Linus Torvalds Quotes


Check out the 8 Sept 1996 San Jose Mercury News for a great article about Linus and Linux!

Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it.

"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*.'"

"Microsoft operating systems are bad, and their morals are even worse..."
( Quoted in the San Jose Mercury News, 8 Sept. 1996 article about Linux )

"I could be bought, but Linux couldn't be."
( Quoted in the San Jose Mercury News, 8 Sept. 1996 article about Linux )

Q: Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain why I should use Linux over BSD?
A: No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name". 386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people just because it sounds too technical.
( Linus Torvalds' follow-up to a question about Linux )

"The most important design issue...is that Linux is supposed to be fun..."
( Linux Journal, March 1995 )

"While in Australia, Dennis Ritchie said that the one feature of Unix he was most pround of was that it was portable. When it comes to Linux, the one decision I am most proud of is not the actual physical design of the system, but the decision to make it free."
( Linux Journal, March 1995 )

"[Linux] does endless loops in six seconds."
( Linux Journal, March 1995 )

"...So, I obviously decided to make my own Unix. What do I need? I need lots of ignorance, because if you know too much, you know that it's obviously impossible. Then you need the arrogance - `yes, I can do it, and I can do it better than anybody else.' Those two you need just to get started... you need to be a bit crazy and actually go on with it...."
( Linux Journal, March 1995 )


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wormhole.snurgle.org / Andrew M. Davenport / adavenpo@cmu.edu / since 17 Sept 1996