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Torvalds Switches to a Mac

renai42 writes "Linux creator Linus Torvalds said this afternoon that he's now running an Apple Macintosh as his main desktop, mainly for work reasons, although partly simply because he's a self-described "technology whore" and got the machine for free." And yes, he is running Linux on it ;)

52 of 1,024 comments (clear)

  1. Heretic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'll get the stake, can asomeone else get the firewood?

    1. Re:Heretic! by DenDave · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would help you but I am in line for a MiniMac...

      --
      -if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
  2. Big Deal by tsmithnj · · Score: 5, Funny

    My carpenter switched from a 15" hammer to a 16" hammer. It's just a tool fer Chrissakes....

    1. Re:Big Deal by Stevyn · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, but to people here, it's like Jesus was that carpenter switching from a 15" hammer to a 16" hammer. I don't think this is particularly newsworthy. If I got a free Mac one day, I'd sure as hell use it.

    2. Re:Big Deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Jesus had a sixteen-inch tool? Wow.

  3. Hey by Lostie · · Score: 5, Funny

    It should be pointed out that he is certainly not using Mac OSX - but Linux's PPC port (of course). Don't worry - *BSD is still dying. ;-)

  4. What's the date? by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1, Funny

    Shouldn't we be seeing this in 3 weeks?

    1. Re:What's the date? by tehshen · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you submit it again, we will ;)

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
  5. I switched... by Cheese+Grits · · Score: 1, Funny

    From a Gillette Sensor to the Mach3 Turbo, but that's as far as I'll go. I'm not buying a vibrating razor. http://theawhells.com

    1. Re:I switched... by sdMMk · · Score: 1, Funny

      That's like saying you won't buy an electric bed for fear of bats, flying through the window to carry your electric bed to the sea, where they will drop it in and you will be left floating (in the sea) on an electric bed, wishing you had a paddle, but you don't, so you wind up pulling out your electric razor, constructing a solar panel device using mirrors (located on the underside of your electric bed for comform), waiting for 126 hours for the sun to come back up, looking it square in the face, and saying, "NO. I AM NOT AN ANIMAL." Hey, it's cool though, because it's times like that you're glad you had that razor, you can use it as an electric solar powered motor and carry yourself (against current) back home, and then you'll have a vibro-water bed too. You won't need any shaving foam in a situation like that then will you? You can just splash water from the bed on to it, cherishing the electric razor as your saviour, helping you get back to land with the glory of *S0lAr p-0-w-E-r*.

  6. The end of Linux.... by Tsunayoshi · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh my God!!!!! This must mean linux is dying!!!! Let's all switch to *BSD and be just like the holy prophet!!!!

    --
    "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live." - Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"
  7. Have you ever heard about... by kunwon1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rats who jump from sinking ships, because somehow, they just instinctively KNOW that it's sinking?









    Just kidding. For GODS SAKE I was just kidding. I swear.

    --
    Specialization is for insects. -Heinlein
    1. Re:Have you ever heard about... by Phisbut · · Score: 2, Funny
      Have you ever heard about rats who jump from sinking ships, because somehow, they just instinctively KNOW that it's sinking?

      Yeah... the kind of rats that say "Damn, the ship is sinking and we're all gonna die if we stay here. Let's jump ship and drown before it sinks!"

      --
      After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
      - The Tao of Programming
    2. Re:Have you ever heard about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Rats who jump from sinking ships,

      Personally I always thought of Linus as more of a mole than a rat.

  8. TRAITOR by Yonkeltron · · Score: 2, Funny

    First Bitkeeper and now this.....

    That's it...I'm switching to HURD!

    --
    Keep the faith, share the code
  9. Re:So what. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, but does the spell checker work?

  10. Re:He has been posting from torvalds@ppc970.osdl.o by mirko · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, this might reduce the G5 costs :)

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  11. Yea but... by mp3phish · · Score: 3, Funny

    You aren't LINUX TORVALDS!!!!! So it doesn't matter :)

    --
    Your ignorance is infinitely greater than you realize.
    1. Re:Yea but... by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who is this 'Linux Torvalds'?

      Is he any relation to Linus?

    2. Re:Yea but... by pentalive · · Score: 2, Funny

      Linus's Son.

  12. single-handedly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    He had to code it left handed, because his other hand was, um, "busy".

  13. Linus, what kind of bagel did you have today? by gelfling · · Score: 4, Funny

    Concerned geeks need to know.

  14. He says its because by gov_coder · · Score: 2, Funny

    he wants to test linux on PPC.

    But I have it on good authority that he was convinced by this.

    I just hope he doesn't move to Iceland.

    --
    Rob Enderle's excellent new book: Everything I needed to know about Computer Science I learned in Marketing School
  15. oblig Torvalds quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children."

  16. free macs? by Knights+who+say+'INT · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder if he got his free mac advertising a Ponzi scheme on /.

  17. Re:He already stated this by NoData · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah right. You know that, late at night, when all the other coders have gone home, after the custodian has come by his office...he peeks out of his office to make sure the coast is clear...draws the blinds, locks the door...and he's dual booting, man, he's dual booting so hard. And it's wrong, but it feels so right.

  18. In other news... by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bill Gates just bought a PS2. MSFT shares have plummetted!

  19. Re:Why should it matter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Not to nitpick, but a toaster is a kind of amiga (actually, so is a vacuum cleaner, but it never left beta).

  20. Tragic little story by Panaflex · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm writing to share a tragic little story.

    I have a PC that my sister and I used to use for our operating system development. One night, I was writing a new memory manager on it, when all of a sudden it went berserk, the screen started flashing, and the whole VI session just disappeared. All of it. And it was a good memory manager! I had to cram and rewrite it really quickly. Needless to say, my rushed memory manager wasn't nearly as good, and I blame that PC for the crap I got.

    I'm happy to report that my sister and I now share an Apple Dual G5 that we got for free! It's a lot nicer to work on than my old PC was, it hasn't let me down once, and my memory managers have all been really good.

    Thanks, Apple.

    Linux Thorvalds

    --
    I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
    1. Re:Tragic little story by DLWormwood · · Score: 2, Funny
      One night, I was writing a new memory manager on it, when all of a sudden it went berserk, the screen started flashing, and the whole VI session just disappeared. All of it.

      You forgot the "beep beep beep beep" noises...

      (For the record, I'm a OS X user, but even I though that one ad really hurt Apple's campaign.)

      --
      Those who complain about affect & effect on /. should be disemvoweled
  21. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by untaken_name · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, for starters, Linux doesn't have a Finder. Without a Finder, how can you Find anything? Additionally, Linux doesn't annoyingly^W conveniently switch to the desktop if you accidentally click a sliver of transparent space in a foreground window. Plus, Linux doesn't frown at you when there's a problem. Finally, Linux offers prominent and easy access to terminal windows, which is turrible, just turrible. Clearly, OSX RulEZ, LiNUx DrOoLZ.

  22. Technology whore, eh? by Brento · · Score: 3, Funny

    Somebody ship this man a free Windows PocketPC phone and see whether he's a high-class technology escort, or a low-down crack technology whore.

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?
  23. Jumped the gun! by Cyn · · Score: 2, Funny

    He could have just started using CherryOS for his testing! I hear it's really great - and the main developer is brilliant, he churned it all out himself in just four months!

    --
    cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
  24. Re:OK, cut to the chase by aventius · · Score: 2, Funny

    he's using a 36 button, 12 sided mouse for all those extra necessary functions like cd, rm, ls, etc... on the command line.

    --
    [insert lame joke here]
  25. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by dannywalk · · Score: 2, Funny

    In fact, the Linux desktop has a lot of advantages over WinXP and OS X, although they do have a polish advantage.
    Ah yes, the Polish Advantage. Developed in Warsaw I guess...

    --
    Man Needs God Like Birds Need Helicopters
  26. Re:I agree with Linus by DenDave · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's not a mac? Oh.. okay its a "computer formerly known as a mac".. anyone got one of those Prince -like logos for the casing sticker?

    --
    -if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
  27. Re:OK, cut to the chase by easter1916 · · Score: 4, Funny

    A Beowulf cluster of four Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mice, one for each limb.

  28. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by Cerv · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must be new here.

    --
    sig
  29. In Other News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    In other news,Linus switched to Charmin toilet paper. When asked why, he just said he loves the "squeezable softness"

  30. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by buysse · · Score: 2, Funny

    See? You forgot Poland.

    --
    -30-
  31. Re:You're all missing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Whoa dude. I don't if you're serious about breaking arms and stuff but your low uid is gnarly kewl. Consider me fearful.

  32. all these comments and by advocate_one · · Score: 2, Funny

    no-ones asked the obvious yet... Gnome or KDE...


    runs for cover...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  33. OS Upgrades by Vince · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple would sure miss the $100+ you pay every year and a half to upgrade OS X.

  34. Re:He already stated this by Space+Coyote · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's no way I can believe that Linus hasn't sat and repeatedly pressed the Exposé key while drooling like the rest of us when we first get our Macs.

    --
    ___
    Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
  35. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you buy a Mac and ditch OSX in favor of Linux, they have still made a sale of exactly the same value.

    That's not right.

    If you buy a Mac, Apple has made a hardware sale, yes, but that's not all. They've also created a customer for other Apple and third-party products. If you buy a Mac, you're instantly in the market for Final Cut Express, for instance. You may or may not buy it, but you're in the market. Same with all other Mac applications.

    Not to mention the fact that you also become a customer for future releases of Mac OS X. The vast majority of Mac users choose to upgrade their computers every year or two with a new release of Mac OS X. (The reason, of course, is because every release of Mac OS X to date, up to and including Tiger, has been light-years ahead of the previous release.)

    But if you buy a Mac and then strip off the operating system, leaving the computer as just a bare piece of metal on which you can run home-brewed hobby kernels or whatever, then you're not an Apple customer any more. You're just another PC user who happens to have written Apple a check for $X,000.

    If a bunch of Mac buyers started running Linux on their computers, Apple would be apoplectic, and would respond by kicking their software group into gear and releasing an operating system that puts Linux to shame in every respect.

    Come to think of it, this seems already to have happened.

  36. Re:Who gave it to him? by geoffspear · · Score: 2, Funny

    How does Linus using Apple hardware create publicity for MAC addresses? Even PC users with Ethernet use them.

    --
    Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  37. "Switch - Share Your Story" :D by dduck · · Score: 4, Funny
    Can't wait to see his story posted at the Apple "Switch - Share Your Story" page :D

    Tell us your story
    "Well, I found the need for a dual CPU big-endian computer with 64 bit addressing on which to test patches for the Linux kernel, so I got this Power Mac G5, wiped OS-X..."

  38. A free Mac? by zerojoker · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bet he signed up to those "Get your free Mac Mini" and "Get your free ipod" campaign. I always thought that this was a scam, but now...

  39. Re:Just hardware, no apple OS. by throughthewire · · Score: 4, Funny
    What a truly ignorant statement.

    After someone tells you a punchline, do you usually ask, "And then what happened?"

    Microkernels are more stable than macro's (theoretically) but come at the cost of speed.

    Yeah, yeah - micro, macro, CISC, RISC, this here achitecture is the best evar for everything.

    Also the speed difference is less and less of an issue today.

    Mmmm. You like bloatware, too, don't you?

  40. What a ringing endorsement! by Pinback · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Apple Powermac Dual G5: worth running Linux on if the hardware is free.

    Q:Why do smart people buy powermacs?
    A:To install Linux on.

    Q:What version of OS X are you running?
    A: 2.6.11.

    First it was MOL, now its LOA.

  41. Re:Linus is probably biased about Mach though.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Slashdot should identify the anonymous authors of comments within an article as "anonymous coward 1," "anonymous coward 2," etc., so that multiple comments from the same person would be clearly indicated. This wouldn't compromise the anonymity of the writer at all.

    Wouldn't it ruin the KDE v GNOME flamewars if everyone could see that it was the same people posting on both sides of the battle?

  42. It's like if he bought a Mercedes by melted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then ripped out all the leather, wood trimmings, chrome plated parts, etc. and replaced it all with treadplate stainless steel. Seats would be covered with sandpaper, and there would be no steering wheel. Real men don't need steering wheels anyway, they can drive from the console.