Linus Torvalds Linux Quotations

I'm not worried about the kernel itself or the basic system. All the commercialization is about the distributions and the applications. As such, it only brings value-added things to Linux, and it doesn't take anything away from the Linux scene.

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".

Me trying to make a business around Linux would have been a total disaster.

I changed the Linux copyright license to be the GPL some time in the first half of 1992. Mostly because I had hated the lack of a cheaply and easily available UNIX when I had looked for one a year before.

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.

In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things that I have absolutely zero interest in doing myself.

There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible and one of the bigger technical projects in this area, and it changed how people looked at it because Linux took both the practical and ideological approach.

There's innovation in Linux. There are some really good technical features that I'm proud of. There are capabilities in Linux that aren't in other operating systems.

See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.

I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.

I like to think that I've been a good manager. That fact has been very instrumental in making Linux a successful product.

That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.

Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.

The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.

I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.

Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense.

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.

I've been employed by the University of Helsinki, and they've been perfectly happy to keep me employed and doing Linux.

I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.

The thing with Linux is that the developers themselves are actually customers too: that has always been an important part of Linux.

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.

I don't think commercialization is the answer to anything. It's just one more facet of Linux, and not the deciding one by any means.

Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.

We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.

So I decided that if the architecture is fundamentally sane enough, say it follows some basic rules like it supported paging , then I would be able to say, yes, Linux fundamentally supports that model.

It's not really about Linux vs. Microsoft, it's about something you really, really have fun with and lets others have fun as well.

Do I see fragmentation for the Linux kernel? There is certainly going to be some of that.

Some people have been seen as freeloaders, selling Linux CDs and hardware and making money that way, ... But they're doing Linux a big favor by making it easier to install and approachable to normal people. It makes it a more viable OS.

I started Linux as a desktop operating system. And it's the only area where Linux hasn't completely taken over. That just annoys the hell out of me.

All operating systems sucks, but Linux just sucks less

Software is like sex: It's better when it's free.

If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.

Talk is cheap. Show me the code.

I personally think of Linux development as being pretty non-localized, and I work with all the people entirely over e-mail - even if they happen to be working in the Portland area.