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Linus on Linux's 25th Birthday (zdnet.com)
The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, posted his famous message announcing Linux on August 25, 1991, claiming that it was "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu." ZDNet's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols caught up with Linus Torvalds and talked about Linux's origins in a series of interviews: "SJVN: What's Linux real birthday? You're the proud papa, when do you think it was? When you sent out the newsgroup post to the Minix newsgroup on August 25, 1991? When you sent out the 0.01 release to a few friends?
LT: I think both of them are valid birthdays. The first newsgroup post is more public (August 25), and you can find it with headers giving date and time and everything. In contrast, I don't think the 0.01 release was ever announced in any public setting (only in private to a few people who had shown interest, and I don't think any of those emails survived). These days the way to find the 0.01 date (September 17) is to go and look at the dates of the files in the tar-file that still remains. So, both of them work for me. Or either. And, by the way, some people will argue for yet other days. For example, the earliest public semi-mention of Linux was July 3: that was the first time I asked for some POSIX docs publicly on the minix newsgroup and mentioned I was working on a project (but didn't name it). And at the other end, October 5 was the first time I actually publicly announced a Linux version: 'version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already).' So you might have to buy four cakes if you want to cover all the eventualities." Vaughan-Nichols goes on to pick Linus' brain about what he was doing when he created Linux. In honor of Linux's 25th birthday today, let's all sing happy birthday... 1... 2... 3...
LT: I think both of them are valid birthdays. The first newsgroup post is more public (August 25), and you can find it with headers giving date and time and everything. In contrast, I don't think the 0.01 release was ever announced in any public setting (only in private to a few people who had shown interest, and I don't think any of those emails survived). These days the way to find the 0.01 date (September 17) is to go and look at the dates of the files in the tar-file that still remains. So, both of them work for me. Or either. And, by the way, some people will argue for yet other days. For example, the earliest public semi-mention of Linux was July 3: that was the first time I asked for some POSIX docs publicly on the minix newsgroup and mentioned I was working on a project (but didn't name it). And at the other end, October 5 was the first time I actually publicly announced a Linux version: 'version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already).' So you might have to buy four cakes if you want to cover all the eventualities." Vaughan-Nichols goes on to pick Linus' brain about what he was doing when he created Linux. In honor of Linux's 25th birthday today, let's all sing happy birthday... 1... 2... 3...
Just wanted to say "thank you" to both Linus and GNU for giving me a system that I can appreciate, grow with, and live with. And slashdot too, for a forum to celebrate it on (I remember when they created the logins, the moderation, and the meta.....)
C|N>K
25 years and they couldn't even include some of the best quotes by Linus over the years?
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/...
* Only wimps use tape backup: real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)
* If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.
* In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people.
* My name is Linus Torvalds and I am your god.
* Dijkstra probably hates me.
* This is why we don't compile with "-W". Gcc is crap
* GCC 4.9.0 Seems To Be Terminally Broken
* (the spill is insane, btw, since it's spilling a constant value!)
No mention of how Linux used to be stuck with gcc 2.7.2 for years until egcs became stable?
Pfft, kids. :-)
Nah - the attitude is half the reason we got on board in the early nineties, and it's why Linux remains relatively cruft-less today.
Related: here's why the University of Chicago is one of my favorite universities I never attended:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-letter-met-20160825-story.html
"It is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive," the report states. "Although the University greatly values civility, and although all members of the University community share in the responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect, concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our community."
Ahhhh. Fuck yeah.
"just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu"
Which is funny, since there are likely more devices running Linux now than GNU/Linux, thanks to Android.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife