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Linus Torvalds For Nobel Peace Prize?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm as much of a Linux fanboy as anyone else, but I've never thought of anything in computing as being worth a Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently, there are those who take global collaboration seriously, though..." The suggestion has been bouncing around the Portland Linux community, where Torvalds lives. Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?
I come from 2051, in a timeline where Linux didn't exist. You don't want to hear about the Microsoft vs Apple netwar.
I'm sure that at some point in his tenure as King of Linux he will do things worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. Let's just give it to him now to get it out of the way.
Perhaps we could better decide if we saw a list of Linus' global peace initiatives...
Gregor
There are real people making real change on this planet. While I like Linux as much as the next guy, this is not going to happen.
Given that Obama got a nobel prize for doing NOTHING I don't see why not.
Richard Stallman is bristling with righteous indignation that this proposal was not for a co-nomination!
I can't say he is less worthy than Obama. Obama's biggest claim to fame is that he is not George Bush. Linus isn't George Bush either, so I guess his qualifications are in order.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
"Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?"
No.
Why not just hand one to everyone? Sheesh.
In general I'd say no, of course not, don't be silly. An ACM prize sure, but not a Nobel Peace Prize.
But if Obama can get one for doing nothing, surely Linus can get one for doing something.
(And I'm an Obama supporter, by the way.)
He has done a lot more than Obama.
Linus has certainly done more to deserve it than Obama.
Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?
No. Next question?
You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!
Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?
Why do you talk about it? Find someone in this list:
University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
Willing to Submit him for it and go back to coding. Don't go campaigning for some person to win the Nobel peace prize, call up your contacts at Washington University and discuss it with them. If you can't convince them to nominate him, it's probably not going to work.
This is not an elected award so I wouldn't waste my time trying to impose outside influence on a committee for a Nobel prize. The committee decides, not the community. I'm sure every profession has their savior/icon that they think deserves this award for revolutionizing something and altering humanity for the better. You're free to talk all you want but it's not going to change anything. Discussing it online is nothing but a waste of time unless your intentions are to embarrass Linus.
My work here is dung.
Oh god, please no.
I'd prefer my Linus not being in the same company with all the crooks who received it for bullshit.
Well, then a far better case can be argued for a Nobel Prize to be extended to the father of free software, Richard M. Stallman.
If Obama got it for doing essentially nothing after being in office for less than a year (and nominated after only a few months?) then I'm sure Linus has already earned it just by waking up this morning and drinking his coffee.
After all, he's not George Bush either. Or perhaps it's that he's not Bill Gates. *snark*
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
If President Obama can recieve a Nobel prize for things he promised to do, within a year of when he started, then Linus Turvalds, who helped built the crucial basis for technology that will last as long as computers exist, should've gotten a prize almost twenty years ago.
Absolutely. Peace isn't merely politicians negotiating treaties, public-spirited volunteers planting trees, religious leaders preaching tolerance, or organisations raising money to save endangered species. Peace is an instrument towards achieving open-minded and open-hearted coöperation amongst people from a wide variety of cultures, ethnicities and countries working towards creating solutions for the common welfare. If anyone deserves the Peace prize, Linus Torvalds probably does. Or perhaps the open-source movement, as a whole. Software may not be as visible as loud activists and marching protesters, but it has achieved the kind of collaboration amongst interested private individuals and companies that the environmental movement or any of various well-meaning political groups can only envy.
Karma fed to this user will be promptly burnt. Be warned; be wary.
Nobel prizes are not decided by popular vote. They are not decided by wider discussion and consideration. There is no forum for public nomination. There are no public announcements of the candidates under consideration, even after the fact. Despite what kdawson might hope, he, and the rest of the people around Portland get no say in deciding Nobel prizes.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Honestly, RMS probably deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Linus. He gets wide credit for starting the entire GNU/ free software initiative.
Does this suggest that Bill Gates and Paul Allen should also get the Nobel Peace Prize?
Or, does it suggest that they should get the War Prize?
What about the guy who invented Minix? Should he get the prize too?
I know I'm responding to a troll article, but I can't help it.
I've always been interested in seeing how computers get used in the far-flung parts of the world, and between OLPC and websites showing off pics of tribemen using Linux on laptops to check prices, weather info, etc., it would seem that Linux has made a difference both in the "developed" world as well as the places where computers may not be as prevalent.
Certainly it stands to reason that not everyone needs access to email, say, but everyone would like to know whether it's going to rain tomorrow, and there may not be a local radio or tv station to provide that info, but a computer with some sort of internet access could. So if I'm only going to use a computer once in a blue moon, or if I'm one who provides computers to folks who only need an extremely limited data set, why not be Linux? It's totally dependable and, most importantly, it's free. This is critical when the local economy may rely more on bartering and the exchange of physical goods for services; I can't imagine Microsoft would be willing to sell Windows for a few dozen eggs.
So yes, I'd be behind such an honor; the whole point of the Nobel Peace prize is to award people who have made other lives better, and providing the platform on which anyone, anywhere can build upon to provide anything, at the most local level, I can't see how this *doesn't* qualify.
No.
It strikes me that a lot of good is being done by this body. Plus there's more to come. So it strikes me that Bill might be in line first, or maybe a shared one with Bill, Linus and Tim Berners-Lee or something.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
peace prize no. There are prizes for science fields also, maybe they could figure out if he deserves one of them.
Certainly his contribution to humanity as a whole should be recognized in some appropriate way but I'm not convinced the peace prize is the right one.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Peace prize? They plainly haven't been reading the LKML at the Nobel Institute...
-- There are three kinds of mathematicians: those who can add and those who can't.
Would you want the same award given to Arafat and George Ryan?
Seriously, if you want to honor him, make is something meaningful.
I know it seems a little far-fetched, but the globalization possible due to technology has caused a lot of conflict and strife in terms of politics, business practices, etc. The open source movement, which became prominent mostly through projects like Apache, Firefox, and especially Linux, is one of the best examples we have so far for the potential good of globalization--where people are coming together across the world irrespective of race, religion, or nationality and working toward a common goal for the greater good of the entire world (or at least the part of the world who benefits from their software). It's a model for the potential of global peace and cooperation.
Not saying Linus is by any means a shoe-in for it, but I don't think it's an absurd idea.
"Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of Minix."
...
"An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never make a good program."
"Your problem has nothing to do with git, and everything to do with emacs. And then you have the _gall_ to talk about "unix design" and not gumming programs together, when you yourself use the most gummed-up piece of absolute sh*t there is!"
"When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those with the system, *for free*'."
"My personal opinion of Mach is not very high. Frankly, it's a piece of crap. It contains all the design mistakes you can make, and even managed to make up a few of its own."
"In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people."
"Personally, I'm _not_ interested in making device drivers look like user-level. They aren't, they shouldn't be, and microkernels are just stupid."
And I didn't even get that far down the page.
Then again, if it was between him and de Raadt
Everyone knows KDE is better than Gnome. And really, Ubuntu isn't even a real distro. It's just Debian gimped and preconfigured.
run away! run away!
mmmm...forbidden donut
Wow, an informative comment with a useful link that allows the reader to verify your statements independently!
Are you sure you aren't really a time traveler from, say, 2001 or thereabouts?
A United Nations Public Service Award perhaps?
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
The Obama peace prize meme is really annoying. I don't think it was a great idea to give the prize to him but it the idea that we don't give nobel peace prizes to people to encourage/support/recognize potential work is just wrong. For example, the 1935 prize went to Carl von Ossietsky for his journalism and peace activism against the Nazis. He had at that point done very little to stop the Nazis. And we all know how well he actually succeeded. Not at all. But that prize was completely reasonable. There's a long history of giving the prizes to people who promise future work.
Moreover, Obama's win was a real accomplishment as the first black US President. Also as a matter of international peace having a US President who doesn't think that bombing everything is a solution and doesn't go to war due to Biblical verses, yeah that's a good thing. So even if accomplishments were necessary Obama had them.
Finally, Torvalds has real accomplishments. The success of Linux has helped poorer countries who would have trouble affording closed source projects (not as much as we'd like but it has certainly helped). Moreover, his work has helped inspire the open source movement in general in ways that have really helped a lot. If not for his work, Lessig would likely never have been inspired to make the Creative Commons for example. I could reasonably see a joint peace prize for Torvalds, Lessig and Stallman.
then why not Linus. At least Linus did not write a book and omit a few inconvenient truths.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
Stallman's working for social justice, freedom and equality. He gets chosen less often as a posterboy, but he's the one doing the really important work.
Linus is only popular because his style is convenient for IBM and the other megacorps. He goes with the flow, let's those with power do what they want.
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
Yes, Linus is worth of consideration, not only for his own achievements but also for what he symbolizes in the fight against Intellectual Monopoly. This is one of the great fights of our times... and the wealth-grab of widening intellectual monopoly is part of what makes the rich (nations) richer and the poor poorer. Nominating Linus for the Nobel Peace Price would draw needed attention to this fight.
Linux is an equalizer for the poor. I am involved in a project in Brazil where we take old (and usually broken) donated machines show local kids how to rebuild them and put linux on them. Dozens of kids who would not otherwise have been able to afford a computer or learn about technology have benefited from this. And there are thousands of such projects around the world, having made a huge difference at the grass-roots in many communities.
I heartily support Linus's nomination!
He did quite a bit of work, then gave it away because he thought it was best for his work and thought others would like to play with it. He puts the technology first above everything. He's not going to become insanely rich, but we as a global society should reward him in some way. Not sure peace price is right, but it's not wholly wrong either. Maybe not just him, but RMS for the creation of the GPL. I'm sure there are others. We should reward people who put progress/technology/people/freedom before themselves and wealth. If we don't, what does that say about us? Isn't that how we want people to behave?
Linus deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Obama did. Linus has actually accomplished something, and has been uniting global communities for years.
Greg Mortenson really deserves it.
http://www.gregmortenson.com/
He created a project that fostered international cooperation and was essential to the expansion of the internet. It made thousands of embedded devices possible and freed computers from the shackles of proprietary operating systems. It made computing possible for millions of people around the world who otherwise would not be able to afford computers. The non-profit, collaborative model opened doors to connect computer professionals from all around the globe. He would definitely be one of the best candidates in 20 years.
When it comes to computer science, I think men like Edsger Dijkstra, Alan Turing or Donald Knuth deserve this title more. Even for those men, Nobel price for PEACE is the wrong category.
Linus is certainly a better choice than a terrorist, like in 1994.
I know this is contentious, but I quite like being the devil's advocate. Isn't Bill Gates more suited to the Nobel Peace Prize?
His philanthropy is unparalleled (by monetory value alone, anyway). His influence on the world of computing is undisputed. I'm not saying his influence has been good or bad... just that he's had influence. The world wouldn't be the same without Windows. Regardless of which operating system you favour (for me, it's a tie between OSX and Ubuntu), you cannot deny that Windows has been an important component in the spread of information and education across the world, and enabled all kinds of communication.
A lot of this stuff would have happened anyway, without Windows... but then I could argue that the US civil rights movement would have happened at some point without Martin Luther King (a previous Nobel Peace Prize winner).
He's managed to foster a global community (fractious and contentious though the wars between distributions may be) and I don't think that anyone can argue that a typical open-source developer conference looks a bit like the UN with all the disparate countries and cultures coming together to work on a common project.
Linux and the GNU bits have been picked up as THE standard for computing in low-income countries and regions - How many systems targeted at getting the poor, underdeveloped, etc. on the net are running Linux distributions under the hood?
I say give it to him -- seems like the above is worthy of recognition IMHO.
/~mikeg
If you're going to start handing out Nobel peace prizes like candy, RMS should probaby get the next one.
He has actually created things which have changed the face of computing, GPL, the concept of free software, GNU, all these things are huge compared to a kernel.
If he actually did win the prize, wouldn't there be strife if they mis-pronounced his name?
This could be a very historic moment!
It could potentially be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a (benevolent) dictator! I'm pretty sure that still qualifies him as somehow politically active.
In all seriousness though - Linus' contribution was definitely revolutionary, and has changed the world in a very positive way. I can't imagine what evil regime I would be stuck working for if I hadn't started playing with Linux so many years ago.
If Linus were to win the prize, I would imagine that he should probably put the funds back into a charitable organization, since there are and were countless numbers of others who have made substantial contributions to the evolution of his kernel as well.
Maybe he could rename it the Han Solo Award and give it back to the Rebel Fleet.
... he did something real in the last (almost) 20 years even if I don't know if he contributed to bringing peace to this world in some way.
For sure one can think about it and create some compelling arguments to support that cause so why not? Linus for Nobel!
What wars has Linux stopped? What international dispute has Linux settled? What starving group of people has Linux saved? Nominating Linus because of Linux for the peace prize is really stretching it. Igor Sikorsky never received a Peace Prize, and he was fundamental in the development of the helicopter, which has DIRECTLY saved thousands of peoples lives. Linus might be worthy of some other prize, like the Millennium Technology Prize, but never in a thousand years does his development of Linux or inclusion in the Open Source movement qualify him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
... wait until the Chrome OS PC comes out.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
What's needed is a Nobel Prize for Computing that recognizes important contributions to advances in digital technology.
Linus should win that, though probably after Tim Berners Lee, Jef Raskin, Douglas Englebart and others who've made as important contributions as Linus receive it first.
Man I'd do it just to watch Ballmer's face change colours. In widescreen HD.
But seriously, why not? He's enabled the less fortunate to participate in a world-wide community. It doesn't have obvious effects, but it is no less important a contribution
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
I'm a big fan of both Thorvalds and Obama, but I don't believe either of them deserves a Nobel Peace Prize... yet.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Linus for the Nobel Peace Prize? No way. Look at the Millennium Technology Prize instead.
http://silvioperilnobel.sitonline.it/8/
What we need here is our very own prize awarding institution.
Then instead of sneering at the dumb choices of a bunch of dozy scandinavian academics we can employ the wisdom of the slashdotcrowd, which as we all know, is way smarter than the average crowd.
The existing categories of the Nobel Prize are a tad limiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_prize so I suggest we will need a call for categories to begin with.
It goes without saying that the prize is just kudos - no cash - and that nominations are of course free as in beer.
Well I suppose for the publicity photos there may be a small Gnubell made out of something standard - titanium alloy springs to mind...or of course transparent aluminium but that will be free too.
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
He is certainly more deserving than Obama, Gore or Arafat. Go Linus.
I haven't heard any speech from Linus Torvalds. What makes him worthy of NPP?
Eclipse PDE and Me
Nobel Prizes are for basic science research (at least the science ones are). No way Linus is worthy of a Peace Prize. There is already a prize that would fit him though - the Millennium Technology Prize. Although it seems everyone forgot it already, Tim Berners-Lee won this two years ago.
It might be considering how widely used Linux in the sciences. As a meteorology student I have seen how the software that both the government and academia uses are Linux-based. A prime example is the NAWIPS software package. Who knows how many other scientific advances are being done on Linux.
Usually awards elevate the status of their recipients. However, if Linus Torvalds were to win the Nobel Peace Price, the association of Torvalds with that award would serve to rehabilitate the image of the Nobel Peace Prize and diminish the status of Linus by associating him with the likes of Yasser Arafat, Al Gore and Barack Obama.
Past Nobel Peace Prize recipients proclaim loudly and incessantly that they are saving the world while doing nothing or causing actual social harm. Linus has made a significant, definite and postive impact and modestly describes his role and accomplishments. He has exactly the wrong credentials for that award and is the ideal anti-candite for it.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
The Nobel Peace Prize is not "political" in the sense that you mean.
Are you American? I can understand if you think it is, but it's not always about you and certainly not about *your* politics.
How would you even know? The Norwegian politicians that decide have NEVER talked about their motives for choosing this or that. The choice is made according to the will of Alfred Nobel [and that was recently proven by auditors].
And your claim that you "doubt" anything is laughable, you don't know squat about the people that make the decision!
I'd hate to see the guy who calls his co-opetition "masturbating monkeys" get a peace prize. :)
That aside, I firmly believe that the GPL is the reason for the success of the Linux kernel and of GNU/Linux. Compare the success of Linux and GNU/Linux to other systems which are more stable and have better documentation (like OpenBSD). There are many reasons why this might be, but I think that there would have been far fewer contributions to the Linux kernel if its license did not provide equal access for all contributors. A substantial part of Linux was written by commercial entities who would undoubtedly not be willing to invest in a product which their competition could build upon without contributing likewise in return.
We all owe a tremendous debt to RMS that I doubt will ever be repaid.
Agreed. Those were my thoughts as well. Stallman's insight to see what was coming and draft the GPL has contributed immeasurably to the freedom and variety in the current software landscape. I honestly think it was a stroke of genius to use Copyright law itself in such a way as to create a code base that cannot be bought-out/subverted by corporations. Stallman had the vision to make it possible.
Is there no prize for lifetime achievement in progress of humanity? Especially technological one?
That would be much more appropriate.
Linus is not exactly the peaceful guy. E.g. if you ever have asked him about his opinion on CVS. ^^
I respect him though. And only with standing behind even your strong opinions can you lead. Which he does, even if they are not nice.
But peace is not exactly the right word here. ^^
I think even Linus would agree to that.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
I think if they tried to do it RSM would have a fit.
You Americans can only see as far as your own nose. The Peace Prize is not given to people for their accomplishments, but also for what they can do [if they receive the prize]! It is an instrument of change and influence, not a prize to hang on the wall!
Most of you Americans seem to think Obama is "unworthy" because he has not done anything [yet], however that is exactly what the committee is trying to influence! That and putting pressure on him to actually hold his word on changing the world in a positive way. He is worthy because he *can* change, and at this juncture in time his choices can have huge ramifications for the future.
It also helps that he in fact was the first black man to be elected president does mean a lot!
Torvalds has done more for peace than President Obama, who was nominated for the prize just a few weeks after taking office (he couldn't have done anything, still hasn't, and won't). In fact, Obama had a chance to do something for world peace -- get US troops out of the 150 different countries they're in. He didn't. He's actually expanding US-imperialism. Thus, he's done plenty for world discord, not peace.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
The example that Eric Schmidt stated to the New York Times was that Tim Berners Lee should have been given a Nobel Prize, but the Nobel community doesn't consider computer science to be in the same spectrum as other traditional life or physic sciences. I think both Tim is without question worthy of a Nobel, and there's a strong case for Linus as well, but it's questionable whether either has the political clout to win.
Actually, if you happen to be part of the forum called "parliament" or "congress" you can in fact nominate...
These people may nominate candidates for the Peace Prize:
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, a nomination is considered valid if it is submitted by a person who falls within one of the following categories:
Members of NATIONAL assemblies and governments, and members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
University PROFESSORS of history, political science, philosophy, law and theology, and university presidents and directors of peace research institutes and institutes of international affairs
Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague and of the International Court of Justice at the Hague
Members of Institut de Droit International
Former Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and board members of institutions that have previously been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
Former permanent advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Institute
When Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler got nominated.
On a bright side, Hitler's nomination was withdrawn AND it took place before the WWII.
Stalin and Truman got their nominations after the WWII.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Who has any respect for the Nobel prize thing after mr Obama got the prize?
Anybody who takes a ral look at what he is doing sees that there is no real change, no real peace, and even more war stuff. (any columbian bases, anyone? iran? iraq? afghanistan? support for israel?)
Not lessening his number of bases, war spending he makes a bad peace impression.
Linus should refuse the prize.
As President Obama.
Linus seems unlikely to win the award because he is not a "Goodist." Even if you do agree with the Bret Stephens's characterization of the majority of Nobel Peace Prize winners as "Goodists" be sure to catch his October, 12 column in the Wall Street Journal for the Onionesque but factual photo caption "Japan agrees to outlaw war in 1929, shortly before invading Manchuria."
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Linus, RMS, Eric Raymond, Bruce Perens, Tim O'Reilly, Brian Behlendorf, Paul Vixie, Mitch Kapor, Mark Shuttleworth, and Theo De'Rahdt are all exchanging ideas, sometimes harshly, they are not exchanging bullets. I'd say they all have a lot to teach politicians.
The FOSS movement has people collaborating at a scale that has never been seen before. The Internet make it possible, but would there be as much exchange of ideas if there was no FOSS?
You'll never be able to quantify how many people didn't die either because of information they got using a OLPC, or how many kids didn't grow up to become dictators because better information and communication defused their anti-social tendencies.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
They just gave it to a guy for NOT being George Bush!! Linus isn't George Bush, why shouldn't he get one too? Hell, put 'em on a roll and we can all wipe our asses with them for all they're worth...
You open source people crack me up. Next thing you will tell me is Obama deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
Doesn't that disqualify him these days?
They have one for literature. Software is better then literature. Common admit it, way better.
... just saying.
Seriously, though, the Peace Prize is very political, and it would take a HUGE outcry of global public support for Linus or Richard to get any lip service.
The Peace Prize is often awarded to those who end disputes, perhaps the very same people who started them in the first place
If anything, ubiquitous computing is not a stabilizing force but a disruptive one, empowering people against governments by way of improving the exchange of information, and encouraging association. Think "flash mob". This may be a force toward renewed justice, but the process can be anything but peaceful.
In Liberty, Rene
This is the singularly most stupid thing I've ever seen on this site, and that is really saying something.
I thought Nobel laureates aren't arrogant bastards that get a hard on from dismissing people with good intentions?
Doesn't running Windows on top of OS X already provide additional reliability?
Peace prize? Do me a lemon! Everywhere that pompous vanity-stricken self-obsessed arsehole posts, a massive flame war immediately breaks out, mostly because he's such a dick. An advertisement for diplomacy and peaceful co-existence, he surely isn't.
You should have seen him come barging into the gcc list the other day, ranting about why is the compiler aligning the stack in this function and oh your compiler is buggy and oh you're all so stupid and oh this and oh that... until it was pointed out to him that the compiler was aligning the sodding stack because his sodding code placed an aligned object on the sodding stack, then suddenly it was all about some tiny finicky details of the exact code sequence it was using to align the stack that weren't how he'd assumed them to be and how doing anything not the way he would expect is just stupid... what a wanker. The only prize he deserves is 1st. place in the 100m backpedal!
Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?
NO!
Why bother
the nobel peace prize has entered the realm of farce (arafat, kissinger, and obama for smiling nicely) and has destroyed its legitimacy
of course, maybe the whole idea was doomed from the start as a flawed idea
perhaps the prize should be reconstituted as a way to recognize truly deserving underappreciated efforts, such as microlending in poor areas or water purification projects. in other words: no matinee idols or celebrities need apply. this would rule out deserving celebrities like nelson mandela, but it would also rule out the likes of kissinger and arafat. no more stunt prizes like obama's
a prize only for the truly anonymous makes a heck of a lot more sense actually in the realm of what it really means to labor for peace selflessly, which is true peacemaking anyways
so if not discontinued, the prize should be reconsituted with strict guidelines as a prize for the truly anonymous
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I do not question the important relevance in freely developed community software, but Linus is just one of the guys who participated. I admit, his contribution is one of the most hard hitting of them all but he didn't start it. If anyone deserves the prize it should be Richard Stallman. Without him, the Linux kernel would be useless without the rest of the GNU System.
Let him have the Nobel Prize at least for the $$ as the Nobel is worthless otherwise. After Arafat, Gore, Carter and now Obama for "potential" the prize has turned into a joke. Take the money and run
exactly!
by threatening to send his wife (a six-time Finnish national karate champion) in to beat the stuffing out of any of the Peace Prize committee members who vote against him.
by making linux an open and free OS, he has enabled many developing and 3rd world areas opportunities that they might not be able to afford, particularly in this age of technology we live in. Look at all the initiatives like OLPC or providing surplus PCs to these areas, most if not all would be running some flavor of linux on them. I say that is pretty significant. That's a pretty big impact on that part of the world.
as many have said, he has a better claim than simply "not being Bush"...
that said, ever since they did that, I have a hard time taking the award even a little bit seriously anymore.
Who cares about the Nobel Peace Prize? Would Linus feel honored or embarrassed to be in that company?
I think National Population and Family Planning Commission of China would be the most worthy recipient of that prize. Of course all left wing, right wing, and religious middle in the west wouldn't agree. So what? Doesn't diminish its significance in reducing poverty and bringing peace to the world.
...but then, the list of peace prize winners isn't all that sensible either.
Shit man... just read the fucking thread. Search for "Obama". There are more than 50 references to Obama BEFORE you posted your "lulz Obama" brainless post. Are you somehow incapable of reading posts that were written more than an hour before yours? You're probably someone who would read a "laser" story a week after it was posted and then write some stupid shark comment.
My thoughts exactly. I once saw Stallman talking about what he envisions for GPL and freedom of software in the future, and it really looks like he's aiming at a more collaborative and free society. Not only that, but he has taken positive and large steps in getting there, by turning copyright against itself and actively advocating free software and its benefits.
Genius indeed.
I see it as unfortunate that he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. If he were more "accepted", his ideas would probably have an even stronger impact.
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
If this did go though, it would introduce all of the NPR folks to a concept they may never had considered before... 'Free' use of computers.
But, I think anyone who has heard both Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman both speak knows that Stallman is the heart behind the movement, and Linus is the one who constantly does that last bit and makes sure it actually works.
Really, they both deserve to get a peace prize, since neither of them would be where they are today without the other. I would suggest that it be given to Stallman/Linus as an entity, rather than to either of them individually. Then, Linus can drop Stallman's name off of his medal.
I'm not a bird, I'm a super-advanced flying stealth dinosaur!
Do you realize that the reason why Obama got this Peace Prize was because he was not Bush and yet he got elected?
It is a way to say to the US: we like the direction that you are going, we definitely prefer this direction to the direction the last guy in charge was taking.
I believe this is the case, it's not about Obama at all, it is about him not being Bush (and I agree with the Nobel Committee on this.)
You can't handle the truth.
Seriously.
The Presidential Medal Of Freedom.
Linus Torvalds is an egomaniacal ass. Linux is awesome, but he doesn't promote peace or worldwide cooperation in any way.
If anything is going to help bring real peace to the world, it's changing people's selfish mindsets. Open Source is doing that. Slowly, people are coming to realize that doing good for everybody really is good for everybody, including yourself. This mindset shift will slowly extend outward beyond software, and may one day usher in a new age of cooperation and collaboration. Linus, as an early adopter of the mindset, and a vocal and active one, at that, HAS been instrumental. He's not the ONLY one, of course. Stallman, for example. But this is or should be based on actual results, actual impact, that the person has (or clearly will have), on the world. Linux is a household name. Yes, technically it is GNU/Linux, but the fact that none of the uneducated masses knows that says something about who has made the bigger impact. So, yes, I could back such an effort. Of course, honors are nice, and all, but the best way to say thank-you for all the hard work is to enable him to be even more influential in the future. Now, how could we do that?
I'm afraid Stallman is not eligible for the Peace Prize. He just can't stop murdering people with that darned samurai sword!
Stallman is his own worst enemy. Somebody like Linus is easy-going, chatty and just generally a more likable fellow. Stallman sometimes comes off as a fanatic (it doesn't help that he looks like Rasputin).
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
...of extremely obnoxious fanboys that he has imposed on the internet.
After selective praise like that even the president of the biggest agressor of the last decade would look like he deserved a Nobel prize. ERRRR....
I think "not being George W Bush" is a perfectly cromulent reason to receive a Nobel Peace prize.
So Linus is like totally qualified on that account.
For that matter, where's my Nobel?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The disapproval of Stalin here I definitely understand, but does the disapproval of Truman have anything besides the atomic-bomb call? I'd rehash the arguments, but this thread's not the place.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Because if I didn't have a viable alternative to Windows, sooner or later, I would have headed to Seattle and gone postal on the Redmond campus.
... for open source, when it comes to a nobel peace prize I'd say Stallman deserves it more. Without that guy, we wouldn't even know about open source. With the open source movement derived from the free software movement, and the Linux kernel "just" being the last part in the GNU OS, it's really Stallman/the FSF that should be considered instead.
One can't deny Torvald's effect on the free software movement, of course: delivering the missing part to the GNU OS was critical. One might argue that Torvalds' contributions were more important.
Then again, this is the Nobel Peace Prize we're talking about. Sharing and sharing alike is a concept for peaceful cooperation that the open source community does not strictly speaking support. That's a free software concept, and far more deserving of any prize with the name "peace" in it than a movement that "just" stands for the quality you can achieve through massive peer review.
...but they now cost 1000x more than they should and they only do what robot warlord Steve Jobs thinks you should be able to do.
That is.... until the building of the great and powerful Death psyStar
Reply to That ||
More people need to recognize that Stallman has done more for free software than Torvalds.
Do you realize that the reason why Obama got this Peace Prize was because he was not Bush and yet he got elected?
Do you realize that Bush wasn't running?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
As opposed to the recent recipient, he would have actually done something positive in the world at the time of nomination, which is in line with the purpose of the Prize.
Don't forget about Al Gore's Nobel prize for making a video and presentation about what we already know.
He never even visits the local university. There's thousands of computer science undergrads here that could learn a thing or two from him!
Really?
Have you seen the flamage on LKML?
If that's peace I'll take war any day.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
He hasn't done anything to deserve it, which seems to be the standard these days.
Seriously - I'm sure there are fairly prestigious industry prizes, but I can't think what the Nobel or Fields Medal equivalent is...
Oh, and we need the IgNobel equivalent, too - execpt most years I suspect the same person would get both :-)
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Obama: President of the US, responsible for war in Afghanistan, imprisoning people on NO valid ground on Guantanamo.
Al Gore: PowerPoint king and vice president when Clinton bomb Yugoslavia.
Matai: Planting trees in Africa(if you read some hydrology, tree planting you often get the opposite effect from witch you want)
In some way or another you can link these actions against peace. And you probably can do that with Open Source too, but it's still a bad decision.
Give it to some one who's working for peace directly!
He's a better candidate than Kissinger...
Me.
I adopted an unwanted child. Her parents smoked crack and were just the most recent of a long line of impoverished, uneducated, abused criminals.
At age 10, she's now a straight-A student who loves math and plays three musical instruments.
Get off the computer and go visit your local adoption agency, friend. It'll take a few years of jumping through hoops before they will trust you with a child, no matter how broken, but it's the most meaningful thing you could possibly do with your life.
"Behind every great man there stands a great woman."
If Linus is ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize he'd have to hand it over to his wife who, if I recall correctly, was once a black belt karate champion in Finland. There's no doubt in my mind who keeps the peace in that family.
... any asshole can get them.
It is just the Linux kernel. It is a very useful and a good software product, but it is just a kernel... It is not that useful without a compiler to compile the kernel, or a shell to actually use it. The objective Torvalds had when coding that kernel was just for fun, he wouldn't expect it to save the world or anything...He is not the guy to match software with ideology or good intentions.
Not saying RMS deserves it either - no, he does not. The whole FOSS thing depends on the contributions of a lot of people, and there is no real "founding father" that deserves all that much credit.
Oh well, at least Linus definitely deserves it more than Obama.
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
linus@penguinmaster:~/$export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/home/linus/awards/nobel/peaceprize"
linus@penguinmaster:~/$./configure --prefix=/usr
linus@penguinmaster:~/$make
linus@penguinmaster:~/$make install
Look at the historical receivers (or worse : nominees) of the nobel peace prize (excluding Obama's who's merely "promising" in the killing department).
Hans Reiser, perhaps ?
If Linus hadn't started Linux, BSD would be in its current place. Linus did nothing spectacular or revolutionary. He was in the right place at the right time with his then-toy operating system, when AT&T was giving BSD legal trouble.
Brian Fundakowski Feldman
:) yes
The point is that US people have rejected the idea of Bush by electing Obama. They could have elected the republican, but they did not. Of-course Obama may not be what people thought he was either, but it's a good try.
You can't handle the truth.
After all, an insane percentage of the modern world's digital infrastructure is powered by Unix/Linux.
I think that pretty much anyone could get a Nobel these days if properly lobbied. Someone from the Open Source would make great publicity and bring momentum to the movement
First John Paul II is omitted, then Obama included, and now you want Torvalds?
A peace prize for global collaboration on a kernel? While impressive, the fact that Torvalds managed to harness the power of the free software community is far from deserving a peace prize. Not to mention it's not *he* who authored "Free software, free society". GPL and software freedom is means to improving "his kernel" for Torvalds, not necessarily a goal itself. That's what I gathered on the interwebs anyway.
In any case: be serious.
someone proposed Silvio Berlusconi, why not Linus Torvalds?
The difference between Linus and Obama is that Linus is a benevolent dictator for life! ;-)
Stop wasting your time with this shit. Just do you always do: get together in groups of ISV/sponsors/LUGs, make up new awards, and hand them out to each other and backslap each other a month out of every year, and go home. A "peace prize" wet dream overture is just some sort of desperate, vicarious and needy attempt at validation among people who don't care that you spend your time writing "open" code. That's some potent drugs you need to be on to honest project upon yourself such delusions of grandeur as to believe you're FIGHTING FOR WORLD PEACE by participating in a shared coding project to run your computer (typically for illegally sharing high budget movies, music, pornography, games, and engaging in social working operas of self indulging trivialities). Torvalds doesn't even have an strict and otherwise principled, defensible ideology to try rationalize such an award. At least Stallman has his Freedom agenda to point to for brain damaged, adoring supporters of his to dream about. Even Bill Gates gave billions to fight world disease. But no, we all like and use Linux, and Torvalds is more clean and less unlikeable than Stallman, and most of all, he's from Europe! Let's stroke each others' braincocks at the idea!
Less awards stupidity, more coding. You fucking morons.
It is given to an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field.
It isn't as famous as a Peace Prize, but it does recognize real accomplishment.
Stallman is his own worst enemy. Somebody like Linus is easy-going, chatty and just generally a more likable fellow. Stallman sometimes comes off as a fanatic (it doesn't help that he looks like Rasputin).
I think it would help a lot if he dropped the "GNU/Linux" naming thing (I'm not saying he's wrong (I'm not saying he's right either)); it's getting pretty old.
$ make available
Then I'm all for it. LINUS 4 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IN '10! Then I don't want to hear another peep outta you guys... seriously... shut up already.
I like what Torvalds has done, but after the Nobel Committee have awarded Peace Prizes to the likes of Arafat, Gore, and Obama I no longer believe they live in the same world as the rest of us.
Of course this is just my $0.02 worth.
I see it as unfortunate that he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. If he were more "accepted", his ideas would probably have an even stronger impact.
A shave and a shower wouldn't hurt in this regard.
> Or for the lulz, Stallman and Palin. Can you imagine the two of them in the same room? The improbability is SO high that the universe might finally have to hork up a Higgs Bosun.
Nah, we already know what would happen: they would both be annihilated in a burst of gamma rays.
Hey. If Obama can win it anyone can.
Obama had already done many things, including changing world opinion.
Polls taken around the world showed that the US was once again admired. Prior to him traveling around the world during the campaign, prior to his speech in Egypt, prior to his meeting with many world leaders, and prior to several stateside speeches declaring our change in foreign policy, polls taken about the US showed that the vast majority of the world did not view us favorably.
Changing the tone of the entire world's opinion isn't something to be taken lightly. Did he really deserve a noble peace prize? Well probably yes, given that the prize has evolved into more of an approval of someone's methods or actions, rather than recognition of actual physical change in a region or the world.
Now would I like to see the prize return to rewarding something more along the lines of a life's worth of concrete action? Yes and no. It is very important to reward the Mother Teresa's of the world, but I think it is equally important that the world have a means of approving or disproving of behavior.
The Nobel group isn't exactly the whole world, but they are orders of magnitude more neutral than something like the UN, or a specific set of countries.
You simply don't get to drop not one but TWO nukes on civilians and call yourself a peacemaker.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
They hand those out like candy anymore for merely having potential (seriously devaluing the award). Give it to someone that has brought millions of programmers around the world to voluntarily give of themselves for the greater good... why not?
As premature as that particular prize was, at least President Obama has "promoted peace conferences", which is in literal accordance with Alfred Nobel's will.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
in service to mankind for his long and unfaltering battle with the evil empire that is "Microsoft"? sounds like some folks over on the west coast are losing track of reality. Linux is cool, but I dont see how his contribution has made mankind better off.
... who gives a crap about the Nobel Peace Prize. If they keep awarding Nobel prizes like this, it will end up discrediting the scientific Nobel prizes, which are still relevant for the time being.
Definitely. He certainly deserves it more than Obama.
I saw "Linus Torvalds for Nobel Peace Prize" and immediately thought, "What the...?! Er, what about Stallman?". Thank God others had similar reactions: the idea of a Peace Prize for Linus, given his ambivalence towards free software ideals, is absurd. It's like offering some kind of peace prize to Gandhi's optician for making his spectacles so he can do his stuff more easily. The stuff being done here is Stallman's vision (not only his, but he's the obvious representative of the free software movement). The fact that Torvalds produced one of the most significant technical milestones along the road to realising Stallman's vision does not make Torvalds a hero, any more than Gandhi's optician would be a hero just for making his glasses while saying he didn't really agree with his values. Stallman deserves recognition for identifying a really important threat to our political freedom in an information age, and fighting long and hard to safeguard our freedom. Torvalds is just a very competent geek. Give him a geek award for technical accomplishments, sure. But a Nobel Peace Prize? Please.
Let's nominate Theo de Raadt!
Think about it: This is just a great idea! If we all start whining form the start that it's not possible, and he'll never get it and so on, then yes indeed, it will never work. If Luke Skywalker thought the same, we would still be stuck with te Evil Empire! Open source is simply great, it's just very unknown to users. If we even could get Torvald/Stallman on the nomination list, that would already be great for advertising the Linux phenomenon. I know open source is more than this duo, but it has to be given to someone, who acts as a representative of a movement. Their impact is huge, just look how many universities build on ideas they have developped, i'm not sure many 'professors' have achieved such a thing. Religion = f(believers) and as far as i can guess, there are millions of devoted opensource adepts. as i said we could start by getting them just on the nomination (long)list later on a real nomination might be possible. So let's not get cynical by our opensource heroes. If you're serious on offering help, let us now on vainmonkey@gmail.com (Subject: Nobel Prize) (by the way The nobel peace prize is awarded by the norvegians The nobel economy prize is awarded by the swedes so we'll have two horses to bet on !)
Point taken. I say let's vote up RMS & Linus as winners to share the prize.
the nobel peace prize is a joke anyways. If Linus really needs more toilet paper...
It'd be a darn sight better than newbies such as President Obama or terrorists such as Yasser Arafat . . . which is why it'll never happen.
Cranky educator.
and it only took one "masturbating monkey" comment.
He will never get accepted because he is too idealistic. I don't think it's wrong to be idealistic--on the contrary, everything he says about software and freedom is absolutely correct. He is a man of principle and makes his decisions based on that, looking at long term goals rather than the short term conveniences of compromising your principles. The problem is that this level of idealism doesn't jive well with the general population, where people shy away from ideals out of selfishness and laziness because doing the right thing is just too inconvenient for them. Then they turn around and glorify their own shortcomings as the ideal and ostracizing the truly idealistic by calling them insane in order to take their otherwise legitimate viewpoints out of the game. You don't know how many times I've read people calling Stallman insane, and there is no basis for that because Stallman has clear and logical reasons for what he thinks and does. He is also a man that has accomplished more than any normal human being, so the results speak for themselves.
Stallman definitely deserves the Peace Prize because his original goal from the outset was to benefit mankind, and he accomplished this by starting from scratch and building from nothing. He set forth the ideals and created the free software movement single-handedly. Linus jumped into the free software movement rather late, and his major contribution was only the Linux kernel, most of which is not written or even designed by him (especially after it stopped sucking--sorry Linus).
If the day of granting awards to computer technologists is going to dawn, then...
Nobel Peace Prize to RMS for real change in the culture of producing quality SW by anyone
Nobel Economical Sciences Prize to Linus for the economical effect of Linux and Linux computers everywhere in the world
I think it's pretty fair to reward them both.
I agree! Linus did a great job starting this, bringing people together. He should get this price NOT for him but for everyone involved in this opensource revolution.
Saludos, Anibal Ojeda http://anibalnet.nl
No, that's a stupid idea. It's not promoting or creating peace on a global scale. It's a hacker/business tool. "World-wide co-operation", sure - in a way - but not in any way close to what it should require to actually be nominated and receive the NPP. But then again, a self-serving hack (Al Bore) and a promising president that hasn't been able to actually DO much yet for world peace except being elected in the first place (Barak DaBama) have been nominated and won, so why not a hacker? I'm sorry, but it's just not important in that way, because it's rarely USED in the way OP thinks. No offense, Linus, but no NPP for you. A science nomination on the other hand...
If anything it should be awarded jointly to FSF/rms and Torvalds. [Note: I'm just playing along, and not seriously hoping that this should happen. ;)]
Linus trovald was entitled to a nobel, therefore, many people can learn to develop operating systems and also uses the operating system free of charge. linux product of which has been developed is not lost either by non propitery operating system software. even more advantages, both performance and looks ...
why the hell is linus getting nominated? the real nerds know exactly what i mean. what about stallman? i wouldnt even mind if they gave it to shuttleworth.