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Torvalds Dubbed Most Influential Executive of 2004
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."
an executive? What company is he in charge of these days?
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Given Linux's penetration of business-level computing, and its influential role on software development as a whole, this is not really as surprising to hear as some might think. Still, it is excellent to see someone recognize this.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
I think it's ironic that a normal guy who doesn't have millions in the bank (as far as I know of course, please prove me wrong if neccesary) is seen as more influental than those IBM and MS bigshots.
:)
Funny
This is the sig that says NI (again)
bash: exec: Linus Torvalds: not found
It seems rather odd that Steve Jobs isn't on that list, considering how much the stock price of Apple has gone up this year. The iPod is big news, and the company seems to be coming back into relevance in the Scientific, educational and home desktop markets. Instead, Michael Dell is on there, and all he's done is put a lot of machines together and put out a copy-cat MP3 player. (He's done a good job at it and made a lot of money, don't get me wrong. He's no innovator, though.)
Interviewer: What do you think of _____?
:-)
Linus: Oh I don't know. Doesn't really matter. I just like to code.
Copy-paste as needed.
Laugh at stupidity: mod idiots +1 Funny.
He may be a great person, a great kernel programmer, a great executive, but influencial??? He influences what gets into the Linux Kernel and what doesn't. He doesn't set trends. He doesn't guide where the industry is going.
Applications do that, not the kernel. Firefox has an influence. Sure Firefox is Open Source, but Linux has nothing to do with that. Features in desktop environments such as KDE and Gnome can be influencial, an Operating System as a whole can be influencial - but Linux - who deals only with the Kernel. I just don't see it.
Maybe I'm missing something, but how is Linus Torvalds influencing the industry? What executive decisions has he made that made that changed everything?
Oh the humanity! A perfectly good joke spoiled by forgetting to hit the 'Preview' button. Slashdot weeps for you, my son.
Is he really the most influential executive? It is not a list of the 'best' executives or the most popular executives. It is a list of the most influential executives.
On most days, he toils before a glowing terminal, playing his keyboard like a baby grand, not much different from his early days conceiving the kernel in Helsinki back in 1991. But now Torvalds orchestrates thousands of Linux developers distributed around the globe, synthesizing and arranging the bits into the masterpiece that disrupted the software establishment, crippling Sun, reviving IBM and giving Microsoft a taste of mortality.
Certianly a great number of supporting applications helped, but I wonder where the OSS movement would be today with the Linux kernel.
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
So what do you think of the Bill Gates vibrator story?
"I don't"
So you give away this software totally for free? Yecch! I'd hate to have dinner at your house!
"I know, and you won't."
--Chag
At least he didn't accidentally type 'Pnus' instead.
</sarcasm>
its about making linux (a kernal) enterprise ready and as a side effect causing real competition to happen again in the market place.
Or in other words, causing the others on the list to alter their ways..... hence most influencial...
and the other side of that coin..
Do the others on the list influence Linus and what he does?
probably not or very little...
There goes geekdom. I hope he wore the Tshirt and pants with matching stains to prove he isn't a real executive.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Is LNUS his NASDAQ handle?
That guy is getting everywhere these days.
apterous.org
The author goes to pains to find the good in Ballmer. Keywords are man of 'action' and 'energy', and these two words are repeated, with the failure of discovery of another virtue.
Key point is Ballmer's interest in 'innovation'. Goes in line with Microsoft's PR, sounds like there was no research on this man, just interview someone at Microsoft about its CEO.. they'll just repeat the company bottom line.
When I hear 'energy', for some reason reminds me of 'developers, developers, developers'. Makes me proud of Linus' laziness.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
This is almost as good as saying Darl is on crack. Linus, as the accomplished veteran of alt.fan.warlords, apparently still knows phony hubris when he sees it.
[Linus toadie mode: off]sigs, as if you care.
Real programmers have sixteen fingers.
I have 8. Does octal count? I also have two thumbs for when I need to use straight binary.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
What influence did Jesus of Nazarath have? He didn't create the Catholic Church. He founded no church. On his own, Christ would not have become the religious success that he is except for the Catholics, the Protestants, etc. If someone doesn't like what he said, they create their own brand of righteousness. So what influence does Jesus have. He's said that sin is wrong, but that hasn't stopped anyone, so where is this influence?
Don't get me wrong, I have respect for what he's done and that he's been able to do it, its far more then I can ever see myself being able to do and he deserves every praise for that, but most influential? That's really streching it.
This does not sound like a Mac Zealot to me, and they do have a valid point. Steve Jobs has done quite a bit with Apple. Maybe not in the past year, but overall has turned the company around. So, he might not have made the list, but dont get angry at the poster.
What people think is very rarely the truth.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
The coverage of Torvalds is 5 pages, including pictures, a written article, and a lot of interview material.
Is there a centrefold? :P
"I guess you could call the belief in sharing of knowledge a 'philosophy,' but I just think it's a fact. It's what differentiates science from alchemy or witchcraft." --Linus Torvalds (2004)
UBU
Pwned. Better luck next time, ass.
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
Steve Jobs. Yeah he's been an awesome influence to the entire Apple community. To any member of the Apple community, this *is* the world, so I understand your confusion.
Cheers
Stor
"Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
Money is not everything.
but I sure sleep better when I can afford to pay all my bills.
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
Of course he's an influential executive. Executive in being the final arbiter of the most massive community-resourced code effort the planet has ever seen. Influential in that his role cannot be ignored just because he isn't paid obscene amounts or makes cute statements aimed at brokers. It's like something out of Lao-Tze, he has become the still point in an endlessly churning industry.
My God, the entire culture should take a leaf out of his book. Ownership does nothing. Sharing is what makes things happen. It is a practical philosophy.
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
Paraphrasing (?) an spanish poet called Joaquin Sabina:
Bill Gates is so poor that the only thing he has is money....
Linus may not be a rich man, but what he has (the respect, love and admiration of the computer world) is of much more importance than the billions that Gates has and the trillions he may have in the future....
PENAROL: Seras eterno como el tiempo y floreceras en cada primavera.
Exactly the same as he did in 03, 02, 01, etc., namely just acted as a controlling figurehead to the rest of the Linux community such that all those who contribute to Linux maintain a single focus.
Linux's penetration into the corporate environment is far more extensive than you actually believe it is - remember, there is no need to put a "Designed for Linux" sticker on every box that runs it and I'd be very surprised if you didn't own a car, handheld device, set-top box, etc. that didn't run Linux.
I myself work for a telecomms company and Linux powers our flagship telephony server products that power businesses with 10,000+ extension offices and huge call centres.
Very soon, we are going into the "carrier-grade" telephony market with Linux-based servers, previously an area occupied almost exclusively by HP-UX.
You also need to be aware that HP-UX and Solaris have been traditionally linked to very powerful, high-performance hardware platforms from HP and Sun to drive backbone Internet applications like Sendmail, Apache, BIND, etc. Linux runs all of these also with the added advantage that clustering and server farms provide equal power and resilience on much cheaper hardware.
Just because Linus doesn't stand up on stage with sweaty armpits shouting "Developers" over and over again, don't diss him - he has demonstrated that it is perfectly possible to lead from the back.
You should be more concerned that Carly "Angel Of Death" Fiorina comes in at number 7...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
according to RMS.
Linux is influential, with ramifications through-out the whole computer software industry and probably beyond. I don't think anyone is questioning that, so we move to the second part, Linus' personal influence over Linux.
While Linus may not have control the way MS and Apple does over their software, from an external point of view Linus stands completely unchallenged. Linux is, like it or not, in most peoples' mind personified by Linus. Whatever he says or does with the kernel is considered an influential decision of where Linux is going.
And if you don't think Linux is the big talker, there's a lot of power in understatement. Like this quote: "Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect." Sounds as if he's a giant that accidentally stepped on an ant.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
He has, by the example of his competent leadership, demonstrated that important business software can be developed under a free software license.
This has influenced the industry so that 1) it is much more likely to rely on free software (Linux and other), and 2) it is much more likely comtribute to, and to release software of its own under a free software license.
Depends whether you're costing the time necessary to fix silly hardware incompatibilities (that don't occur if you buy 100% Apple gear) or spyware/virus issues. This, of course, will be proportional to the skill of the user or their friends or children. ;-)
Right now, for any non-technical user who just wants a computing appliance, doesn't have technical skills or help available, and is in the market for a new machine, I'd recommend a Mac.
And I'm a PC-using Linux type, and have been since 1995. Works for me, but maybe not for everyone.
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