Linus Torvalds

If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.

No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal.

I personally think of Linux development as being pretty non-localized, and I work with all the people entirely over e-mail - even if they happen to be working in the Portland area.

Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the edge.

I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up.

I don't actually go to that many conferences. I do that a couple of times a year. Normally, I am not recognized; people don't throw their panties at me. I'm a perfectly normal person sitting in my den just doing my job.

When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well enough for my needs, and having sources available can be a life-saver.

I'm sitting in my home office wearing a bathrobe. The same way I'm not going to start wearing ties, I'm also not going to buy into the fake politeness, the lying, the office politics and backstabbing, the passive aggressiveness, and the buzzwords.

I don't try to be a threat to MicroSoft, mainly because I don't really see MS as competition. Especially not Windows-the goals of Linux and Windows are simply so different.

I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.

Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense.

Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.

Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.

The thing with Linux is that the developers themselves are actually customers too: that has always been an important part of Linux.

There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.

See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.

Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.

I'd much rather have 15 people arguing about something than 15 people splitting into two camps, each side convinced it's right and not talking to the other.

I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.

What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.

I'm generally a very pragmatic person: that which works, works.

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

Shareware tends to combine the worst of commercial software with the worst of free software.

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."

People enjoy the interaction on the Internet, and the feeling of belonging to a group that does something interesting: that's how some software projects are born.

I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.

There's innovation in Linux. There are some really good technical features that I'm proud of. There are capabilities in Linux that aren't in other operating systems.

If it is relevant there is always somebody else out there.

Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day.

Non-technical questions sometimes don't have an answer at all.

I don't think I'm unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light.

The thing I love about diving is the flowing feeling. I like a sport where the whole point is to move as little as humanly possible so your air supply will last longer. That's my kind of sport. Where the amount of effort spent is absolutely minimal.

To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person's trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together.

In many cases, the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works correctly or not seems to be secondary.

I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.

I actually think that I'm a rather optimistic and happy person; it's just that I'm not a very positive person, if you see the difference.

Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.

In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.

You won't get sued for anticompetitive behavior.

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.

I'm perfectly happy complaining, because it's cathartic, and I'm perfectly happy arguing with people on the Internet because arguing is my favourite pastime - not programming.

Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to 'good design sense'.

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.'

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.

I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat.

Programmers are in the enviable position of not only getting to do what they want to, but because the end result is so important they get paid to do it. There are other professions like that, but not that many.

I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.

My name is Linus, and I am your God.

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.

The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.

In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.

The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that I can depend on in return.

Any program is only as good as it is useful.

Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.

I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire.'

To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

A consumer doesn't take anything away: he doesn't actually consume anything. Giving the same thing to a thousand consumers is not really any more expensive than giving it to just one.

I've actually found the image of Silicon Valley as a hotbed of money-grubbing tech people to be pretty false, but maybe that's because the people I hang out with are all really engineers.

Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.

Turtles are very stable and have been around forever. But they have problems adapting. When humans came along, turtles came under serious threat. Biodiversity is good, and I think it is good in technology as well.

I never felt that the naming issue was all that important, but I was obviously wrong, judging by how many people felt. I tell people to call it just plain Linux and nothing more.

In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.

Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.

I don't see myself as a visionary at all.

Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.

There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible and one of the bigger technical projects in this area, and it changed how people looked at it because Linux took both the practical and ideological approach.

I'm a technical manager, but I don't have to take care of people. I only have to worry about technology itself.

In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things that I have absolutely zero interest in doing myself.

Before the commercial ventures, Linux tended to be rather hard to set up, because most of the developers were motivated mainly by their own interests.

Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.

I lose sleep if I end up feeling bad about something I've said. Usually that happens when I send something out without having read it over a few times, or when I call somebody names.

I used to be interested in Windows NT, but the more I see it, the more it looks like traditional Windows with a stabler kernel. I don't find anything technically interesting there.

That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.

The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies.

I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.

Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed.

I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things.

I get the biggest enjoyment from the random and unexpected places. Linux on cellphones or refrigerators, just because it's so not what I envisioned it. Or on supercomputers.

Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.

I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.

I've been very happy with the commercial Linux CD-ROM vendors linux Red Hat.