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There are extremists in the free software world, but that's one major reason why I don't call what I do free software any more. I don't want to be associated with the people for whom it's about exclusion and hatred.

Linus Torvalds

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Linus Torvalds
Age: 55
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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I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up without having pre-conceptions of how I should deal with it. My only long-range plan has been and still is just the very general plan of making Linux better.
Linus Torvalds
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I've tried it a couple of times over the years, mainly because the thing Ubuntu did so well was make Debian usable. I always felt that Debian was a pointless exercise because to me, the point of a distribution is to make everything easy. Easy to install, to be pretty and to be friendly and Ubuntu did that to Debian.
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Portability is for people who cannot write new programs.
Linus Torvalds
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All operating systems sucks, but Linux just sucks less
Linus Torvalds
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People enjoy the interaction on the Internet, and the feeling of belonging to a group that does something interesting: that's how some software projects are born.
Linus Torvalds
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I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.
Linus Torvalds
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When I do programming in my free time and for my own enjoyment, I really want to have a kind of protection: knowing that when I improve a program those improvements will continue to be available to me and others in future versions of the program.
Linus Torvalds
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I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.
Linus Torvalds
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I think people can generally trust me, but they can trust me exactly because they know they don't have to.
Linus Torvalds
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In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved.
Linus Torvalds
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In many cases the user interface to a program is the most important part for a commercial company: whether the programs works correctly or not seems to be secondary.
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 don't go to conferences quite as much as I used to: having a child and movin away from the university leaves me with less time, but I've tried to balance things out - not just spending time with Linux all the time, but having a real job and a real life at the same time.
Linus Torvalds
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If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over, the end result is bad.
Linus Torvalds
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Modern PCs are horrible. ACPI is a complete design disaster in every way. But we're kind of stuck with it. If any Intel people are listening to this and you had anything to do with ACPI, shoot yourself now, before you reproduce.
Linus Torvalds
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It just makes it even harder for people to even approach the (open source) side, when they then end up having to worry about public humiliation.
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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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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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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Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.
Linus Torvalds