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Linus Torvalds' Benevolent Dictatorship

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-read dept.

treebeard77 writes "BusinessWeek has posted Linus Torvalds interview ' The creator of Linux says "I can't be nasty" when leading the open-source movement since it's all built on trust and teamwork' "

7 of 419 comments (clear)

  1. Sentiments from his book by numLocked · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you found this interview interesting, I would recommend his book (ghost-written, of course), Just for Fun. It's suprisingly light reading.

  2. Kernel Tree Maintainer, not Linux Overlord by Inhibit · · Score: 5, Informative

    Linus is just the maintainer of the general stable tree of the Linux kernel, he's not some kind of Linux czar.

    There's a big difference between rule of an OS with an iron fist and maintainership of a kernel for an OS. Linus does a good job maintaining his project (the Linux kernel), so no one directly forks it.

    Anyway, the article's a interview that ranges over his opinion on some patent issues.. not that you'd realize it from the post.

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  3. Re:Come on Linus, don't go there. by Vaevictis666 · · Score: 4, Informative
    a free knockoff of a Windows/etc counterpart (hell wasn't that the entire point of Linux in the first place)?

    No, actually it was as a free replacement for a unix-like system. The "replacement for windows" talk didn't start up for a fair while.

  4. Alchemy not Witchcraft by Performer+Guy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I wish Torvalds had used the word Alchemy instead of witchcraft, it is probably closer to what he was trying to say (in English at least).

  5. Re:In the same way by Kyosuke77 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I dunno, I think this might be at least kind of reliable.

    Admittedly, this is the zeitgeist for google.ca. The google.com one doesn't show the OS statistics for some reason. Anyway, if you look it over, you find that Linux is about on par with Windows 95, with 1% of the share. Windows NT 4.0 still has twice Linux's share at 2%, and Windows ME and Mac OS are tied at 3% each. Windows 98, 2000, and XP take a whopping 85%, with 51% going to XP alone. All the Windowses combined make up 91% of the share. There's also that 5% other, and who knows what that is (UNIXes and unidentifiable Linuxes, perhaps? Maybe some of the older Mac OSes, too). Either way, while Linux is getting more and more ready for widespread, desktop use, it's clear it's not getting a lot of that currently.

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  6. Re:I for one welcome our new benevolent overlord by Neo's+Nemesis · · Score: 4, Informative
    Linus! He really has changed the markets and turned governments upside down.

    But here's the most expansive article i've read about him online. Really connecting and interesting: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/

  7. Re:RMS was quoted as saying by John+Hurliman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes. An appointed CEO who can be ousted, and a board of directors that is elected by shareholders with voting stock.