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Linus Torvalds Awarded the Millenial Technology Prize

Posted by Unknown on from the stems-cells-kernels-same-thing-right dept.

Karrde712 writes "In a first for the Millennium Technology Prize, both Laureates were awarded the prize. Linus Torvalds was recognized for the creation of the Linux kernel and its continuing impact on enhancing scientific progress throughout the world. Dr. Shinya Yamanaka was recognized for his work in the development of induced pluripotent stem cells for medical research." New submitter Elessar wrote in about the BBC's related interview with Linus "... touching on many subjects including Linux on the desktop, Raspberry Pi, and the weirdness of his employment contract." (He did another one with Linux.com earlier this week too).

48 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Don't you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't you mean GNU/Linus Torvalds Awarded the Millenial Technology Prize?

    -

    rms

    1. Re:Don't you mean... by amazeofdeath · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, because the prize was awarded for developing just the kernel.

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      U+F8FF
    2. Re:Don't you mean... by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well Linus was mostly on the Linux Kernel. The Linux Kernel isn't GNU/Linux. Technically you can build an OS off the Linux Kernel, that isn't "Unixy" at all. The GNU (GNU Not Unix) is model to make a Unix like system without any Unix Code (unlike Free/Open/Net/... BSD) Most of what we call Linux Distributions is the GNU/Linux OS packaged with custom set of software.
      However you could make an OS that doesn't look or feel like Linux or Unix. Off the Linux kernel, (with perhaps some similar boot messages) But the OS would work and behave quite differently.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:Don't you mean... by bleedingsamurai · · Score: 2

      Like Novell OES-Linux and Cisco NX-OS.

      I think Android would still be considered a Unix through and through (going purely on behavior rather then trademarks and licensing)

      I always found it weird that you could just plop a non-Unix user space right on top of a Unix kernel. But I guess with enough abstraction anything is possible.

    4. Re:Don't you mean... by PPH · · Score: 1

      The "Unixy" attributes of Linux (or any other *NIX) is the kernel, filespace, API, and libraries.

      The whole Unix/non-Unix user space is a misconception. What you are referring to is an X/Motif, Gnome, KDE, Android, or shell UI. There are *NIX UIs that are nothing more than some LEDs and a few pushbuttons. That doesn't make them any less Unixy.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    5. Re:Don't you mean... by The+Moof · · Score: 1

      The whole Unix/non-Unix user space is a misconception. What you are referring to is an X/Motif, Gnome, KDE, Android, or shell UI

      Or he was referring to the Unix concept of user space vs kernel space. User space where the user's programs are loaded and executed with the user's permissions, which is entirely independent and separated from the kernel space. Sounds like you're confusing user space with UI.

    6. Re:Don't you mean... by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      You're an idiot. Linux is the kernel. The kernel boots and runs whatever it's told to (usually configured to run /sbin/init). You don't get GNU until that point.

      --
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    7. Re:Don't you mean... by kthreadd · · Score: 2

      For how many users is the GNU userland important anymore? I bet Google Chrome is much more used these days. GNU is irrelevant.

    8. Re:Don't you mean... by amazeofdeath · · Score: 1

      It's still irrelevant in the context of the prize criteria. If the prize would have been given for creating Linux as an operating system, the GGP would have some point, but TFA explicitly says that creating the *kernel* was the achievement that was found laudable.

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      U+F8FF
    9. Re:Don't you mean... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Sort of, it's not exactly current nor compliant IIRC.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    10. Re:Don't you mean... by cbhacking · · Score: 1

      Have you actually tried it, especially any version from the past 5 years (the 6.x family)? It works quite well enough for my use, to the point that I havne't bothered to run a Linux system (virtual or not) on either my home or work computer in a few months, despite using POSIX-based apps extensively.

      There are package managers and repositories, compilers and debuggers, shells and standard utilities. X11 clients can connect to X11 servers (I use a win32 one locally). Access control uses the Windows credentials but POSIX conventions. Non-win32 feaures like setUID and setGID work fine, as does case-seneitive filesystem operation. POSIX apps can invoke Windows ones, and even share some libraries.

      It's not perfect, but it definitley gets the job done.

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    11. Re:Don't you mean... by theCoder · · Score: 1

      They may not see it, but just about everything that gets the user from the kernel booting to being able to launch a web browser like Chrome is a lot of GNU software. To say that it is irrelevant is misleading. Besides, many people do things on their computers that aren't in a web browser, and on Linux, much of that depends on GNU software. Even those web browsers typically depend on GNU library software like glibc.

      The only place you could use Linux without GNU is on Android (which interestingly, isn't called "Android/Linux").

      RMS gets a lot of flack for the GNU/Linux thing, but he has a good point that the user's experience on Linux is as much "Linux" as it is "GNU". Of course, by extension that might mean we should call it Gnome/X/GNU/Linux, or something similar. So, most people just use "Linux", probably because it's easier to say :)

      --
      "Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
    12. Re:Don't you mean... by w.hamra1987 · · Score: 1

      when i boot my Windows 7 system, i either run firefox, or play one of the installed games... i dont touch IE, any of the MS games installed, hell, i never touched anything else in that system except the first day i installed it, to setup few things... but i doubt this means "windows" is irrelevant, and firefox is more important...

      GNU is still the very heart of a Linux system. you might not see them, but all these cron jobs running silently in the background are bash scripts, all programs require GLibC to run, as they're linked against it, the list is quite long of programs from GNU you're not even aware of their existence, all necessary to get the system to tick, but if you're really interested, i advise you to give a scan read of the "Linux From Scratch" book, to get an idea of how deeply interconnected is GNU's relationship to Linux, and how the two are inseparable.

      --
      my sig pwns your sig
    13. Re:Don't you mean... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Last time I tried it, tail didn't work correctly, and there was still no symlink support. Granted, it was more than 5 years ago, but while the first was merely extremely annoying, the second was a show stopper. And no, junctions are not the same. I'm aware NTFS has been enhanced since then, I no longer care. If I need *NIX features, I'll run a *NIX. Like much of the rest of the world is starting to realize, I really don't need windows features for anything.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    14. Re:Don't you mean... by Wolfrider · · Score: 1

      ...and don't forget Cygwin:

      http://www.cygwin.com/

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      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    15. Re:Don't you mean... by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      not necessarily many people will use a mix of BSD and gnu utilities many more people use android Linux. also many embedded Linux installs use custom code not owned by gnu. rms is fine calling android android/Linux and desktop Linux gnu/Linux because they use a different base but where do we draw the line i have a bunch of apache licensed code open office; Mozilla licensed Firefox liferea Thunderbird; various programs using a BSD licensed database so do i have a gnu/BSD/apache/Mozilla/Linux where do i draw the line? why should gnu get credit if the others don't and we aren't always talking about desktop/server Linux so i say just calling it linux is the most rational dissension.

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      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
    16. Re:Don't you mean... by bleedingsamurai · · Score: 1

      I believe you have miss-interpreted what I said, but I understand what you mean.

      What I mean is that there are certain expectations a Unix user might have of their user space and how they interact with it. Think of it as a cultural/unwritten standard. Some user space tools like GNU feel more Unixy then a few LEDs and push-buttons. After all, you can't really pipe the output of an LED into a push-button, though I'm sure you could modify the system to pipe the signal going to an LED into whatever the push-button activated some how, but that isn't exactly the same.

      Maybe I'm being a little to philosophical, XP

  2. So sick of this.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sick of this guy being recognized for inventing the Linux kernel just because his name is similar... when will people realize RMS invented Linux?

    1. Re:So sick of this.. by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The way I understand it is that Torvalds came up with the kernel (which is what's being recognized here), but RMS created many of the other tools that turn Linux from a kernel into a full fledged operating system. Without both of them, Linux probably wouldn't have been successful.

    2. Re:So sick of this.. by marcello_dl · · Score: 2

      Or possibly, if linux hadn't featured the gpl, it would be a niche OS with a version developed by apple or some other giants whose patents make it impossible to keep the free version on par with features.
      But speculaton on what could have happened is pointless.
      OTOH speculation on the future.... possibly linux in VMs or other security frameworks will be used for general and specialized purposes, until the guys running 20 VMs on their 16 core cellphones start to wonder if they would be better off with the microkernel approach. In other words, linus was right, tanenbaum wiil be right.

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      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    3. Re:So sick of this.. by Millennium · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The thing with this is that RMS didn't invent Linux. He, among others, developed a set of tools that can be run on a number of Unix-like kernels, including Linux, but Linux itself is Linus' baby. The GNU toolset actually predates Linux itself.

      A surprising number of Linux systems don't run the GNU toolset at all. When you count Busybox and similar minimalist toolsets (which are GPL-licensed but not maintained by GNU, at this point in time there might even be more Linux/not-GNU devices than there are GNU/Linux devices.

    4. Re:So sick of this.. by Trogre · · Score: 1

      Besides, RMS is too busy going all Rain Man at the airport to worry about eating.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    5. Re:So sick of this.. by Millennium · · Score: 1

      I am quite aware of how many, or how few, fucks are given. I'm just having some fun being pedantic, is all.

  3. Re:Spelling Error by abigor · · Score: 2

    Not to mention "millennial". Look how many times it's misspelled in the summary.

  4. Congratulations Linus by FudRucker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    thanks to Linus and his colleagues and the many other FOSS/GNU/Linux developers we have many cool Linux distros to choose from, kudos to all who made it happen!

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:Congratulations Linus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "we have many cool Linux distros to choose from"

      and fight over.

      Linux User 1 "Why the hell would you use that distro, should be Umbongo"

      Linux User 2 "Umbongo suck! Use Frisky Ferret"

      Linux User 3 "Frisky Ferret? That piece of shite - you need Smint"

      Linux User 4 "the year of Linux on the desktop!"

      etc. ad infinitum

    2. Re:Congratulations Linus by cpu6502 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      What about the GNU kernel? Linux wouldn't even exist without that foundation. (I suspect the inventor of that will be forgotten, just as people have forgotten the contributions of Jay Miner, Bob Yannes, Nolan Bushnell, Jack Tramel, Dennis Ritchie, etc.) All the popular press talks about if Jobs Gates.

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    3. Re:Congratulations Linus by bleedingsamurai · · Score: 2, Funny

      They didn't port Hurd to the Emacs platform yet. That is why it wasn't as successful.

    4. Re:Congratulations Linus by elashish14 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed, and it's the community that's so important. When you consider how versatile and ubiquitous the kernel is, you have to understand that it takes an extremely broad and diverse community of developers and other contributors to make it possible. Compare this to Microsoft, who can barely manage to port their operating system to ARM, and somehow they're raking in hundreds of billions of dollars.

      Even if you cast all of Linus' software development contibutions aside, the fact that he started such a diverse and prodigious community is worthy of several awards on its own.

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  5. Congratulation to "Mr. T."... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    See subject-line: Says it all!

    * I'd wager it "blows his mind" to this very day that Linux took off as well as it has...

    APK

    P.S.=> I may "bust balls" on the "penguins" around here on /. (because of the years of "FUD" along the lines of "Windows != Secure & Linux = Secure" (since ANDROID shows us all that once a Linux (or any OS) gains "top spot" in marketshare on any given computing platform, it will be attacked rampantly, as Windows has been due to its overall overwhelming dominance of the PC Desktop + Server spaces combined) - but, I don't intend it for Linux in general (because I've used it on/off since Slackware 1.02 in 1994, Redhat 6.x iirc around 2000, & KUbuntu for all of summer 2010)... it's what I call a "socio-cultural phenomenon" that shows folks can "pull together" worldwide & create something pretty nice, for free... that's something! apk

    1. Re:Congratulation to "Mr. T."... apk by kramulous · · Score: 1

      Your parentheses are unbalanced.

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      .
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Re:Spelling Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And it's not even called the Millennial Technology Prize - it's called the Millennium Technology Prize. So doubly incorrect.

  9. Congrats! by kvvbassboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's awesome, Linus! Congrats, you really deserve it for revolutionizing software development twice in the last two decades.

    1. Re:Congrats! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's really nice to see a technology revolutionist reaping some financial rewards in his lifetime, too. A check for 600,000 euros goes a long way towards setting him up for life financially, and considering his ongoing efforts to further the Linux kernel, I think we want him to be able to do that and not to worry about his next paycheck. If the Linux Foundation ever goes tits up, he won't be at risk of losing the roof over his head (and over his computers)(and over his wife and children). That's all to the good.

  10. This site has gone to shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Now we've got a bunch of comments attacking Linus Torvalds! Are the people on here so desperate to be contrary and hip that they will support literally ANY non-mainstream viewpoint?

    We complain about slashdot's stories creating misleading controversy through provocative headlines and summaries.

    But we get a story where we can say "Thanks, Linus - you did good" - and we fill it with stupid bickering. No wonder nobody important posts here any more (not under their real names, anyway).

  11. That's weird.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No nomination for Microsoft?

  12. Re:Spelling Error by Hatta · · Score: 1

    Because it's spelled weird.

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  13. Re:Spelling Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You must be a heinous foreigner, seizing on any deficiencies to feign a scientific conscience.

  14. ah yes, the old "Millenial" prize. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nothing's too menial for a Millenial.

  15. A well deserved award by Teun · · Score: 1
    Linus being a joint Grand Winner of the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize is a well deserved award to him.

    His original idea has brought together a large group of very smart people and his no-nonsense stile has kept this herd of cats working for a joint goal.

    My congratulations with the prize and thanks for making my computer a useful tool!

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  16. Too tame to be real Torvaldsian answers by Dystopian+Rebel · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is a plant by some Linux shill. Real Torvaldsian answers include calling people morons and telling them that they should just die.

    Assangians Assemble! Let's get the full transcript from the BBC and see what Linus REALLY said!

    --
    Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
    1. Re:Too tame to be real Torvaldsian answers by Jorl17 · · Score: 1

      And I got so puzzled that I wrote "not see hear" as a monkey myself.

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      Have you heard about SoylentNews?
  17. Millen by rossdee · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Say what 'Milllenium' is this referring to? We have been in the 3rd millenium for over a decade now.
    Is thids some dating system I am not familiar with, like the Mayan calander?

  18. Re:Spelling Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I was wondering what kind of organization would resolve to award a prize only every 1000 years. I guess that solves it.

  19. Re:Well Done Linus by elashish14 · · Score: 1

    I believe he splits the prize with the other winner, so he only gets 600k. Nevertheless, he actually does have a pretty solid income anyways.

    http://www.technologyacademy.fi/blog/2012/06/13/press-release/
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=953999
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds#Later_years

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  20. This award is a TRAVESTY by cstacy · · Score: 1, Funny

    Linux is nowhere close to as transformative technology as EMAIL! The award should have gone to V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai.