Linus Torvalds at LinuxCon Europe 2014
Credit: Wikipedia
Linus Torvalds1,2 was a student at the University of Helsinki when this appeared on a mail list:
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Summary: small poll for my new operating system
Message-ID: <1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
Hello everybody out there using minix —
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).
I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-)
Linus (torv…@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes — it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.
Recently, the operating system that emerged from that casual announcement turned 25. In those years, 41,000 person-years of development effort (equivalent to about $5 billion in developer salary) has produced 115 million lines of code which largely powers the Internet (serving this page too), Android, Chrome OS & others.
But you're probably not pronouncing it correctly
Business Insider – A conversation with Linus Torvalds, who built the world's most robust operating system & gave it away for free
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/linus-torvalds-qa-2014-6
FreeCodeCamp
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/linux-is-25-yay-lets-celebrate-with-25-rad-facts-about-linux-c8d8ac30076d#.61ddow952
Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/on-linuxs-25th-anniversary-development-has-gone-corporate/
The Register
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/26/linux_at_25/
Dice
http://insights.dice.com/2016/09/01/linux-turns-25-years-old/
The Hacker News
http://thehackernews.com/2016/08/happy-birthday-linux.html
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1 The Linux Information Project: “Linus Torvalds: A Very Brief & Completely Unauthorized Biography”, http://www.linfo.org/linus.html
2 Wikipedia: “Linus Torvalds”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds / Hello everybody out there using minix free operating system hobby big and professional like gnu 386 486 AT clones features implement 22-year old Finnish computer programmer Linus Torvalds released operating system Linux fans posted source code online contributed abilities improve Linux is everywhere powers your Android smartphone sorts mail for the US Postal Service runs the controls for CERN world’s largest particle physics laboratory steers nuclear submarines powers 95% world’s 500 fastest supercomputers Linux free open incredibly capable Torvalds brand name guy work started just for fun development Linux non-profit Linux Foundation outspoken guy well-informed opinions intellectual property law computer science education how far Linux has come programming is fun community kernel project has to be relevant too patent system fundamentally flawed not all patents are crap systemic incentives out of whack patent application granting side litigation side no regrets over making Linux open source make a business around Linux total disaster the kind of community around Linux instrumental in making Linux what it is today family computers largely Linux-based we’re a Linux household originally come with Windows or OS X pre-installed they all run Linux in the end computer programming is not for everyone specialised it’s not like knowing how to read and write and do basic maths key in powering all kinds of things today phones stock exchanges purely technical side Linux used very wide set different areas important for development being used in different niches makes the system much more balanced input from many different use cases technologies developed for one area really important in another one servers became very important for Linux pushed SMP development SMP became very important in the embedded area power management code developed for mobile devices server people became very aware of power use everybody wants to do something that matters Linux has had a huge impact on the tech market used virtually everywhere very personally satisfying I think programming is fun community around the kernel is great project has to be relevant major software companies intellectual property nowadays mixes things up that shouldn’t be mixed up the main black spot tends to be patents US patents are just a horribly broken system you inevitably see companies gaming it most egregious patent trolls patents themselves are crap Patent and Trademark Office isn’t seriously able to say no to them examiners skilled in the art really wanted to say no to something just generates more work for them applying company just amend application try to push it through again companies actually prefer vague over-broad patents hard to judge apply them in wildly inappropriate situations not like the threat is the patent itself it’s the litigation insane licensing cross-licensing agreements aren’t even about the worth of the patent itself about the cost of litigating it vested interest everybody knows it’s all horribly broken you’ll certainly find shills from the legal side helps innovation and innovators bullshit US patent system help US companies not about the law not about the patent neither the judge lawyers nor the jury will understand anyway honest people who are trying their best to do what they really think is right not all patents are crap Copyrights have much fewer problems some of the same issues on the litigation side companies like Microsoft or Apple development box for pre-production Intel hardware MacBook Air laptop right form-factor correct form factor for a laptop obviously 12 inch and 2 lbs 11 inch Sony Vaio Pro lighter than my 2 lbs target weight has a reasonable screen Android phones tablets Chromebooks MakerBot Replicator 3D printer /
