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Linus Interviewed
a9db0 writes "There is a somewhat low-content interview with Linus here in the Seattle Times about his move to Portland. It does have a couple of Linus classic one-liners."
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For those who don't want to RTFA, here are some highlights from Linus:
* Now, many of the volunteers end up getting paid, and maybe they can't be called "volunteers" any more if somebody ends up being silly enough to pay them for something they'd have done for free anyway.
* In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny. When you play with it, mommy isn't going to tell you what you can and can not do, and not going to take your toy away from you when she thinks you are done. You're an adult, and you can make your own choices. That is when you get engaged.
* I don't think the lawsuits have necessarily made a huge direct difference, but I do think that it has made a lot more people realize that maybe Microsoft wasn't the "American Dream" after all, but just another greedy company that might be better off with some competition.
* Q. How can Linux avoid the security problems that have affected Windows?
A. Better design and actually caring about them. Having the guts to really fixing fundamental design mistakes, rather than trying to work around them,
Uh, wow.
"What's the frequency Kenneth?"
From the article: Linus Torvalds [pronounced LEE-nus]
Just think, all these years I thought his name was Linus [pronounced LIE-nus]
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
You're kidding.
but to call them greedy and anti-American Dream is taking things way too far
He called them greedy, but that's hardly something you should find offensive: the laws that govern the behaviour of public companies significantly penalise anything but greedy behaviour. That's a fact of life, and companies that don't act that way are never going to become industry leaders. Open Source actually has an advantage there: if Linus doesn't take advantage of some opportunity to make money he's not going to be hauled into court for neglecting his fiduciary duty to his stockholders.
As for the second part, he didn't say Microsoft was "anti-American Dream". He said that it wasn't the "American Dream". I'm not Linus Torvalds... does that mean I'm anti-Linus Torvalds?
Take Econ101.
You probably ought to review that yourself. Maybe you'd understand what he was getting at when he said they "might be better off with some competition". What's more essential to the American economy than competition, after all?