Linus Talks About 2.4

Platinum Dragon writes: "ZDnet ran an e-mail-based interview with Linus about that new kernel thingy. Linus replied to the fluff questions in typical self-mocking Linus fashion. " Check out original story on the release as well -- many people seem to have missed it, and keep submitting it.

Comments

That bastard!

[Shoeboy]

Damn Linus and his self mocking humor to hell. Doesn't he realize that mocking major figures in the geek community is a job for trolls?
Why does he have to be so damned friendly and likable? Why god, why?
Why can't he be a self important blowhard like ESR, Bruce Perens or (best of all) Theo De Raadt?
Doesn't he realize that he's making it impossible to mock him?
I can't believe the nerve of that fucker.
--Shoeboy

Linus has an amazing personality.

[Gendou]

It's incredible how humble and easy-going Linus is. How many of us would be able to maintain Linus' attitude while receiving deep admiration and respect of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people? The man doesn't shrug his shoulders, straighten his collar, and fix his tie when the reporters come along. He smacks them around, and doesn't worry about his image. Tells it how it is - especially when it comes to his project. It's true... 2.4.x doesn't revolutionize the industry like the media junkies want him to say. He keeps his feet on the ground, reminding us that while it's a big improvement, it's just a step.

*shrug* Call me weird, but I'm just impressed overall. Linus Torvalds is a genuine human being and his qualities haven't diminished.

You're right

[Chuck Flynn]

Ken Thompson wrote an important article about this, back in 1984 (wow, that brings back memories), titled Reflections on Trusting Trust where he discussed his famous compiler-trojan which propagated itself even when the user had full access to the source code. The way it worked is the compiler had some code in it that recognized when it was compiling the compiler's own source. When it did, it inserted a bit of code which compiled the source not as a clean compiler but as another copy of the trojan. The user could read the sourcecode all he wanted, but he couldn't get around having to trust the compiler. The thrust of Thompson's article was that you have to put some trust in someone or something along the line.

The moral of the story is that unless you built your own processor, built your own hardware, built your own compiler from scratch, and read the source code and understood it completely, you're open to attack. Open-source itself is no magic bullet, and it's time the zealots figured that out.

Linus should have his own action-figure line

[Chuck Flynn]

I'm serious. Linus is being slowed down by having to work only part-time on Linux, devoting all those hours to Transmeta doing the heavy lifting for the internal translation work in the Crusoe. He needs to be free from monetary constraints in order to realize his true potential, the way Stallman has.

The options are to start up a trust fund, which would never work and wouldn't be consistent with Linus's libertarian politics. The second best option would be to start manufacturing and selling his own action-figure lineup. For the boys, there'd be Combat Linus with his dashing Finnish looks and two front-loading high-caliber automatic gcc's under each arm. For the girls, there'd be Dream Date Linus in a tuxedo with his pet penguin, Tux, on a leash. Kids could learn important spacial and social skills while also learning about the open-source and free-software movements. And geeks love toys, so adults would buy them too.

But most importantly, the proceeds would go to support Linus full-time. Think how much faster 2.4.0 could've come out if Linus could've devoted 14 hours per day to it. Just think about it.