Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.
I think the term “intellectual property” should be avoided, not because it’s a bad term, but because it mixes things up that shouldn’t be mixed up. There are different forms, and they hardly have anything to do with each other.
In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.
People who are doing things for fun do things the right way by themselves.
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.
Me trying to make a business around Linux would have been a total disaster.
In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.
Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.
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.’
One of the reasons I like open source is that it allows people to work on the parts they are good at, and I don’t mean just on a technical level; some people are into the whole selling and support, and that’s just not me.
I don’t think commercialization is the answer to anything. It’s just one more facet of Linux, and not the deciding one by any means.
Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.
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.
In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.
All operating systems suck, but Linux just sucks less.
I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code or his data structures more important. Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.
I made very sure that I did not get involved with any of the commercial Linux companies, exactly so that I would be neutral and not ever seen as “working for the competition”.
Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence, no matter what the circumstances.
The correct form factor for a laptop is obviously 12" and 2 lbs, and I don’t understand why everybody gets that wrong.
My name is Linus, and I am your God.