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Linus Explains What Surprises Him After 25 Years Of Linux (linux.com)
Linus Torvalds appeared in a new "fireside chat" with VMware Head of Open Source Dirk Hohndel. An anonymous reader writes:
Linus explained what still surprises him about Linux development. "Code that I thought was stable continually gets improved. There are things we haven't touched for many years, then someone comes along and improves them or makes bug reports in something I thought no one used. We have new hardware, new features that are developed, but after 25 years, we still have old, very basic things that people care about and still improve... Our processes have not only worked for 25 years, we still have a very strong maintainer group... And as these maintainers get older and fatter, we have new people coming in."
Linus also says he's surprised by the widespread popularity of Git. "I expected it to be limited mostly to the kernel -- as it's tailored to what we do... In certain circles, Git is more well known than Linux." And he also shares advice if you want to get started as an open source developer. "I'm not sure my example is the right thing for people to follow. There are a ton of open source projects and, if you are a beginning programmer, find something you're interested in that you can follow for more than just a few weeks... If you can be part of a community and set up patches, it's not just about the coding, but about the social aspect of open source. You make connections and improve yourself as a programmer."
Linus also says that "I really like what I'm doing. I like waking up and having a job that is technically interesting and challenging without being too stressful so I can do it for long stretches; something where I feel I am making a real difference and doing something meaningful not just for me."
Linus also says he's surprised by the widespread popularity of Git. "I expected it to be limited mostly to the kernel -- as it's tailored to what we do... In certain circles, Git is more well known than Linux." And he also shares advice if you want to get started as an open source developer. "I'm not sure my example is the right thing for people to follow. There are a ton of open source projects and, if you are a beginning programmer, find something you're interested in that you can follow for more than just a few weeks... If you can be part of a community and set up patches, it's not just about the coding, but about the social aspect of open source. You make connections and improve yourself as a programmer."
Linus also says that "I really like what I'm doing. I like waking up and having a job that is technically interesting and challenging without being too stressful so I can do it for long stretches; something where I feel I am making a real difference and doing something meaningful not just for me."
Did more for computing than Gates, Ellison and Jobs combined.
Can we PLEASE fire the admins already? This happens all the time, they're lazy and barely understand tech.
If you vote this to -1, please give a good reason as to why, or else I'll assume you're an admin.
Older and fatter huh? How come no one gets older and skinnier?
Good to see the nicer, less-abusive side of Linus.
AC explains what does NOT surprises him one year after Slashdot BizX buyout.
#DeleteFacebook
Linus is still surprised daily that Linux is not on the desktop.
a week without dupes on /.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
he's still clutching that blanket.
The Linux kernel reboots or crashes every 47.9 days. The bug has been there since 1995 but never got fixed. Really annoying...
...as I continue to struggle getting its applications work [consistently] across its numerous distros.
Folks, Linux will not cut it well for me and my colleagues till it has a "drop in" replacement similar to MS Office.l
Do anyone know who is responsible for pulling funding to the SFLC at Linux Foundation/VMware after the Germany VMware GPL enforcement lawsuit? Was Paul Maritz involved for example?
If you interested in the early history of Linux, read "Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution" by Glyn Moody. This is a great read and one of my favorite Linux book.
I am thankful for the contributions of Linus and so many in the open source movement.
a cast of thousands of presumably talented software engineers spending enormous amounts of time and energy recreating what was done circa 1972.
it's ridiculous and frankly utterly unbelievable.
no advances in basic computer science, no fundamental change to the way operating systems interact with hardware, software, network, nor the users; instead, we have a version of unix with better sound drivers. pathetic security model, broken trust model, scaling problems, you name it, but don't worry someone will be along shortly to explain their latency measurements or the fact that distros outnumber cockroaches. no appreciation for the "negative code" concept, either -- just keep making it bigger and buggier and ever harder to improve in a thoughtful, structural way. a self-congratulating community that extols how the "jump to mobile" was indicative of some kind of unique quality.
you guys keep walking towards the mirage in the desert. it's definitely water, someone told you it was, so it must be.
must be those millennial drugs, take enough of them and suddenly git seems like an important computing milestone.
When I saw 'less' being updated two days ago on Mint I was quite amused.
Professor Tanenbaum, is that you?
You forgot,"Get off my lawn".
And tell me, sir, what did you bring to the world today?
Bill Gate et al? Jobs et al? Who? You are so vague...
Users of NetBSD fucking conVfirmed: Java IRC client
Linus = obsolete
youtube? vimeo?
Looking back, Linus is surprised he didn't have women throwing their panties at him all the time. He figured making an operating system from scratch should count for something with the ladies.
An adult would respect the contributions of all parts of the industry: hardware, software, businessmen, designers...
"I agree." - Karen Carpenter
Two decades later and STILL no proper DirectX? This OS is a joke.
9fans? :)
git didn't create any new CS but it was the first of its kind and infinitely better than the competition. git is the only VCS that I found intuitive to use.