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Let's put it this way: if you need to ask a lawyer whether what you do is right or not, you are morally corrupt. Let's not go there. We don't base our morality on law.

Linus Torvalds

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Linus Torvalds
Age: 54
Born: 1969
Born: December 28
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Linus Benedict Torvalds
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More quotes by Linus Torvalds

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One of the questions I've always hated answering is how do people make money in open source. And I think that Caldera and Red Hat - and there are a number of other Linux companies going public - basically show that yes, you can actually make money in the open-source area.
Linus Torvalds
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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.
Linus Torvalds
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The Linux philosophy is laugh in the face of danger. Oops. Wrong one. Do it yourself. That's it.
Linus Torvalds
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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.
Linus Torvalds
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Generally, the best way to learn git is probably to first only do very basic things and not even look at some of the things you can do until you are familiar and confident about the basics.
Linus Torvalds
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I think that freely available software can not only keep up with the evolution of commercial software, but often exceed what you can do commercially.
Linus Torvalds
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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.
Linus Torvalds
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Software is like sex. It's only good when it's for free.
Linus Torvalds
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By staying neutral, I end up being somebody that everybody can trust. Even if they don't always agree with my decisions, they know I'm not working against them.
Linus Torvalds
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While I may not get any money from Linux, I get a huge personal satisfaction from having written something that people really enjoy using, and that people find to be the best alternative for their needs.
Linus Torvalds
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Security people are often the black-and-white kind of people that I can't stand. I think the OpenBSD crowd is a bunch of masturbating monkeys, in that they make such a big deal about concentrating on security to the point where they pretty much admit that nothing else matters to them.
Linus Torvalds
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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.
Linus Torvalds
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Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.
Linus Torvalds
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I'd argue that everybody wants to do something that matters, and the fact that Linux has had a huge impact on the tech market and is used virtually everywhere is obviously very personally satisfying. I think programming is fun, and the community around the kernel is great, but a project has to be relevant too.
Linus Torvalds
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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.
Linus Torvalds
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People who are doing things for fun do things the right way by themselves.
Linus Torvalds
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I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.
Linus Torvalds
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Only wimps use tape backup. Real men just upload their important stuff on ftp and let the rest of the world mirror it.
Linus Torvalds
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Language is one of the fundamental principles of human understanding. It is the way we interact with each other and how we grasp the world we live in. Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.
Linus Torvalds
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If you like using CVS, you should be in some kind of mental institution or somewhere else.
Linus Torvalds