A biography for Linus Torvaldshasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.”
“If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.”
“I think of myself as an engineer, not as a visionary or 'big thinker.' I don't have any lofty goals.”
“I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.”
“I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.”
“Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed.”
“That's what makes Linux so good: you put in something, and that effort multiplies. It's a positive feedback cycle.”
“There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.”
“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.”
“I'm perfectly happy complaining, because it's cathartic, and I'm perfectly happy arguing with people on the Internet because arguing is my favourite pastime - not programming.”
“The thing with Linux is that the developers themselves are actually customers too: that has always been an important part of Linux.”
“Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.”
“What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.”
“I lose sleep if I end up feeling bad about something I've said. Usually that happens when I send something out without having read it over a few times, or when I call somebody names.”
“In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.”
“I want my office to be quiet. The loudest thing in the room - by far - should be the occasional purring of the cat.”
“I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.”
“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.”
“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.”