Programmers are in the enviable position of not only getting to do what they want to, but because the end result is so important they get paid to do it. There are other professions like that, but not that many.
— Linus Torvalds
Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.
In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money than it is at making good operating systems.
I've been very happy with the commercial Linux CD-ROM vendors linux Red Hat.
I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.
I never felt that the naming issue was all that important, but I was obviously wrong, judging by how many people felt. I tell people to call it just plain Linux and nothing more.
I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.
Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.
Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.
My name is Linus, and I am your God.
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.'
If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.
Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.
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.
Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.
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.
I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.
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.
I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.
I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.
Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the edge.
Any program is only as good as it is useful.
The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.
Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.
I get the biggest enjoyment from the random and unexpected places. Linux on cellphones or refrigerators, just because it's so not what I envisioned it. Or on supercomputers.
In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.
Non-technical questions sometimes don't have an answer at all.
Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense.
I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.
I'm generally a very pragmatic person: that which works, works.
I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up.
I don't try to be a threat to MicroSoft, mainly because I don't really see MS as competition. Especially not Windows-the goals of Linux and Windows are simply so different.
Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day.
Before the commercial ventures, Linux tended to be rather hard to set up, because most of the developers were motivated mainly by their own interests.
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.
See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.
Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.
The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies.
