Linus Torvalds
Computer programmer, best known as the creator of the Linux kernel.
(In answer to the question: In the extreme case, if it was just you doing all the code, and the rest of the world quietly used it, would it make sense to give it away free? Unless you're particularly grateful for other free things you've got off the Net, would the answer be No?":)
My personal opinion of Mach is not very high. Frankly, it's a piece of crap. It contains all the design mistakes you can make, and even managed to make up a few of its own.
I think people can generally trust me, but they can trust me exactly because they know they don't have to.
Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.
Standards are paper. I use paper to wipe my butt every day. That's how much that paper is worth.
It's a bird
it's a plane
no, it's KernelMan, faster than a speeding bullet, to your rescue. Doing new kernel versions in under 5 seconds flat
Obsessing about things is important, and things really do matter, but if you can't let go of them, you'll end up crazy.
Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time.
The fact is, there aren't just two sides to any issue, there's almost always a range of responses, and "it depends" is almost always the right answer in any big question.
Guess what? Wheels have been round for a really long time, and anybody who "reinvents" the new wheel is generally considered a crackpot. It turns out that "round" is simply a good form for a wheel to have. It may be boring, but it just tends to roll better than a square, and "hipness" has nothing what-so-ever to do with it.
It's one of those rare "perfect" kernels. So if it doesn't happen to compile with your config (or it does compile, but then does unspeakable acts of perversion with your pet dachshund), you can rest easy knowing that it's all your own damn fault, and you should just fix your evil ways.
A lot of people still like Solaris, but I'm in active competition with them, and so I hope they die.
The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.
C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it.
In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people.
Most days I wake up thinking I'm the luckiest bastard alive.
I allege that SCO is full of it.
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.
the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it.