nossie, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1hey, what do you expect... it got on the front page of digg...


        Reality? yep they've heard of it.
  • Swipecat, on 07/19/2008, -2/+3It's spelled "Kumbaya" or "Kum Ba Yah", not "cwm-by-ya", Mr. Morris. Like it was sort of Welsh or something.
  • 3leggedHorse, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3Fingering Fawn.
  • WaxTrax, on 07/19/2008, -1/+1Mental masturbation, I think it's time to use my FIST!
  • InorganicMatter, on 07/19/2008, -5/+5Linux is a kernel, not an OS, AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! These stupid script kiddie Linux n00bs are really starting to get on my nerves. Ohhh boy, you can boot Ubuntu from a Live CD, whoop-dee-frackin-doo.

    Don't be ignorant; use the right terminology. If you're talking about the kernel, say "Linux." If you're talking about an OS, use specific names like "SUSE" and "Debian." If you're talking about the idea of an open-source Unix-like OS, say "GNU."
    • Sidzilla, on 07/19/2008, -1/+3Lighten up. Common usage changes the meaning behind a great many words, and that is the way that language evolves. When you tell people you are going to go xerox a document and take it over to your Savin copier how many of your office mates call you a Xerox n00b and pull their hair and gnash their teeth? Accept the fact that as the use of Linux based operating systems grows the nomenclature will change. And get a hug from somebody, you need it!
      • hamobu, on 07/19/2008, -1/+1It is unfortunate the many different distributions are called Linux collectively. This is a cause of much of the confusion as people try to install rpm package on Ubuntu.
  • RompeRatones, on 07/19/2008, -2/+7i always thought linux was a kernel and not an OS.
    • Sidzilla, on 07/19/2008, -1/+4FTA: Linus went on to spend a total of ten years at Helsinki University, as student, researcher and instructor. His M.Sc. thesis was titled 'Linux: A Portable Operating System'

      I guess Linus would disagree with you.
    • hamobu, on 07/19/2008, -0/+5There is some confusion as to what an OS is. In the old days, the OS was just the kernel. Today OS is taken to mean everything including a WM, browser, text editor, Mine sweeper, etc.
      • wejmahtin, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1I think a lot of people need to hear that Linux is a kernel and not an entire OS because they can repackage it, put it on some boot media and call it JohnSmithOS and feel really self-important like they've created an entire operating system. Or maybe so when someone at the airport asks what they're running, they don't have to say 'Linux' because that sounds so 90s, and they have to be unique and different so they can say something cool sounding like 'CentOS' to send the onlooker into a flurry of awe, bewilderment, and admiration for them.
    • rolosworld, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1People say the OS is the whole thing... the kernel + the programs. But if you think about it, the programs can run on other OS's if ported to that OS's api, so they really don't count as part of a single OS. So, if you strip every program you can port, I bet you would end up with the kernel, at least on linux. So in my opinion, the kernel is the real OS. Windows is a different story, since MS makes programs that depends strictly on windows, so they would count as part of the OS.
  • capdos, on 07/19/2008, -0/+8'Do you think software patents are a good idea?'
    Linus:

    'Heh - definitely not. They're a disaster. The whole point (and the original idea) behind patents in the US legal sense was to encourage innovation. If you actually look at the state of patents in the US today, they do no such thing. Certainly not in software, and very arguably not in many other areas either.

    Quite the reverse - patents are very much used to stop competition, which is undeniably the most powerful way to encourage innovation. Anybody who argues for patents is basically arguing against open markets and competition, but they never put it in those terms.

    So the very original basis for the patents is certainly not being fulfilled today, which should already tell you something. And that's probably true in pretty much any area.

    But the reason patents are especially bad for software is that software isn't some single invention where you can point to a single new idea. Not at all. All relevant software is a hugely complex set of very detailed rules, and there are millions of small and mostly trivial ideas rather than some single clever idea that can be patented. The worth of the software is not in any of those single small decisions, but in the whole. It's also distressing to see that people patent ‘ideas’. It's not even a working "thing"; it's just a small way of doing things that you try to patent, just to have a weapon in an economic fight. Sad. Patents have lost all redeeming value, if they ever had any. '
    • DestroyFascism, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3So true, just look at all the patent trolls that exist.

      Patenting, a means of documenting a working model (drawings, technical data). The document contains the original working model, not just the idea. If you can improve in the Idea without copying the working model then you have advanced the idea further. (like plagiarism you can't copy the words but you can copy the story which is why the 12 bar blues is so well known and stories like, Man gets wife, has an accident, becomes a ghost. What he does at those points is up to the Author, but it should not be in a sense, word for word.)

      Today you patent the idea, the idea cannot be copied as it has not been documented. This is where the patent thing gets lost to smart ass layers with an ability to twist words and mold them into a fashionable sock to place into other peoples mouths.

      Only the working model should be the rightful copy and property of the inventor. What happens after that, who cares, so long as it gets better. IF that were not the case then we would all be listening to the radio using AM and morse code. TV would not have been possible and 802.11g would be out of the question. The reason being is that it uses an antenna to transmit energy which is then decoded as data.


      That's the way I see it and why patent trolls are having a field day, one idiot judge asleep at the wheel and the whole thing of 'software' suddenly belongs to f'n Microsoft.
  • mescon, on 07/19/2008, -7/+2Buried for the headline.
    Linux is a kernel, not an operating system.
    GNU/Linux however is an OS.
    • harlowsmonkeys, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2Most Linux distributions are not GNU/Linux. Go read the definition of the GNU system over at gnu.org. Systems that include non-free software do not qualify, and most Linux distributions included some non-free software, and hence are *NOT* implementations of the GNU system.

      Second, many people who have put together operating systems that include the Linux kernel have chosen to name their operating system "Linux". That makes it the correct name for those operating systems, as historically it is the people who put together the OS that get to name it, not the third parties whose components they chose to incorporate. If the FSF wants to have GNU in the name of an operating system, then they can release an operating system and put GNU in its name. But they don't get any naming rights to operating systems others build that happen to use some GNU components.


  • hamobu, on 07/19/2008, -2/+6Linus Torvalds is a smart guy. Still he kind of got much more fame than he really deserves just because he named a kernel after himself, and people started naming all of the software bundled with Kernel, after the kernel.

    The other thing about Linus Torvalds is that he is not really controversial and disagreeable. He is nice and does not really rock the boat too much. People like nice people, but they love boat rockers such as RMS.
  • duckyinc, on 07/19/2008, -1/+1No walruses?
  • whiteguysamurai, on 07/19/2008, -1/+4In fact ask yourself this: if Linux didn't exist, would Google, Facebook, PHP, Apache, or MySQL?
    Yes, they would just run off of something else.
  • Papajohn56, on 07/19/2008, -8/+2Dear Mr. Torvalds,

    Why are you so fat and stupid and want to ruin the open source community? Talking junk about other open source developers is doing nobody any good.

    Sincerely,
    Kill yourself
  • digitallysick, on 07/19/2008, -3/+2Fedora? i expected something like gentoo
    • aaaantoine, on 07/21/2008, -0/+0He does explain his reason pretty well.

      'And when it comes to distributions, ease of installation has actually been one of my main issues - I'm a technical person, but I have a very specific area of interest, and I don't want to fight the rest. So the only distributions I have actively avoided are the ones that are known to be "overly technical" - like the ones that encourage you to compile your own programs etc.'
  • tkr2099, on 07/19/2008, -2/+2What's with all this Torvalds news lately? I hadn't seen anything about him in three years.
    • CountBrass, on 07/19/2008, -4/+2He obviously needs a job after his ***** up at Transmeta. He's a one trick pony.
  • CountBrass, on 07/19/2008, -5/+2A Torvalds.

    The cocksucking *****.

    You're not the only one that can alliterate.
  • diggdiggdug, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Oh master Linus. Great One. We owe you so much for guiding the Kernel development for so many years. And countless hours of employment for me.
  • fishie, on 07/19/2008, -7/+1linus is such a toolbag
  • jepizacar, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1nice resource....
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  •  

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