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Torvalds Dubbed Most Influential Executive of 2004

Posted by michael on from the penguin-in-chief dept.

quamaretto writes "CRN has named Linus Torvalds the most influential executive of 2004, in the magazine's feature list of the top 25 executives of the year. For perspective, he is followed by Sam Palmisano of IBM and Steve Balmer of Microsoft. The coverage of Torvalds is 5 pages, including pictures, a written article, and a lot of interview material. Topics are business centric, including SCO, OSDL, and Torvald's personality in development and management."

8 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Re:in what way is he by Sweetshark · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=executive
    1. A person or group having administrative or managerial authority in an organization.
    organisation != company.

  2. Linus doesn't look like a geek! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    huh...Linus doesn't look a thing like I pictured him.

    /First time seeing a pic of the guy

  3. Re:in what way is he by Neward+Rylet · · Score: 3, Informative

    Read the article
    He's neither a chief executive nor a chairman. He holds no executive title. And just last year, he accepted his first paying gig in the Linux industry that he founded. He belongs on the list due to his influence, but due to the nature of his creation he lacks the executive title.

  4. Sure, OK. Whatever... by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yes, sure. Whip out a dictionary and quote away.

    But when most people think about what an "executive" is, running a company, or being high up in the managerial food chain in terms of running a company, that is what most people think of.

    Without question, Mr. Torvalds is some kind of executive, but his duties differ by miles from what most executive like Ballmer / Gates, and all the rest of 'em do.

    Isn't whipping out a dictionary and quoting verbatim a little antagonistic?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  5. Re:heh by burns210 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would, instead, read the book 'Just For Fun' by Linux Thorvalds. It is a great book. The names escape me, but several distros, in the earliest of days(mid-90s), gave Linus stock options as a 'thank you' for their opportunity... I wanna say redhat, and then later(the more financially interesting of the two) was like Suse or similar... it topped several hundred dollars a share on its IPO, and slowly dropped afterwards... Linus was at the time, in the span of 1 day, a multi-millionaire on paper(he couldn't sell any of the stock though, for X number of days)...

    Good book, go read it.

  6. Re:in what way is he by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · · Score: 2, Informative

    There he is a fellow. A tad different from an executive.
    Yes, he is a fellow. But his job is to lead the development of Linux, and will help to set the direction and initiatives of the OSDL. As such, he is an executive of sorts.

    Guido is a BDFL, but so is Linus.
    BDFL

  7. Re:heh by qbwiz · · Score: 3, Informative

    then later(the more financially interesting of the two) was like Suse or similar

    It was VA Linux, the parent of Slashdot, of course.

    --
    Ewige Blumenkraft.
  8. Re:in what way is he by LuSiDe · · Score: 3, Informative

    The GPL was 'made' by Eben Moglen, not by Richard Stallman.

    --
    WE DON'T NEED NO BLOG CONTROL.