Q&A: Torvalds on Linux, Microsoft, software's future

By Peter Moon, Computerworld, 08/09/07

Linus Torvalds was only 22 when he decided in 1991 to share with friends and colleagues the code of Linux, the new OS he had created. The computer science student at the University of Helsinki could not imagine the revolution his decision would cause through the IT industry in the years to come. In this interview, he talks about why he released the code, offers his views on Microsoft and says the future belongs to open source.

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COMPUTERWORLD: What did you want from the public release of Linux? Was it money?

Torvalds: It certainly wasn't money, since the original copyright was very strict about that. It wasn't the GPLv2, it was my own "no money at all, and you have to give sources back" license.

CW: Was it for fame or for fun? Could you imagine the revolution you were about to start?

Torvalds: No, I didn't think that Linux would become as big and popular as it is now, so it wasn't really fame either. I'd like to say it was for fun, and that probably comes closest, but it might be more accurate to explain why I thought it would be fun. The releasing itself wasn't anything particularly fun, but what I was really looking for was feedback and comments.

When I released Linux in the fall of '91, I'd already been programming for a large chunk of my life, and it was what I did for fun. But I used to have a big problem in programming, namely, to find some issue to get excited about. I had done a few games, but I was never really all that interested in playing the games, so most of the time I was really looking for some interesting and relevant project for myself, so that I could keep programming.

That is where the public release comes in. I was hoping to get people to tell me what they thought needed improvement or what was good, and thus make the project more interesting for me. If I hadn't made it public, I'd probably have continued to use it myself, but it would have been good enough for what I did, and then I'd have to find a new project to work on. But it worked beautifully. I've been doing Linux for 16 years, and it's still interesting, exactly because I made it available publicly and asked for feedback.

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CommentsAdd to the discussion | Register | Learn about community

Torvalds on Linux, MS, software's future By siva on August 10, 2007, 2:52 am Reply | Read entire comment we talk about GNU linux what exatly is GNU

What is GNU/Linux? By David Gerard on August 16, 2007, 8:53 am Reply | Read entire comment "Linux" is just the kernel itself - the bit that interfaces to the hardware and manages which programs are running. GNU is the bit above that, written by the Free...

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