Linus Torvalds, David Diamond - Just for Fun the Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

            

LIS

TORVALDS   LUX d  

Just for

FUN

or  S T O R Y O F A A C C  D E T A  R E V O  U T  O  A R Y

LNUS TORALD,   X

AND DAVID DIAMON

HRPER "ls the Linux Roution " beginning on page 186 is reprinted from ZD Net, August 26, 1999, with pission. Copyright© Copyright© 1999, ZD Net Inc. A rights rese

JU  U Copyright© 2001 by Linus Toa and David Diamond A{ rights re Printed in the United Stat o Amica No part of this book y be used or reproduced in any nn whatsoer without witten piion  except in the case of brief quotatio bodied in critica arti and ris For infoationn addrs Harpeons Pubishe infoatio Pubishers rs Inc O East 53rd Street N York, NY 0022 Harpeoins books may be purchased fo educatio, bsiness, or sa promo tiona use F inotion pse ite: Specia Markets Department, Ha Cons Pubishs Inc, O East 53rd Street, N York, NY 10022 Fit HaBusins papback ition pubished 2002 Designed by Fritz Metsch The Liba of Congrs has cataogued the harov edition as foows: Toa, Linus, 1969just for fun : the sto of an ainta routiona  Linus Toads an David Diamond  p c ISBN 0066620724 (h) 1 Toad Toads,s, Linu Linus,s, 196 1969 9 2 Comput Comput progr programm ammes esFi Fina nand ndBio Biogra graphy phy 3 Linux I Diamon Davi II Tite QA762T67 T67 2001 0051'09221 BJ 00054199 ISBN 006620732 (bk)

1  111

To Tove nd Ptici Dniel nd Celeste I lws wnted to e suound  oun women nd ou m it so

To Ti nd Kle Bo do I el lesse This wouldn't quli s cknowledments without the doppin of some impotnt nmes so hee oes: We cknowlede ou edito Adin Zckheim who cved in to ou ee demnd; Ein Richnow the HpeCoins ssistnt edito who ws moe on top of this poject thn we wee; ou ents Bi Gldstone of Wte side Poductions nd Kis Dhl of ICM who couldn't hve een speedie in the fowdin of ou checks to us; S Tolds who hs the est ckup memo on the Fennoscndi peninsulnd opetes in thee lnuesnd Wiim nd Ruth Dimond who d the oiinl mnuscipt nd kept eptin "No  it's oo 

y ha was  y that wh h was gwg  w  ath was h gg t t ay  gls that way a als

nocion: os-is o a evoion

Duin the euphoi of the nl es of the twentieth centu  evolution ws hppenin mon  the othe evolutions Seeminl oviht the Linux opetin sstem cuht the wolds ttention It hd explodedfom the sm edoom of its cto Linus Tolds to ttct  cultish foowin of ne-militnt eeks Suddenl it ws inlttin the copote powehouses contoin the plnet Fom  pt of one it now counted miions of uses on eve continent inudin Antctic nd even oute spce if ou count NASA outposts Not onl ws it the most common opetin sstem unnin see computes dishin out  the content on the Wold Wide We ut its ve development modeln inticte we of its own encompin hundeds of thousnds of voluntee compute pommshd own to ecome the lest cootive poect in the histo of the wo The open souce philosoph ehind it  ws simple Infotion in this cse the souce co o sic instuctions ehind the opetin sstem should e fee nd feel shed fo none inteested in impovin upon it But those impovements should lso e feel shed The sme concept hd suppoted centuies of scient discov  Now it ws ndin  home in the copote sphee nd it ws possi le to imine its potentil s  fmewok fo cetin the est of nthin  lel stte n ope Some folks cuht  limpse of the futue nd didnt like wht th sw Linus ound espected countennce ecme  fvoed t od tet within Micoso Copotion which ws now fced with its st honest-to-oodness competitive thet But moe oen people wnted to len moe out the kid whoif he did not stt it t lest 

 jump-started it and was, in ct, its lde The trouble was, the more  successful Linux and open source became, the less he wanted to talk about it. The aintal revolutiona started Linux because playing on a com  puter was fun (and also because the alternatives weren't that attractive) So when someone tried to convince him to speak at a major event by teing him that his miions of foowers just wanted to at least see him, in the esh, Linus go�d-naturedly oered to participate in a dunk-tank instead. That would be more fun, he explaine And a way of raising money. They deine It wasn't their idea of how to run a revolution. Revolutionaries aren't born. Revolutions can't be planne Revolu tions can't be managed. Revolutions appen . .  . David Diamond



]  s t fo r F  n

X-Authentcaton-Warnng : pengun  transeta  co : toralds owned process dong-bs Da t e : Mon  1 8 O ct 1 9 9 9 1 4 : 1 2 : 2 7 7  ( DT ) ro : Lns Toralds < toral ds@ transeta  co> To : Dad Daond Subj e c t : Ho h   MM- Verson : 1  hope ths s s tl l your eal addres s   notced that  ddn ' t hae any cont act nf oraton f or you anywhere  probably bec ase I ' e trashed your busnes s card al ong wth a ll th e others  and because you ' e actually contacted e by phone uch ore than by eal   ' e thought a lo t oer the weeend  and f you ' re nteres ted  I thn  '  ge ttng ore and ore nte r es ted  Let ' s cut a deal : I f you thn we can ae a fun boo  and ore po rt an tl y f you thn we can hae fun ang t  let ' s go for t  You ' d drag e ( wth faly ) capng and ( wthou t faly ) sydng  Thngs tht  woul dn ' t eer do otherwse  j us t because  thn  '  to o bsy  Ge e an excuse to do the thngs I haen ' t done durng the l as t three years een though a l l the oppor tuntes are there 



 So

 aybe  wouldn ' t read a boo about e when t ' s done  but at le as t  ' d hae fun wth t  Lnus

 And sometmes, revolutonares ust get stuck wth t Lins Toads 

Contents

Acknowldgmnts Prfac

xv

xvii

BIRTH OF A NERD

1

BIRTH OF AN OPERATING SYSTE KIG OF THE BALL

125

Intctua Proprty An End to Contro

204 215 220

Th Amusmnt Rid Ahad Why Opn Sourc Maks Sns Fam and Fortun Th Maning of Lif II

Indx

251

7

25 242

225

Ackwldgmt

 atos ws to acnowld t llown stals mnts  t ol n catn ts ooo at last man t n (Non o ts lacs a ad s an mon c s a damn sam FM  t Bon lassc Roc at Rocs; ldas Rstauant, atola; Ka Rtat ous, anta z; aas st Rstaant, Palo Ato; Malu and P, Rdwood os; Boda Ba Lod, Boda Ba; atn a, anta uz; a Mamalad, Ross; al Moon Ba Boadso, al Moon Ba; anta z Bllads, anta z; a Rs, Pont Rs taton; alna s and ll, an os; anta laa o and nns l, anta laa; Idal Ba and ll, anta uz; l Pso Ba ( ans Plad, Las; Ros Mcanns Is P and Rstaant, anta z; Maow Inn, an Ra; o ot ns tat Pa, Malll; L Ban Rstaant, Las; Poto Bwn oman, an Fancsco;  Rc al, an Ral; Ross Vall wm and nns l, Knld; Falln La La Mana, Falln La La; Ps o and a, na; awton Lan Rstaant, an Facsco; dan ns Rsot, alstoa; amua s, asalto; Blows us, an Fancsco; Paamonts at Amca, anta aa; Roata ll s, Mll Vall; Bc Roadous, Mll Vall; Bans and Nol, an os; s Ran, asalto; 2 Ross ommon, Ross; KFO FM; Rtd ll, Rtd; InNOt B, anta Rosa; to s, nnal v

Prfac: Th anin of Lif I (x, War, Linux)

SETTING This book has its origins in a atemode back Ford Expe

dition in the sothbond anes of nterstate 5 somewhere in Cai rnias Centra aey Lins and Tove Tovads and their yong daghters atricia and Daniea are accompanied by an interoper as they trave 3 5 1 mies to Los Angees where they wi visit the zoo and an KEA otet

DAVID Now ve got a ndamenta qestion to think abot

and its sort of important What do yo want to get across in this book? LINS We  want to expain the meaning of ife TOVE Lins did yo remember to  the gas tank? L  have a theory abot the meaning of ife We can in the rst chapter expain to peope what the meaning of ife is We get them hooked that way Once theyre hooked and pay r the book we can jst  p the rest with ran dom crap D Oh yes That sonds ike a pan Someone tod me that since the dawn of man there have been two ingering qestions One What is the meaning of ife?" and Two: What can  do with a this pocket change that accm ates at the end of the day?" L   have the answer to the rst one D Wht's the answer to the rst one? 

L: Bascally t s sot and swt. It won't gv you lf any

manng, ut t tlls you wat's gong to appn. T a t tngs tat av manng  lf. Ty a t motvatonal ctos  vytng n you lf any tng tat  do o any lvng tng dos: T st s suvval, t scond s socal od, and t td s nttanmnt. Evytng n lf pogsss n tat od. And t s notng a nttanmnt. So, n a sns, t mplcaton s tat t manng of lf s to ac tat td stag. And onc you'v acd t td stag, you' don. But you av to go toug t ot stags st. D: You' gong to av to xplan ts a lttl mo. PARIIA: Papa, can w stop  cocolat c cam? I would l to av som cocolat c cam now!  : No, swt. You av to wat. n w stop to go potty you can av c cam. L: I'll gv you a w xampls so you can nd of gt t da. And t ovous on s sx It statd out as suvval, ut t cam a socal tng. Tat's wy you gt mad. And tn t coms nttanmnt. P: Tn I av to go potty. D: ow s t nttanng? L: Oay, I'm talng to t wong pson. ow aout ts on? D: No, go ac to sx. L: It's also on anot lvl . . .  (to slf: O, nttanng to patcpat n as opposd to watc. Oay, I gt t. L: . . . On anot lvl, f you loo at t lluson of sx n a ologcal snsow dd sx com aout n t st plac? It was suvval. It wasn't nttanng ntally. It was just gttng togt. Oay, lt's dop t sx pat. D: No, no. I tn ts s a wol capt. L: Lt's pc wa nstad. It's ovous t statd as suvval, 

j u s t fo r F u n

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becaue tere a bg guy etwee you and te water oe Next, you eed to gt te guy r a wfe Ad te war become a ocalorder tg at ow t wa log bere te Mddle Age War a a mean of etabg ocal order Rgt Ad ao a mea of etablg yourelf a part of te ocal order Nobody care about ocal order, per e Everybody care about  ow pace  tat order I t te ame tng weter youre a en  a peckg order or youre a uma Ad ow war  r etertamet? at rgt Maybe r people watcg t o V For tem t mgt be etertag Computer game War game CNN Wel, te  r war can oe be etertang But ao te percepton of war  etertang  Ad te reao r ex  oe etertag Sure, te urvva part  tll tere, epecally f youre Catolc, rgt? But eve f oure Catolc, ometme you probaby tnk about te entertamet part, too So t doet ave to be pa etertamet I everytg, a pece of te motvato mgt be urvva, a pece mgt be oca order, and te ret mgt be etertamet Okay, look at tecnoogy ecology came about a urvval Ad urvval  not about jut urvvg, t about urvvg better You get a wndml tat draw water om te wel    Or re Rgt It tll uval, but t at progreed to ocal order ad etertamet Now ow a tecnology progreed to oca order? Wel, actually mot of dutrazaton a bee reay jut urvval, or urvvg better I car, tat meat makng ter car and cer car But te you get to tecology  a ocal ee at brg u te tele L i n u s To r v a ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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D:

L D:

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pon And V, to som d A lot of t aly V stu was asically  indoctination. Radio, too. at's wy countis on statd instin in adio,  t socialod sid of it. Estalisin and maintainin social od .   Rit, ut tn it just os past tat. oday, TV is oiously usd mostly  nttainmnt. And it now you s all ts wilss moil pon. It's asically social. But its moin into nttainmnt, too o wat's t tu of tcnoloy?  on yond t suial sta and now w' in t social sta, it? Rit All tcnoloy usd to do was mak lif asi. It was all aout ttin placs st, uyin tins cap, ain tt ouss, wat. o wat's so diffnt aout inmation tcnoloy? at coms a t ct tat yody is connctd? at mo is t to do? u, you can connct tt, ut tats not ndamntally dint. o w is tcnoloy takin us? In my opinion, t nxt i stp is nttainmnt Eytin ntually ols into nttainmnt . .  But tis also xplains wy Linux is so succssl, to som d ink of t t motiational ctos. Fist is suial, wic popl wit computs tak  antd Quit ankly, if you a a comput, you' alady out you od and stu lik tat  scond is  social od, and t social sid is ctainly motiational  ks sittin insid ti own cuicls You said somtin ally smat at omdx, somtin aout Linx dlopmnt in a loal tam spot o, you asically mad tat appn, dud. Linux is a at xampl of wy popl lo tam spots, and spcially n pat of a tam. Ya, sittin in ont of a comput all day, you'd poaly want to fl lik you w pat of somtin Anytin j u s t fo r F u n

L Its socal, l an ot tam sot. Imagn ol on a

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D 

D L

otall tam, scall n g scool.  socal at o Lnu s all, all motant. But Lnu s also nt tanmnt, t nd o nttanmnt tat s  ad to u wt mon Mon s a  owl motatonal cto wn ou at t ll o sual, caus ts as to u sual. Its  as to at  tos nds o tngs. But suddnl wn ou at t lvl o nttanmnt, mon .   Mon s uslss? No, ts not uslss, caus oousl ou can u mos, st cas, acatons  a a lot o tns ou can u tat can l ma ou stuaton tt Lnus, w nd to cang Danla And Patca as to go ott. I nd a cauccno. Do ou tn w can nd a taucs ?  a w? (loos u: Basd on t odo, I tn w na Kn t. Now all ts s on a gg scal Its not just aout o l, ts aout l ts l t Law o Ento. In ts Ento Law o L, tng mos om sual to nttanmnt, ut tat dosnt man tat on a local scal t cant go acwad, and oousl t ssntall dos ngs j ust dsntat somts But as a sstm, tn s mon n t sam dc ton . .  Etng s mong n t sam dcton, ut not at t sam tm o ascall s as acd nttan mnt, wa s clos to t, tcnolog s tt muc t  nw tngs a tngs tat a jst sual L, oll, sac tal wll at som ont  an ssu o sual, tn t wll  socal, tn nttanmnt. Loo at clzaton as a cult. I man, tat also llows t sam attn lzaton stats as sual You t tot to su tt and ou uld u ou socal stuctu L   u  o v a   a   D a v   D  a  o  

xxi

D: L: D  L:

 L:



en eental clzaton ests el  entetanment Oa, well, not e And t doesn't ae to e ad entetanment e ancent ees ae nown  an ad a e ston soca ode, and te aso ad a lot o entetanment ee nown  an ad te e osoes o te tme Oa, so ow does ts e n to te meann o le? It doesn eall It jst sas tat    tat's nd o te oem ee s s e ltte n oe on to ae to tn aot Mama, loo a te cows o,  o now ta le s al aot ts oesson, ten oos o ose n le s to mae ts o esson And e oesson s not one sne oes son Eetn o do s at o man oessons  It can aso e, at can I do to mae socet ette?" Yo now ta oe a at o socet You now tat socet s mon n ts decton  Yo can e socet moe n ts decton (odn nose: It smes oe ee o wat ts ds  to s tat n te end we' e all ee to ae n e mt as well st down and ela, and njo te de st  n?

i

jt o 



 w   ch Wh c  ?  he e  w e    x  he e e  c e wh  e T Ce  he e e  he w e h  w  h w  e e w      e e he ch c  e e  e e  eeh  h  ee  cre  e   e e e  h eerh re e   cee c  e  che ce wh he  ee  e  he ce   cee    The e  ee   e"  ee we  e    h he e    e  ice  he h   e h     h ee  he w ch ce T h he e  ee  e hw he eeh The ce  he e  hee ee   e  j   ee h e hee  e e h  hee    ee  he e w    he ce    he e w h wh hee  he e Se  ce    Sc   j w" e ee   h hhee h e we e   e   we he  e e w  he e we he    he e h   e ee he c e  che e  he c  chce  h   e e w  3

u u O may uquos av Happly ou my as vy mu o pooapy Ta ay s ess ma v T a a f pooaps I o of m m aound e yas o pos  my ss Saa o s sxeen mos you  S oos  Bu Im a ay vso a sky pa  oo  e pooap o as poaby my mo S mos y sappe    m o  ay ou   oo o  o as a o a  Fs Ns Ay B o a  vy  of  ya o e 28 of  ma a I as py mu  yous  my ass a soo  A a  u ma  smas Lae o e af a ya you a mos of you assmas os ma Bu  aly os u  s f yas of sool A o yo o a Supsy oe of  ealy mas a a u B a avs u  lasss a a  ays mos of  me (a reay a a days  es of e me) a a os os eay mae Baus I a a am psoay o No s   I as a  A e Fom ly ay o I   uap my asss o u I m as l ave aus I a a  o as oo a ma oo a pyss a  o soa as asov A s as   a   as os a oo  vyoy as poaly o somo  soo  m T oy o s o as  s a mao aus  su s a u us aus  s I as a pso  my ass Bu  m l   pu som mo  you sa f oo soy  m A  I ay av  a a u bu I   oay I as xay al u I as a opess luz  T am ofo u as a sool as oll" a a of s a sp   o ams y o ma ea o y  a a aou A  I as v  op pay I as usuay p y ay o 4

}t  

So   soa as I m av  a  u o  ol sool as oo I o oo as ou av o o a v uy a as xay aus I didn't o a  A a ap pla   soa o Nooy ls ay sm o a oo mu aou my os; s as amos ay  osp aus y a aou  o poms a o o mo Loo a I az a mos o  sm o av a py a as  los oo  o up a suy somoy s mas a paua so I my  s  ma sas   ompas  pop o s  Tss a as a l  v aay  a ofs Ts ays I ss py mu xusvy  voa so I v av o p ou os A I av a f o ma   sos a omp my ao o p ou s  saas a sos So I v av o oy aou  aa A Iv o o my os A as  o Im mo ma a os

L  n   v  l d  n d   v  d      n d

5



I poay o sups ayo a som of my as ad apps mmos vov pay  my ads od o auao Ts as my mos  Lo adma Tqvs o as a pofsso of sass a Hs Uvsy I mm av os of  aua  s of vaous adom ums No aus I auay ad a a mu   as (a a o may pop do) u aus s as a o m ao ad auaos dd jus v you  as Ty caulate  Ad y d a o  do so may  od o v you som fda a Ys Im s av ad  as m  sods o do s auao ad   mam I   you o so o mu o I do" Ta as sa Mu mo x a a mod auao a o v a o a sa  do som as smp as aua a pa s of a um  os ay dvs you  a a y dd as ha Ty mad  vy a dd I do auay mm  s m I sa a ompu u I mus av  aoud v a  m I as poay  981,  my ad ou a  Commodo VIC20 S I ad sp so mu m pay  s ma auao I mus av  dpa  xm o sa pay    ompuu I a ay sm o mm

6

ha In , I don even rememer hen I o reay ino ompuers a al I sared soy, and i re on me he VI20 as one of he rs readymade ompuers mean r he ome I required no assemy You us pued i ino e V and urned i on, and here i sa, i a i alaps READY" a he op of he sree ad a i inkin ursor us aiin r you o do somehin he i proem as a here reay as a muh o do on e in Espeiay eary on, e e inasruure r ommeria prorams had ye sared o maeriaize e oy hin you oud reay do as o proram i in BASIC  i as exaly ha my radher sared doi No, my randher sa his ne oy mainy   a oy, u aso as a loried auaor No ony oud i ompue he sine of a numer a lo ser han he od eeroni auaor, u you ould e i o do his over and over auomaiay He also oud no do a home many of he hins he had doe ih he i ompuers a he uversiy And e aned me o share in e experiee He aso as ryin o e me ineresed in mah So I oud si on his ap and e oud ave me ype in his prorams, hih e had arey rie ou on pape eause he asn omrae ih ompuers I don ko ho many oher preeen oys sa in heir randers room, ein auh ho o simpify arihmei expressos and ype em orrey ino a om puer, u I rememer doi ha I do rememer a he a uaions ere a aou, ad I don ik I ad a sine ue aou ha I reay did e I did i, u I as here, epi him I proay ook us muh oner an i oud ave ake him aone, u o knos I re omrae i e keyoard, somehin my randher never did  I oud do s aer soo, or henever my moher dropped me o a my radparens aparmen And I sared readin he manuas r e ompuer, ypin in he exampe prorams Tere ere examples of simpe ames

Ln Tov/d nd vd nd

7

a you could poam youself f you dd   you wound p w a uy a walked acoss e sceen, n bad apcs, and en you could cane  and make e uy walk acoss e sceen  n df feen colos You could  us do a s e eaes feeln  saedwn my own e rs poam  woe was e rs poam eveybody else sas ou w 10 PRN HELLO" 20 OO 10 s does exacly wa you expec  o do  prns ou HELLO on e sceen Foeve O a leas unl you kll  ou of boedom u s e s sep Some people sop ee o em, s a supd execse because wy would you wan o pn ou HELLO a mllon mes u  was nvaably e s example n e manu als a came w ose ealy ome compuers And e mac n s a you can cane  My sse ells me a  made a adcal second veson of s poam a ddn us we ou HELLO, bu nsead woe SARA S HE ES on e sceen, ove and ove aan Odnaly  wasn suc a lovn older broe Appaenly e esure made a b mpresson on e  don emembe don  As soon as  woe a poram  would e abou  and move on o e nex one

8

j u s t fo r F u n

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L m ll you aou Flad Somm  Oo  sks u a uplasa sad of ay, ad  alays looks as f   ll  a o so. You ak up vy day o s loomss of apao T a l  lly ad  ll s aay ay vd of summ   so oms,  as a maal qualy of mak vy  ad pa  pla  a v of opmsm T oul s,  opmsm lass aou  days u  so mas  mo a oumly od mo By auay you so of ad aoud  a sadoy daz, f you oos o o ousd Is a saso of mos, ulky los ad slpp o   oky k y ad y os o   amma sool d you avs as a sou o  us O Hlsk ss  mas dod  oasoa o mao o as poaly somoys aous admo ak  Spm u y  1 .M o a Tusday  auay s av o  sdalks om  vodka aks o a am  I ll  dak aa  a  ous, ad  s a lo o do Bu  as a doo spo a o m ou   poamm Mo ( Sds od  Mos Fa") ould   mu of  m, u o all  m H dos md f you s  s oom  s aay You  up  moy  you s ompu ook vy s  ls ad  s ssay o dod  laua Is dfu o udsad al lau  a aua you do ally ko a ll You us you 

alloa o uy ompu maazs O of m oas a po am  Mos o T o  aou s paula poam s a 's o    BASC laua sa, 's  as a ls of ums a oul  asla y a o ma laua zos a os a  ompu as Ta's o you sov a  ompu os' aly spak BASC sa  opas ao o a mu mo smpl aua Hlsk ks a play oky a sk   pas   oos You' la o a ompu aually oks Uaa a poams xs o asla umaaal ums o  zos a os a a ompu usas, you us sa  poams  um m a o  ovsos y a Ts s poamm  ma la ua, a y o  you sa o o s you ou' av ou possl  You a al o pus a  ompu a o You ool vy sl small al You sa o k aou o you a o s slly s  a small spa S 's o asao lay  you a  ompu, you  ly los Ts s a 's lk o  ma  a ma You' lv, , u, av O ks a ou play so You a's ompu s mo s Hs ma s s o ol,  lo uls T a may  pop  ass  ompus a oly on of m uss    sam asos You ol kly ms 's  oly soal avy o  ala, xp   oasoal ompu slpov A you o' m Ts s  Ts s a  vo a ls  ao pa of Hsk H ks s k soul av mo a o s, so  ss you up  askall, s vo spo Ts s a sas You'  u of  am A a saso a a alf, you us all sos of asy lanua o ll m you' qu, a askall s his spo, o yous You  alfo, Lo, ll  mo

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alec en, oo, e wll evenually ecome Luean, lke 90 pecen of e Fnns populaion a's wen Dad, e saunc anosc, ealzed e m  e a lue as a paensomen e suspeced yeas eale, when Saa joned e Caolc cuc e ande w e compue sn' eally a jolly so He's aldn, slly ovewe He leally s somen of an asenmnded pofesso and knd of ad o appoac. He's jus no an exove Pcue a maemaican wo would sae ou no space and no say anyn wle e was nkn aou somen You could neve ell wa e was nkn aou Complexy analyss Ms Sammalkop down e all I'm e same waymous  zonin ou Wen I'm sn n on of e compue, I e eally upse and ale f someody dsus me ove could elaoae on s pon My mos vvd memoes of Mo ake place no a s compue u a s lle ed coae In Helsnk  used o e common  people o keep a small summe place conssn of maye a snle yo y iyo oom e lle ouses ae on a ny plo of land, maye 1 50 squae fee, and people o ee o nke n e adens ey ypcally ave an apamen n e cy and en s lle place o ow poaoes o end a few apple ees o culvae oses. I's usually olde people ecause youne ones ae usy wokn ese people e dculously compeve aou waeve  s ey ae own a's wee Mo planed my apple ee, a small sapln Maye 's sll ee, unless  ecame so aundan a an envous neo snuck ono s popey dun e ef summe dakness and copped  down Fou yeas ae noducn me o compues, Mo devel ops a lood clo n s an and ecomes paalyzed on one sde I's a sock o eveyone. He's n e ospal  aou a yea and e's e closes mly you ave, u  doesn' aec you a muc. Maye 's defensve o maye 's jus ecause you'e so nsensve wen you'e youn. He s asoluely no e same peson anymoe

L i n   To r v  ld  n d D  v i d D i   o n d



and you don' like going o see im. You go maybe evey wo weeks You moe goes moe oen So does you sise, wo ealy on assumed e ole of e mily social woke Ae e dies, e macine comes o live wi you ee isn' any eal discussion abou i



j u s t fo r F u n



et' tep bc r  et. Fil miht be the hippet ctr  rth riht w, bt cetrie , it w little re th  tper r Vii  the tre" with Cttiple. ter, whe the eihbri Swee wte t pci the Fi, the et i lihbr Bihp Her, wh rrie i the er 1 1 55   mii r the Cthlic chrch. The preltizi Swee e the Fiih rtree t wr  the Ri,  eetll w it the epire t r t i the trle r ctrl. T pr pplti  the Fiih cl i the llwi cetrie, Swee were ere l  tx icetie. Swee r the hw til 1 7 14, whe Ri t er r  eeer iterle. The Swee w bc it cl til 1809 whe Ri  Nple ttce Fil it reie er Ri ctrl til the Cit Relti i 1917. Mewhile, the ecet  the erl Sweih iirt re the 35 0 000 Sweih peer i Fil t,  rp tht repreet bt e percet  the pplti. cli  wc il. M terl retrther w  reltiel pr rer  Jpp,  ll tw er the cit  V. He h ix , t let tw  whm ere Ph.D.'. Tht   lt bt the prpect r ceet i Fil. Ye,  et ic  the wi ter re  ti  r he p eteri  he. Bt  c et  ierit ecti r ee. t'  r cr  wht 3

appens n e Une Saes, ee so many ks o up  a sense of opelessness . One of ose sx sons as my ane, Leo Walema Trnqvs, e fello o noue me o ompun. Ten ee as my paena ane. He as e fello o onoe e name Tovals, sonn  ou of s mle name. He as name Oe Tova Es Saxe My ane a een on eless (Saxe as s moes maen name) an as ven e las name Kaanko y e enleman my ea anmoe evenually mae. Fa (Faes e") n lke e uy, enou so e ane s name. He oppe e las name an ae an s" o Toval on e eoy a s mae  soun more susanal. Toval on s on means Tos  oman. " He soul ave sae om sa, eause a e an f an s" oes s esoy e meann of e oo name, an onse o Sesan Fnnsspeakn people, o on kno o e ek o ponoune . An ey nk  soul e spelle Toals. Tee ae enyone Tovals n e ol, an ee all elae. We all enue e onson. Maye as y Im alays us Lnus" on e Ne. Tovals" s us oo onsn. Ts ane n ea a a unvesy. He as a ounals an poe. Hs s o as as eonef of a smalon nespape aou 100 klomees es of Helsnk. He o sake  nkn on e o  a lle oo mu eulay Hs maae o my anmoe oke on. He move o e y of Tuku n Souesen Fnlan, ee e emae an nally eame eonef of e nespape an puse sevea ooks of poey, alou e alays sule  a nkn polem. e oul vs m ee  Csmas an Ease, an o see my anmoe, oo. Famo Ma lves n Helsnk , ee se s knon  makn klle panakes. Fa e ve yeas ao. Okay Ive neve ea an of s ooks Is a  a my e pons ou o oal sanes. ounalss ae eveyee n my mly. Leen as  a 4

j  s t f  F  n

one of my greatgrandthers, Ernst von Wendt, was a jornaist and noveist who was on the White side and arrested by the Reds duing the Finnish Civil War that lowed our independence om Russia in 1917. (Okay. I never read his books, either, and am tod  Im not missing much. My ther, Nis (known to everyone as Nicke, is a teevision and radio journaist who was active in the Communist Party since he was a coege student in the 960s. He deveoped his poitica eanings when he earned about some of the atrocities committed against communist sympathizes in Finand. Decades late he admits that his enthusiasm r communism may have been born out of naivet. He met my mother Anna (known as Mikke when they were both rebeious university students in the 1960s. His story is that they were on an oting r a cub of Swedishspeaking students, of which he was president. He had a riva r my mothers attention, and as they were prepaing r the return bus trip to Hesinki, he instructed the riva to oversee the loading of the bus. He used the occasion to grab the seat next to my mothe and convince he to go out with him. (And peope cal  the mily genius!  I was born more or less between campus protests, probaby with something ike] oni Mitchel paying in the background. Ou miy ove nest was a room in my gandparents apartment. A aundry basket seved as my rst cib. Thanky, that peiod isnt easy to remembe. Sometime around my threemonth birthday, Papa signed up r his required eevenmonth Army sevice ather than go to jail  the conscientious objecto he probaby was. He became such a good soldie and such an exceent marksman that he was rewaded with equent weekend eave pivieges. The miy tae is that my sister Sara was coceived during one of those conjuga visits. When my mother wasnt jugging two bondhaired rugrats, she worked as an editor on the reign desk at the Finnish News Agency. Today she woks as a gaphics editor. Its al part of the journaism minidynasty that I miracuousy escaped. Sara has her own business transating epots  the news, and she aso works at the Finnish News Agency. My haf L  n   T  v  !d  n d  v  d     n d

5

broter Leo Torvads is a videotype person who wants to direct ms. ecause my miy members are basicay a journaists I fee quaied to joke with reporters about knowing what scum they are Im aware that I come o as a compete jerk when I say that but over the years our home i n Finand hosted its share of reporters who stopped at nothing to get their story or who made up their stories om scratch or who aways seemed to have had j ust a i tte too much to drink. Okay: a ot too much to drink. Thats when it woud be time to hide out in the bedroom. Or maybe Mom is having an emotiona rough spot. We ive in a twobedroom apartment on the second oor of an unremarkabe pae yeow buiding on Stora Robertsgatan in Rdbergen a sma area near the center of Hesinki. Sara and her obnoxious sixteenmonthoder brother share a bedroom. Theres a sma park nearby named aer the Sinebrycho miy which owns a oca brewery. That has aways struck me as being odd but is it any dierent om naming a basketba stadium aer an ofce products vendor? (ecause a cat had once been seen there Sinebrychosparken was hencerth known in my miy as the Catpark" Theres a vacant itte house there in which pigeons woud gather The park is buit on a hi and in the winter its a pace to sed Another pay area is the cement courtyard behind our buiding or on the buiding itsef. Whenever we pay hideandseek its n to cimb the adder ve stories up to te roof. ut no n coud compare to computer n With the computer at home it was possibe to stay up a night with it Every boy stays up reading" Playboy under the bedcovers ut instead of reading Playboy I woud ke seeping wait r Mom to go away jump up and sit in ont of the computer This was bere the era of chatrooms. "Linus it's food time! Some of the time you dont even come out. Then your mother starts teing her journaist iends that you are such a owmaintenance chid that a she has to do to keep you happy is store you in a dark coset with a computer and occasionay throw in some dry pasta. Shes not r o the mark. Nobody 6

J   t fo r F  n

w wrried bt thi id gettig idpped H Wd ybdy hve ticed?) Cpter were cty better r id whe they were e phiticted, whe dweebie ygter ie e cd tier der the hd Thee dy, cpter er  the e prbe  cr: A they bece re cpex, they bece re difct r pepe t te prt d pt bc tgether, d,   ret, er wht they re l bt Whe w te t tie y did ythig  yr cr re ivlved th chgig the i ter? ted f tierig der the etphric hd f their cpter, id thee dy re pyig t y ge, d lg their id t tht there' ythig wrg with ge They were e f y eriet prgr There w e i which y were ctrllig   b rie i  grtt t'  very tdrd ge ccept The wrd ve idewy, p, d   plyer y're the brie d y hve t vid hittig the w d ter h The y thig tht ctly ve i the wrld The h ve with the wrld t  trt vig ter d ter the ger y ply Mewhie, the grtt get ler d er Y ct wi thi ge, bt tht w ever the pit t'  t py r  wee r  d g  t the ext ge The whe pit i jt writig the cde t e it  hppe There re ther ty, ie del pe d hip d cr d rird At e pit, Dd by expeive Ger de tri  The reig i tht he ever hd  del tri et   id, d tht it wd be  gd ther hbby t' , bt it de't ce cle t the chllege f cpter The y tie yr cpter priviege re te wy i t r pedig t ch tie  the chie bt  pihet r ethig ee, ie ghtig with Sr Thrght grr chl d high ch the tw f y re extreey cpetitive, prticry whe it ce t cdeic Al te cpetiti yield e gd ret Witht y ctt ttig, Sr ever wld hve bee tivted t L  n   To  v l d  n d  v  d     o n d

7

pstage e by writing six nal essays instea f the ve reqire t graate  high schl in Finlan On the ther han Sara is t be thane r the ct that y nglish is nt atrcis She always ae n f y nglish which r years was typical Finnishnglish Thats why it iprve Fr that atter y ther tease e tbt stly abt the ct that  was shwing little interest in the feale schlates wh wante t be ttre by the Math Genis" At ties we ive with y a an his girlien at ther ties Sara live with y a an  live with y  At ties bth f s live with y  By the way the Sweish langage has n eqivalent t the ter ysnctinal ily" As a reslt f the ivrce we int have a t f ney One f y st istinct eries is f the ties when y M wl have t pawn her ny investentthe single share f stc in the Helsini telephne cpany that y wne as part f having a telephne t was prbably wrth abt $500, an every s en when things gt particlarly tight she wl have t tae the certicate t a pawn shp  reeber ging with her nce an feeling ebarrasse abt it (Nw  n the bar f irectrs f the sae cpany n ct the Helsini Telephne Cpany is the nly cpany where   bar eber) barrasse was als hw  felt when aer  ha save st f the ney r y rst watch M wante e t as y granther r the ney t pay r the rest There was a peri when y ther was wring nights s Sara an  ha t fen r rselves in getting inner We were sppse t g t the crner stre an by  n r charge accnt nstea we wl by cany an it wl be wnerl t stay p late n the cpter Uner sch circstances ther bys wl have been reaing" Playboy abve the cvers Shrtly aer y granther ha his s  re Mrr in't feel lie taking care f herself She was berien in a nrsing he r ten years with what she calle winess" When she ha been in the hspital r a cple f years we ve int her 

j   t f  F  n

rtet It w  the rt r f a lid ld Riaera bildi  Petert er the rci r that lie Hlii' wtert There w  ll itche ad three bedr  Sar t the bi bedr The l teeer wh wa h with a dar cet d eridic dr t ved int the llet e I h thic lc dre  the widw   liht wld ee i The cter d  he   ti de it the idw be tw feet   bed

L i n u s To r v  lds  n d D  v i d D i   o n d



I was vaguely aware o Linus Toalds when an edior o he Sn Jse Mercry ews Suny magazine asked me o wrie a prole o him in he spring o 1 999 Linu had become somehing o a buzzword he previ ous spring, when a suession o companies saring wih Nescape had  adoped eiher he noion o open source code or he operaing sysem ise No ha I had been up on he developmens In he early 1990s I had edied a magazine ha al wih Uni and Open Source issues, so here  was a dusy reerence senence oaing in my brain In ha rerence, Linus was a Finnish colege suden who wroe a powerul version o Uni in his dorm room and disribued i reely over he Inerne I was no quie an aurae rerence The edior phoned because Linus had jus been he sar aracionand mobbeda a recen Linu show in San Jose,  which promped he edior o lure me ino he assignmen wih he words, "We've go a global supersar righ here in uh, Sana Clara  He aed over some nspaper repors Linus had moved o Silicon Valley wo yrs earlier and was  workingor he hensecreive Transmea Corporaion, which had or  years been veloping a microprocessor ha promised o upend he compuer indus He somehow had a job ha alowed him o inain his ime cosuming posiion as he ulimae leader o Linu and nal auhoriy on any changes ma o he operaing sysem (His oowers ha in ac, iniiaed he legal maneuvering ha gave him legal ownership o he Linu rademark  And he had ime o ro he globe as poser boy or he burgeoning open source movemen Bu he had become somehing o a myserious olk hero While 0

Bi Gates, evebody favoite nemesis, was living in splendo in his Xanadu, Linus esided with his wi and toddle ughtes in a camped Santa Claa duplex He appaently was unconceed about the fabulous  wealth that was being ained upon the ocks of lesstalented pogammes And his vey pesence aised an unutteable conundum among the stock optiondiven minions in Silicon Va: How could anyone so biiant  possibly be so uninteested in getting ich? Linus has no handles, doesn't listen to voice mail, and aely esponds to email It took weeks fo me to get him on the phone, but once I did he easily ageed to an inteiew at his ealiest convenience; hich was  about a month late May 1999 Having eloped a possional passion  fo putting inteiew subjects into compomising positions, I decided that a Finnish sauna might be the pect backdop fo the pole In a ented Mustang convetible, with a photogaphe at the wheel, we headed ove to Santa Cuz and what was ecommended as the Bay Aea's best sauna,  which was on the gounds of a New Agnudist eteat He was amed with an opened can of Coke as he emeged fom the innads of Tansmeta's oces in an anonymous Santa Claa oce pak He woe the pogamme's unifom of jeans, confeence T-shit, and the inevitable socks-and-sanls combo that he caimed to have favod even boe eve meeting anothe pogamme "It must be some pogamme's law of natue,  he easoned when I asked about the footwae choice The st question to Linus, as we sat in the backseat, was a thowaway "Ae you folks in technology? I asked while dling with my tape ecode "No, they'e a basicay joualists, he eplie adding: "So I know what cm  you ae  He didt thi he cld get wy with tht

"Oh You come fom scum? I espond The wold's best pogamme laughed so had that he coughed out  a spay of Coke onto the back of the photogaphedive's neck He tuned ed This would be the stat of a memoable aeoon It only got moe bizae Finns ae fanatical about thei saunas  and this was to be his st visit to one in nealy thee yeas The pale, naked supesta with stmed-up glasses sat on the highest pech, with his L  n   T v  l d  n d   v  d    m o n d



 wet tan hair matted down on his face and a river of sweat owing down  what I would late purely out of good wi, describe as his "incipient  paunch  He was surrounded by tanne se-obsesed Santa Cruzans and their monotonous New Age rantings, and he seemed above it a, eagerly  pointing out the authentic atures of the sauna He had this beati grin on his face It's my conviction that, for the most part, people in Silicon Va  are happier than evebody else For one thing, they're at the control  panel of the economic revolution More importantly, they're a getting insuerably rich, both New Vaey and Old Vaey But one never sees  people smile there, at least not outside the connes of their brokers'  Most acaimed technologistseven most of the unacaimed oneshave this immediate desire to let you know how briiant they are And that th are critical players in a mission that is far more impornt than, say, the struggle for world peace That wasn't the case with Linus In fact, his lack of ego seemed downright disarming, and  him  uniquely likable amid Silicon Vaey's bombastic elite Linus appeared to be above it a Above the New Agers Above the hightech biionaires He seemed les like a reindeer caught in the global headlights than a delightful alien beamed down to show us the madness of our sesh ways And I got the eling that he didn't get out much Linus had earlier mentioned that an important part of the sauna ritual involved sitting around aerward, drinking beer and discussing  world aairs In preparation, we had stashed cans of Fosters in some bushes We retrieved the beers and settled into the "quiet hot tub, where  we opened the Fosters while the photographer took his pictures I found Linus to be unexpectedly knowledgeable about American business histo  and world politics In his view, the United States would be better seed if both cororations and political parties adopted the conciliatory approach of European politicians He dipped his glasses into the hot tub in order to ean them, mentioning that he reay didn't need glasses but started  wearing them as an adolescent under the logic that they made his nose look  smae That's when a othed male manager appeared at the hot tub  and humorlessly ordered us to hand over our beers, which were considered contraband in the otherwise free-spirited suroundings 

j   t fo  F  n

Our ony option was to showe dress, and nd a caor nishing the conversation Most oks one meets in Siicon Vaey have a cutlike zea about them. They ocus so intenty on their business or kier  application or The Industry that nothing ese seems to exist. Nothing interrupts the continuous oop o secongratuation that passes or conversation. ut there we were, sitting in the sun at a microbrewe,  samping the owu baeywine, with Linus chattering away ike  an uncaged canaryconssing his addiction to Casic Rock and Dean Koontz, reveaing his weakness or the dumbest sitcoms, sharing othe record amiy secrets And he didn't have any great desire to circuate among the rich  and powerul I asked him what he woud ike to say to i ates, but he wasn't the east bit interested in even meeting the guy. "There wouldn't be uch o a connection point,  he reasone "I'm competely uninterested in the thing that he's the best in the word at. And he's not interested in the thing that maybe I'm the best in the word at. I couldn't give him  advice in business and he coudn't give me advice in technology  On the ride bck over the mountain to Santa Cara, a black eep Cherokee pue up alongside our car an its passenger yee Hey Linus!" an pued out a throwaway camera to capture his apparent hero,  who was sitting in the Mustang convertible's backseat, grinning in the breee. I showed up at his house a week later at bathtime He she his oneyearold blond daughter out o the tub and needed someplace to deposit her whie he shed out his twoyearod bon daughte He handed the  younger ughter to me an she prompty let out a ye. His wi Tove,  who ha been in another room the entire time, emerged to hep. She is on the short side, pleasant, and bears a thistle tattoo on her ankle Soon we  were a reading Swedish and Engish bedtime books to the kids. Then  we stood around in the garage, amid unpacked beongings, where the Torvads discussed the impossibiity o aording "a rea house with a rea back yar in Silicon Vaey. There was no bitterness about it. And, magnicenty, they didn't appear to see the irony. Soon we were watching ay Leno, with cans o uinness. That's  when I reaized it made sense to do a book. Lin Tvld nd vid ind

3

v

A I bscll st  t f  cper r r ers Ok, there ws schl: rsse Hh, the st cetrl f Helsnki s e Sweshle hh schls,  the e erest  he. Mth  phscs were terest,  therere es. B wheeer  sbject le rte ert,  eths s r tht sbjec ws she. S hsr ws br whe t et wrr bt the te f the Btle f Hsts, b t terest whe  scsse the ecc crs ect  ctr The se th wet r erph. I en, wh rell  hw  peple re  Blesh? Well, i ht ter t  lt f lks, ce t think f t. Bt the pt s,  ws r esier r e   re bt  cpter whe we wer e leri bt seth re e h stscs, like he ss, r exple, r the ress r he ss Phs e ws ther tter etrel. I' prbbl t brek  ews b reel tht I ws' the s thletic   the Fesc pesl I ws sk the, , belee t r t. Gsics ws ctll k t prtcpte . Bt whe we wl e sccer r ice hcke, it wl be ie r e t skp clss This shwe p i  res I Fl  et re   scle f r t te  S I wl er tes  se es r th, phscs, bl,  eerh elsebt sees r phs e. Oce there ws  sx. I ere  sx  wwrki, . Tht ws  str sprt, ether. Oher s he wellcre pkn hlers r stls s sers f wwrk clss. All I he 24

re  few splinters stil lge in y thb er  these yers. This is where it shl be entine tht y therinlw ws the ne wh bilt the ne swing set in r bcyr n which y ghters spen s ny hppy hrs. My high sch wsnt ne f thse instittins r excep tinly srt r bitis is, which re cn in st U.S. cities. Sch schls re pretty ch ginst hw Finln wrs. Finnish schls nt seprte t the g stentsr the lsers , r tht tter. Hwever, ech sch i hve its specilty,  sb ject tht ws nt reqire bt tht y clnt get t ny ther schl. In the cse f rssen High Sch, it ws Ltin. An Ltin ws n. Mre n thn erning Finnish n nglish. T b its  e ngge. I lve t get tgether with  few bies n tell jes in Ltin r ybe iscss pertingsyste esign strtegies. t ws ls n t spen tie in the cee shp ner schl. It ws  hngt r certin pepe, bsicy thse wh werent hiing behin the schl sing cigrettes. Y wl g there inste f phys e, r y w g there if y h n hr bre between csses, which seties hppene. The plce h been  hven r gees since the ys f sie res. Als, it ws the nly cf tht et stents by things n ccnt. Tht ent y wl plce yr rer n they w eep  written list f everything y te r rn, n then when y sehw gt the ney tgether y wl py r it. Knwing the Finnish ni r techngy, its prbbly l recre in  tbse these ys My rer ws wys the se:  Ce n  ghnt S yng n lrey sch  helth  nt Generlly speing, I ws better in schl thn y sister, Sr, wh ws re scible, esier t  t, nicer t peple n, I shl , hs been hire t trnslte this b int Sweish. Bt she bet e in the en becse she t exs in re sbjects. My interests were nrrwer. I ws nwn s the Mth Gy. L i n   To r v a ld a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

25

In ct, the nl tie I brht irl he wa when the wanted t be ttred It didnt happen all that an tie, and it wa never  idea, bt  ther harbr ntaie that the were intereted in re than ath ttrin (In hi ind, ehw the had bht int hi Statel Ne Statel Man eqatin) I the were in r an ath actin, the certainl didn't have a willin partner I ean, I cld never even re t what the were reerrin t b heav pettin" I had pent tie tain care  a neihbr eenpnd cat and cldn't re t what the bi deal wa Ye, I wa denitel a ee N qetin abt it Thi i bere eed becae ex Well, I e it' nt reall ex bt hipper What  had wa ene wh wa bth a ee and hr i that redndant? S I wld b e ittin in nt   a cpter and b e perectl happ Fr hih chl radatin in Finland,  wear a  white hat with a blac band There' a ceren in which the hand t dipla, and when  ce he all r relative are there with lt  chapane, wer, and cae And there' al a part r the entire cla at a lcal retarant We did all that, and I e I had n, bt I dn't reeber anthin pecial abt it Bt a e abt the pec n  68008chip achine and I can rattle the  with ttal recall =

2

J   t fo r F  n



M rt er t niverit w ctll qite prctive I nge t en the nber f creitwhich re clle t wee" in the Finnih tetht ne i ppe t ern It w the nl er tht hppene Mbe it w the exciteent f the new envirnent, r the pprtnit t elve eepl int the tp ic, r bece it w re crtble r e t t thn t bece  cil nil n pe n  ien with ritlitic reg lrit I nt nw wht t ble r  eqte perrnce in tht rt er Bt ret re, it in't hppen gin M c eic creer t  hrp neive At tht pint  jr hnt been eterine Eventll cpter bece  jr, with phic n th  inr ne f the prble w tht in the entire Univerit f Helini there w nl ne ther Sweihpeing tent wh wnte t jr in cpter, Lr Wireni The tw f  jine Spe tr, the cil rgnitin r Sweihpeing cience t ent, which ctll trne t t be  lt f n The clb w cprie f tent in the hr cience, ch  phic n cheitry Trnltin: It ll g Bt we i hre r clbr with the cnterprt rgni tin r Sweihpeing tent in the  cience, ch  bilg n pchlg Tht w, we were ble t interct with fele,  wwr  it ight hve been r e f  , ll f  Spetr h n f the trpping f n Aericntle 7

aternity, bt y didnt have t live with the ther gys r ever deal with anyne wh wasnt interested in science We had reglar Wednesday night meetings where I learned the dierence between a pilsner and an ale. On rare ccasins there were vdkaingesting cntests. Bt mch f that didnt happen ntil later in my niversity career. And there was ample time r it t happen: I stdied at the niversity r eight years, emerging with nthing mre thn a mere masters degree. (Im nt cnting the hnrary dctrate the niversity issed t me in Jne 2000 Bt that rs year was a blr f streetcar cmmtes between lectre classes and my bedrm, which was gathering pies f bks and cmpter eqipment. Id lie in bed reading a Dglas Adams sci thriller, then tss it n the r and pick p a physics te, hen rl t f bed and sit at the cmpter writing a prgram r a new game. The kitchen is right tside the bedrm and Id stmble in r sme cee r crn crnchies. Maybe yr sister is smewhere arnd, r maybe she is t with iends. Or maybe she is living with yr ther these days. Maybe yr mther is there r maybe she is wrking r maybe she is t with her jrnalist iends. Or a iend is ver and y re wedged in the kitchen, drinking cp aer cp f tea and watch ing Bevis and Btthead in English n MTV and thinking abt ging smewhere t play snker bt it is jst t cld tside. And happily, there is n phys ed in this litime. That will happen net year. All year. When the Finnish Army calls every male. Many gys d their army dty immediately llwing high schl. Fr me, instead, it seemed t make mre sense t wait ntil aer cmpleting a year at the niversity. In Finland y have a chice: Y either d the army r eight mnths r scial services r a year. If y shw strng religis reasns r sme ther signicant ecse, y cld get arnd bth. Fr me, there wasnt sch an t. And the ptin f scial services didnt feel right It wasnt becase I had anything against helping hmanity. It prbably had mre t d with a fear that scial services dty ran 2

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the risk f actaly being  bring than army dty I cant believe Im being s candid Bt talk t smene wh has gne the scia services rte and y nd that if y havent already lined p a gd place t perrm them y will be randmly assigned t an ninteresting place And I cldnt cnscientisy bject As mc as I wldnt have bjected t shirking my patritic dty, the ct is I actally d have a cnscience: When psh cmes t shve, I dnt have strng cnvictins against gns r killing peple S if y pt r the army there are tw new chices t make Y cld g r the reqired eight mnths  a reglar Je, r g t fcer training schl and d eleven mnths as an fcer It ccrred t me that it might be slightly mre interesting t be an fcer, despite the additinal 129,600 mintes It wld als be a way f getting smething mre t f it Thats hw yr (then) 120pnd her became a secnd lietenant in the reserves f the Finnish Army My jb was re cntrller Its nt exactly rcket science Y are given the crdinates r the big gns Y read the map f where y are and then y trianglate n where y want t sht Y d the crdinates calclatins and then y radi them in r cmmnicate sing telephne wire that y helped lay t Yre telling the gns where t sht I remember being very nervs bere ging int the army, nt knwing what t expect Sme peple had lder brthers r smene t talk t abt the army, s they knew what t anticipate There was nbdy t tell me what wld be happening Well, everybdy knws in general that the army isnt ging t be n Its smething perpetated by everybdy being there Bt I didnt have a clear idea f what it wld be like, and that made me nervs Its srt f hw I feel abt having pepe read this bk The mst difclt times in the army invlve walking arnd the Lapland wds with what seem like tns f cable Frankly, I think it i tns f cabe Bere fcers schl, y wld be rdered t rn arnd with a hge rll f cable n yr stmach and tw n yr back, and y have t rn r, like, ten eaking L  n    v  l ds  n d   v  d    m  n d

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miles Other times yu're just standing arund waiting r things t happen Or yu ski r t lng t the place where yu put up the tent That's when I realized that if Gd had meant us t ski He/She/It wuld have euipped us with elngated berglass pads instead f feet Wait a secnd I dn't necessarily believe in Gd Then yu have t get the tent set up and the re ging bere yu can eat Yu're cld and hungry and tired because yu haven't slept in tw days I understand that peple actually pay gd mney t participate in such extreme utdr adventures as characterbuilding experiences" They shuld just jin the Finnish Army Actually the utdr marathns didn't happen en but they happened I calculated that during eleven mnths with the army I spent mre than 100 days in the wds Finland has abundant wds: 70 percent f the cuntry is cvered with rest I lt as if I visited it all My jb as an fcer was t be the re cntrl leader r a grup f ve That just means yu're suppsed t knw hw things wrk and make them seem mre cpicated than they really are But it just wasn't that interesting and I wasn't a very gd leader I certainly wasn't gd at giving rders I tk them wellthe trick is nt t take it persnallybut I didn't feel that it was my missin in life t d the best jb Nt then Did I mentn hw cld it gets in Lapland? Cme t think f it I really hated it while I was there But it was ne f thse things Aer it was ver it immediately became a wnderl experience It als gave me smething t discuss with virtually any Finnish male r the rest f my life In ct sme peple suggest that the majr reasn r the reuired army duty is t give Finnish men smething t talk abut ver beer r as lng as they ive They all have smething miserable in cmmn They hated the Army but they're happy t tak abut it aerward 30

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 

While were n the sbject, let me tel y sme mre abt Finland We prbably have mre reindeer than any place n arth We als have a heathy share f bth alchlics and ns f tang dancing Spend a winter in Finland and y nderstand the rts f all the drinking Theres n excse r the tangistas, bt, thanklly, they are al pretty mch cncentrated in small twns, where y never hae t encnter them A recent srvey determined that Finnish males are the mst virile in rpe t mst be all the reindeer meat, r the hrs spent in sanas This is a natin that literally is hme t mre sanas than cars Nbdy actally knws hw this religin startd, bt the traditin, at least in sme places, is t bild the sana rst, then the hse Many apartment bildings cntain a sana n the rstr leve r the tp r, and every miy gets its wn pri vate hrlike Thrsdays, 7 t 8 M (Thrsdays and Fridays tend t be sana days) That way, y dnt have t endre the hrrr f seeing yr neighbrs naked I was nce thmbing thrgh an nglishlangage gidebk t Finand that went t great lengths t warn the reader that Finns never ave sex in sanas, and hw they wd be hrried t earn that sch a vilatin has taken place r was even a mere ntasy in the trists mind I cldnt stp laghing when I read that, becase the sana is sch a netral place in the Finnish hme that the bk might jst as apprpri ately have warned against having sex n the kitchen r I dnt think its any big deal In remte lcales babies are brn in 3

saunas ony pas wi o waand as w you go o di, aoding o som adiions Ts us don appy o my miy, by  way, wi as a aidbak appoa o  wo ing T a o ais a disinguis Finns om o mmbs o uman spis Fo xamp, s is sin adiion Nobody aks mu Ty jus so of sand aound no saying anying Tis is ano u a dosn appy o my miy, wi I wi gnousy dsib as ofa" Finns a soi o a u Sin suing and  drmi naion mig b wa pd us suviv in   of dominaion by Russia, a sussion of boody was, and wa a suks u s days, i jus sms odd T man wi o  ivd biy in Finand duing Wod Wa II and mad  mous obsvaion abou paons of a aiway saion af  maining sin in wo anguags" H    Unid Sas via Vadivosok  s  an  oud  Evn oday, if you sp ino a ba in any Finnis iy paiuay  sma onsyou iky o nd sond mn siing by msvs, saing o ino  ai Pop sp a os pivay in Finandas ano big ingso nobody woud ink of going up o a sang and siking up a onvsaion Ts a onundum Finns auay a qui indy u fw pop a v ab o nd a ou I undsand  amosp is mu mo onvivia in Finands sbian bas Sin Finns a oa o onvs  o , w psn  ida mak  mobi pons W av akn o  nw dvis wi an nusiasm unmad by any o naion Is no a wi ouny auay dos aim h mos ind p apia i mig go o Noway, om o ink of ibu s no qusion wi naion on Ea as mo  pons  vy man, woman, and id Ts ak in Finand of aving m gad o  body upon bi And y a usd  mo puposs an anyw s 3

j   t f F  n

Finns rinel send eac er ex messages, r re n mle phnes  a ecanism r cheaing n igh sc ess (send a iend he qesin and wai r his exmessage rey). We se he cacar ncin ha few Americans even reaize exiss n a mie phne. Te vis nex sep is r lks  sar diaing p he nmer f he ney persn a e nex caf ae and srike p a ce cnversain. The penmenal sccess f Nkia nwisanding, mie pnes ave canged Finand like ning since he inrdcinlng rgenf he sana isef Is acally n srprise a mie phnes wd nd sch a warm recepin in Finand. The cnry as a hisry f eing qick and cnden in he adpin f echngy. Fr exampe, nike pracically everywhere ese n Earh, Finland is a pace where ks riney pa is and cndc a heir anki ng eecrnicalnne f is wimpy psedeecrnic anking a akes place in he Unied Saes. There are mre Inerne ndes er capia in Finand han any her cnry. Sme credi is echnsavvy  e srng edcaina sysemFinand has he wrds highes ieracy rae, and niversiy iin is ee, which is why he ypica sden sicks arnd r six r seven years. Or, in my case, eigh years. Y can help earning smehing y hanging arnd a niversi r sch a arge cnk f yr ife Oers sa e ecnlgica edge g is sar wi e inasrcre mprvemens made in e sipping indsry as par f war reparains paid  Rssia And ers say i has smeing  d wih a pain ha is (a imes, nearaly) hmgenes.

L  n   T v a l d a n d  a v  d   a   n d

33

Lu d I  s  h doom l W hv jus ud om  c-c-c lc Tov s u w ocs  d Dl    ussl ov  ook I ouh o o o hm I ush s  sudu d  hu j ou u u o h  o d sk Lus o lk ou hs chldhood cu I do mm uch o m chldhoo  h ss   mooo ow c h  I ws ol  w s o! sk Tov Im lous  mm ms ocs o wh I d I hv o sk h wh ou ho ums  I mm ls d how hs  o u I c v mm dls o hs d I do mm h ls o m chldhood I do mm how hs h o wh I ws hk wh I ws s  W dd ou hv ds o xml   I  ws v socl Im w w mo socl ow h I ws ck h   wh ws  lk I m do ou mm wk u o  u mo d o somwh wh ou ss d ou s  s w sl u   h  ow old w ou wh h sl u I do ko  sx   I do mm  Wh ou hss Do ou mm hsms h I hv som vu mmos o  dssd u d o o

3

m pt pten enl l ndfthe the  house h ouse i n Tuu me thin thin fo Este Est e Othe Othe thn tht I don don't't ememe much  "Wht out oust compu compute te "Tht ws the fmed VICVIC-22  m  mtl ndfthe the ouht It cm cmee in  ox ox  "How i i  ws the ox ox The size tht would hold  pi of of sn snow ow oots "Aout tht tht size  "And "A nd wht out o ut ou  ou ndfth the e Do ou emem ememe e much out him "Hee ws p "H po o l l m ose osesst el elti tive ve ut ut I don't    O He ws oveweiht ovew eiht ut not ft t He ws ldin ldin He ws ws withd with dwn wn so sot t of of l lee n s sen entm tminde inded d po pos ss s which he h e ws I used to sit on his lp nd n d t tpe pe in his his pom pomss  "Cn ou emem wh whtt he smeed smeed li lie e "No Wh Wht t ind of  question is tht  "Eve "Ev eod's od's ndfth the e smes like like somethin somet hin  Che hep p colone colone B ouon Ci Ci s s Wh Wht t did he sme li lie e  " I don don't't now I ws too peoc peoccu cupied pied with the compute compute to notice 

  n   T o r va v a l d d a n d  a v  d   a m  n d

3



Se peple reeer tie accrding t the cars they drve r the js they held r the places they lived r the sweet hearts they dated dated  My years years are are arked y cpers I had nly three cpters whie I was grwing p There was the areentined Cdre VIC20 which I inherited    y grand grandther ther I was ne f the rst rs t he"  he" cpters he predecessrs t the presentay PCs The Cdre 64 ecae srt f the ig rher t the VIC20 lwed by he Aiga which had a particlarly strng llwing in Erpe Thse cpters never ecae trly pplar ike the PC r even the Apple II which was already II already cn abt abt the ie i e I played arn arndd with wit h the VIC In thse days bere the prliferatin f PCs st f the prgraing n he cpters as dne in assebly langage (I can elieve Ive taken t starting sentences with In thse days    ") Cp Cpter terss had thei theirr wn hebrew hebrew per perating ating syste syste  the eqivalent f wha DOS was n a PC Depending n he c pter i was either a rdienary ra r a sighy re enhanced ne Like DOS the OS had a prgra lader and a basic angage envirnent Back then thee were n stadards and a ner f cpanies waned  cntrl the ake Cdre was ne f the better knwn f these these When I had gtten at as ch as I cld t f the VIC 20 I sarted saving p r a nextgenerain mde This ws a big dea in y life life As I entined e ntined I ve lst track f wh in y ily  ily 39

was iving where a wha paricar ime and a  f her hings b he pah  my secnd cmper was smehing ha's hard  rge  had sme Chrismasandbirhday mney sashed away becase  was brn n December 28h he w ccasins are sr f meded geher)  as earned sme mney ne smmer wrking n he ceanp crew in Hesinki's parks Many f he arks in Hesinki aren' andscaped and wemainained b are mre ike recreaina recrea ina r green areas areas ha  ha are vergrwn vergrwn ress Wha Wha we had  d was saw  vegrwn bshes r pick  dead branchesi was even ineresing 've aways iked he drs  as had a newspaper re  a ne pinexcep ha i wasn' newspapers i was jnk mai Acay  wasn' reay in smmer jbs cme  in f i B I did hem in hse days On he whe  prbaby g mre mney m sch sipends n Finand i's reaivey cmmn r pepe  give endwmens  schs even he pbic eemenary schs S saring in r rhh grade grade mney ges disried disri ed  sdens based n whaeverr he persn eve persn seing sei ng p p he nd had in i n mind m ind I remember ne f he endwmens in my sch wen  he besiked kid in cass This was in sixh grade and we acay ved wihin he cass n wh shd ge he mney I wasn' me wh wn I migh add The bny amned  ny ab 200 Finmarks which was maybe ry dars a he ime b i seemed ie a  f mney  give a sixh grader js j s r being be ing ppar Qie en he mney wen  he bes persn in a paricar sbjec r spr And a  f he awards were schspecic r nded hrgh he gvernmen n sme cases he nds dwinded ver ime ime   rememb remember er ne ha amned amned  ab ab a penn pennyy in vae When ha was he siain he sch wd chip in  make i smewha mre mre se b b  i s i i was a iry iry sma sm f mney mne y mre han anyhing anyhi ng ese ese  his  his was a way f main mainain aining ing he radiin f giving  mney every year Finand akes is academic radiins serisy which is a gd hing S  wd receive hese sipends every year r being he 4

Jt f Fn

Mth Gy. By high chl the wrd gt bigger. The bigget ne weree n the rder f wer f $ 5 00 00.. S tht where mt f the mney r my ecnd cmpter cme m my weekly llwnce wldn hve pid r  cmpter. I l brrwed me mney m my dd. It w 1986 r 1987. I w ixteen r eventeen. My bketbll yer were behind me. I pent n inrdinte mnt f time reerching the eld bere deciding which cmpter t by. PC werent very gd bck then  when I ntized b my new mchine I knew kne w it wnt ging t be  PC. I pted r  Sinclir QL which mny f y re prbby t yng t remember. Here the hitry. The Sinclir w ne f the rt 3 2 bi bitt mchine mchine n the mrket mrket r hme e. e. Sir Clive Sin Sin-clir the nder f the cmpny w the Steve Wnik f Britin. He mde thee cmpter kit tht were ld  Timex cmpter in the United Stte. Th right the me cmpny tht mde Timex wtche wtche imprted he Si Sinclir nclir cmpter t nd ld i here nder the Timex nme. The erly erly ne were were ld  kit bere he trted elling redymde cmpter. The Sinclir hd thi perting yem clled QDOS. I knew it by hert bck then. It w written epecily r tht priclr cmper. It hd qite n dvnced Bic r he ime nd irly gd grphic. One f the thing ht excited me the mt bt the perting ytem w ht it w mltitking: Y cld rn mltiple prgrm t nce. Hwever the Bic prt wnt mltitking  y cldnt rn mre thn ne Bic prgrm t nce. nce . Bt if y wrte wrte yr yr wn prgrm prgrm in embly n gge y cld let the perting ytem chede the nd time lice it  y c cld ld rn mny f them t the me time. ti me. The cmpter cntined the 8meghertz 68008 chip which w the ecnd nd cheper verin f Mtrl 68000 chip. Internlly the rt genertin f 68000 chip were 32bit bt externlly hd  16bit inerce t nything tide the CPU (centrl prceing nit)ch  memry r hrdwre ddn. Bece it cld nly ld 16 bit t  time m memry 16bi pertin were en qicker thn the 32bit pertin. The L  n   T   v  l d d  n d D  v  d D     n d

4

rchitectre ws hgely pplr n it still exists ty in  lt f embee evices r crs Its nt the sme chip, bt its bse n the sme rchitectre The 68008 chip, the versin in my cmpter, se 8 bits, nt 16 bits, r its interce with the wrl tsie the CPU Bt even thgh it intercte with the tsie wrl t 8 bits t  time, internlly it ws 32 bits Tht me it mre plesnt t pr grm m mny wys It h 128 kilbytes f memrynt megbyteswhich ws hge t the time r  hme mchine The VIC20 it replce h nly 3 kilbytes f memry An becse it ws  32bit mchine it cl ccess ll the memry with n prbem t ll, which ws nher f bck then Tht ws the min resn I wnte t by the cmpter The technlgy ws interesting n I lve the CPU  ws hping t get the cmpter t  iscnt by bying it t  stre where  ien knew the wners Bt it wl hve tken s lng r the cmpter t rrive tht I jst shlgge wn t Akemisk Bkhneln, the lrgest bkstre in Helsinki , which h  cmpter sectin I jst bght it m them ver the cnter The cmpter cst nerly $2,000 There se t be this rle tht entrylevel cmpters were lwys $2 ,000 Its nly in the lst cple f yers tht this hs chnge Nw y cn by  new PC r $500 Its like crs Nby mkes crs r ner $10,000 At sme pint, its nt wrth it nymre Sre, cmpnies cn bil  cr tht cn be sl r $7 ,000, bt the tmkers resn tht peple wh cl r $7 ,000 r  cr re hppier bying ne r $10,000 tht hs extr st, like ir cnitining, s stnr eqipment If y cmpre entrylevel crs this yer with entry level crs m een yers g, they cst bt the sme In ct, jste r i ntin they might cst slightly less B t theyre  lt better Thts hw it se t be with cmpters When cmpters were nt smething tht everyby bght, there ws  pin 

j   t fo  F  n

hreshl f rn $2,000 f he lwescst cper s ch re expensve,  cpn sn't gng  be ble  sell n f he Bt he were expensve engh t ncre h t n' e sense r  cpn  e the ch cheper Peple wl lws p he extr $200 r s  ge  beer chne n he lst tw ers he hve bece  l less expensve t e An even the lwen chnes hve gten pre g Cpnes hve ls n f he peple wh wl p he exr $200 r  slghl beer chne Snce cmpnes cln' sell n feres lne, the've h  sell n prce    : Bc n 1 987 , ne f he sellng pns f the QL ws th  looked cl  ws entrel e blc, wh  blc ebr  ws rl nglr Ths ws nt  rned, preb chne I re t be n f exree The ebr ws bt n nch hc becse t ws prt f he se n s he cper Th's he w st f the he cpters were esgne On the rghhn se f he ebr, where  wl hve  ep,  hd w sls r he revlnr Snclr crrve, whch ws ths enless lp f tpe tht ws se nl n  Snclr chne I ce n ws rgnze le  s rve Becse t ws ne lng lp,  cl js spn  ntl  h wht  wnte  trne  t be  b e becse  ws n s relble s  s rve S  spen clse  $2,000 r he Snclr QL Ms f wh   wh t ws ne prgrng prjec er nher I ws lws serchng r sethng nteresng  d  hd  Frh lngge nterpreer n cpler, js t pl rn wh Frh ws  srnge lngge ht nb ses nmre  ws n f  n, nchere lngge h ws rl wel se n he 1 980s r eren hngs, b t never bece ver pplr, beng fcl t llw r nneche peple Acll  ws n f seless  wre prgrmng tls r self One f the rs thngs  bgh r the chne ws n expnsn b wh n L i n   To  v  /  n  D  v i  D i  m o n 

3

PRM cad (ecticay asabe and Pammabe Read ny Memy) Its memy y wite ysef with special mdles, and it stays arnd when y tn the pwe  That way, I cd have the ts easiy avaiabe t me wheneve  wanted, witht havin t ad them int RAM (randm access memry) and se peis RAM r pams What t me inteested in peatin systems: I bht a ppy cnte s I wdnt have t se the micdives, bt the diver that came with the ppy cntrle was bad s I ended p writin my wn In the prcess f writin that I n sme bs in the peatin system at east a discepancy between what the dcmentatin said the peratin system wd d and what it actally did I nd it becase smethin I had written didnt wrk My cde is always, m, perfect S I knew it had t be smethin ese, and I went i n and disassembed the peatin system  Y cd by bks that cntain partial istins f the peratin system That helps Y als need a disassembler, a t that takes the achine lanae and tns it int assemby anae Thats imptant becase when y ny have a machine anae versin, its difct t w the instctins Y nd that an instctin wi jmp t a nmeica addess, which makes it very hard t read A d disassembe wi make p names r the nmbers and as aw y t specify names It als an be sed t help y identify particlar instrctin seqences I had my wn disassember that I cd se t ceate reasnably nice istins When smethin didnt wk, I cd  in and te it t nd the istin m a partica spt, and I cd see eveythin that te peratin system was in t d Smetimes I sed te disassember nt becase smethin was by bt becase I was try in t ndestand what it was sppsed t d ne f the thins I hated abt the QL was that it had a readnly peratin system Y cldnt chane thins It did have hkspaces where y can insert y wn cde t take ve cetain nctinsbt ny at paticlar paces Its s mch 

J   t fo r F  n

nicer t be ble t replce r perting sste cpletel. Ding n perting sste in RM renl er) is  b ie. Despite wht ve si bt Fi nln being sch  technlg btticer, the Sinclir Q wsnt ing big inrs in rpes seventhlrgest tin Becse the ret ws s sll, whenever  wnte t b pgres r the icnclstic, leingege chine,  h t  it  ngl, vi pstl rer t invlve scring ctlges ntil  n sene wh sl whtever it ws  wnte Then  h t get tgether certie checs n wit wees r eliver this being bere the s f Azn.c n creit crs). Thts wht  h t  when  wnte t expn  RAM  128 ilbtes t 640 ilbtes. Tht ws the rill when  bght  new ssebler, t trnslte ssebl lngge int chine ce the nes n zers), n n eitr, which is bsicll  wrprcessing prgr r prgring. Bth the new ssebler n eitr wre ne, bt the were n the icrrives n clnt be pt n the PRM . S  wrte  wn eitr n ssebler n se them r ll  prgring. Bth were written in ssebl lngge, which is increibl stpi b ts stnrs. ts cplicte n tiecsing  gess it tes  hnre ties lnger t slve  prble in ssebl lngge thn in the C lngge, r exple, which ws vilble t the tie.  e  few cns t the bsic interpreter tht ce with the chine s tht when  wnte t eit sething  bsicll jst rn  eitr tticll n it ws instntl there. M eitr ws fster thn the ne tht ce with the chine  ws prticlrl pr f hw st  cl write chrcters t the screen Nrll, with  chine lie tht, it wl te s lng t ll the screen with chrcters tht  cl see text scrll. An I ws plese with the ct tht with  eitr,  wrte text s st tht when  scrlle qicl wn  crete  blr. Tht ws iprtnt t e. The iprveent e the chine feel ch snppier, n  new tht  h ne  lt f wr t e it perte s st . Lin Torvald nd avid iamond

5

At this tie, there werent very any peple I knew wh were as invlved in cmpters as I was There was a cpter clb at schl, bt I didn't spend ch tie there. It was basicaly r kids wh wanted t knw abt cpters. There were nly abt 250 stdents in y entire high schl, and I dnt think anybdy else had been sing ne since the age f ten One f the big things I liked ding n y Si nclair QL was t ake clnes f gaes I wrte cnes f the gaes  the VIC20 that I had enjyed and seties I added enhanceents. Bt stly they were nt better: a better achine, nt a better cncept My vrite gae was prbably Asterids, bt I cld never ake a gd clne f it. The reasn was that, at the tie, al the arcade Asterids gaes were dne with rea vectr graphics Instead f having graphics based n small dtspixesthey had graphics that were actaly dne the way a cathderay tbe (CRT) wrks, which is t have eectrns sht t  an eectrn cannn  behind the CRT and deected with agnets. They gt ch higherrestin graphics that way, bt y cdnt reprdce this very easily. Y cld ake a cne, bt it wldnt lk like the riginal Asterids gae if y wrte it n a cmpter that didnt have the special graphics capability I reeber aking a Pac Man clne in assebly langage. The rst step is t kind f reeber what the Pac Man characters are sppse t lk ike Then y try t draw the n a sixteenbysixteen grid f paper, with cr And if y are artistic, y can d a gd jb. Bt if y are Mr NnArtistic, ike I a, it ended p king like Pac Mans sick csin Okay, s it wasnt a very gd clne Bt I was reay prd f it The gae was actaly playable, and I sent it in t ne f the againes that pbished cpter cde I had sd ther prgras t agazines and thght this wld be a natra. Nt One f the prbes as that the prgra had been written in asseby langage That eant that if y ade the sightest,  slightest istake cpying it  the agazine, it wldnt wrk 

j   t fo r F  n

I rte sme  my wn games, t Bt it takes a certain mindset t create games Becase games reqire a lt f errmance, y have t get really lw dwn int the ardware f the cmter I cd d that, bt I didnt have the game lay mentality What makes a great game is nt sally hw st it is r hw gd the grahics are There has t be smething that makes y lay itsmething that kees y with it Its jst like mvies Secial eects are ne thing, bt y als need a lt And my games never had a lt A game has t have a rgressin, an idea Oen, the rgressin is jst that the game gets ster Thats what Pac Man des Smetimes the maze changes r the mnsters get better at llwing y One f the things that interested me abt Pac  Man was tackling the rblem f making grahics that dnt icker Its a irly cmmn rblem in lder cmter games, becase witht secial hardware yr characters jst icker The way y mve yr characters arnd is t take away the ld cy and write a new cy If y haen t have bad timing, ele can actally see when theres n cy, s it ickers Y can get arnd this i n mltile ways Y can actally draw the new gy rst and the remve the d gy, bt y mst be carel nt t remve that art f the d gy that was ccded by the new gy Instead f seeing an irri tating icker, y get a gd eecty smetimes see the shadw f the ld character n the screen The brain interrets that in a gd way It desnt icker, bt it creates a mtin blr The trble with this sltin is that it is irly exensive and time cnsming t create Theres a reasn that games are always n the ctting edge, and why they en are the rst tyes f rgrams that rgram mers create Partly it has t d with the ct that sme f the smartest rgrammers t there are eenyearld kids laying arnd in their rms (Its what I thght sixteen years ag, and I still ssect its tre) Bt theres anther reasn games are s ineering: Games tend t sh hardware If y lk at cmters tday, theyre sally st engh L  n   T  v l d  n d   v  d      n d

7

r anything Bt the pace y test the imits f the hardware are with wi th actin acti n games, lilike ke sme f the 3 3D D nes that are nw pp ppa arr Fndaentaly, games are ne f the few things n cmpters wheree y can tel if thi wher things ngs arent arent ha happening ppening in i n rea time tim e In wrd prcessing, y dn't mind a delay f a secnd here r a secnd there Bt in a gae, it starts t be nticeable at a sbtenth f a secnd Games sed t be iry sipe These days, prgraing is actay a iry smal part f any gae gae Theres There s si sic, c, theres the plt If y cmpare plt cmpare it t making a mvie, the prgr prgramm amming ing cmcm pnent is j st the camera camera wrk wrk S I had the Sincair QL r three years It tk e m high schl t the University f Hesinki t the Finnish Army It wass ne, bt we were denitely ready t par wa partt ways ways In the t he ast as t year year r s I had discvered its shrtcmings The 68008 was a gd engh CPU, bt I was reading abt the next generatin 68020, and learning abt sch virtes as memry management and paging These new cpters cld d things that are reay imprtant when y are are wrki wrking ng n wevel st What irritated e abt the Sinclair QL was that whie the perating pera ting system was capable capable f f lti ltitasking tasking,, y cld cld still stil l crash cras h at any time becase there was was n memry prte prtectin ctin One task hat decided t d sething bad c cdd j st crash crash the achine  The Sincair QL was Sir Cive Sinclairs ast ray int designing and aking cmpters One f the reasns: It wasnt cmerciay sccess It had interesting techngy, bt the cpanyy had prdcti cpan prdctinn prbems and a nd aity ai ty assrance prbems and the inevitabe bad press Mrever, the arket was beginning t becme re cpetitive The ate 1 98 980s 0s were t he years years when y y cld cld start t  iagiagine that that,, yes, yes , aybe seday seday yr vera verage ge trey rider wd wn a cmpter, if ny t perrm wrd prcessing And a signs pinted t the PC Yes, the rigina IBM PCs had started ding the sheves and becing sccess despite nmers technical shrtcmings Thse biits beige creatres had the IBM

4

j  s t fo r F  n

tmp f pprvl er ll nd tht ment  lt Anther ttrc tin: The peripherl were tndrd nd ey t btin  w reding bt ll thee newer CPU tht could d wht  wnted It becme cler tht the 68020, which looked intereting wnt ging nywhere  cld hve cnidered bying  CPU pgr p grde de r the QL n the th e dy tht ment biclly rebildi ng the mchine And the perting ytem didnt knw bt memry mngement nywy   wld hve hd t write my wn verin ve rin S it w like: Hhhm Hhhmmm mm Doin Doingg that that wi be a big step. step. An Andd it  wil be expensive to get ge t a new ne w CPU And then there w till t ill the increing hedche hedche  f bying thing r the cmpter t wnt  if there w  Ser ctlge r the Sinclir QL nd y jt picked p the phne nd rdered mre memry memry The ptlrdermE ptlrdermEnglnd nglnd rtine w getti get ting ng ld (I didnt mind tht there w n hrinkwrpped wre bece  w ble t write ll tht myelf There w  pitive ide eect t thi pinintheneck When I w thinking bt getting rid f the mchine I decided t ell my peripherlthe re rell hr hrdd drive  hd h d prched prched bece I cldnt cldn t tke the micrdriv mic rdrivee ne ecnd lnger nd my expnin expnin RAM Bt ther theree weren werentt peple lined p in the treet erchi erching ng r ch t  y hd t dvertie in  cmpter mgzine nd pry And tht hw  met my gd iend Jk Viermki wh trned t t be prbbly the nly ther pern in ll f Finlnd wh wned  Sinclir QL He nwered my d nd tk the trin m Lhti nd bght me f my peripherl Then he intr dced me t nker

L i n   T o r v al a l d d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

9



My rs year a niversiy, he Sinclair QL sa n a desk agains my rsr bedrm windw n Peersgaan, Peersgaan, b I didn di dn d mch in he way f prgramming. Pary i was a maer f waning  cncenrae n my sdies B as, I smply nd myself acking a prjec  d n my cmpter. Lack a prjec and y ack enhsiasm. Yre trying  cme p with smething ha migh mivae y I seemed like the perfec ime  jin he army, which I knew I wd have  d anyway. I was nineeen years ld and irriaed wih my cmpers shrcmings and naached  any neresng cmper prjec I barded a rain r Lapand I ve aready aready indicae indi caedd hw celess I was ab, amng her hings, he physica demands f army service S aer he eeven mnhss f hys edwihrear mnh edwih rearms ms,, I fe fe percly j si sied ed in i n pending he remaining decades f my ife in bissl inactiviy, wih he nly exercise cming m apping cde in a keybard r gripping my ngers arnd a glass f pilsner (In c, he rs nearspr aciviy aer eaving the army didn ake place ni alms en years  he day wing my discharge, when David cerced me in ging b bgie giebarding barding wih him in he kie ki err wav waves es a Haf Haf Mn Bay. I pracicay drwned, and my egs were sre r days.) Army servi service ce ended ended n h e 7h 7 h fMa f May, y,  99 9900 . Ahgh A hgh Tv vee wld el y I have rble remembering r anniversary, I can pssib ps sibyy rge he dae I was discharged d ischarged The rs thing I waned  d was ge a ca. 50

I had a iend whe ca had prdced a lier a few week earier,  I bgh he le reaining kien, which wa wie, ae, beailand, becae he had pen hi r few week in he dr, eaiy eaiy able  live bh inide in ide and ide y her aparen I naed hi Randi, hr r Mihrandir, he whie wiar in Lord of of he h e Rig Ri g He i nw eeven year d and, like hi wner, wner, ha bece ally adjed  he Calirnia ifeyle ifeyle , I dn' dn ' hink hi nk I did di d anyhing pr prdcive dcive ha enire  er Clae r my ecnd year a he niveriy wldn ar ni ll My cper wa n qie p  n S I r f hng arnd in y ray bahrbe r payed wih Randi r, ccainally, g geher wih friend end  hey cld chckle c hckle ab y aep aep  a bwling r nker Okay, I did d a lile naiing ab y nex cper I ced a geek' dilea Like any gd cmper pri raied n a 68008 chip, I depied PC B when he 386 chip cae  in 1986, PC ared  lk, well, aracive They were abe  d everyhing he 68020 did, and by 1990, aarke prci pr cin n and he in inr rc cin in f i nexpeniv nexpenivee clne clne  wld ake he a grea dea cheaper I wa very neycnci becae I didn have any S i wa, ike, hi i he achine I wan  ge And becae PC were rihing, pgrade and addn wld be eay  bain Epeciay when i cae  hardware, I waned  have ha ve ehing ha ha wa andard andard I decided  jp ver and cr he divide And i wld be n geing a new CPU Tha' when I ared elling  piece f y Sincair QL w everybdy ha a bk ha ha change hi r her life The Hly Bible Da Kapial. Tue Wih Mau. Everhig I Needed o Kow I Leaed i Kidergare Whaever (I incerely hpee ha, hp ha , having read he prece and y hery n The Meaning f Life, y wil decide ha hi bk de he rick r y) The bk ha lanched e  new heigh wa Operaig Sem: Deig ad Implemeaio by Andrew S Tanenba I had aready igned p r y  cre, and he ne ha L  n   To T o r v a l d d a n d D a v  d D  a m o n d

51

was st king rward t was in the C prgraing angage nd the Unix perating syste. In anticipatin f the crse, I ght the areentined textbk dring the ser in the pe f getting a head start In the bk, Andrew Tanenba, a niversity prfessr in Asterda, discsses Minix, which is a aching aid he wrte r Unix Minix is as a sa Unix cne n aer reading te intrdctin, and learning the phisphy ehind Unix and what the pwer pwer ,, cean, ce an, beatil perating sys wld be capabe f ding, I decided t get a achine t rn nix n I wd rn Minix, which was the ny versin I cd nd that was iry se As I read and started t nderstand Unix, I gt a big enthastic jt Franky, its never sbsided (I hpe y can say the e abt sething)

5

  s t fo r F  n



The academic year that began began in the l f 1 99 9900 was t be the rstt tim rs timee th that at the University Un iversity f Hel Helsink sinkii wld wld have have Unix Un ix the pwpwer perating system that had been bred in AT&Ts Bel Labs in thee late th late 1 960s bt b t had had grwn grwn  elsewhere elsewhere In my rst ye year ar f std ies we had a VAX rnning rnni ng VMS VMS  It was a hrrible perating system certainly nt an envirnment that made y say Gee Id like t have ha ve this at hme hme  t " Instead In stead it made y sa say y Hm  Hmmm mm Hw d y d that? It was was hard hard t se se It didn did ntt have have many ts ts It wasn' wasn'tt sited t easiy easiy accessing accessing the Internet Internet  which was rnning n Unix Y cldnt cldn t even easily gre t hw large large a le was Ad Admit mittedly tedly VMS was very wel sited r certain peratins like databases Bt it's nt the kind f perating system that y get excited abt The niversity had realized it was time t mve away m al that Mch f the academic wrld was then grwing enamred f Unix s the niversity acqired a MicrVAX rnning Ultrix which was Digital Eqipment Crpratins versin f Unix It wass a way f testing the wa t he waters f Un Unix ix I was eager eager t wrk wrk with wit h Unix by exper experim imenti enting ng with what I was learning in Andrew Tanenbam's bk excited abt all the things I cld explre if I had a 386 PC There was n way I cld get tgether the 18000 FIM t by ne I knew that nce the ll semester semest er began I wld be able t se my Sinclair Sinc lair QL t t access the niverstys niverst ys new Unix Un ix cmpter ntil nt il I cld ard ard t by a PC n which I cd rn Unix n my wn S there were tw things I did that smmer Nthing And 53

read the 719 pages f Operatg Sstems: Desg ad Implemetatio. The red scver textbk srt f lived n my bed The University f Helsinki sprang r a sixteenser license r the MicrVAX That meant admittance t te C and Unix" crse was limited t thirtytw stdentsI gess the tinking was that sixteen peple wld be sing it by day, sixteen by night Like te rest f s, te teacher was new t Unix He admitted tis p nt, s it wasn't really a prblem Bt he wld read the text nly ne chapter aead f the stdents, whereas the stdents were smetimes skipping ahead b three chapters S it became smething f a game in which peple tried t trip p the teacher by asking qestins that reated t things we wld be learning three capters later, jst t see if e ad read tat r We were all babes in the Unix wds, wit a crse that was eing made p as we went alng Bt what was bvis m this crse was that tere was a niqe philsphy ehind Unix Y grasped this in the rst hr f the crse The rest was explaining te details What is special abt Unix is the set f ndaenta ieals tat it strives r t is a clean an beatil perating system t avids special cases Unix has the ntin f prcessesa prcess is anything that des anything Here's a simpe example n Unix the shell cmmand, whic is what  tpe t gain entr int the perating system, is nt bilt int the perating system, as with DOS Its jst a task Like any ter task It jst happens that this task reads m yr keybard and writes back t yr mnitr Everyting that des smething in Unix is a prcess Y als have les This simple design is wat intriged me, and mst peple, abt Unix (well, at least s geeks) Pretty mch everyting y d in Unix is dne with nly six basic peratins (called system calls," becase they are the calls y make t the perating system t d things r y) And y can bild p pretty mch everyting m thse six basic system calls Tere's the ntin f rk," wic is ne f te ndamental Unix peratins Wen a prcess des a rk, it creates a cmpete 54

j   t fo  F  n

coy of islf Tha way, you hav wo cois ha ar h sam Th child coy mos on nds u execuig anohr rocssrlacing islf wih a nw rogram And has h scond basic oraion Thn you hav ur ohr basic sysm calls: on, clos, rad, and wriall dsignd o accss ls Thos six sysm calls mak u h siml oraions ha comris Unix Sur, hr ar ons of ohr sysm calls o ll in all h dails Bu onc you undrsand h six basic ons, you undrsand Unix Bcaus on of h bauis of Unix is ralizing ha you don nd o hav comlx inrcs o build u somhing comlx You can build u any amoun of comlxiy om h inracions of siml hings Wha you do is cra channls of communicaion (calld is" in Unixsak) bwn siml rocsss o cra comlx roblmsolving An ugly sysm is on in which hr ar scial inrcs r vryhing you wan o do Unix is h oosi I givs you h buiding blocks ha ar sufcin r doing vryhing Thas wha having a clan dsign is all abou Is h sam hing wih languags Th English anguag has wnysix lrs and you can build u vryhing om hos lrs Or you hav h Chins languag, in which you hav on lr r vry singl hing you can hink of In Chins, you sar o wih comlxiy, and you can combin comlxiy in limid ways Thas mor of h VMS aroach, o hav comlx hings ha hav inrsing manings bu can b usd in any ohr way Is also h Windows aroach Unix, on h ohr hand, coms wih a smallisbauil hilosohy I has a small s of siml basic building blocks ha can b combind ino somhing ha allows r inni comlxiy of xrssion This, by h way, is also how hysics works You ry and nd h ndamnal ruls ha ar suosd o b irly siml Th comlxiy coms om h many incrdibl inracions you g om hos siml ruls, no om any inhrn complxiy of h ruls hmslvs L  n  s  v l ds  n d D  v  d D     n d

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The siplicity f Unix did nt jst happen n its wn Unix, with its ntin f siple bilding blcks, was painstakingly designed and written by Dennis Richie and Ken Thpsn at AT&Ts Bell abs And y shld absltely nt disiss siplicity r sething easy It takes desig and gd taste t be siple T  back t the exaple f han langages: Pictrial writing like Chinese caracters and hierglyphics tend t happen rst, and be sipler," whereas the bilding blck apprach reqires r re abstract thinking In the sae way, y shld nt cnse the siplicity f nix wit a lack f spisticatin qite the reverse Wich is nt t say that the riginal reasns r Unix were all that sphisticated ike s any ther things in cpters, it was all abt gaes It tk sebdy w wanted t pla  cpter gaes n a PDP 1 1  Becase that was what UNIX started t being develped rDennis and Kens persnal prject r playing Space Wars And becase the perating syste wasnt cnsidered a seris prject, AT&T didnt think f it as a cercial ventre n ct, AT&T was a reglated nply, and ne f the things they cldnt d was t sell cpters anyway S the peple wh created Unix made it available qite eely alng with srce licenses, especially t niversities It wasnt a big deal This all led t Unix becing a big prject in acadeic circles By the tie f the 1984 breakp, wen AT&T was nally allwed t get int the cpter bsiness, cpter scientists at niversitiesparticlarly the University f CalirniaBerkeley had been wrking n and iprving Unix r years nder the directin f peple like Bill Jy and Marshall Kirk McKsik Peple hadnt always necessarily pt a lt f ert int dcenting wat they did Bt by the early 1 990s, Unix had bece the nberne perating syste r all spercpters and servers t was hge bsiness One f the prbles was that there were, by nw, a hst f cpeting versins f the perating syste Se were derived  the re cntrlled cnnes f the AT&T cde base (the s 56

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called System V" avrs), while thers were derived m the Uni versity f CalirniaBerkeley cdebase BSD (Berkeley Sware Distribtin) Yet thers were a mixtre f the tw One BSD derivatin in particlar is wrth mentining I was the 386BSD prject dne by Bill litz based n the BSD cdebase, distribted ver the Internet It was later t agment and becme the eely available BSD avrsNetBSD, FreeBSD, and OpenBSDand it was getting a lt f attentin in the Unix cmmnity Thats why AT&T wke p and sed the Universiy f CalirniaBerkeley The riginal cde had been AT&Ts bt mst f the sbseqent wrk had been dne at Berkeley The Universit f Calirnia regents cnended tha hey had the righ t distrib te, r sell r a nminal fee, their versin f Unix And they demnstrated that they had dne s mch wrk that they essen tially rewrte what AT&T had made available The sit ended p being settled aer Nvell, Inc, bght Unix m AT& Essen tially, parts f the system had t be excised m what AT&T had made available Meanwhile, all the legal haggling had been instrmental in giving a ew kid n he blck sme time t matre and spread itself Basically, it gave Linx time t ake ver the market Bt Im getting ahead f myself Since Im digressing anyway, Id like t explain smething Unix has this reptatin r being a magne r the eccentric inge f cmpting Its a reptatin nt wrh arging against Its tre Frankly, there are a lt f irly crazy peple in Unix N pstalrage crazy Nt pisntheneighbrsdg crazy st ve alternativelifestyle peple Remember, mch f the initial Unix activity tk place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while I was sleeping in a landry basket in my grandparents apartment These were wer pwer peplebt technical wer pwer peple A lt f the Unixmst beee philsphy has mre t d with the circmstances f the time rather than with the perating system It was a time f ram L  n   To r v  d  n d D  v  d D   m o n d

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ant ieali Reltin Free  atrity Free le (wic I ie t n, an raly wln't ae nwn wat t  wit, anyway) An te relatie enne f Unix, een if it wa ainly e t te lac f cercial interet f te tie, ae it attractie t ti in f ern e rt tie I wa intrce t ti ie f Unix wa raly in 1991 r  wen ar Wireni ragge e alng t an eent at te Plytecnic Unierity f Helini (wic, a eeryy nw, i nt actally in Helini t rigt acr te rer in ) Tey jt want t e aciate wit te glar Helini een if nly y nae) Te eaer wa Ricar Stallan Ricar Stallan i te G f Free Sware He tarte t wr n an alternatie t Unix in 1984, calling it te GNU yte GNU tan r GNU i Nt Unix," eing ne f any recrie acrny were ne f te letter tan r te acrny itelfa in f cter cience inje tat ny ele eer get Geewe're jt tn f fn t e arn Mre irtantly, RMS , a e refer t e calle , al wrte te Free Sware Manit, an te Free Sware cyrigt licenete GP (General Plic icene) Baically, e ineere te ntin f ee rcece aailaility a eting intentinal, nt jt an accient, te way it aene wit riginal Unix en eelent I ae t ait tat I wan't c aware f te cilitical ie tat werean are ear t RMS I wa nt really all tat aware f te Free Sware Fnatin, wic e ne, an all tat it t r Jging  te ct tat I n't reeer c at te tal ac in 1991, it ray in't ae a ge iact n y life at tat int I wa interete in te tecnlgy, nt te liticI a a eng litic at e Bt ar wa an ielgit, an I tagge alng an litene In Ricar I aw, r te rt tie in y life, te teretyi

cal lnghaired, bearded hacer type We dnt ch have the in Helsini  ay nt have seen the lght, bt  gess sething  his speech st have sn in Aer all  later ended p sing the GPL r Linx There  g, getting ahead f yself agan

L i n   To  v  l d  n d D  v i d  i m o n d

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

anary 2, 1991 It was the rst day the stres were pen aer Christmas and my twentyrst birthday, the tw biggest cashgenerating days n my calendar With my Christmasandbirthday mney in and, I made this hge ecnmic decisin t buy a cmputer that wld cst 18,000 FIM, which was abt $3,500. I didn't have that kind f mney, s the idea was t pt dwn ne third f the cst and by the cmputer n credit. Actally, the cmpter cst 15,000 FM. The rest came m the nancing charges that wld be paid ver three years It was at ne f these small crner shps, srt f a mmand pp cmpter stre, nly in this case it was jst pp I didn't care abt the manctrer, s I settled n a nname, whitebx cmpter. The gy shwed y a price list and a smrgasbrd f what CU was available, hw much memry, what disk size I wanted pwer. I wanted t have  megabytes f RAM instead f 2 megabytes. I wanted 33 megahertz. Sre, I cld have settled r 1 6 megahertz, bt n, I wanted tp f the line Yu tld them what y wanted and they wld pt it tgether r y. It snds qaint in this era f the Internet and US shipments. Y came back three days later t pick it p, but thse three days felt like a week. On anary 5th I gt my dad t help me drive the thing hme Nt nly was it nname, it was als nndescript. It was a basic gray blck. I didn't by hi cmpter becase it lked cl 

It was a ver briglkig machie with a rteeich scree, the cheapest, mst reasabl stdl bx I cld d Icidetall, b stdl" I mea a pwerl cmpter that a few peple wned I dt ited t make it sd s appealigetctial, srt f like a Vlv stati wag Bt the ct is I wated smethig depedable ad with eas access t the pgrades I wld ievitabl reire The cmpter came with a ctdw versi f DOS I wated t r Miix, the Uix varia, s I rdered it ad the peratig sstem tk mre tha a mth t make its wa t Filad Oh,  cld b the bk  Miix m a cmpter stre, bt, sice there was s little demad r the peratig sstem itself,  had t rder it m the bkstre The cst was $169 pls taxes, pls cversi ctr, pls whatever I thght it was trages at the time Frakl, I still d The wasted mth felt like abt six eas I was eve mre strated b that tha I had bee drig the ths I was waitig t b m PC Ad this was deadwiter Ever time  le r bedrm r the tside wrld  risked gettig kcked t the snw b ld ladies wh shld hae bee hme makig cabbage sp r their milies r watchig hcke  televisi while kittig sweaters, t staggerig alg Maerheimitie I basicall spent that mth plaig Price f Persia  m new cmpter Whe I wast dig that, I wld read bks that helped me derstand the cmpter I had bght Miix all arrived n a Frida aer, ad I istalled it that ight It reired edig sixtee pp disks it the cmpter The entire weeked was devted t gettig accstmed t the ew sstem I leared what I liked abt the peratig sstemad mre imprtatl, what I didnt like I tried t cmpesate r its shrtcmigs b dwladig prgrams that I had gtte sed t m the niversit cmpter I all, it tk me a mh r mre t make his m wn sstem Adrew Taenbam, the prfessr i Amsterdam wh wrte Miix, wated t keep the perating sstem as a teaching aid S it L i n   o r v  d  n d D  v i d D i  m o n d

1

had bee cied o uose, i bad ways Thee wee aches o Miiximovemes, ha isicudig a wekow ach made by a hacke i Ausaia amed Buce Evas, who was he God of Miix 6 is imoveme made Miix much moe usabe o a 6 Bee eve getig he comue I had bee owig e Miix ewsgous oie, so I kew om he vey begiig ha I waed o u his ehaced vesio Bu because of he icesig siuatio, you had o buy the ea vesio of Miix ad he do a o of wok to boosa Evass aches I was a iy majo hig o do Thee wee a umbe of featues hat disaoied me wih Miix The bigges edown was temia emuaio, which was imoa because i was he ogam I used to coec to the uivesiy comue I eied uo temia emuatio wheeve I waed o dia u he uivesiys comute to eithe wok o the owe Unix comute o just go onlie So I bega a ojec to ceae my ow temial emuatio oam I didnt wat to do the oject ude Minix, but instead to do it at the bae hadwae evel This temina emulation ojec would aso be a geat oounity o lean how the 36 hdwae woked As I metioed, t was wie i esiki I had a study comue The mos imoat a of the ojec was o just gue ou wha this machie did ad have n with it Because I ogammed o he bae meal I had o sa o om he BIOS, which is the eay ROM code ha the comue boos io The BIOS eads eithe he oy o he had disk, ad i his case, I had my ogam o a oy The BIOS eads he s seco of he oy ad stats executig it This was my s PC ad I had to ea how a his was doe This a haes i whas caled ea mode" Bu i ode o ake advaage of he whoe CPU ad ge io 2bi mode, you have to go ito oeced mode" Thees a o of comlicated seu you have o do o make his hae So o ceate a emia emuaio ogam his way, you eed to kow how he CPU woks I c, a of he eason I 6

jt  Fn

wroe i assemly laguage was us o lear aou he PU The oher higs you eed o kow are how o wrie o he scree, how  read keyoard iu, how o read ad wrie o he modem (I hoe Im o losig ay o he ogeeks who have seadsly resed o lea ahead o age  20 I waed o have wo ideede hreads Oe hread would read om he modem ad he dislay o he scree The oher hread would read om he keyoard ad wrie ou o he modem Ad here wold e wo ies goig oh ways This is called askswichig, ad a 86 had hardware o suor his rocess I hough i was a cool idea My earlies es rogram was wrie o use oe hread  wrie he leer A o he scree The oer hread wroe he leer B (I kow, i souds uimressive) Ad I rogrammed his o hae a umer o imes a secod ih he imer ierru, I wre i so ha he scree would ll wih AAAAAAAAAA Then, all of a sudde, i would swch o BBBBBBBBB Is a comleely useless exercise om ay racical sadoi, u i was a god way o swig ha my askswichig worked I ook maye a monh o do his ecause I had o ear everyhig as I was goig alog So ulimaely I was ale o chage he wo hreads, he AAAAAAAA ad BBBBBBB, so ha oe read om he modem ad wroe o he scree, ad he oher read om he keyard and wroe o he modem I hd my ow ermial emulaio rogram he I waed o read ews, I would u i my oy ad reoo he macie, ad I would read ews om he uiversiy comuer usig my rogram I I waed o make chages o imrove he ermial emulaio ackage, I would oo io Miix ad se i r rogrammig Ad I was very roud o i My siser Sara kew aou my grea ersoal accomlish me I sowed i o her ad she looked a e screes o AAAAAAs ad BBBBBBBBs r aou ve secods he se said Good" ad we away, uimressed I realized i did look like   n   T  v     n    v       n 

3

mch Is cmpeey impssibe  expain  smebdy ese ha, whie smehing may n k ike much, a  is ging n in he backgrund Is ab as impressive as shwing smebdy a srech f rad yve js ed in wih ar Prbaby he ny her persn wh saw i was Lars, he her Swedishspeaking cm  per scie nce majr wh sared he same year I did I was March, maybe Apri , and if he snw was rning  ssh n Peersgaan I didn knwr mch care I was spending ms f my ime in a bahrbe, hdded ver my unaracive new cmper, wih hick back windw shades shieding me m he snigh, n  menin he side wrd I was eeking  he mnhy paymens r my PC, which was scheded  be paid  in hree years Wha I didn knw was ha I wd ny be send ing in paymens r anher year By hen, I wd have wrien Linx, which wd be seen by many mre pepe han js Sara and Lars By ha ime, Peer Anvin, wh wrks wih me nw a Transmea, wd have sared a cecin n he Inerne  ge my cmper paid  Everybdy knew I wasn making any mney n Linx Pe pe js sared saying, Les sar a cecin  pay  Linss cmper I was wnder I had absey n mney I aways fe i was impran  n have asked r mney r begged r mney, b he c ha i was simpy given  me was    Im geing chked p Thas hw Linx g sared Wih my es prgrams rn ing in a ermina emain package



j   t fo r F  n

Red Herring magazie ed me o Filad o repor o Oulu he emergig high-ech ceer ha i home o 1 4 1 arup depie i forbid dig locaio a w hour drive from he Arcic Circe. I a good oppor uiy o hook up wih Liu pare ad hi ie ara i Heliki Hi fahe Nil (who goe by he ame Nicke) mee me i he lobby of he Soko Hoel Vaakua acro he plaza from he Heliki railway aio. He i rim wear hick glae bear Lei bear He ha recely eded hi four-year aigme i Mocow for he Fiih Broadcaig Compay ad i ow wriig a book abou Ruia ad cidig wheher or o o ake a po i Wahigo a place he doe d iereig. Moh earlier he had wo a preigiou aioal jouralim award a commedaio ha hi exwi Aa laer would ay "meowed him coiderably.  I he ealy eveig he drive me i hi Volvo V40 o a our of Liu owcrued eighborhood poiig ou he olid buildig i which boh faher ad o aeded emea chool drivig pa he gradpare aparme where Liu lived i hi r hree moh ad he he park-view buildig i which he family lived for he folowig e year. Nicke had pe oe of hoe year i Mocow udyig o be a commui whe Liu wa ve year old. Nex he poi ou he pale yeow aparme buildig i which Liu ad hi ier moved foowig he divorcea ree-level adul video ore ha replaced he elecroic upply ore of Liu youhad aly we drive pa he mo ubaial of he rucure he ve-o aparme block i which hi maeral gradpare reided he birhplace of Liux. Liu mohe 5

 i live he. Thi cold e Mh' Upper E Si i le Decee Nicke i f r, e-precig d hre  ho of gere wih hi o like he w he crdle hi chi i hi hd whe he lk The lo hre  gri Ulike hi o he i  llog hlee  ocili jokwho pl o  bkeb e r ve ile   d h k o wiig dice i  i lke  ech oig.  -ve he wlk wih he hleic coece of oeoe e wo hird hi ge oher ri he doe o hre wih Li: Nicke ee o hve h  copliced roic l. e hve dier i  blig rer i cerl Heliki where Nicke lk bo he dil Li hd growig p  he o of  overcive coi who w  freqe pblic pker d  oe poi held  ior blic oe. He expli h Li w oe eed bo hi fher' rdicl poliic d h oe pre eve refed o le hi l wih heir childre. For h ro, expli Nicke hi o   co effor o dice hiefro he lef-wig rheoric h w he bckdrop of hi childhoo "He wold' le e dic i He wold lve he roo  Nicke . "Or ele he lw   poi of hvig  oppoig view. I kow Li w eed i chool for hvig he wrog fh The ege o e w, Do' p e i hi wkwrd iio. '  Nicke rive e o hi hoe, where he  we wi drik eer i hi kiche. I i orh ofhe cerl ie diric, i  coecio of ildig h were origi bil i he 1 920 o hoe worker.  ced he ep o hi pre d reove or hoe i he e. The lce rec he le  960 coerclre wih wovebke lph hird-world w hgig, hoepl. e i  he kiche ble where Nicke por beer d we lk bo fherig. " pre hold' hik h i i he who ke hi childre wh he re  he  rchig r hi oile phoe o dil p he wo wih who he live He idice h Li i j rig o rd he hioricl book he h ee ggig hi o rdfor er d h Li probl h er bohered o red hi ow grdfher' poe. I k Nicke  he h er expreed  iere i progrig

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j  1  o r F  n

ever aked Liu o how him he fumeal He e me he ever ha Faher ad o are uique idividual he reao explaiig ha he ac of delvig io Liu paio would be aki o "ivadig hi oul  He eem comforable i he role offahr o a famou pero I a rece ewpaper prole foowig hi wiig of he aioal jouralim awar he wa quoed a aig ha eve i he  whe he picked Liu up from he plagroud oh kid would poi ad a "Look here Liu faher! 

Sara Toald ha raveled b rai from her home i a ma ci we of Heliki where he ree ig are i Swedih r ad Fiih eco ad where he ca afford a aparme wih a caw-foo ub ad aua ad where o her deligh Swediho Fiihi heard o he ree A he explai he i i a miori wihi a miori: a a oug adul he covered o Caholicim a ac ha relegaed her o he 1 0 perce of Fiih ize who are oLuhera ad caued her agoic faher o diow her for a maer of week Toda he ha raveled o Heliki o each caechim o ouger uder a goverme-poored program She i pleaa ad upbea ad a we-ie he exude he ucical piri of a re ad bu high choole Her fair ki ad roud face give her a vague reemblace o her older broh bu i i obviou ha he i aura more ociable ha he i She regularl ap he ke of her mobile phoe o ed ex meage o fried he wi be meeig laer i he da he ju a frequel he check for replie She ha a ueful ralaio buie I i oo ad Sara i akig me o mee her moher for luch wih op a variou childhood locale: he ca park he elemear chool "M pare were cardcarrig commui o ha how we were brough upo hik he Sovie Uio wa a good hig We viied Mocow  he explai "Wha I remember mo wa he huge o ore he ha bigger ha ahig i Heliki  Her pare divorced whe he wa ix "I remember whe we were old ha Dad would be movig ou for good I hough Tha goo Now he ghig wi op Acua he had bee goig o Mocow for log period o we were ued o him goig L i n   To r v a ld a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

7

ay  she says. By he ime she was e Sara oped o move i wih her he who had relocaed o he eighborig ciy of Espoo raher ha live ih her moher ad Lius. "I was ha I did wa o live wih om. I was jus ha I did wa o live wih Lius. Tha way we ould oly gh o weekeds. We fough al he ime. Lile by lile we ugh less as we grew olde  We arrive a her mohers rs-oor aparme ad Aa Toalds  hriled o see us. ikke is her ickame. She ruses o le me idulge i e Fiish cusom of removig oes shoes "Do be siy. This place is ready dusy. You could possibly make i worse.  She is shor rk aired ad exremely quickwied. Wihi secods of our arival he ephoe rigs. A real esae age was o show me he vaca aparme djace o ikkes so ha I could describe i o her so i he Uie aes ad haddeliver lieraure abou i i he eve ha he migh a o purchase he place as a sor of Helsiki iedaterre We eer he rawlig aparme where he age who bears a eerie resemblace o e A ee Beig characer i he lm American Beaty, isrucs us ? slip lile blue oh booies over our shoes before we ake he ou Soo e age i a aoyigly cheerful oe says somehig like "Now his om here. Is a perfec room for aiques ha you would wa o have amaged by he su.  ikke shoos me a cospiraorial glace ad replies n a mockig voice "Oh wha a delighul way of eig us his room oes ge ay ligh.  Back i her ow kiche ikke sis a a recagular able earig a colorful ableloh ad pours cofe io a oversized mug. {er aparme like ha of her exhusbad brims wih books ad folk r. There are black ad whie Marimekko curais. The aparme igiay coaied hree bedrooms ad a kiche. Whe her childre oved ou Mikke moved io he large bedroom ha had bee oupied  Sara. She he dismaled he was aroud Liuss room ad hose roud her origial bedroom o creae a huge livigroomkiche. She ois o a vaca spo ad says "Thas where his compuer was. I guess should pu up some sor ofplaque. Wha do you hik ? She chais okes. She is a easy coversaioalis wih such a solid commad of glish ha here are o pauses whe she delivers a phrase like "Hes o

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  s t fo r F  n

ome rdom hmuck ou mee o he ree.  O he w i her bedroom i  huge Sovie . I w  gi o Liu from Jouko Vierumki who hd bough i durig  ieriol kijump compeiio. Liu hd kep i i  drwer for er bu Mikke hug i bove her bed. Mikke pul ou  lbum coiig he fmil w phoo grph. There Liu  he ge of wo or hree ked o he bech. There Liu  he me ge hooig  moo ouide  fmou cle er Heliki. There Liu   rl dolece lookig hi d wkwr There Mikke   ixieh birhd pr for her iic profeorfhe She poi ou her older ier d brohe "She  New York pchiri. He  uer phici. Ad me Im he blck heep. Righ? u I hd he r grdchil  he delre he ligh  Guloie. We e luch   reur med for Wil Chmberli. Sr coul her mobile phoe while Mikke order muliple epreo. Mikke recl he w he d Nicke rgued over wheher Liu hould or hould o be forced o give up hi pcer: he wroe oe o ech oher d le hem o he coue There i lk bou Liu poor memor d hi ibili o remember fce. "Ifoure wchig  movie wih him d he hero chge hi hir from red o ellow Liu wi k Who i hi gu?   Sr. There i lk bou  fmil bikig/cmpig vcio o Swede. Sleepig o he ovigh r. Hvig Sr bice ole he r d. Spedig he budge o  ew bicce. Erecig he e o   Levig Liu iide o red  d while moher d dugher wm dhed. Ad he er  powerful wido blew i relizig h he ol hig preveig he e from beig whiked io he lic Se w Liu who hd bee leepig iide obliviou o he exreme chge i wehe Mikke lugh  he relive he er i which Liu hid i hi room lvig  o  compue "Nicke kep ig o me Kick him ou mke him ge  job  bu Liu w boherig me. He did require much. Ad whever i w he w doig wih hi compue h w hi buie hi hig d he hd  righ o do i. I hd o ide wh i w ll bou.  Now he i  curre  oe o her o civiie. Mikke d L i n u s To r v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

9

he oher faml members are on he recevng end of a connual barrage of meda queres Those requess are orwarded o nus who pcal responds b elng hs mohe fahe or sser o use her own udgmen when answerng Bu aer he wre a response he genera forward  o nus for hs approval before sendng  on o he repore Monhs eale when  emaled Me requesng her reclecons of nus chldhoo her response was lengh and wecrae She led her essa "On Rasng nus from a Ver Sma Nerd  n  she recouned her earl observaons ha her oddler son showed he same sgns of scenc deermnaon she saw n her faher and older broher: "When ou see a person whose ees glaze over when a problem presens se or connues o bug hm r he who hen does no hear ou alng who fals o answer an smple queson who becomes oa engrossed n he acv a hand who s read o forego food and sleep n he process of worng ou a soluon and who dos not giv  Eve Heor she of coursema be nerruped and n he course of dal l ofen s bu blhel carres on lae snglemndedl Then ou now  She wroe abou he sblng rvalr beween nus and Sara and abou he rreconclable dfrences (Sara: " don KE he ase of mushrooms/lver/whaeve  nus: "YS YO O) And he grudgng respec "nus once expressed hs awe of hs sser ver succncl a an earl age He mgh have been ve or seven or whaeve when he ver serousl old me: You see  don hn an new houghs  hn houghs ha oher people have hough and  rearrange hem Bu Sara she hns houghs ha never were bfore  " These remnscences ma reveal ha  sll don hn nus has an specal alen and ceranl no or compuef  weren ha  would be somehng else n anoher da and age he would focus on some dfren chaenge and  hn he wl (Wha  mean s  hope he won be suc n nux manenance forever) For he s  hn movaed no b compuers  and ceranl no b fame or rches bu b hones curos and a wsh o conquer dfcules as he arse and o do  *he rgh wa* because has he wa  S and he won gve up

7

j  s t fo  F  n

I uppoe I have alread anwered he queion of wha Linu wa like a a onea o raie, e. A he needed wa a chaenge and he did he re. When he did ar concenraing on compuer a a ounge i wa even eaie A Sara and I ued o a, ju give Linu a pare oe wih a good compuer in i and ed him ome dr paa and he wi be percl happ. Excep . . . and hi i where m hear wa in m hroa when he wa growing up: How on Earh wa he going o mee an nice girl ha wa? I could onl once more reor o he ried and rue parening meaure of keeping m nger croed. And lo and behold: I worked! He me Tove while eaching a he univeri, and when he ma him forge boh hi ca and hi compuer r everal da, i wa immediael obviou ha Naure had ri umphed, a i her won. I onl hope he Ghoul of Fame won' dirac him oo much. (Fame eem no o have changed him, bu he has meowed, and now end o alk o people when he approach him. He even eem o have difcul aing no. Bu I upec i ha more o do wih hi having become a huband and faher han wih a he media huabaloo). And i' obviou ha boh moher and ugher a abrea of ha hullabaloo. I i lae Januar 2000 he da following Tranmea' big public announcemen of wha i ha been up o, and earl in our lunch, Mikke ak Sara, "Wa here anhing in he paper o abou ouknowwho and ouknowwha? Tha nigh, n her wa o work, Mikke ak her axi o wai ouide m hoel while he drop off a pine child' chair he'd like me o handdeliver o Paricia. Tha, and a oor plan of he available aparmen for Linu.

L  n  s To r v a lds a n d D a v  d D  a m o n d

71

About my fist memory of Lnu s doi ng somethi ng remakable. I thin t wa eay  9 9   I was visitn g Linu s at h s competey messy home oce agin - by bke and with no  agenda. Whle atch n g

MTV, as usua  ased about Linus's operating-sysem eveomen Normay he answeed someting meaningess Tis time he led me to h omute (fom Tovads messy ithen to hi totaly aoti oom) in us gave the omputer h is usernae and passor and go to a ommand prompt He showed sme asi funtonaity of te omman interreternothi ng speal though Afte awhie he turned · to me with a nus gin on his fae an ase: "t oos le DOS doesnt t?  was impessed and noded  wasnt stunned beause it looked i ke DO S too muhwth noth ng n ew, ealy I s hou ld h ave known Linu s neve gins that way without a good reason  nus tu rned back to his computer and pressed some funcion key combnation

anothe ogin sreen appeared A new  ogin a nd a new omand prompt nus sh owe me fou r in ivdua ommand prompts and ex pa ine d tha t ate tey ou d be aessed b ou  sepaate users That as the moment I new inus had eated somethng wonderfu  have no probem wi th thatI sti domi nate te snooe tabe Joko "Avuon iemai

For me, it meant mainy that the phone l nes wee consanty busy

and noboy ou a us    A some pont postars egan arrvng from different oners of te gobe  supose tats he n  eazed people in the ea od ere atuay usng what he ha reated Sara Torva s

v The Beay of Programmg

I dnt nw w t reall explan m scnatin wit prrammn bt Ill tr T smebd w des t ts te mst nterestn tn n te wrld Its a ame mc mre invlved tan cess a ame were  can mae p r wn rles and were te end reslt s watever  can mae f t And et t te tsde t ls le te mst brn tn n Eart Part f te ntal exctement n prrammin s easy t explan: jst te ct tat wen  tell te cmpter t d smetn t wll d t Unerrnly Frever Wtt a cmplant And tats nterestn n itsel Bt blnd bedence n ts wn wle ntiall scnatng bvsl des nt mae r a ver liable cmpann In ct tat part gets pretty brn rl qcl Wat maes prramming s enan s tat wle  can mae te cmpter d wat yu want  ave t re t h Im persnall cnvinced tat cmpter scence as a lt n cmmn wt pscs Bt are abt w te wrld wrs at a rater ndamental level Te derence f crse s tat wile in pscs re sppsed t re t w te wrld is made p n cmpter scence  creae te wrld Wtn te cnnes f te cmpter re te creatr Y et t ltmatel cntrl evertn tat appens If re d eng  can be Gd On a small scale

73

An I've prbbly ene rghly hlf the ppltin n Erth by sying s Bt it's tre Y get t crete yr wn wrl, n the nly thing tht liits wht y cn  re the cpbilities f the chinen, re n re en these ys, yr wn bilities

Thin f  treehse Y cn bil  treehse tht is nc tinl n hs  trpr n is stble Bt everyby nws the ierence between  treehse tht is siply slily bilt n ne tht is betil, tht tes cretive vntge f the tree It's  tter f cbining rt n engineering This is ne f the resns prgring cn be s cptivting n rewring The nctin lity en is secn t being interesting, being pretty, r being shcing It is n exercise in cretivity The thing tht rew e int prgring in the rst plce ws the prcess f jst gring t hw the cpter wre One f the biggest jys ws lerning tht cpters re lie thet ics: Y get t e p yr wn wrl with its wn rles In physics, y're cnstrine by existing rles Bt in th, s in prgring, nything ges s lng s i t's selfcnsistent Mthe tics esn't hve t be cnstrine by ny externl lgic, bt it st be lgicl in n f itself As ny theticin nws, y literlly cn hve  set f theticl eqtins in which three pls three eqls tw Y cn  nything y wnt t , in ct, bt s y  cplexity, y hve t be crel nt t crete sething tht is incnsistent within the wrl y've crete Fr tht wrl t be betil, it cn't cntin ny ws Tht's hw prgring wrs One f the resns pepl hve bece s enre with cpters is tht they enble y t experience the new wrls y cn crete, n t lern wht's pssible In thetics y cn engge in entl gynstics bt wht ight be Fr exple,

7

j  s t fo r F  n

when st pepe thin f geetry they thin f Ecidean geetry Bt the cpter has heped pepe visaize dierent geetries nes that are nt at a Ecidean With cpters y can tae these adep wrds and actay see what they  ie Reeber the Mandebrt setthe acta iages based n Benit Mandebrt' eqatins? These were visa representatins f a prey atheatica wrd that cd never have been visaized bere cpters Mandebrt jst ade p these arbitrary res abt this wrd that desn't exit and that ha n reevance t reaity bt it trned t they created scinating patterns With cpters and prgraing y can bid new wrds and seties the patterns are try beati Mt f the tie y're nt ding that Y're ipy writ ing a prgra t d a certain ta n that case yre nt creating a new wrd bt y are sving a prbe within the wrd f the cpter The prbe gets sved by thining abt it An d ny a certain ind f persn i abe t sit and stare at a screen and jst thin things thrgh Ony a dweeby geeky per sn ie e The perating syste is the basis r everything ese that wi happen in the achine And creating ne is the tiate cha enge When y create an perating syste y're creating the wrd in which a the prgras rnning the cpter ivebasi cay y're maing p the res f what's acceptabe and can be dne and what can't be dne Every prgra des that bt the perating syste is the st basic t's ie creating the cnstittin f the and that y're creating and a the ther prgras rnning n the cpter are jst cn aws Seties the aws dn't ae sense Bt sense is what y strive r Y want t be abe t k at the tin and reaize that y cae t the right answer in the right way Reeber the persn in sch wh aways gt the right answer? That persn did it ch re qicy than everybdy ese and did it becase he r she didn't try t That pern didn't

L i n  s To r v  lds  n d D  v i d D i  m o n d

75

learn hw he rblem wa uppoed  be dne b inead j hgh ab he rblem he r igh way And nce y heard he anwer i made erfec ene The ame i re in cmper Y can d mehing he bre rce way he id grindherblemdwnnili' narblemanymre way r y can nd he righ aprach and ddenly he rblem j ge away Y l a he prblem anher way and y have hi eihany: I wa nly a rblem becae y were ling a i he wrng way Prbably he greae examle f hi i n m cmping b m mahemaic The ry ge ha he grea German mahemaician Carl Friedrich Ga wa in chl and hi eacher wa bred   ee he den reccpied he inrced hem  add  all he nmber beween 1 and 100. The eacher execed he yng ele  ae all day ding ha B he bdding mahemaician came bac ve mine laer wih he crrec anwer: 5 ,050. The lin i n  acaly add  al e nmber beca ha wld be raing and id Wha he dicvered wa ha by adding 1 and 100 y ge 101. Then by adding 2 and 99 y ge 1 0 1 . Then 3 and 98 i 1 0 1 . S 5 0 and 5 1 i 1 0 1 . In a maer f ecnd he niced ha i' 5 0 air f 1 0 1 ,  he anwer i 5 ,0 50. Maybe he ry i acryhal b he in i clear: A grea mahemaician den' lve a rblem he lng and bring way becae he ee wha he real aern i behind he qein and aie ha aern  nd he anwer in a mch beer way The ame i deniely re in cmer cience  Sre y can j wrie a rgram ha calclae he m On day cmer ha wld be a na B a grea rgrammer wld nw wha he anwer i imly by being clever He wld nw  wrie a beail rgram ha aac he rblem in a new way ha in he end i he righ way I il hard  exlain wha can be  cinaing ab beaing yr head again he wall r hree day n nwing hw  lve mehing he beer way he beail way B nce y nd ha way i he greae feeing in he wrld 7

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V

M erial ear rew les.  was si i relarl  l  he iersi cer a rea eail r ariciae i he iscssis fhe Miix ewsr. The rble is ,  wae  wla his a la his. Tha ea  eee  be able  sae his  is.  rer   ha,  teria ela r wl reqire a is rier.  als eee  e a le sse rier, s ha i wl be able  l a he raizati f he is ad sae he s  was wlai as les. Tha was he i where  als ave , hii i wl be  ch wr a  wrh i. B here was ch else  .  was i t classes ha sri , a the weret espe cial challei. M sle sie actii was he wee ee i ar) f Ser each Wesa igh. Scial aial ha  was, ha becae  l ccasi   ahi her ha prra r s. Wih hse eeis paries),  wl hae bee a al rclse ha sri, isea f a earal reclse Ser rvie a bili aewr r a scial life f se sr, a   thi  ver isse e f heir ees. The were ira  es iprat, i c, ha  seties lst slee aiciai hse eeis, hi   el selfcscis ab  lac f scial races r  se r  bis absece f a irlie. This is saar ee s Wha  ri t sa is ha  i hae a hec f a l f her ieresi his i  A he is rier/le sse rier rjec wl be ieresi S  sai, ll  his.  wrte a 77

disk driver And becase I wanted t save les t my Minix e systemand becase the Minix le system was welldcmented anywayI made my le system cmpatible with the Minix e system That way, I cld read les I created nder Minix and write them t the same disk s that Minix wld be able t read the les I created fm my terminal emulatin thing This tk a lt f wrka prgramsleepprgramseepprgrameat (pretzels)prgramsleepprgramshwer (briey)prgram schedle By the time I did this it was clear the prject was n its way t becming an perating system S I shied my thinking f it as a terminal emulatr t thinking f it as an perating system I think the transitin ccrred in the hypnsis f ne f thse marathn prgramming sessins Day r night? I cant recall One mment Im in my threadbare rbe hacking away n a terminal emlatr with extra nctins The next mment I realize its accmlating s many nctins that it has metamrphsed int a new perating system in the wrks I caled it my gnemacs f termina emlatin prgrams " Gnemacs started t as an editr, bt the peple wh created it bilt in a hst f nctins They intended it t be an editr that can be prgrammed, bt then the prgrammability part tk ver and it became the editr m hell It cntains everything bt the kitchen sink, which is why smetimes the icn r the editr is actally a kitchen sink Its knwn r being a huge piece f prgramming efrt that has mre nctins than any editr needs The same thing was happening with my termina ematr It was grwing t be mch mre om : tovalds@klaava . Hels inki  i ( Linus Benedict Toval ds ) To : ewsgoup : comp . os . minix Subj ect : Gcc 1 . 4 and a posix quest ion M es sa ge - I D : < 1 9 9 1 Ju l 3  1  5 . 9 8 8 6 @ kl aava . He l s i nki .  i > Date : 3 Jul 91 1 :  : 5 GMT Hell o etlandes 

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Due to a poj ect I  m woking on ( in minix )  I  m inte ested in the posix standad deition oud somebody ple as e point me to a (p efeably) machine- eadabe fo  mat of the latest posix ues? tp-sites woud be nice

Okay, his is he ealies public evidence ha a geek in Finland was willing  es he bunds f his cmuing skill. The POSIX sandads ae he lenghy ules  each f he hundeds f sysem calls in Unixwha yu need in de  ge he cmpue  pem is peains, saing wih Read, Wie, Open, Clse. POSIX is a Unixsandads bdy, an ganizain cmprised f epesenaives m cmpanies ha wan  agee n cmmn guide lines Sandads ae impan in de  pgammes  be able  wrie applicains  he peraing sysem and have hem un n mre han ne vesin. The sysem callspaiculaly he impan neswuld give m a lis f he vaius ncins needed r an peaing sysem I wuld hen wie he cde  make each f hse ncins happen in my wn way By wriing  he POSIX sandads, my cde wuld be usable by hes. I didn knw a he ime ha I culd have bugh hse rules in hadcpy m diecly m POSIX, bu i wuldn have maeed anyway Even if I culd have afded he cs, i always k a lng im e  ge hings shipped  Fi nland. Hence my appeal  a vesin ha I culd dwnlad  ee m an p sie Nbdy espnded wih a suce  he POSIX sandads, s I wen  Plan B. I acked dwn manuals r he Sun Micsysems vesin f Unix a he univesiy, which was peraing a Sun seve The manuals cnained a basic vesin f he sysem calls ha was gd enugh  help me ge by. I was pssible  lk a he manual pages  see wha he sysem call was suppsed  d, and hen se abu he ask f implemening i m hee. The manual pages didn say hw  d i, hey jus said wha he end esuls were. I als gleaned sme f he sysem calls m Andew

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79

Tnen  n  few ther Eventlly eby ent e the thic vle cntining the POSIX tnr Bt y eil ege i nt g nntice Any nwegele pern (n nly nwlegele peple wld be reing the Minix ite) cl tell tht y prject wl hve t be n perting yte Why ele wl I wnt the POSIX re? The ege re the criity f Ari Lee,  teching itnt t Helini Univerity f Technlgy (where I wld hve tie hd I nt een  interete in tying thery) Ari ent e  nice reply, ering t e  birectry n the niverity p ite ville r when I wl be rey t pt y perting ytem r nyne wh ight e interete in wnling it



j   t fo r F  n

VII

Ari Lemke mst hve been qite n ptimist He creted the sbdirectry (pnet ) lng bere I hd smething I wnted t relese I hd the psswrd, nd everything ws set p r me t jst lg in nd pld st t it Bt it tk bt r mnths r me t el I hd nything I ws willing t shre with the wrld, r t lest with Ari nd the few ther perting system eks with whm I hd been exchnging emil My riginl gl ws t crete n perting system tht I cld eventlly se s  replcement r Minix It didn't hve t d mre thn Minix, bt it hd t d the things in Minix tht I cred bt, nd sme ther things I cred bt, t Fr exmple, nt nly ws the Minix terminl emltin bd, bt there ws n wy f perrming the jbcntrl nctinptting  prgrm in the bckgrnd while yre nt sing it And memry mngement ws dne very simplisticlly, s it still is in the Mc OS, incidentlly The wy y crete n perting system is t nd t wht the system clls re sppsed t d, nd then write yr wn prgrm t implement thse system clls in yr wn wy Generlly speking, there re  cple f hndred system clls Sme f them cn represent mltiple nctins Others re qite simple Sme f the mre ndmentl system clls re relly cmplicted nd depend n  gret del f instrctre being there Tke the system clls f Write" nd  Red" Y need t crete  disk driver in rder t write smething t disk r red smething m disk Tke Open" Y hve t crete the entire le system lyer tht prses 81

the nae and gre t where n the dik everthing i t tk nth jt t write the Open" te call Bt nce it wa in place, th e ae cde cld be ed r ther nctin That hw the earl develpent wa dne  wa reading the tandard  either the Sn OS anal r vari bk, jt pickin  te call ne b ne and tring t ake ething that wrked t wa reall trating The rean: Becae nthing i happening,  cant reall ee an prgre Y can ake all tet prgra that tet whatever it i  jt added Bt that dent reall accplih anthing Aer awhile  get t the pint where, intead f jt reading thrgh a lit f te call,  give p n that apprach t getting cplete engh that  want t rn a real prgra The rt prgra  have t rn i a hell becae, witht a hell, it prett hard t rn anthing ele And beide, the hell itelf cntain an f the te call  will need  Get it rnning and  will be able t print t a rnning lit f the te call  havent ipleented n Unix, the hell i kind f the ther f all prgra t there t tart p ther binarie A binar i a prgra in the   and  that a achine read Whenever  write a prgra in a cpter langage,  then cpile the rce cde and it bece a binar) The hell allw  t lg n in the rt place Oka, traditinall in a real nix te the rt prgra  rn i called    bt   reall need a lt f inatrctre in rder t wrk t kind f a cntrller r what ge n Bt when  dnt reall have anthing that wrk, there int an pint t having    S intead f tarting init, the rt thing  kernel did wa t tart the hell   had ipleented abt twentve te call and, a  entined, thi wa the rt real prgra  wa tring t rn The hell want ething  had written elf  had dwn laded nt a dik a clne f the Brne Shell, which wa ne f the riginal Unix hell t wa available ver the nternet a ee ware, and it nae wa derived  a bad pn The g wh wrte

the iginal wa nae Bne,  wa the clne BneAgain Shellnly ee t a  When y ty an la a eal pga  ik, invaiably there' a bg in the ik ive  in the lae becae it en't netan what it' eaing in. S it pint t a nning c entay n what it' ing. It's iptant becae that' hw y can n t what i ging wng. I gt t the pint whee y pga wa laing the hell an geneating a pintt f evey yte call that the hell cn taine that I han't yet ipleente. I bte, an the hell, an it wl pit back ething like: yte call 5  2 i nt ne. " Day an night I wa lking at pintt f yte cll, tying t eteine which nes I wa ing wng. Bt this wa ch e n than taking a lit f call an j t ipleenting the . Y gt t ee pge being ae. It wa late Agt  ealy Septebe when I nally gt the hell wking. F that pint, thing gt a lt eaie Thi wa a big eal. When I gt the shell wking, I wa petty ch ieiately able t cpile a few ther pga. The shell wa e cplicate than the cp (cpy) pga,  exaple,  the  ' (  getting a iecty liting) pga. Eveything y neee ha t be thee  the hell aleay,  nce the hell wa wking it went  cle t ze t 00 in nthing at, becae all thee piece ha been in place At se pint thee was engh in place that I expeience a Let There Be Light ent, becae ntil then, nth ing ha eally wke. Ye, I felt a geat ene f atictin. I think that wa pa ticlaly iptant becae I han't been ing anything that e except wking n the cpte. Thi i nt an exaggeatin. The Apil thgh Agt pei i petty ch the bet tie f the yea in Finlan. Flk ae ailing in the achipelag, nning theelve n beache, itting in thei ecttage ana. Bt I aely eve knew if it was ay  night, weeken  weekay. The thick black ctain blcke t the nea n L i n   To r va / d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

83

hecck snshine, and he wrd Sme daysnighs?Id r  f bed direcy in he chair a my cmper, ess han w e away Appareny my dad was bgging my mm  make me ge a smmer jb B she didn mind: I wasn bhering her ara was a bi annyed ha he phne ines were aways ied p when I wen nine Sh cd prbaby wrie ha senence wih a ie ess dipmacy Is n an exaggerain  say ha I had viray n cnac wih he wrd side my cmper Okay, maybe nce a week a iend wd knck n my windw and if I wasn scring hrgh impran cde I wd invie him in (I was aways a himremember, his was bere geeks were cnsidered c) We wd drink ea and maybe wach an hr f MTV in he iny kichen Nw ha I hink f i, yes, I d reca ging  r an ccasina beer r r sme snker aer having my windw pnded by smene ike k (I ca im Avn, " which means he wh says dragns," b has anher sry) B, in a hn esy, nhng ese was ging n in my ife a he ime And I didn e he eas bi ike sme paheic, pae skinned, prpeerhead ser Te she was peraina, which mean ha I had acay bi he ndain f a wrking pera ing sysem And I was having n Wih he she wrking, I sared esing is biin pr grams Then I cmpied engh new prgrams  acay d smehing I was cmpiing everyhing in Minix, b I mved he she ver  a specia pariin ha I had creaed r he new per aing sysem Privaey I caed i Linx Hnes: I didn wan  ever reease i nder he name Linx becase i was  egisica  Wha was he name I reserved r any evena reease? Freax (Ge i? Freaks wih he reqisie X In c, sme f he eary make eshe es ha describe hw  cmpie he srcesincded he wrd Freax" r ab haf a year B i reay didn maer A ha pin I didn need a name r i becase I wasn reeasing i  anybdy

8

   t fo r F  n

VIII

om : tovalds@klaava . Hels iki . i ( Lius Beedict Tovalds ) To : ewsgoups : comp . os . iix Subj ect : What would you l ike to see mos t i miix? Smay : smal l pol l fo my ew opeati g sys tem MessageID: < 1 9 9 1Aug2 5 . 2 5 7 8 . 9 5 4 1 @k laava . He l s iki .  i > Hel l o eveybody out thee u si g miixI  m doi g a ( fee ) opeatig syst em ( j us t a hobby , wo  t be big ad pofe ssi oal li ke gu ) fo 3 8 6 ( 4 8 6 ) AT cl oes . Thi s has bee bewig si ce api l , ad i s s tat ig to get eady . I  d l ike ay feedback o thigs peopl e l ike /di s l ike i miix , as my OS esemble s i t s omewhat ( same physi ca l l ayout of the lesyst em ( due to pac ti cal easos ) amog othe thigs ) . I ' ve c u e t l y p o te d b as h ( 1 .  8 ) ad g   ( 1 . 4  ) , ad thigs seem to wok . This impl ie s that I ' l l get s ome thig pact ica l wi thi a few moths , ad I  d li ke to kow what fe atues mos t peopl e would wat . Ay sug gest ios ae welc ome , but I wo  t pomis e I  ll impl e met them :  ) Lius ( tovalds@kuua . hel siki . )

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S  Yest  s fee of any mnx code , and t has a mult  -theaded fs . I t s NOT potable {uses 3 8 6 task swtchng etc . ) , and t pobably neve w l l suppot anythng othe than AT-haddisks , as that  s all I have : - { 

The st hrdcre pertig syste ethssts g the Miix crwd felt  spr Nt y sggestis t Miix fetres ce y wy, t there were ther iqiries

>Tel l us moe ! Does i t need a ? Answe : Yes

>How much of t s in C? What dfculties wll thee b e  n pot ing? Nobody w l l bel  eve you about non pot ab l  ty ; - ) , and I fo one would l ike t o pot t to my ga  Answe : I t  s mostly n C , but most people wouldn  t cal l what I wt e C  I t uses evey concevable fea tue of th e 38 6 I could nd, as  t was als o a poj ect to teach me about the 3 8 6  Some of my "C les ae almos t as much assemble as C . As aleady mentioned, i t uses an  , fo both pag ing {not to dsk yet ) and segmentaton  I t  s the segmentaton that makes t REALLY 386-dependent { evey ta sk has a 6 4Mb se gment fo code & datamax 6 4 ta sk s n 4 Gb  Anybody who needs moe than 6 4 Mb / t a s kt ough c oo k e s ) 

8

}  s t fo r F  n

And I even gt a few lk ering t be beta teter In the end, it want ch f a deciin t pt it That wa hw I wa accted t exchanging prgra S the nly real deciin wa, at what pint a I crtable t dare hw thi  t peple? Or, phraed re accrately: When i it gd engh that I wnt have t be ahaed f it? What I ltiately wanted wa t have a cpiler and a real envirnent  that y cld create prgra in inx itelf, witht having t e Minix Bt I felt  prd when the gn hell wrked that I wa ready t let the wrld ee Al, I wanted feedback By the tie the hell wrked, I had a few rdientary bina rie Id cpiled r the perating yte Y really cldnt d anything, bt y cld ee that it wa ething reebling Unix In ct, it wrked like a very crippled Unix S I jt decided I wld ake it avalable I wldnt tell anybdy pblicly Intead, I jt inred a handl f peple by private eail, prbably between ve and ten peple in all, that I had pladed it t the p te Ang the were Brce van f Minix e and Ari eke I pladed the rce t inx itelf and a few binarie  that y cld tart ething I tld peple what they needed t d in rder t try and rn thi thing They till had t have Minix intalledthe 38 6 verinand they till had t have the GCC cpiler In ct they had t have  verin f GCC,  I ade that available, t There a prtcl r nbering releae It pychlgical When y think a verin i trly ready t be releaed, y nber it verin 1.0. Bt bere that, y nber the earlier verin t indicate hw ch wrk y need t accplih bere getting t 1 .0. With that in ind, the perating yte I pted t the p ite wa nbred verin 0.01. That tell everybdy it nt ready r mch And ye, I reeber the date Septeber 17, 1991. I dnt think re than ne r tw peple ever checked it

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t They hd t  t the tre f tl the pec cper ett  cle ptt  they cd e ht t t cpl y kerel d the r jt the he R the hel w cly l y cd d Y cd prt t the rce which ted t jt 10000 etht' le th 100 pe f pper if y prted wth  t Nw t' eth  the rder f 1 0 ll le  Oe f the  e  dtted the pert yte w t pve tht it w't  jt ht  tht  hd cty de eth On the teret tk  chep Rede f wht y d whether it e pet yte r ex t y peple re jt k t i cyerpce S t' ce er tk t  lt f peple t bildi  perti yte t e e t y See I ctlly t eth de  w't trnn y  Here' wht 've ee di    " And Ar Leke wh nred tht it de t wy t the p te hted the ne Frex He pefered the the wk e I w Lixnd ed y pt: p/OS/Lx I dit tht  ddn't pt p ch f  ht Bt t w hi d S  cn hetly y I wn't etticl r hfhety y  w't ettc Bt I thht ky tht'  d e d  c lwy e edy ele r it whch ' d w A  ented y pert yte rey w't very el F e thi t wd ch vey ey if y ed p ery  if y dd nyth ty ve f y were't d ythn nty the pert yte wd ch if y kept t rn r y eth f te Bt t wn't et t e r t tht te t w et t e lked t Ye d dred S it w't teded t e yth bt  pecty r the few peple wh were tereted i cret ew pertn yte Vey techc pepled eve wth techc pepe  pec teret rp Ther ecti w vry ptive bt ptve   k f It wld e ce f t cd  d th" kd f ee r It lk cl bt t rey den't wr  y cpter t l " 88

j   t fo r F  n

 reeber ne eal whse wrter sad he really lked y peratng syste, and he went n r at least ne paragraph t tell e hw nce t was. Then he eplained that t had just eaten hs hard dsk, and that y disk drver was aky r sething. He had lst all the wrk he had dne, but he was stll very pstve. t was n t read that knd f eail. t was a bug reprt abut sethng that screwed h up. That was just the srt f feedback  was lkng r.  ed se bugs, like the ne that caused t t lck up when t ran ut f ery. And  made the bg step f prtng the GCC cpler  the perating syste, s  culd cple sall prgras. That eant users wuldnt need t lad y GCC cpler bere runnng the peratng syste.

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IX o ou pine for e d en en ere en nd roe eir on device driver? -nnoceen of e poin of  inu x verio n 00

Erly Octber w the relee f veri 0.02 which icle e xe bg   few itil rgr. The llwig th  relee veri 0.03  rbbly wl hve te by the e f 1991.  h ne  lt f thing  thght were ieretig Everythig i't relly wr erfectly, bt i  wre i f wrl   tht ce y lve the etl rble f  rject, it' ey  le interet. An tht' wht w heig  e Tryig t ebg wre i t very eggig The tw thig hee t ee e gig Firt,  erye y Miix rtiti by i te Sec, ele e enig e feebc. Bc then  w btig it Lix bt e Miix  the i evelet eviret Mt f wh  w ig er Lix w reig eil  ew  the iveriy' cter vi the erinl eltr  h write. The iverity cter w cttly by,  I h writte  rgr tht tile i it Bt i Deceber,  itenly tile y hr i ie f y e  w tryig t til /ev/tty , which i the eril line Bt by ite  tile /ev/hl, which i the hr i evice. The e relt w tht  ivertetly verwrte e f he t criticl rt f the f the rtiti where  h Minix. Ye, tht et  cl't bt Miix nyre. Tht w the it where  h  eciin t e:  cl reitll Miix, r  cl bite the bllet  cwlege tht Lix w g egh th  i't ee Miix.  wl write the rgr  cile Linx, er itelf,  wheever  felt  9

neee Minix  w jt a the eire featre t Linx t a big cncepta tep when  rp the rigina hting envirn ent an trl ake a prgra elfhting  big that  reeae the new verin a 0 . 1 0 in late veber A w week later cae verin 0. 1 1 . That when there actal tarte t be a nber f pepe ing it an ing thing with it Unti then  ha gtten abe neline bg xe Bt nw peple were ening e new featre  reeber ging t an pgraing  achine t have 8 g f RAM intea f 4 g t accate the nee r aitinal er  al went t an bght a atingpint cprcer becae peple ha tarte aking e if Linx w pprt their atingpint cprcer The extra harware wl enable  cpter t perr atingpint ath  reeber that in Deceber there wa thi g in Ger an wh nl ha 2 egabte f RAM an he wa tring t cpie the kernel an he clnt rn GCC becae GCC at the tie neee re than a egabte He ake e if Linx cl be cpile with a aler cpiler that wnt nee a ch er S  ecie that even thgh I int nee the particlar featre  wl ake it happen r hi It cale pagetik an it ean that even thgh ene ha nl 2 g f RAM he can ake it appear t be re b ing the ik r er Thi wa arn Chrita 1991.  reeber n Deceber 23r tring t ake the pagetik wrk B Deceber 24th it kin f wrke bt crahe ever nce in awhile Then n Deceber 25th it wa ne t wa baical the rt featre I ae t erve eb ele nee An  wa pr f it t that  entine anthing abt it t  i a we gathere at  paternal granther Farr!) t ine n ha an varietie f herring ach a the cnit f Linx er expane an I wa receiving eai  pace that I reae abt viiting like Atraia an the Unite State Dnt ak e wh bt I int fee the nee t ic an f thi with  par L i n   T o r v a l d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d



ents, sister, r any ther reatives They n't nerstan cpters I gess I thght they wn't nerstan what was happening As r as they were cncerne, I was j st tyng p the phne ines with my mem In Helsini it se t be that y ha a at rate ring the night, s I trie t  st f the wr at he ate at night Bt ccasnaly I te p the phne a ay I tre t get a secn lne, bt the biing that hse y ther's apartent was s l that they in't have any extra ines an werent ntereste in ang new nes Sara was ing nthing bt taing n the phne wth her ens at the t At least thats what t seee ie t e S we ha ghts, ccasnay Vrta ghts As she tae t her iens, I w rce the mde t start aling s that she wl hear dee-dee-dee-dee-dee when I was trying t ia t It w istrb her bt she wl nw that I reay, realy neee t rea eal I never sa I was the wr's best er brther Pagets was a ry big thng becase t was sethng Minix ha never ne It was ince in versn 0. 1 2  whch was reease in the rst wee f Janary 1 992 Ieiatey, pepe started t cmpare Linx nt ny t Minix bt t Cherent, which was a sal Unix cne evepe by Mar Was Cpany Fr the beginning, the act f ang pagets case Lnx t rse abve the cpettin That's when Linx t  Seny there were pepe swtchng ver  Mnix t Lnx At the te, Lnx n't  everything Mnix i, bt it  st f the thngs pepe reay care abt An t ha ths ne capablity that pepe reay, realy care abt: With agetis, y c rn bigger prgras than y ha ery r It eant that when y ran t f ery y c tae an l pece f emry, save t  t s, reeber where y save t, an rese that emry r the prbe y had t sve This was a big ea in the penng wees f 992. It was n Janary that Lnx sers grew  ve, ten, 9

j  s t fo r F  n

twent peplelks wh I cld email and whse names I knewt hndreds f nidentiable peple. I didn't knw everbd sn in, and that was n. Abt this time there was a ha speedin its wa n the nternet. Sme pr b named Crai was din f cancer and a pplar chain letter red  t shw r spprt b sendin hm a pstcard. t trned t t be smebd's idea f a sick jke I dn't think Crai ever reall eisted, mch less sered m cancer. Bt the appeal enerated millins f pstcards. S I was nl halfseris when I asked r pstcards instead f mne m peple wh sed in. It was like an hGdntantheremailthatasksrpstcards jke. In the PC rld at the tie, there had been a strn tradtin f shareware. Y dwnladed a prram and  were sppsed t send in smethin n the rder f ten bcks t the writer. J was ettin emails m peple askin me if I wld like them t send me thirt bcks r s. I had t sa smethin. kn back, the mne wld have been sel, I ess. I had amassed smethin like $5,000 in stdent lans, and had t shell t abt $50 a mnth t pa  m cmpter M ther majr ependitres were pizza and beer Bt in was keepin me s preccpied that I wasn't in t mch at the time, mabe nce a week at mst. I didn't need mne r dates althh I cld have sed it r hardware addns, bt that wasn't necessar. Prbabl a dierent sn wld have asked r mne r his prram, if nl t rk ver sme rent t his wrkin sinle mm. It never ccrred t me at the time. Se me. I was mre interested in seein where peple were sin in. Instead f cash, I preferred pstcards. And the pred inm New ealand, m apan, m the Netherlands, m the United States. It was Sara wh tpicall picked p the mail, and she was sddenl impressed that her cmbative lder brther was smehw hearn m new iends s r awa. It w her rst tip that I was din anthin ptentiall sel drn thse man hrs when I had the phne lne enaed. The pstcards ttaled in the hndreds, and I have n idea what happened t L i n  s To  v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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them They mst hve disppered in ne f my mves Avtn clls me the lest nstlgic persn" he hs ever met Actly, I didn't wnt the mney r  vriety f resns When I riginlly psted Linx, I felt I ws llwing in the tsteps f centries f scientists nd ther cdemics wh ilt their wrk n the ndtins f thersn the shlders f gints, in the wrds f Sir Isc Newtn Nt nly ws I shring my wrk s tht thers cld nd it sel, I ls wnted feedck (ky, nd prise) It didn't mke sense t chrge peple wh cld ptentily help me imprve my wrk I sppse I wld hve pprched it ll dierently if I hn't een rised in Finlnd, where nyne exhiiting the slightest sign f greediness is viewed with sspicin, if nt envy (This hs chnged  it since the dys when Nki phnes strted mking their wy int pckets the wrld ver, sting the nk ccnts f nmers Finns .) And, yes, I ndtedly wld hve pprched the whle nmney thing  lt dierently if I hd nt een rght p ner the inence f  diehr cdemic grndther n  diehrd cmmnist ther Regrdless, I didn't wnt t sel Linx And I didn't wnt t lse cntrl, which ment I didn't wnt nydy else t sell it, either I mde tht cler in the cpyright plicy I inclded in the cpying e f the rst versin I hd plde ck in Septemer. Thnks t the Berne Cnventin in Erpe in the 1800s, y wn the cpyrigh  nything y crete, nless y sell the cpyright . As the cpyright wner, I gt t mke p the rles: Y c n se the perting system r ee, s lng s y dn't sell it, nd if y mke ny chnges r imprvements y mst mke them ville t everydy in srce cde (s ppsed  inries, which re inc cessile) If y didn't gree with these rles, y didn't hve the right t cpy the cde r d nything with it  Think f yrsel Y pt six mnths f yr life int this thing nd y wnt  mke it ville nd y wnt t get smething t f i , t y dn't wnt peple t tke dvntge f it  I wnted peple t e e t see it, nd t mke chnges nd 9

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improvemes o heir hears coen Bt I also waed to make sre ha wha I go o o i was o see wha hey were doig I waed o always have access o he sorces so ha i they made improvemes I cold se hose improvemets mysel It made sese o me ha he way r Lix o develop io he bes possible techology was o keep i pre I moey was to ge ivolved, higs wold ge mrky I yo do le moey eter the pictre, yo wo have greedy people While I was ieresed i askig r moey r Lix, other people were o shy abo reqesig doatios wheever they gave someoe a copy o he operaig system hey had loaded oo a oppy disk By Febrary, i was o commo r lks to atted Unix sers meeigs armed wih oppies coaiig Lix People stared askig me i hey cold charge, say, ve dollars js to cover he cos o he disk ad their time  The roble was, that wa a violaio o my copyrigh It was time o rethik my Lixisotrsale stace By that poi, Lix was getig so mch olie discssio that I elt irly conde tht obody was goi to be i a positio to js take it ad r wih i, which had bee my big ear At least they woldt do it wihot generatig a lo o egative reacio  I aybody tried abdcig Lix ad rig i io a commercial proj ec, here wold have bee a srog backlash, ad a growig commiy o hacker ypes who wold say ey, thas Lix! Yo cat do ha, " alhogh o i sch polie words The momem had bee esablished: O a daily basis, hackers om arod he world were sharig heir sggesed chages We were collecively creaig he bes operaig sysem arod, ad cold possibly veer away om or rajecory Becase o his, ad becase Lix had become so recogizable, I el comrable allowig people o sell i B bere I make ysel sod like Mr Beece, le me meio aoher criical eleme o my decisio The ct is, o make Lix sable, I had relied o a lo o ools ha had bee dis tribed eely over he IereI had hoised mysel up o he L  n  s To  v  d  n d D  v  d D   m o n d

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shders f gians The ms impran f hese ee sware pr grams was he GCC cmpiler I had been cpyrighed nder he Genera Pbic License, niversay knwn as he GPL (r he cpye), which was he brainchid f Richard Saman Under erms f he GPL, mney is n he isse Y can charge a miin bck if smebdys wiing  pay i, b y have  make srces avaiabe And he persn y give r se he srce  has  have a he righs y have Is a briian device B nike many hrdcre GPL eaks, wh arge ha every new sware innvain shd be pened p  he universe nder he genera pbic icense, I beieve i shd be he righ f he individa invenr  decide wha  d wih his r her invenin S I dmped my d cpyrigh and adped he GPL, a dcmen ha Saman had wrien wih awyers king i ver (Becase awyers were invved, i rns n r pages) The new cpyrigh was incded in versin 0. 1 2 , b I remember ying awake a nigh aer releasing i, nervs ab wha cmmercia ineress wd d  he sysem Lking back nw, i seems ridics  have been s wrried becase he cmmercia ineres was reaivey sma Smehing made me hink ha I had  be care One f my wrries wasand si isha smebdy wld js ake Linx and n hnr he cpyrigh Back hen I wrried ha i wd be pracicay impssible  se anyne in he Unied Saes wh brke he cpyrigh Is sil a cncern Is easy  prsece smene r sch viains, b I wrry ab smebdy ding i ni heyre rced  sp And here are nagging fears ha cmpanies in paces ike China wn hnr he GPL Pracicaly nhing in heir ega sys em prevens hem m breakig he cpyrigh, ad in a rea sense is n wrh he rbe  g aer pepe wh wd ry  d smehing iega Thas wha big sware cmpanies and he msic indsry have ried  d and i hasn ben verwhemingly sccess  My fears are iigaed by reaiy Smebdy migh d i r awhie, b i is he pepe wh acay hnr he cpyrigh, wh feed back heir changes  he kerne and have i imprved, 96

j  s t fo r F  n

wh re gig t hve  leg p Theyll be prt f the prcess f pgrdig the erel By ctrast, peple wh dt hr the GPL will t be ble t te dvtge f the pgrdes, d their csters will leve the I hpe Geerlly speig, I view cpyrights  tw perspectives Sy y hve  pers wh ers $50  th Shld y expect hi r her t py $250 r swre? I dt thi its irl r tht pers t illeglly cpy the swre d sped tht ve ths wrth f slry  d Tht id f cyright iigeet is rlly y Ad its irlt t eti stpidt g er sch  viltr " Whe it ces t Lix, wh cres if  idividl dest relly llw the GPL if theyre sig the prgr r their w prpses? Its whe sebdy ges i r the qic eythts wht I d irl, whether it hpes i the Uited Sttes r Aic Ad eve the its  tter f degree Greed is ever gd

L i n  s To r v  ld  n d D  v i d D i  m o n d

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x. M



L

The ei ws' ll psiive Alhgh ci eve hs bee  bes sp, I ws bllie i efeig ix   h whe Aew Teb kep kig cks  he peig sse h ws spplig his w We'e es, s i ws ll e vi eil Wh cl ble hi  geig h er he Tshir? Bere  ix ewsgrps h bee cee, I iel se Miix ewsgps  ke cees b ix r  peple wh wee ieese i he peig sse Wh shl Arew like h? S,  sres, he ws hpp b  iigig  his ewsgp A he bvisl ws'  plese h his perig sse ws becig eclipse b his ew crei  he sw wils f Fil h s  evelpes wee jiig he pjec He ls h ppsig ies  hw perig sses shl be bil A he ie, Arew ws pr f  cp f c pe scieiss wh ve he icrkeel pprch  peig sses He h e Miix s  ickeel,  Aeb, he sse he ws wkig   he ie, ls ivlve e This ws  rishig vee i he le 1 980s  er 1990s A ix's sccess ws heeig i S he kep psig ples lile jbs The he behi he ickeel is h perig sses e cplice S    ge se f he cplexi  b lizig i  l The ee f he icrkeel ppch is h he keel, which is he ce f he ce f he ce, shl  s li 

e s pssble Its mn nctn s t cmmncte All the er ent thngs tht the cmpter ers re servces tht re vlble thrgh the mcrernel cmmnctns chnnels In the mcr ernel pprch 're sppse t splt p the prblem spce s mch tht nne f t s cmplex I thght ths ws stp Yes t mes ever sngle pece smple Bt the nterctns me t r mre cmplex thn t wl be f mn f the servces were ncle n the ernel tself s the re n Lnx Thn f r brn Ever sngle pece s sm ple bt the nterctns between the peces me r  hghl cm plex sstem It's the whlesbggerthntheprts prblem If  te  prblem n splt t n hlf n s tht the hlves re hlf s cmplcte ' re gnrng the ct tht  hve t  n the cmplctn f cmmnctn between the tw hlves The ther behn the mcrernel ws tht  splt the ernel nt  ne penent prs n ech f the prts s  eth f the cmplext Bt then everb gnres the ct tht the cmmnctn mng the prts s ctll mre cmplcte thn the rgnl sstem wsnever mn the ct tht the prts re stll nt trvl Tht's the bggest rgment g st mcrernels The sm plct  tr t rech s  lse smplc t Lnx strte t mch smller n mch mch smpler It n't enrce mlrt s  cl   lt f thngs mre strghtrwrl thn  ever cl wth Mnx ne f the rg nl prblems I h wth Mnx ws tht f  h ve erent prgrms rnnng t the sme tme n the ll wnt t re ve erent les the tss wl be serlze In ther wrs  wl hve ve erent prcesses senng reqests t the le ss tem Cn I plese Re Frm Fle X?" The le sstem emn tht hnles reng tes ne f them n sens t bc then tes the next ne n sens t bc n s n Uner Lnx whch s  mnlthc ernel  hve ve erent prcesses tht ech   sstem cll t the ernel The ernel hs t be ver crel tht the n't get cnse wth ech ther bt t ver ntrll scles p t n nmber f prcesses L i n   To r v a ld a n d  a v i d  i a m o n d

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dig watever tey wat It makes Lix mc ster ad mre efciet Ater prblem wit Miix was tat y gt the srces bt te liceses did't allw y t d a lt Take smee ike Brce Evas, w perrmed majr srgery  Miix ad made it mc re sable He cld't jst icrprate is imprvemts He was restricted t ly makig patces Frm a practical stadpit tat's a cmplete disaster He cld't legally make a btable image available t peple s tey cld easiy pgrade S sers ad t take a mltiplestep prcess t eve get a sable system, wic was rribly impractical  Te ly time I eded p cmmicatig wit Adrew Taebam was i early 992. Imagie lggig  e bliardy mrig ad rig acrss te edited versi f tis: om : as t@ cs  vu . nl ( Andy Tanenbaum) To : ewsgoups : comp  os . minix Subj ect : LIUX is obsole te Da t e : 2 9 Jan 9 2 1 2 : 1 2 : 5  GMT I was in the U  S . fo a coupl e o f weeks  so I haven ' t coente d much on LIX ( not that I woul d have sa id much had I been aound )  but fo  what it  s woth  I hav a c oup le o f c oent s now . As mos t o f you know  fo  me MIIX i s a hobby  some th ing that I do in the evening when I ge t bo ed wi t  ing books and thee ae n o maj o was  evol ut ions  o s enate heangs being te levi s ed live on C . My eal j ob i s a po fe ss o and eseache in the aea of opeat ing sys tems  As a esul t of my occ upa t i on  I think I know a b i t about whee opeating systems ae going in the next decade o so . Two aspect s s tand out :

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  s t fo r   n

1  MICROKERNEL VS MONOLI THIC SYSTEM Most ol der operati ng systems are monol i thic  that i s  the whol e operating sys tem is a s ingle a  out le that runs in  kernel mode   This binary contains the pro ce ss management  memory management  le sys t em and the res t  Exampl es o f such sys tems are UIX  MS -DOS  VMS  S  OS / 3 6 0  MULTICS  and man more  The alternative is a microkernel-based system in which mos t of the OS runs as separate proce sse s  mos t ly out s i de the kernel  They comunic at e by mes  sage pass ing  The kernel ' s j ob is to handle the mes  sage pass ing  interrupt handl ing  low- level process management  and poss ibly the I /  Examples of this desi gn are the RC4 0 0 0  oeba  Chorus  Mach  and the not -et -r el eased Windows/NT  While I could go into a long story here about the rel at ive merit s of the two desi gns  sufce it t o say that among the people who actually design operating syst ems  the debate is ess entia lly over  Mic roker nel s have won  MINIX is a microkernel -based sys tem  The le system and memory management are separate process es  running outsi de the kernel  The I / O drives are al so separate proce ss es  LINUX i s a monolithic style system This is a giant step back into the 1 9 7 0 ' s  2  PORTABILI TY MINIX was des i gned to be reas onably por tabl e  and has been ported from the Intel l ine to the 68 00 (Atari  iga  Macintosh)  SPARC  and NS3 2 0 1 6  LINUX is t ied fa ir ly c l os ely to the 8 08 6  Not the way to go 

L i n   To r v  ld  n d D  v i d D i  m o n d



Don ' t get me wrong , I am not unhapp wi th LI NUX  I t will get all the people who want to turn MINIX in BSD UNIX of f m back  But in al l honest , I would sugges t that people who want a * *MODERN* * * free * OS l ook around for a mic rokernel -based , port able OS , l ike mabe GNU or somet hing l i ke that  Ad Tanenba ( ast@c s  vu  nl )

I knew I needed  defend m nr, s I wre back: From : torvalds@klaava  Hels inki  FI ( Linus Benedict Torvalds ) Subj ect : Re : LINUX i s obsole te D at e : 2 9 Jan 9 2 2 3 : 1  : 2 6 GMT Organiz at ion : Universi t of Hels inki Wel l , wi th a subj ect like this , I ' m afraid I ' l l have to repl  Apo log ies to minixus ers who have heard enough about li nux anwa  I ' d li ke to be able to jut *ignore the bait* but

 Time for some seri

ous amefes ti ng ! In a rt i c l e < 1 2 5 9 5 @ s t ar  c s    n l > a s t@ c s  vu  n l ( And Tanenbaum ) writ es : >I was in the U  S  for a coupl e o f weeks , so I haven ' t c oented much on LIX ( not that >I would have sai d much had I been around ) , but for what it is wort h , I have a couple o f >coents now

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>As mos t o f you know fo r me MINIX i s a oy  sometng tat I do in te evening wen > I g et ored wr t ng ooks and tere are no maj or wars  revolut ons  or senate earings >eng televised l ve on C  My real j o s pro fessor and researcer n te area of >operating syst ems  You use ts as an ecuse for te limitatons of mn? Sorry  ut you lo se : I ' ve g o t more ecuses tan you ave  and l nu st i l l eats te pants o f f min i n almos t al l areas  Not t o menton te fact tat most of te good code for mn seems to ave een wr tt en y Bruce Evans  Re 1 : You dong mini as a oylo ok at wo makes money o f f mni  and wo gives l nu out for free  Ten tal k aout oe s  Make mn fre ely avai lal e  and one o f my ggest grpes wit i t wl l dis appear  Lnu as very muc een a oy ( ut a se rious one ; te es t type ) for me : I get no money for i t  and  t ' s not even part of any of my studies in te university I ' ve done  t a l l on my o t me  and on my o macine  Re 2  Your j o is eing a profess or and researcer : Tat ' s one el l o f a good ecuse for some o f te ra n damages of mni  I can only ope ( and as sume ) tat moea doesn ' t suck l ike mini does 

L i n  s To r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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  . MOKENEL VS MONOLI THI  S YSTEM Te , l inx i s mono l i ic , and I agee at mic o kenel s ae nice  Wi  a less agenaive sbj ec  ,  ' d pobably ave ageed wi mos  o f wat yo sai d . Fom a �eoe ic al ( and aes ei cal ) s andpoin , l inx los es .  f e GNU kenel ad been eady la s  sping , I ' d no ave boeed o even s ta my poj  e c t : e f a c  i s a i  wasn '  and s  i l l i s n '  . Linx wins eavi ly on poin s o f being avai lable now . MINIX i s a micokenel -based sys em .

[ del e ed , b

no s o a yo mi s s e poi n  LI NUX is a monol i i c syle sysem. f is was e only cieion fo e "goodness of a kenel , yo ' d be ig . Wa yo don '  menion is a minix doesn '  do e micokenel ing vey wel l , and as poblems wi  eal ml  i as king ( in te kenel ) . If I ad made an OS a ad poblems wi a ml i eading le sys em ,  woldn '  be so fas  o conde oes  in fac  ,  ' d do my damnedes  o make oes foge abo e asc o . [ yes , i know ee ae ml  i eading acks fo  minix , b ey ae acks , and bce evans  el l s me ee ae los of ace condi ions .  2 . POTABIL ITY "Poabiliy is fo people wo canno wie new po gams  me ,  i g now ( wi  onge in ceek )

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The ac   s ha l nux  s more porable han mnx  Wha ? I hear ou say . I  ' s ruebu no n he sens e ha as means : I made l nux as co norman o s an dards as I knew how (wou havng any OSIX san dard n ron o me ) . or ng hngs o l  nux s general ly/ much/ ea s er han por ng hem o mnx . I agree ha porab l  y  s a good hng : bu only where  ac ual ly has s ome meanng . There s no dea n ryng o make an operang sysem overly porable : adherng o a porable AI  s good enough . The very/ dea/ o  an operang sys em s o use he hardware e aures , and h de hem behnd a layer o hgh- level cal ls . Tha  s exac ly wha lnux does :  us uses a bgger subse o he 386 eaures han oher kernels seem o do . O cours e hs makes he kernel proper unpor abl e , bu   al so makes or a/ much/ s mpler des gn .  accepable rade- o  , and one ha made l nux pos s bl e n he rs pla ce . I also agree ha lnux akes he non-porably o an exreme : I go my 3 8 6 las  January , and l nux was parly a pro ec  o each me abou   . Many hngs should have been done more porably   would have been a real pro ec  . I ' m no makng overly many excuses abou   hough :  was a des gn dec s on , and las apr l when I s ar ed he hng , I ddn '  hnk anybody woul d ac ual ly wan o us e   . I ' m happy o repor I was wrong , and as my s ource  s  ree ly ava  l able , any body  s  ree o ry o por   , even hough   won '  be easy. Lnus

L i n  s To r v  lds  n d   v i d  i  m o n d

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P>  apol ogi se for s omet imes s odig too harsh  mii i s ic e eogh if yo have othig el s e . oeba might be ice i f yo have 5  0 spare 3 8 6 ' s lyig arod , bt  certaily do ' t   do ' t sally get ito ames  bt  ' m tochy whe it comes to l i  )

Tere were a few re installents in tis, ne f y few ae wars Bt y get te pint: Tere were ppsing vices, even in te early days. (r aybe te pint is: Be carel wen y pt yrself t tere in an electrnic r Yr typs and errrs f graar will ant y rever)

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Linus ad I lve our amilies andriends back at the campsite and take an anoon hike along a cr strm Were camping at Grover Hot Springs, way up in the Eastern Siera over theJuly 4th weekend, at a site that ses to have bn ledrom the pag o Ninl Gegrphic "This is a Kok moment,  Linus proclaims, pausing to look out over a wildowerdusted mdow and the dramatic clthat provide the back drop We settle at a site along the stream, and I ask him to describe his l during those ys when Linuxs appeal was spreading ar beyond its original amily o nsgroup enthusiasts, ew o whom Linus had en personay met "It must have elt grt,  I say "For yrs you we toiling away on your own in your bedroom, with little contact with the world outside your CP U Suddenly you have people rom eve corner o the planet acknowledging what grt work youre doing Youre the center o this growing community that is looking to you to "I dont have a memo o it being a big deal or me,  he replies "I reay dont think it was It was kind o the thing I was thinking about  a the time, but mainly because there was always a problem to be solve In that sense, I was thinking about it a lot, but it was not, emotionaly, a big thing Inteectuay, it was something big "I liked the act that there were a lot o people giving me motivation to do this project I thought I had seen the end o it, a point where it was almost done But that point never came because people kept givig me more rsons to continue and more brainteasers to wo about And that kept it interesting Otheise, I probably would have just med

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on to another project, because thats how I worke and that was un But I suspect I woied more about my nose or something like that,  he says A w weeks later we are at the Stanord Shopping Cente where Linus is perplexed over the selection o running shoes rom which he can choose "How many miles do you typicay run each week?  asks the sales man Linus smiles he hasnt run as much as a mile during the past ten years Exercise hasnt been a major priority But in his weaker moments,  Linus admits that he would like to shed some o his excess poundage "Tove must have convinced you to help me get rid o my pouch,  he jokes, patting his gut "Te her that her check never arrived this week,  I reply Soon we are ciring the Stanord camp in search oa legal parking space Ater maybe ha an hou we do a ew stretches, then we start to run over narrow dirt paths past the campuss dried up lake, into the woods, and in the direction o our goal: the huge hilside satelite dish We ner make it I set an unairly sw pace and am surprised that Linus can stick right behind me or about a mile Then he loses his wind A w minutes later we spread out on the grass along the lake "What was your amilys reaction to everything that was happening to Linux? I ask "They must have been pretty excited about it  "I dont think anybody rly noticed,  he replies "I wont say that nobody realy care But I had been doing programming most o my l, and this was not anythin derent as ar as th were concerned  "Wel, you must have said something to your olks Like i your dad was driving you someplace, didnt you sy, Hey, youre not going to believe this but you know the stu Ive been doing with my computer? We, Ive got hundreds opeople who are using it     "No,  he answers "I just didnt el the need to share this with my amily andriends I never had theeeling that I wanted to push it on people I remember Lars Wirzenius, around the time I was writing Linux, decided to buy XENIX, SCOs version o Unix, and I think I remember he tried to make excuses, like, Dont take this the wrong way  I per sonay dont think I ever cared He eventualy switched, but it wasn t

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a big dl or me To me te act tat people used it was nice and it was wonrul tat I got comments back but at te same time it was not tat important I didnt want to spread te gospel I was proud o aving people use my co but I dont remember ever aving te eling tat I wanted to sare tat wit anybody And I didnt tink it was te most important ting on Eart I didnt tink tat I was doing someting reay important because a undred people were using my soware It was more like it was fun And tats ow I el about it toy  "So you didnt even want to te your parents andamily and riends about it And you reay werent excited by eveting tat was appening? I ask not masking my disbelie He waits a ew seconds bore responding "I dont remember if I even hd elings back ten 

Linus buys a ne ca a BMW Z3 a two-seater convtible tat e says nes te word un  It is metaic blue te perct boys mol-car colo He cose tat sade because te veie doesn come in brigt yeow is color o coice BM W yeow e explains "looks like pee  For years e parked is Pontiac as ose as possible to te entrance to Transmetas dquarters in a Santa Clara oe park But te BMW is parked outside is oe window aegedly so it can be in te sa Now wen Linus works on is computer e can admire is new car at te same time A little more tan a year lie we ad taken our rst trip over te mountain to Santa Cruz in a convertible a wite Mustang I ad rentedor te occasion And during tat excursion Linus ad made a point o stopping to ceck out te sports cars parked outside te sauna place and brewe we visited Now we are eading over te mountain in is own sports ca He smiles as e takes te curves o Route 1 7. "You deserve tis  I say I pu a andul o CDs rom te glove compartment "Pink Floyd? I ask "Te Wo? JanisJoplin?  "Its te music I grew up listening to I never bougt music wen I was a kid but we ad tis around te apartment I guess my moter was playing it altoug I rember se was big on Elvis Costeo    n   T o r va l d a n d  a v  d   a m o n d

09

It is Friy aernoon, a sparkling Friday aernoon o Caliornia perction with delights or each o the senses: cobalt skies or the eyes, intense sunshine or the skin, the ragrance o mountain eucalyptus, the sweet taste opure ai the lul o Pink Floyd on upgraded speaers Sure, to passing motorists we must have appeared to be some sort o postadolescent cich spraying on sunblock and doing the cassic rock vocals, but not many cars passed Linuss new BMW Z3  park among shoddier vehies along the side o Highway  a bit north o Santa Cruz, and make our way down to a mostly empty beach We spread out on towels in the warm sun and wait a ew minutes bore I pull my tape recorder rom my backpack Again, I ask him to describe Linus in those early ys He draws a box in the sand to represent his bedroom, then indicates the location o his bed and compute "I would ro out o bed and imme diately check my email,  he says, moving his nger accordingly "Some days I dont think I ever let the apartment I wasnt checking my email just to see who was sending me email It was more a matter o seeing i a particular problem had been xed It was more like, What new exciting issue do we have today? O i we had a problem, who had a solution? Linus tes me that his social l at the time was "pathetic  Then he gures that sounds too pathetic, so he amends it: "Lets say it was one notch above pathetic  "I didnt become a total complete recluse,  he says, "but even though Linux was happening, I was still as antisocial as I had ever been You noticed that I never contact people by phone Its always been true I never ca Most people who are my riends are the kind opeople who contact people, and Im not You can imagine what thats like or ting, i you never ca the woman So during that time I had a w riends who just came knocking on my window, wanting to come in or a cup o tea I dont think anybody could reay te the dirence at that time Oh, hes doing something ry big and important and someday he  change the worl I dont think anybody reay thought anything o the sort  Linuss single regular social event in those days was the weekly Spektrum meeting, where he mingled with other science majors These

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social encounters crted ar more anxiety than anything connected with technology "What was I worying about? Just social li in general Maybe wo is the wrong wor there was more emotional impact Just thinking about girls Linux wasnt that important to me at the time To some degree, it sti isnt To some degree I can sti ignore it "In those early years at the university, the social thing was ve important It wasn t as i I worried about my hunchback and people laughing about it It was more like wanting to have iends and things One o the reasons I liked Spektrum so much was that it was a ramework or being social without having to be social That was the evening I was social and eve other evening I sat in ront o the compute It was much more o an emotional thing than Linux ever was Linux was never something I got reay upset about I never lost any sleep over Linux "The things that I got reay upset about, and what sti makes me upset, is not the technology per se but the social interactions around it One o the reasons I got so upset about Andrew Tanenbaums posting was not so much the technical issues he was raising I it had been anybody else, I would have just blown it o The problem was that he was posting it to the mailing list and making me    I was concerned about my social standing with those people and he was aacking it "One o the things that made Linux good and motivational was the edback I was getting It mnt that Linux mattered and was a sign o my being in a social group And I was the leader o the social group Theres no question that was important, more important than even teing my Mom and Dad what I was doing I was more concerned about the people who were using Linux I had created a social cire and had the respect o those people Thats not how I thought o it at the time, and its sti not how I think o it But it must be the most important thing Thats why I reacted so strongly to A ndrew Tanenbaum The sun begins its descent into the Pac and its time to leave the beach Linus insists that I drive his car hometo see how we it respondsnd that we take the long and winding way, Route 9, back to Silicon Vaey Linus says the mst with the Minix creator eventuay moved L i n u s To r v a lds a n d D a v i d D  � m o n d

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into private email because it had become too nasty to be public It was quiet or a w months Then Tanenbaum emailed Linus to direct him to the ve-line ad in the back o Byte magazine or somebodys commercial version o Linux "The last email I got rom Andrew was him asking me i this is reay what  wanted to do have sombody seng my work I just sent him an email back saying Yes and I havent heardrom him since  he says Maybe a year late when Linus was in the Netheands r his rst public speech he made his way to the university where Tanenbaum taught hoping to get him to autograph Linuss copy o Opeating Syte: Deign and Ipleentatin, the book that changed his li He waited outside his door but Tanenbaum never emerged The prossor was out o town at the time so they never met

1 1

jut for Fu n

XI

The htel r wa nly lightly abve eezing a  lay in be, hivering, the night bere y rt peech n the Netherlan they nt heat place like they  in Finlan, an thi ray r even ha hge inglepane winw, a if it were eant t be cc pie nly in the er Bt the clne want the nly thing keeping e awake n the night f Nveber 4  99 3.  wa nerv  beyn belie Pblic peaking ha alway been a rgh pt r e n chl they ae  give preentatin abt ething we ha heavily reearcherat r whateveran  alway n it ipible t  I wl tan p there, nable t talk, an jt tart giggling  An trt me,   nt a giggler t wa even ncm rtable when I ha t g p t the blackbar t hw the cla hw  gre t a prble Bt there I wa in Ee, Netherlan, an hr train rie  Atera, becae  ha bee invite t be peaker at the tenth anniverary f the Netherlan Unix Uer Grp I wante t prve t yelf that  cl  thi A year earlier  ha been ake t peak bere a iilar rganizatin in Spain, bt ecline becae y fear f pblic peaking wa greater than y eire t travel An back then,  really lve t travel ( till like traveling, bt it t nearly the nvelty it wa r a ki wh ha barely been t f Finlan The nly place  ha ever been were Sween, where we tk a few caping vacatin, an Mcw, where we viite y a when  wa abt ix year l.) 113

I st f beed e a I ad blwn te cance  isi Spain, s I cninced yself tat I wld accept te nex speaing iniain a cae alng B I was aing secnd thgs as I lay in bed, wndeing if I wld ee erce y fea f getting p in n f large grps f peple, wying tha I wld be nabe  pen y , , wse, a I wld lapse int giggles bee the 400 ebes f the adience Ta's igt, I was a ess I d yself e sal s Ta he adience wants y  scceed, a tey wldn't be hee in the s place if they didn' lie y, and ha I ceainly new he pic: te easns beind he aris tecnical decisins in the wiing f e Linx enel, te easns  aing i pen sce Sill, I was ncninced ha the speec wld be a sccess, and y ind cgged alng lie an nsppable eigtrain engine I lierally was shaing in bed and he igid ai was e leas f it The speec? We, he adience was sypaetic  he bvisy igtened sl standing bee he, clinging t is PwerPin slides (an Gd r Mics) lie a li presee, and en alingly answeing thei qesins Actally, e qesinandanswe sessin was e bes pat Ae y speec sc as it wasMasall Ki McKsi, w was insenal in BSD Unix, cae p  e and tld e he nd y speec inteesing I was s grae r e geste, I fe lie geting dwn n y nees and issing his et Thee ae few peple I l p  in cpes, and Ki is ne f the I's becase e was s nice t e ae tha rs speech My s speech was lie shc eaten S were te nes tat lwed B ey stated aing e e sefcnden Daid eeps asing e w y stae at he niesiy canged as Linx grew bigger B I wasn't awae f any prfesss een enining i ,  any the stdens pining e  t tei iends Nhing ie hat Peple and e a the niesity new ab Linx, bt acally s f te hacers inled in it wee  tside f Fi nland 1 1

Jut for Fu n

n the ll f 1992 I had been ade a teaching assistant r Swedishlangage classes in the Cpter Sciences departent Heres hw that happened: They needed Swedish speaking TAs r the basic cpter crses There were nly tw Swedishspeaking cpter science ajrs wh had started at the niversity a few years earlier: Lars and Lins There wasnt ch f a chice) At rst  was aaid t even g p t the blackbard and wrk n prb es bt it didnt take lng r e t jst cncentrate n the aterial and nt wrry abt ebarrassing ysel By the way three years later  was prted t research assistant which eant that instead f getting paid r teaching I was paid t wrk in the cpter lab which stly eant ding develpent wrk n Linx t was the start f a trend : having sene else pay e t d Linx Thats basically what happens at Transeta David: S when did it start becing a big dea?  Me: Its still nt a big deal" Okay  ll aend that t started becing re f a deal when it becae clear hw any peple depend n Linx as sething ther than a ty perating syste When they started sing it r re than jst tinkering arnd I realized that if sething ges wrng  respnsible Or at least I started feeling respnsible I still d) Dring 1 992 the perating syste gradated  being stly a gae t sething that had bece integral t peples lives their livelihds cerce The shi ccrred in the spring f 1992 abt a year aer I had started terinal elatin when the rst versin f the X windwing syste ran nder Linx That eant the perating sys te was capable f spprting a graphical ser interce and that sers cld wrk in ltiple windws siltanesly thanks t the X windwing prject which had its rigins at MIT It was a big change   reeber that I had jked with Lars abt it arnd a year bere it actally happened telling hi that seday we wld rn X and be able t d it all I never thght it wld happen that qickly A hacker naed Orest Zbrwski was able t prt X t Linx L i n u s o r va l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

1 15

The wa the X windw tem wrk i b wa f the X erver, which de all the graphic. The erver talk t the client , which are the thig that a  want a windw and  want it thi big . " The cmmnicatin ge thrgh a laer called cket, r, mre rall, Unix Dmain Scket. t hw  cmmnicate internall in Unix, bt  al e cket t cmmnicate ver the nternet . S ret wrte the rt cket laer r Linx jt t prt X t it ret cket interce wa kind f tacked n and nt integrated with the ther cde. It wa a itatin in which I agreed t the patch becae we needed it, even thgh it wa irl raw t tk me awhile t get ed t the ntin that we had a graphical er interce.  dnt think  even ed it n a dail bai r the rt ear r . And thee da  cant live witht it. There are alwa a tn f windw p when  wrk ret cntribtin nt nl enabled  t have windw, bt it al pened a big dr r the tre. The dmain cket were ed r the lcal netwrking that enable the X windwing tem t perate. We cld bild n the ame cket t enable Linx t make the ajr leap t external netwrkingt have the abilit t link cmpter Witht netwrking, Linx wa able nl r peple wh at at hme and ed a mdem t dial p mewhere, r wh did everthing lcall With great ptimim, we tarted develping Linx netwrking n tp f the riginal cket, even thgh the hadnt been meant r netwrking at all  wa  cndent that we cld eail d it that  made a leap in the verinnmbering cheme n March 1992  had planned t releae verin 0.13. ntead, with the graphical er interce in place, I felt cndent that we were mabe 95 percent f the wa t r gal f releaing a lledged, reliable perating tem, and ne with netwrking. S  named the new releae verin 0. 95  B, wa  prematre. Nt t mentin clele Netwrking i nat bine, and it ended p taking almt exactl tw ear t get it right, t a rm where it cld be 1 1

us t for F un

released When  add netwrng  sddenl ntrdce a hst f new sses There are secrt sses Y dnt nw whs t there and what the want t d Y have t be reall carel that peple dnt crash r machine b sending it bad jn pacets Yre nt in cntrl f whs trng t cntact r machne an mre As, a lt f pepe have ver dierent setps Wth TCP/P the netwring standard, its dfclt t get all the tmets rght t t as if the prcess wld drag n rever B the end f 1993 we had an amst sable netwrng caablt, althgh sme peple had sers prblems gettng t t wr We cldt handle etwrs that ddnt have 8bt bndares Becase  had been verl ptmistic n the namng f ver sin 095,  was caght in a bnd Over the crse f the tw ears t t t get versin  0 t the dr, we were rced t d sme craz things wth nmbers There arent man nmbers between 95 and 1 00, bt we cntinall released new versns based n bg xes r added nctns B the tme we gt t versn 099, we had t start adding nmbers t indcate patch levels, and then we reed n the aphabet At ne pnt we had versin 099, patch level 1 5A Then versin 0 99, patch leve 1 5B, and s n We made it al the wa t patch evel 1 5 Patch level 1 6 became versn 10, the pt where it was sable This was released in March 1994 wth great nre at the Unversit f Helsn Cmpter Scences Department aditrm The perid eadng p t it had been nd f chatc, bt nthing cd pt a dent in Lnxs pplart We had r wn Internet newsgrp, cmpslnx, which grew t f the ashes f m amefest with Andrew Tanenbam And it was attracting hrdes Bac then the Interet Cabal, the ls wh mre r less ran the nternet, ept nfcial mnthl statstcs n hw man readers each newsgrp attracted The werent relable statstcs, bt the were the best inrmatn avalable n the pplart f yr siten ths case, hw man peple were nterested i n Linx Of a l the newsgrps, altsex was the perennal vrte Nt m particar vrite Althgh I dd chec t t nce r t ce t see L  n u  To r va !  a n  D a v   D  a m o n 

1 1 7

what the ss was abt, I was pretty mch yr typica ndersexed nerd, mre eager t pay with my ating pint prcessr than t keep abreast f the atest reprts m the sexaity nt newy discvered vemaking psitins r reprts m heavy petters r whatever ese it was that s many pepe were taking abt n atsex) With the Cabas mnthy statistics, I cd easiy track the pparity f cmpsinx And trst me, I kept track (Whie I might be smebdys idea f a k her, Ive never been the seess, egee, technvechid the hacinating press insists I am) By the  f  992 the estimates r r newsgrp were n the rder f tens f thsands f pepe That many pepe wed the newsgrp t see what was ging n, bt they werent a sing Linx Every mnth, when the statistics came t, there was a smmary reprt f the rty mst ppar newsgrps If yr newsgrp didnt make it t the tp rty, y cd fetch the  reprt n ther newsgrps pparity m a specia maintenance newsgrp Usay I had t g nd the  reprt The inx newsgrp kept creeping p the chart At ne pint it made the tp rty and I was happy That was pretty c I seem t remember having written a iry gating artice t cmpsinx in which I basicay isted the varis s (perating system) newsgrps, incding Minix, and said, Hey k at this, were mre ppar than Windws" Remember that, back then, pepe wh iked Windws were nt n the Internet We made it t the tp ve smetime in 993 I went t bed that night brimming with sefsatisctin, excited by the ct that Linx had becme amst as ppar as sex There certainy was n sch matchp in my wn itte crner f the wrd I try did nt have a ife By this time, as I mentined earier, Peter Anvin had rganized an nine cectin that generated $3,000 in dnatins t hep me pay  my cmpter, which I did at the end f 993 And r Christmas, I pgraded t a

1 18

}s t for F n

486 DX266, which  e r an ear B thi wa  ife:  ae  ep Mabe  went  niveri. I ce  rea a  f eai  wa kin f aware f ien geing ai re, b ha wa ka Qie ank,  f  ien were er, 

L i n u s To r v a lds a n d  a v i d D i a m o n d

1 19

XII

The speech in de alst cninced e that I cld rie anything, een sething as terrifying as standing p bere a grp f ttal strangers and being the cs f their attentin My cndence was slwly bilding in ther areas, t I was being rced t ake qick decisins regarding inx xes and pgrade, and with each decisin I felt increasingly crtable in y rle as leader f a grwing cnity The technical decisins had neer been a prble the prble was gring t hw t tell ne persn that I preferred anther's sggested changesand being diplatic abt it Seties it was a siple as aying, Sands's xes are wrking ne Why dnt we jt g with thse? " I neer saw the pint faccepting anything ther than what I thght was the best technical ltin being preented It was a way f keeping  taking sides when tw r re prgraers ered cpeting patches Als, althgh I didnt think f it this way at the tie, it was a way f getting peple t trst e And the trst cpnds When peple trst y, they take yr adice Of cre y hae t establish a ndatin r all the trst I gess that started nt s ch when I wrte the inx kernel as when I pted it t the Internet, pening it p t anyne wh wanted t jin in and add the nctin and details they liked, with e aking ltiate decisins regarding the gts f the perating yte Jst as I neer planned r inx t hae a li tside y wn cpter, I als neer planned t be the leader It jst hap 1 20

ee b et. At e it  cre gr f ve eveler trte geertig t f the ctivit i te ke re f evel et. It e ee r the t erve  the lter  hl the reibilit r itinig the re. I i lern irl erl tht the bet  t eective w t le i b lettig ele  thig bece the want t  the, t bece  wnt the t. The bet leer l knw whe the re wrg, n re cble f llig theelve t. A the bet leer eble ther t ke ecii r the . et e rehre tht. Mch f inx cce c be ttribte t  w perlit w: 1) I lz n 2) I like t get creit r the wrk f ther. Otherwie the Linx develpent el, if tht wht ele re clling it, wl till be liite t il eil ege ng  hlfzen geek,  pe t n itricte web f hre f th f rticit relig  ilig lit  eveler cveti  crrte rhi i be 4,0 00 prject tht re tking lce t  e tie. At the t, rbitrtig ite ver the ertig te kerel, i  leer whe itict i,  h lw bee, t t le. A thing wrk t r the bet. I ivete elf f thig tht it hl ch iteret r e. The rt f thee w the er level, the exterl rt f the tem tht e er el with irectl,  e t the eew, interl ce. Firt e b vlteer t iti it. The the prce r itining ll the bte bece rgic. Peple knw wh h bee ctive  wh the c trt,  it jt hppe. N vtig N rer. N recnt. If tw ele re itiing iilr ki f wre river, r exle, Ill etie ccet the wrk  bth f the  ee which e e  gettig e Uer te t le  e ver the ther. Or, if  let bth itier wrk it t, the  e  evlvig in ieret irecti  their ctribti e  hvig ver itict e. Wht tihe   ele i tht the e rce el ctll wrk. L i n u  To r v a  d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

2

 gess it helps t erstan the entality f hackers in the ee sware niverse. (By the way,  saly try t avi the ter hacker." In persnal cnversatins with technical peple,  wl prbably call yself a hacker. Bt latey the ter has ce t ean sething else: nerage kis wh have nthing better t  tan sit arn electrnically breaking int crprate ata centers, when they shl be t vlnteering at their cal libraries r, at the very east, getting theselves ai.  The hackersprgraerswrking n Linx an ther pen srce prjects reg sleep, Stairaster wrkts, their kis' Litte Leage gaes, an yes, ccasinally, sex, becase they lve prgraing An they ve being part f a gba clabrative ertLinx is the wrl's argest cllabrative prjectei cate t biling the best an st beatil technlgy that is available t anyne wh wants it. t's that siple An i t's n. Okay,  ' starting t sn ike a press reease with all this shaeess selfprtin. Open srce hackers aren't the high tech cnterparts f Mther Teresa. They  get their naes ass ciate with their cntribtins in the r f the creit ist" r histry le" that is attache t each prject. The st pric cn tribtrs attract the attentin f eplyers wh trl the ce, hping t spt, an hire, tp prgraers Hackers are als ti vate, in arge part, by the estee they can gain in the eyes f their peers by aking sli cntribtins. t's a signiant tivating ctr Everyby wants t ipress their peers, iprve their rep tatin, elevate their scial stats Open srce evelpent gives prgraers the chance. Neeless t say,  was spening st f the year 1993 like  ha spent st f 1992, 1991, et cetera: hnche ver a cpter. That was abt t change. Fllwing in the acaeic tsteps f y granther,  was a teaching assistant at the University f Helsinki, assigne t the ll seester f the Sweishlangage ntrctin t Cpter Sciences" crse. That's hw I et Tve. She ha re f an ipact n y life than even Anrew Tanenba's bk, Operating Systems: 1 22

Just fr u n

Design and Implementation Bt I wnt bre y with t ny etil Tve w ne f een tent in y cre She h lrey receive  egree in prechl ectin She wnte t ty cpter, t, bt wnt prgreing  qickly  the ret f the cl She eventlly cght p The cre w  bicthi w the ll f 1993, bere the pplrity f the Internety hewrk ignent r the cl ne y w t en e eil It n br ty, bt I i: Fr hewrk, en e eil " Other tent eil cntine iple tet ege, r nerble nte bt the cl  Tve ke e t r  te I rrie the rt wn t pprch e electrniclly Or rt te never ene Tve w  prechl techer n ixtime Finnih krte chpin wh h eerge   nctinl ily, lthgh tht hw I ecribe ny ily tht w nt  qirky  ine She h  lt f ien She felt like the right wn r e  the very rt ment we gt tgether Ill pre y the elbrtin) Within  few nth Rni the ct n I h ve int her incle prtent Fr the rt tw week, I int even bther bringing ver y cpter Nt cnting y ry ervice, the tw week were the lnget pn f tie tht I h been wy   cpter ince I h been eleven yer l n itting n y grnther lp Nt t well n thi, bt it till hl the recr r being y bigget tretch  civilinwitht  CPU. Sehw I nge gin, the etil rent intereting) My ther, the few tie I w her then, wl tter ething bt  triph f Mther Ntre " I think y iter n ther were j t tnne Sn, Tve went t n gt  ct t keep Rni cpny Then we ettle int  nice pttern f pening evening lne r with ien, wking p t 5 .  he cl get t her jb n I cl g t the niverity erly, bere nyne wl be there t itrb e, n re y Linx eil L i n u s To r v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

13

I

The irh of versio  mea somehig ew r Liux: he eed r uic reaios I woud have ee jus as hay o iroduce he ew versio o he word rey much he way I had iroduced revious versios I woud wrie somehig o he ewsgrou ike Versio  is ou Dea wih i" (Okay, o i hose exac words) A o o f oher eoe hough i was much more of a ig dea They waed versio   r markeig uroses There were a hese uddig commercia comaies ha had sared o sel Linux To hem , versio   was imora r sychoogica, o echica, reasos I coud disagree The c is, i ooks ad whe you ry ad se versio  96 of a oeraig sysem I waed i ou ecause i was a miesoe r me, and ecause i mea I coud so xig ugs r awhie ad go ack o deveome The comaies ad he Liux commuiy waed o is i oo he uic i a major way e eeded a uc reaios sraegy I was goig o ersoay chamio he eor I was ieresed i uig ou ress reeases or makig semes Ohers hough i shoud e doe ha way, so ohers voueered o ick u he orch This was rey much how Liux isef was doead somehow, i a acuay worked Lars was oe of he drivig rces ehid makig ha rs ofcia reease a rea eve e ad a few ohers hough he uiversiy woud e he mos aroriae ace o make he aouce 27

mn I mad sns My drm was  sma And i wd hav s a wrng rcdn  hs h annncmn a a cm mrcia si S Lars vnrd  crdina h vn wih h nivrsiy Th cmr scincs darmn a h Univrsiy f Hsinki was sma ngh ha h cd js ak  h had f h darmn Th Univrsiy f Hsinki was mr han hay  r  h main adirim f h cmr scincs darmn r h inrdcin f Linx Vrsin  0 And why n? Hw n ds a nivrsiy hav anyhing wrhy f visin nws? I did agr  giv a ak B i r nn f h hrrr f my Ed xrinc Okay sm hings were hardr nw ha I hink a i Lik having my dad in h adinc And h c ha i was n Finnish TV I was h rs im I vr g h chanc  s mysf n visin Bh f my arns wr in h adinc ( Im iry crain hy wrn siing ghr) Tv was hr  I was h rs im my dad m Tv s r m i was mr han js h annncmn f Vrsin  0 Sinc I was invvd in h asmin sch rarains ik making sr my sids wr kay I wasn hr whn hy acay m Tha aarny hand whn hy wr waking in h adirim May I cagh i  f h crnr f my y In ha ak and in viray vry hr n vr h nx sv ra yars I sk n s mch a h chngy  a On Src I was nic I changd sm inins a Linx insid h cmr scinc darmn Br ha Linx was smhing h cmr scinc darmn was rd f and midy ncragd B ar h annncmn  wihin h darmn sard aking Linx mr srisy Ar a hy had sn i n h nws Ovr h yars sm hav sggsd ha h nivrsiy was rying  ak crdi r Linx Tha wasn h cas Th dar mn had aways n vry sriv Thy vn gav m a j ha nad m  wrk n Linx n hir im And ha was in h ary days s ndy was saying  Ls sh is cas 8

t fo F n

sme day it will be wrld ms" Bt a the same ime hey were pleased t be a big part f the annncement It prvided great pblic relatins  knw there are nw mre Swedishspeakig st dents i n the cmpter sciences department, which had always been vershadwed by the Plytechnic University Sccess envy is cnsidered a Finish cltral characeristic And as Linx became better knwn in he wrld a large, I gt a lt f qestins abt whether I had prlems wih peple at he niversity being envis f me The ppsite trned   be tre they were very spprtive Early n they stared getting rid f X terminals and insalling PCs with inx instead The annncement lanched Linx int the abvetheradar zne in Finland, and it started generating pbliciy elsewhere, t A lt f he early headlines came abt becase sme jrnalist had stmbled ver Linx and gt excited ab i Frm a bsiness standpin t, Versin 1 .0 was never very challenging t any f he big players Linx was getting the market that Miix ad Cheren had Bt there was litle attentin side tha cmmniy, which was ne t was r mre atenin than I had expeced initially Regardless, jrnalists, mstly m trade plicatis, started kncking at my drliterally I didn make Tve happy t wake p n a Satrday mrning  nd a apanese reprer bear ing gissally watches, as they prably heard smewhere tha  have a thing r themand wanting t d an inerview I made her even less happy when I wld invite them in ( was a patern  wld repeat r years, ntil we made r new hse a rnalisFree ne In my least cnsiderate mments, I wld even rget t tell Tve that I had invited a jrnalis t r hse r an interviewand  wld rget,  The reprer wld shw p ad Tve wld have t entertain him r her nil I made it hme) Then here were the n websi tes that started ppping p, s ch as the ne based in France hat primarily cnsiss f a mchpdaed gallery f embarrassing phs f me Like the ne f me m a Spektrm meeting:  m shirtless , drinking a beer, lking sdly Nt L  n u  o r v a ld a n d D a v  d D  a m o n d

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A it wt ly jrlit r Linx hcer type wh were hwi  iteret Sely, peple with bi expee cct wte t tl t e bt their techly Uix h l bee ee   perti yte with vt ptetil, tly bece  it pwer d ltiti cpbilitie S crprtin tht were iterete i Uix trte eepi n eye n Lix Oe  the w the etwri cpy vell, which h trte  wr prject be  Lix t w  Uix etp they evlve clle Li Gl It le ice, bt it w p int  wll: It lce the tr  the tie, which w the C Detp virnet I At 1994, they i they wl py e t viit the i Ore, Uth, t tl t the bt their etp vell w er i e y bi chce t ee Aeric,  I tl the I wl ccept i they wl py r e t viit ther US city ve   wrlly Fi  i  pecte tht Ore eve Slt Le Cityweret qite repreenttive  the ret  the ctry They ete Whit, DC, bt  it wnt t  there I  re it wl be jt lie y ther cpitl They ete ew Yr, bt I thht it wl be re itereti t  t Cliri Iie vell hedqrter, it w hr t eterie jt hw eri peple were bt the prject (I the e , they ee  bei t very eri t ll they evetlly ille the prject,  the ie peple ivlve trte p Cler ) Bt I w etti y rt tte  the Uite Stte, where I ehw re I wl live t e pit i y lie vell citet t Lix twithti, the Unite Stte eee t be the center  the rwi techly ivere My viit t the Uite Stte w  bit   jlt The rt thi tht trc e w hw ew everythi w, cpre t rpe The Mr Chrch h h it 1 5 0th iverry  w yer bere y viit,  they h clee p the i tele It w hii white Ci  rpe, where ll the chrche re l  hve the pti  tie, I cl ly thi  e thi whe  w the white teple: Dieyl  It le lie  irytle 3

Jus  o F u n

cste, nt  chrch An in re  e the iste  checin t the hte's sn It ws ne  thse prtptt ns, iter  e  pstic, n it ws re htter insie thn tsie  ce w  it thinin the cn't  sns in the Unite Sttes n eein  itte hesic An I strte ernin the rpes Jst s isitr t Finn ern qic nt t strt p cnertin with rn strner in rs, I erne tht in Uthn, I ter erne, the rest  Aeric cnnt rtin iscss the sject  rtin r rie There's  50percent chnce tht ' et e wh' er etin t thse isses, n it' es t et int  i ht t sethin tht shn't e ht t Pepe n't et hn p t thse isses in Erpe The resn pepe et s eenie t their wn psitins in the Unite Stte is tht the'e her the ther psitin s ch There re pr re ries per cpit in Finn thn in n ther pce, t the're st se r hntin t's nt  i thin Anther thin  qic erne rin  rst  n U S si: Rt eer scs* Aer Uth,  ew t  Sn Frncisc n re, re ie it  I spent s ch tie win rn the cit tht I eepe  jr cse  snrn n h t rein inr r n entire   reeer win crss the Gen Gte Brie, in p t the Mrin Hens, excite t the psiiit  hiin in thse his s sn s I crsse the rie Bt  the tie  e it t the Mrin sie, I h st  interest in win n re  c neer he preicte tht six ers ter, st t the ,  w e sittin t the cret  thse win Hens, *Boy, that has to be an acquired taste. Im guessing it started out with Pur tans who couldn't drnk beer because it h alcohol So they concocted a bev erage that didnt have alcohol n it and happened to be made wth roots, an they called t "root beer to ol people nto thinking it wa good st And aer ten generations of people being oled nto thinkng it was good stu, people bought nto t. Today, Americans like root beer becase they have ten generatons of genetc engneerng behnd them.

L i n u s o  v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a  o n d

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lking  n he Pacic Ocean, San Francisc Bay, the bridge, the g, and San Francisc isef, explaining al his t Davids ape recrde I wd ake ny a year r me t retrn  the Unied Saes I came back t speak at DECUS, (Digials User Grp) in New Orleans There were nly ry peple at the meeing, s it wasn a errible rdeal Bes f all, has when I met Maddg, aka Jn Hal He was a echnical marketing persn r Digital Unix and an ldime Unix ser He was respnsible r sending me ver r he ak Maddg, wh is knwn r is chestlength beard and his absrd sense f hmr (n  menin his prpensity  snre), heads Linx Inernatinal, an rganizatin hat wrks t sppr Linx and Linx sers Hes als a gdher f my dagher Paricia Anher legacy f ha New Orleans meeing: Maddg arranged r Digial  lend me an Alpha Thats hw inx gt pred  smehing her han a PC Bere ha ime, peple had pred Linx  her archiectres There was a prt t a 68K, the Mra 68000 machines sed by Atari and Amiga Bt in thse cases Linx didn wrk n bth parms at the same ime T make ha versin f scaling wrk, y rip  he pieces ha dn  wrk n he new patrm and y wrie new pieces B the Alpha was he rs real pr f Linx Basicaly the same srces wrked n bh he PC and Alpha Y add an absracin layer s that the same cde gets cmpiled in w dierent ways t wrk n w dif feren archiecres Is sill he same cde, b i ends p wrking n dieren archiecres hen we reeased Versin 1  2 in March 1 995 , the kernel had gw  icde 250000 ines f cde he new magazine Linux Journal caied a 10000reader circlain, and Linx was capale f rnning n Inte, Digita, and Sn SPARC prcessrs Tha was a big sep

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Its 1 99 5 and there is a hst f grwing cmmercia versins , and Linx cmpanies are attracting a strng wing The niversity has eevated me m a teaching assistant t a research assis tant, which eans mre mney and ess time teaching Im swyvery slwympleting the crsewrk r my masters degree, which is abt prting Linx t dierent architectres Tve has intrdced me t sash, and we have a weekly game were iry evenly matched Frm this biss, a prbem emerges It trns t that an pprtnistic few m Bstn has registered the trademark r the wrd Linx Nt nly that, bt he sent eail t the Linuxour nal and a few ther Linx cmpanies asking r 5 percent f their rvenes as a thank y" r the trademark When I erd abt tis, I fet a twinge f d vu The gys name snded miliar I checked my emai archives and saw that maybe a year and a haf earier he had sent me an nsicited emai in which he rst asked me if I beieved in Gd, and ten said he had a tremends bsiness pprtnity r me This was bere spamming became a gbal bsessin, the inncent years bere anyne thght t plte the Internet with ers f getrichick schemes N, I hadnt bthered respnding t the fews email, bt becase it was s nsa r its time, I saved it S we had a itte crisis n r hands We were hackers Nbdy thght abt checking the trademark register The gy wasnt a prfessina trademark satter He appar 133

enty jst did it tis ne ime Trademarks cme in dierent categries and e registered is in te cmter caegry Y ave t sbmit evidence wi yr rademark aicatin s e gave te trademark fce a disk n wic e caimed t ave a rgram caed Linx here was sme anic Everybdy in te Linx cmmnity knew we wd cntest te trademark The rbem was we didnt ave an rganizatin r tting  a gd gt Tere wasnt even eng mney t hire a awyer Nne f te cmanies fet cm rtabe abt aying dwn e reired amnt wic was $15,000 (Tday hey g rg a in a mnths wrth f Mntain Dew) B at te time i was a cnsiderabe amnt f mney r a singe cmany S Linuxurnal and sme ter cmanies decided t m mney in Linx Inernatina wic wd gh e rademark Linux Internatina ad been started in Astraia by a ersn named Patrick DCrze w migrated t e Unied Sates in 1 994 t he rme Linx wrdwide The year f te trademark diste was e year wen Maddg became its exective direcr Everydy trsted im and sti des I was in Finand rying  bea Tve in sas r t beat Avtn in snker and I ad n interest in geting invved in tis I jst wanted te enire nigmare t g away My reference at e time was t js get id f te trademark t get it decared invaid becase f rir se in e indstry We ad eng aerwrk t sw tat Linx ad in fct a histry f rir se Te trbe was r awyer cnvinced s at i wd be a wased er ta we sd nt even try  get Linx decared a bic dmain instead f a trademark Te ny way r it  reay be in he bic dmain e exained was r i t becme generic And Linx at the ime wasn that generic Te rademark fce rbaby wdn even cnsider i  be generic tday We cd se e batte e said Or if we invaidaed e d rademark smebdy cd ssiby cme ang and rademark i anew Te stin e sggested was  ransfer te rademark t smebdy else My vte wen t Linx Internatina b tere was 134

j u s t  fo r F u n

a lt f ppt t that nx Iteratal wa yg and pre Peple were wrred abt x Interatal beg ta er by cercal teret (It hat happened, I ght add) There wa al trng ccer abt wh wld eetally tae er r Maddg f he were t tep dw S all eye led t e The lawyer ggeted that the legal arget wld be eaer f the x tradear were t be trarred t e becae I wa the rg al er f the wrd That the trategy we t We reached a tfcrt ettleet becae that eeed le the eaet ad cheapet thg t d e t tfcrt ettleet, the detal cat be diced Nt that I ee nw the I wa happly tereted  t all Whe I wet bac t chec y rgnal eal  the gy, I realed that t had thg t d wth patet I wa bi that he jt wated t tal t e Maybe he tred t ctact e t get e t pay h Or aybe, f I had hw yelf t be a tre belieer ad l brther  h th, he wld hae jt given e the tradear I dt nw I accept the ct that e peple are t rally all there Bt what wa re rrtatg at the te wa the ct that the etre tradear yte pt th   e, wh had dne nthg wrg, t g t ad ght the gy A a relt f the ey qirh, I hld the x tradear What that ea , whe cpae le VA x le r a IPO, their prpect ha t eti the ct that the cpany det ee w the tradear r half f it ae (I that partclar cae, the cpay wa led n the legal prce f gettg appral  e t e the wrd x) Bt Ie gtte accted t that rt f thg The tradear epde wa jt a expected grwg pan r  Ad a dtract Bt  er wa t ettled then ather rced: A egeer at Itel reearch lab  Prtland, Oreg, ad h cpay wa g ix  t explratn f ew archtectre He aed e if I wated t e there r a xth terhip L i n u  To r v a /d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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Tve and I had spken in vage erms ab pssibly living in he Unied Saes She knew hw mch I had enjyed my few visis here r beer nwihsanding We agreed ha he ppr niiesn  menin he climaewere beer in America (By he way I am ally cnvinced ha he US sysem f mi vaing emplyees is r mre realisic and prdces beer resls han he Erpean mdel In Finland if a wrker is mch beer han his clleages y give him js a lile mre mney and keep i very ie In America y give him a l mre mneyand i wrks) The inernship seemed ike a grea way f esing he waers r since i was in he Pacic Nrhwes he rainwaers and we agreed ha I shld prse he pprniy B I was ambivalen I fel a bi neasy ab leaving schl wih having nished my masers Smehing inside me pssibly he memry f my prfessr grandher didn ake  he nin f being a drp In he end y feelings didn even maer The engineers manager decided ha i wd be difcl r me  bain he reired sixmnh wrk permi m e US Immigrain and Naralizain Service r he inernship S we sayed in Helsinki By he ime Finlands legendary revelers were asing he arrival f New ears Day 1996, I was inching ward he masers degree nish line I nly needed  cmplee ne small crse  nish e credi reiremens And  als had  wrie y hesis Irnically i wld be he rs ime I g any academic credi r my wrk n Linx which had cn smed ms f my life hrgh my cllege years The year 1996 brgh wih i a wakep call In egaiarian Filand y ge a saemandaed seniriy raise ar yve been a a jb r hree years When I saw my rs pay sb reecing he new salary I fel a jl I had been wrking a he niversiy lng engh  be given seniriy Wld I spend my enire wrking career here? Was I desined  becme my grandher? Remember my descripin f him m earlier in his bk bald verweigh and n smeing like anyhing I sared cecking myself in he mirrr wih sme reglariy My hairline was creeping back  36

jut or Fu n

 ce  leers xr s seee  hve e her wy  y cesy rs I ws weysx  r he rs e in y e  ws ee  I h ee  he niversiy r in n seve yers I ew I c re ry qcy  I  y c eher

L i n u s  r v  lds  n d D  v i d D i  m  n d

3 7

My tenyrold daughter Kaley thinks its the apex o super-stardom to have someone buy you a penguin We are sitting around a campre on a cear Sira night when Linus explains that a Linux user group in Bris tol, Englan bought him a penguin l cannot imagine that he hasnt bothered to visit the crture Then he elaborates: Actuay, they didnt buy him a penguin, but instead sponsored one in his name And the spon sorship lasts or a y he thinks The Toalds amily is ting to unstand the concept behind mores Somebody looks up rom his roasted marshmaow and mak the mistake o asking how the penguin came about as the planeta symbol o Linux in the rst place "The penguin was my id,  says Tove "Linus was ting to nd a symbol or Linux because people were asking, Shouldnt there be a symbol? He was thinking o things hed seen The Linux companies had their own symbols One o the companies had a pink triangle as its symbol But I knew that was the international symbol or gays, so I told him that had already been taken He said he would like to have something nice, something sympathetic I thought about penguins Linus had been bitten by a ai pen guin at a zoo in Australia He likes to pet things Hes always poking at stu like rattlesnakes Those penguins at the zoo were about one oot high, and he just rched into the cage to pet one o them He kind oplayed with his ngs as i th were sh The penguin came at him, bit him, noticed he was not a sh He got bitten by a penguin but he liked it

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anyway I got the eling he was sold on penguins aer that He wanted to see penguins wherer it was possible "So when he started looking or a symbol I said, Why dont you have a penguin because you l in ove with those penguins?  He sai Okay, I think about it   Heres where Linus, sitting mbe three bodies away rom Tove, shakes his hea "No, it was not her id,  he says "Shes wrong  This was a departure Linus and Tove dont make a habit o disagreeing Tove is astounding in her ability to detly handle the responsibilities o the girls and the householdand a amous husband nding ojournalists with her karate skis Linus seems downright cheerul about chipping in by occasionaly olding laund or doing his morning chore o making the cappuccino Even during the stress o a ten hour car trip with the on-againoagain needs o a pair o young kids, Linus and Tove handle it a smoothly: Think o the marital equivalent o a wel-crted Scandinavian soa bed We ound the kink The sto, according to Linus, is that while Tove may in act have vaguely mentioned penguins at some eay stage, it was in a conversation with two highranking Linux types that the icy creatures wererst si ously considered as the operating system oial mascot Tove has her take on this version "He thought it wasnt a good idea aer a, because it was m idea He went on thinking about a possible symbol Then we were in Boston with Maddog and Hen Ha Th started talking about the symbol I said to them, What about a penguin Do you think its nice? Th said yes I think that made Linus think it might be a good idea aer a  "Hen Ha said he knew an artist who could draw it or him, but that never happened The next thing I knew, Linus had asked on the Internet i the were people who wanted to send in pictures openguins  He chose a version by La Ewing, a graphic artist who works at the Institute or Scientc Computing at Texas A&M University But this wasnt to be just any penguin Above al, Linus wanted

L   u  o r   /    D     D   m o n 

13

one that looked happy, as i it had just polished o a pitch o beer and then had the best sex o its li Even bond that stipulation, he wanted one that was distinct Hence, while a other penguins have black beaks and et, those atures are orange on te Linux mascot, making it look almost like a penguin whose ather was a duck As i Da Duck got a little kwazy on a cruise to Antarctica and had a wild one-night-stand with some native owl

1 

Ju t for Fu n



ew   ec  wr r Tre Crprn w reee wh he e rec  he x c  w he ew h Te   h re  hw  cncee  chld nd were expec e  he e   996 Whe wr lee   he pr h Te w pren he re c  x er ewrp prcp we  w hw  pe  lc h e  nx ece wh he    A ew h er whe  ece w h  wl (nl e e he Uer f e  wr r he ecree Tre  Sc Vle he  wr ee ceere  wheher  cl pl eep re   pe rce phph   ree cerc evrne  ppe   erl cdec  Trne w prl e  Mcr cer Pl Allen l eclred  pre e ce   e  ere c r g cn r  x '   he re' d ccer r l eer  he x c   j    e  re! The c  eher he rh  Prc  eceer  996 ( el xee h er  Ceee reh h er nr  jb  Tre whch e  Ferr  997  h ce he dwnl  x  el l  h  h were  eel ec  wr wh x  w he e he  ecer ep  r  l er  e  r   e he  e 141

In he spring f 1996, js as he weaher was reaking, I nished he las f my reqired crsewrk r my masers I was a his ime ha  heard m Peer Anvin, he Linx cmm niy memer wh hree years earlier had rganized he nline cl lecin ha helped me pay  my rs PC Like everydy else wh prwld he Linx newsgrps, he knew I wld sn e grada ing He had een wrking a Transmea r a a year, and apprached his ss  explain ha he kew his gy in Finland wh migh e gd r he cmpany He came  mee wih me riey while he was visiing his mher in Sweden He alked p Transmea, which was prey hard  d since i was in sealh mde and he cldn ell me mch f anyhing The rmr amng prgrammers was nly ha i was invlved in develping pr grammale chips" A he very leas i was grea  mee Peer in persn A week aer he rerned  Calirnia, he sen me an email asking when I cld cme This was hgely dieren m he experience I had had wih nel a year earlier, when an engineer waned  hire me r an inernship  i never happened ecase f he paperwrk isses  I wld e n js  ge a rip  Calirnia, I hgh This was he rs j inerview f my life I didn have a CV I didn knw wha Transmea was ding i was in a srange land I was mre wrried a he implicains f mving  he Unied Saes han ab geing he j iself, s I didn even hink f my meeings as eing inerviews Wha maered mre, i seemed, was  learn wha hese gys were p  I was a irly srange inerview siain Aer he rs day, I wen ack  my hel acrss he sree m Transmeas fceark headqarers In my jelagged sae I hgh i was all ineresing,  I als hgh ha he lks a Transmea were crazy A ha pin he cmpany didn have any silicn a all N hardware veryhing was dne wih a simlar, and he demnsrain f he simlain ing in Windws . 1 1 and rnning sliaire did lile  cnvince me ha anyhing 1 2

ju  for Fu n

was ging t happen Aer that rst day I wndered if i wasnt al a waste I distinctly remember thinking: Maybe his isnt ging t trn tither as a technlgical innvatin r Transmeta r a jb r me I literally slept n it Acaly it wasnt mch f a sleep I lay in bed thinking abt Transmetas plans Then I started nasizing abt having a backyard palm ree Then I started rminating ver what I had seen n the simlatr It was a memrable tl night bt nthing like the sbiten anxiety f Ede By mrning I was smewhat excied By the end f the secnd day I was very excited Thats when the stress began Bere accepting Transmetas er I talked it ver with varis peple When wrd gt t hat I was cnsidering the jb I received a nmber f ther ers In Finland I gt an er m Tele which was sing Linx in sme capacity Thrgh Maddg I gt an er at Digital (N ense bt Bstn in winter isnt a whle lt better than Helsinki in winter Okay maybe it is) I talked t sme f the Red Hat peple They ered me a jb and said they wld pay better than Transmeta was paying even thgh they had n idea what the ppsed salary was becase I hadnt even discssed mney with he cmpany The Red Hat crwd said they wld even tp Transmetas stck ptins whatever hey wld be Bt I wasnt interesed in wrking r any particlar Linx cmpanyven ne that was rtnate engh t be lcated in the middle f Nrth Carlina In the end I gt ve jb ers witht ever rmally lking r a jb Transmetas was the mst exciting by r I said yes It lt weird The next thing I did was ell the niversity I wd be leaving Thats when he stress really began Fr me it was a giant step that meant there was n trning back We were having a new child mving t a new cntry and I was leaving the sa nest f the University f Helsinkib rst I had t wrie my thesis In retrspect I gess getting all thse changes ver at nce was a gd idea Bt i was madness There was n rmal annncement (why shl there be?) L i n u s T r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

1 43

Just word circulating on te nternet and the arementioned debate about wheter  would be able to remain true to Linux and ee soware in the evil corporate environment and between te canging of diapers. ack ten people ad this view of Linux as someting tat was mainly deveoped by university students not settleddown people.  guess it was understandable tat tey would be nervou.  wrote my tesis over a long weekend and turned it in minutes bere taking Tove to te ospital to deliver Patricia who was born rty hours later. Tat was December 5t 196. eing a ther seemed like te most natural thing in te world. Te next several weeks we were busy wit Patricia and constantly worrying about obtaining te approvals r our U.S. visa paperwork wic was taking rever. We gured it would elp if we were married so sometime in January always ave to ask Tove te datewe went to a government ofce to be ofcially wed . We had tree guests Tove's parents and my moter. (My dad was in Moscow. t was a strange time. At some point we sipped most of our belongings to te United States witout knowing wen we would be abe to y out. To say goodbye to all of our ends we hosted a ousecooling party te reverse of a ousewarming. Twenty people crammed into the small recently emptied onebedroom apartment. In good Finnis tradition everybody got drunk. Our visas nally arrived and on February 1 7 1 997  we boarded a morning igt to San Francisco.  remember te temperature in Helsinki: 0 degrees Fareneit.  remember Tove's mily at the airport crying wen we said goodbyeteyre very close.  don't remember if my mily was tere or not. Tey must ave been. Or maybe not. We landed in te United States and made our way troug customs carrying a baby and two cats. Peter Anvin was tere to greet us as we rented a car r te drive down to Santa Clara to te apartment complex we ad cosen during an apartmentunting trip we ad taken a w monts earlier. t all felt surreal particularly te 7 0degree dierence in climate om Finland. 1

J u s t fo r F u n

Our belongings wouldnt arrive r another two months. We spent the rst night sleeping on an air mattress we had brought with us. The next day we went out to buy a real bed. Until our r niture made it to Calirnia Patricia had to sleep in her carriage. t was something that really annoyed Tove although David points out that it is sort of cyclical referring to the rst three months of my life that were spent in a laundry basket. We didnt do much cooking (we still dont and didnt know where to go r dinner. We ate most of our meals either at the od court of a local shop ping mall or at a stod place.  remember telling Tove we had to nd some new places to eat. With the move and getting accustomed to the new job at Transmeta  didnt have a lot of time to devote to Linux during those rst couple of months. The new job occupied much of my time and my aerwork hours were spent with Tove and Patricia trying to get to know the new area. t was a irly busy time. We had absolutely no money.  had this great salary but everything went toward getting rniture. uying our cars was a hassle because we had no way of establishing a credit history. We even endured hassles proving we were capable of paing r telephone serve. My computer was on a ship that was inching its way around the Horn of Aica. t was the rst period of time hen  was quiet on the Web and my absence worried a lot of people. t was like Okay now hes working r a commercial company. . . . Many people asked outright Does this mean Linux will die o as a ee system  explained that under my agreement with Transmeta  could continue doing Linux. And that  wasnt going to go away. ( couldnt think of a way to say that  was j ust catching my breath.

Life in Transmetaland. One of the problems with explaining to people how the move to the States and into the commercial world wasnt going to L i n u s o  v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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cange me was te ct tat Transmeta was just about te most secretive company around. Tere was only one rule concerning wat you could talk about, and tat rule was very simple Say noting . " Wic j ust made Linux people sometimes wonder wat kind of strange cult  ad joined, and weter  was ever coming back.  couldnt even tell my moter wat  was up tonot tat se would ave been interested. Wat  was doing at Transmeta wasnt all tat strange. Te rst ting  actually ended up doing was xing some of te Linux problems tat Transmeta ad. Te company was using a lot of multiprocessor Linux macines.  ad never personally worked on te Linux SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing issues, and it turned out tat many tings didn't really work te way tey were supposed to.  took tis as a personal afont, and ad to x it, of course. ut my real work was actually being part of te Transmeta soball team. O,  mean so team. We didn't play all tat muc soball. None of te Silicon Valley leagues would let us join unless we agreed to tell tem wat we were up to.  don't know ow miliar people are wit Transmeta As m typing tis, we're actually in our silent period bere te (please, God, buy our stock PO, and we're no longer secret, altoug we're back in our stealt mode due to SEC rules about initial public oerings. Let's ope tat by te time tis book is out, everybody ad is dog as eard about Transmeta and bougt sub liminal message CK) one or more of our CPUs. ecause tat's wat Transmeta doesCPUs. Hardware. ut Transmeta does more tan just ardware. Wic is just as well because, quite ankly,  wouldn't know a transistor om a diode even if one kicked me in te ead. Wat Transmeta does is simple ardware tat relies on clever soware to make a simple CPU look like muc more tan it really islike a standard ntelcompatible 86 in ct. And wit te ardware being made smaller and simpler, te CPU ends up aving fewer transistors, 14

js for F n

which in turn makes it use less power, which as everybody realizes will become increasingly more important in a mobile world. This clever software is why Transmeta has a rather large soware team, and why  was there. This all t me quite well. A nonLinux company that did something that wa technically quite interesting (understatement of the year still dont know of another company that has ever seriously even tried to do what Transmeta does. And it was in an area that  knew intimately lowlevel programming of the quite esoteric 8086 mily of CPUs. As you undoubtedly recall, it was the act of getting to know that CPU in the rst personal computer  owned that had started the whole Linux project in the rst place. The ct that Transmeta wasnt a Linux company was also important to me. Dont get me wrong  loved xing Linux problems at Transmeta, and ve been involved in several internal projects about Linux (n ct, these days its probably impossible to nd a serious technology company without such projects ut at Transmeta, Linux was secondarywhich was just what  wanted .  coud continue to do Linux, but  didnt feel  would have to make the technical compromises that would vor the companys goas over Linux itsel  could continue to think of Linux as a hobby in which only technology mattered, and nothing else held sway over my decisions So during the day,  worked r Transmeta  wrote and maintained the 86 interpreter" that we still use today (although others maintain it now. The interpreter is basically the piece of Transmeta soware that looks at ntel instructions one at a time, and executes them (i.e, it interprets" the language of the 8086 architecture, one instruction at a time  ended up doing other things later, but thats how  got into the strange and wonderl world of hardware emulation. During the night,  slept. My deal with Tramsmeta was clear  had been given vague assurances that  could work on Lin during work hours too Trust me,  took ll advantage of that. L i n u  To r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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A ot of peope beieve i workig ong days ad doig doube triple or eve quadrupe shis. 'm ot oe of them. Neither Trasmeta nor Liux has ever gotte i the way of a good ight's seep  ct if you wat to kow the hoest truth 'm a rm beiever i seep Some peope think that's just beig azy but  wat to throw my piow at them.  have a perfecty good excuse and 'm stadig by it You may ose a few hours of your productive daytime if you seep oh say te hours a day but those few hours whe you   awake you're alert ad your brai ctios o a six cyiders. Or ur or whatever.

1 48

jut for Fu n

IV

Welcome to Silicon Valley. One of the rst things  got to do upon landing in this strange galaxy was to meet the stars.  received an email om Steve obss secretary about how hed like to meet me and could  spare an hour or two Not knowing what it was all about  said sure. The meeting was at Apples headquarters on nnity Loop Drive. t was with obs and his chief technical guy Avie Tevanian. This was when Apple was starting work on OS X the Unixbased operating system that wasnt released until September 2000 . There wasnt much rmality to the meeting. asically obs started o by trying to tell me that on the desktop tere were just two players Microso and Apple and that e thought that the best thing  could do r Linux was to get in bed with Apple and try to get the open source people behind Mac OS X  stuck around because  wanted to learn about the new operating system. ts based on Mach the microkernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University. n the mid1990s the Mach was expected to be the ultimate operating system and a lot of people were interested in it. n ct M and Apple used Mach as the basis r teir illted Taligent jointventure operating system. obs made a big point of te ct that Machs lowlevel kernel is open source. He sort of played down the aw in the setup Who cares if the basic operating system the real lowcore stu is open source if you then have the Mac layer on top which is not open source? 149

He ad o way of kowig tat my persoal opiio of Mac is ot very ig. Frakly,  tik its a piece of crap. t cotais all te desig mistakes you ca make, ad maaged to eve make up a few of its ow Oe of te argumets agaist microkerels as always bee perrmace. So a lot of people did researc projects aimed at determiig ow to tur microkerels ito sometig tat perrms really well. All of te resultig recommedatios made it ito Mac As a result, it became a very complicated system wit rules of its ow Ad it sti doest perrm tat well Avie Tevaia ad bee oe of te Mac people we it was a uiversity project. t was kid of iterestig, discussig wat e ad Steve saw as te issues At te same time, we disagreed irly dametally o tecical matters  really didt tik tere was a reaso r ope source or Liux people to get ivolved. Sure,  could uderstad wy tey wated to get more ope source developers ito teir system tey were seeig te mometum build beid Liux. ut  dot tik tey were seeig it quite eoug  dot tik Jobs realized tat Liux would potetially ave more users ta Apple, altoug its a ry dieret user base. Ad  dot tik Steve would be quite as eager to dismiss Liux as a desktop system today as e was tree years ago  explaied wy  didt like Mac. For uderstadable reasos tat didt go over very well Teyd certaily eard te argumets bere. Obviously,  was very set o Liux ad Tevaia was very set o Mac t was iterestig to see ow tey discussed some of te tecical issues Oe of te immediate problems  could see ivolved ow tey plaed o supportig old Mac applicatios i te ew operatig system. Tey wated to do all te old stu wit a compatibility layer. All te old Mac applicatios would ru witi oe ew tackedo process ut oe of te major sortcomigs of te old Mac is e lack of memory protectio, ad tis solutio does otig to solve tat problem. Oly te ew Mac applicatios would ave memory protectio. t didt make sese to me. 50

}s  for F n

We ad basic diereces i ow we viewed te world. Steve was Steve exactly as te press portrays im. He was iterested i is ow goals ad especially te marketig side.  was iterestd i te tecical side ad ot very iterested i eiter is goals or is argumets . His mai argumet was tat if  wated to get te desktop market  sould come joi rces wit Apple. My reactio was: Wy sould  care Wy would  be iterested i te Apple story  didt tik tere was aytig iterestig i Apple. Ad my goal i life was ot to take over te desktop market. (Sure its goig to appe but its ever bee my goal. He didt use vry may argumets. He just basically took it r grated tat  would be i terested. He was clueless uable to imagie tat tere could be etire segmets of te uma race wo weret te least bit cocered about icreasig te Macs market sare.  tik e was truly surprised at ow little  cared about ow big a market te Mac adr ow big a market Microso as. Ad  cat blame im r ot kowig i advace ow muc  dis like Mac. ut eve toug  disagreed wit almost everytig e said  kid of liked im. Te tere was te rst time  met ill Joy.  walked out o im. Okay to be ir  didt realize wo e was we  rst met im. It was at te Jii preview. Jii is Su Microsystems iterac tio aget laguage a extesio to Java. ts r doig seamless etworkig betwee completely dieret systems. You could ave a priter tat was Jiiaware ad aytig o te same etwork tat spoke Jii would be able to use Jii automatically. Su Micosystems ad ivited me ad about a doze oter ope source people ad tecical people to a private preaoucemet brieg tat would take place i a otel room i dowtow Sa Jose durig Java World. Te reaso we were ivited Tey were doig Jii uder wat at Su Microystems passes r ope source. We  wet tere  kid of kew ill Joy was tere. He L  n   o r v a ld a n d D a v  d D  a  o n d



ad been te key person beind SD Unix and laer joined Sun as cief scientist  ad never met im bere He j us came up o me and said e was ill Joy and  kind of didnt react to i  hadn come tere to meet im but o see what Sun tougt aout open source and ow tey were going to ener open source A few minutes later ill imself was explaining e reasons r making it open source and tey ad a limited demonstraion of e sysem Ten tey started explaining teir licensing  as horrible Just stupid asically it boiled down to the ct tat if somebody ese wanted to use te system in even a halfcommercial ay it wouldnt be open source at all  ougt it was a compleely idi oic idea  was really upset about the ct tat on te invitaion tey ad touted teir opensourceness t was open source in e sense ta you could read e source but if you waned to make any modications or make it part of your inastructure you ad to license it om Sun f somebody at ed Ha wanted o make te latest ed Hat CD version ofLinux Jiniaware te company would ave to license te Jini tecnology om Sun  asked a few quesions to see if  had undersood i correctly Ten  walked out on them  was just so pissed o that tey ad gotten people tere by claiming opensourceness tat aer  und out wat it was all about  literaly said Forget it m not interested " and le My undersanding was at tey wanted me ere siply o inrm me and tat maybe if  ad been enhusiastic tey would ave liked a press quote or someing Tat plan backred u maybe tey wi learn Apparently people later convinced tem to open source teir Star Ofce So  guess it all j ust akes time m told tat tey contnued te meeting tat day and ad dinner and that everybody else stayed Te second time  met ill Joy turned out to be a muc better experience About a year and a half later he invited me out r susi His secretary poned me to set up a tie ill lives and works in Colorado and apparently spends one week out of eac 2

just for F un

mont in Silcon Valley We went to Fuki Susi in Palo Alto t's one of te better susi places in te Valley Of course t's noting like lows Susi in San Francisco, wit its nonstop Japanese animations to look at, or Tokyo Go Go in te Mission, wit its ip crowd, or Susi an in Sausalito, wit its important patrons, or Seto Susi in Sunnyvale, wic as te best spicy tuna susi of tem all Okay, we were at Fuki Susi, and it was kind of n because  ill was trying to get rea wasabi  didn't know tis at te time, but i n most Japanese restaurants in te United States, wat passes r wasabi is actually just colored orseradis t turns out te wasabi plant lves only in Japanese streams and is difcult to grow commercially ill tried to expain tis to te waitress and se really didn't get te concept Se was Japanese, but se tougt tat wasabi was wasabi He asked er to ask te cefs Te backandrt was sort of nny Ts was a socia dinner He basically made it clear tat if  wanted to work r Sun  could just give im te word and e would make someting appen ut tat was not te main ting t was more of an opportunity to talk about te issues He started reminiscing about ow e'd been te maintainer of SD Unix r ve years and ow e ad grown to appreciate aving te comercial side around im troug Sun He talked about ow important it was to ave te kind of commercia support tat a company like Sun coud pro vide  und it n and nteresting to ear im talk about te early days of Unix t didn't make one bit of derence to me tat we were never able to taste genuine wasabi  distnctly remember tinking e was probably te nicest and most interesting of te igprole people  ad met in Slicon Valley Flas rward tree years  pick up Wired magazine only to encounter is orribly negative article about tecnology enttled Te Future Doesn't Need Us "  was kind of dsappointed Obviously, te ture doesn't need us ut e didn't ave to be so negative about it  don't want to tear apart is article lin e by line, but  ave a L i n u s To r v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

53

general belief that the saddest thing that could ever happen to humanity would be that we would just go on and on as opposed to evolving. ill seemed to feel that advances like genetic modica tion make us lose our humanity. Everybody always thinks that something dierent is inhuman because right now we   human. ut as we continue to evolve with whatever happens in 10000 years we will not be human according to today's standards. We will just be a dierent rm of human. n ills article he seemed aaid of that. My feeling is that its unnaturaland uitlessto try and curb evolution. nstead of trying to nd two dierent kinds of dog to produce the desired ospring obviously we will resort to genetics it seems inevitable that this will happen r people too. n my opinion changing the human race through genetics is preferable to leaving the status quo  think that in the bigger picture it would be a hell of a lot more interesting to ensure the continued evolution of not just humans but of society in whatever direction it goes You can't stop technology and you can't stop the advances we make in our knowledge of how our universe works and how humans are designed. ts all moving so st that some people like ill Joy nd it scary. ut  see it as part of our natural evolution.  disagree with Joy about how we should deal with the ture te same way  disagreed with his notion of ope source  disagreed with Steve Jobs about technology t sounds like  spent my rst years in Silicon Valley being disagreeable but thats not true.  was doing a lot of coding and taking Patricia to the petting zoo and in general broadening my horizonslike learning the awl truth about wasabi.

154

j u s t fo r F u n

v

Our overnight success. Do you ever read advocacy newsgroups The entire purpose of their exstence is to advocate something which means to put something ese down. So if you go on them you nd nothng but My system is better than your system" nonsense. t's its own rm of onine masturbation. The reason  mention advocacy newsgroups is that despite their absurdity they do oer a clue to what is happening So when corporations rst decided that Linux was the daring of operating systems the growing commercia support wasn't discussed rst in the press or at the checkout counter at Fry's Eectronics but on advocacy newsgroups. Let me back up. n the spring of 1998 a third bonde entered my word Danea Yoanda Torvads got produced on Apri 16th making her the rst Torvads to be a U.S. citizen. She and Patricia are sixteen months apart the same as Sara and me. ut  guarantee they won't be as embatted as my sister and  were growing upcertainly not with Tove's moderating inuence Or her karate skis. Two weeks bere Daniea's birth the open source communitywhich had unti recenty been caed the ee soware communitygot its biggest boost ever. That's when Netscape opened up the source code r its browser technoogy in a project named Moza On the one and the news got everyone on the newsgroups excited because t raised the visibiity of open source. ut it 155

also made a lot of people including me irly neous. Netscape was in trouble at te time tanks in large part to Microso and te opening up of its browser was seen ·as a somewat desperate measure. (ronically te browsers roots were in open source. t began as a project at te University of llinois. People on te newsgroups were expressing teir fears tat Netscape would muck tings up and give open source a bad name. Now tere would be two bigname open source projects Netscape and Linuxand te reasoning was tat if Netscape te better known of te two were to il te reputation would impact Linux too. And to a large degree Netscape did il. Te company ad trouble getting open source developers interested in te project r te logest time. t was just a uge body of code and te only people wo could get into tat code were Netscape people. Te project was somewat doomed not oly because of its size but also because Netscape wasnt able to make everyting available as open sourceonly te development version wic was irly broken at te time te company released it. Te company couldnt GPL te browser because not all te code was teirste Java portion was licensed om Sun r example. Not everyone on te newsgroups agreed wit Netscapes license. On te wole te license was irly mellow but if youre someone like icard Stallman you dont like mellow.  tougt it was wonderl tat Netscape took tis step but  didnt view it as a personal acievement.  remember tat Eric aymond took it really personally. He was extremely appy about it His paper Te Catedral and te azaar" wic did an excellent job of explaining te open source pilosopy and istory ad been released te year bere and was cited as one of te reasons beind te Netscape decision. He was actively pusing open source. He ad been at Netscape on a number of occasions trying to convince tem to open up teir browser  was tere only once. n ct Eric ad visited a number of companies bearing te



Jus  for F un

open source message  was interested in te tecnology, ot te evangeization. Witin 24 ours of Mozilla being released, an Australian team tat caled itsef te Mozilla Crypto Group reated te ryptograpy module. ack ten, nonU.S citzes were proibited om using encryption geerated on U S soil Suddenly, somebody om Australia ad done te work, so nonUS. itizes were  a position to use it. ut tere was a catc Given te export restrtions of te time, te Mozlla project couldn't take te Austraa ode. f it made its way to te United States, it oud't be reexported Tis meant tat one of te rst sucesses of te great Netscape experiment couldn't become part of Mozilla We were all worred beause Netscape ad receved a lot of news overage And r tat rst year, people walked o eggsells. Nobody wanted to say anyting negative about Netscape r fear tat it would result in bad press r ope soure and sare oter compaes away ut two monts aer Netscape's move, Sun Mcrosystems joied te game by declaring tat t would beome te rst major hardware venor to join Lnux nternatioal t would support Linux on its servers Te compay wt te umpressve les ing sceme r i ts Jini projet ad decided tat Lux was wort taking seriously. Te newsgroups overowed wit self congratulations Wit Sun on board, Linux developmets made teir ay om nternet discussions to te trade press Outsders were suddenly interested, but mostly tecal outsders Then came M M as been known r being rly stodgy, so everbody was taken by surprise wen te ompany aoued in ue tat t woud sell and support Apae, te most popular ommeria Linux version used r Web servers You could run Apae on AX, M's UNX, ad tat's probably wat a lot of people wo bougt M did Tat's ow Apae got to M's attenton Somebody must ave noticed tat most of tose server maies eded p

Linus Torvalds and David Diamond

7

usg pace so ey cacuaed a ey woud se more servers f ey ad e oue experse o suppor suc cusomers Or maybe ey were acg o feedback om cusomers wo said ey woud buy IBM maces bu woud ru pace Is reavey easy o sa Lux o a compuer Bu r mos compaies oe of e big issues isorcay as bee: Wo do we bame we someg goes wrog? Obvousy ere are e Lux compaes ke Red a a provde e suppor bu  was a psycoogca advaage r cusomers o kow a IBM woud be ere r em We IBM sared geg o ope source a o of peope suspeced  was jus p servce Bu a ured ou o o be e case IBM dpped s oes  e waer by rug ad supporg Lux o s server boxes ad e sor of waded a e way  ex came e sma PC servers Te e reguar PCs Te e apops Te compay as aounced i w sped $1 bo o Lux s yar IBM dd a o of s Lux work o s ow I ik one of e reasos ey ked Liux was because ey cud js do wa hey waed o do wiou avg o dea wi icesng issues Is a compay a as ad s sare of asses IBM was screwed over by Mcroso aer e wo compaes joy deveoped e OS/2 operag sysem wc ured ou o be jus Wdows o serods Mcroso ed o suppor OS/2 because  was ieresed  sarg e marke Wdows T s wa came ou of i om e Mcroso sde Bu OS/2 ever pad back o IBM e bios of doars poured o i d IBM was pagued w e cesg ssues over ava I ik ey were jus appy o o ave a a aggravo w Liux Teres o doub a IBM was Luxs bgges coup  d i geeraed oy exceme o e ewsgroupso e sor of paraoa provoed by e escape aouceme or ay of e seeg acommercasm a as perodcay (okay: euey) divded Lux eusass By uy Irmx aouced a  woud por s daabases  Lux meag a eve f you used Lux o operae your 58

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comut, ou coud un n Inm ds I wsn such  g d t th im Th comn hd bn hving nnc toub, but t ws si on of h o h ds vndos Linu o w mid h ou h dvomnt, nd w wiing sfconguo sss n nu dvocc gous Withn wks, om ou of nowh, Oc owd sut Oc domnd dss Long b h nnouncmn th hd n umos (on th nwsgous bou th comn hving som ntn os o nu And, snc Oc s snonmous with Uni svs, i wsn such  mjo  o Linu But if ou owd th nwsgous, w hd dni nd th big tim Th Oc nnouncmnt hd  hug schoogc imct, vn if its chnc imct ws zo Lik th IM nnouncmn b i, Ocs big mov ws ft not on b th Linu communi ut b th ks who  common fd to s mngmnt dcisionmks, hough som o f th tm suits " No ong woud th b  to s tht th coudnt us Linu bcus thi businss dnds on dtbss Whi th nws ws gtifing, i didnt chng m if Tov nd I w j ugging two dob kids  Most of m nonmi hous w snt on Linu minnnc, boh  hom nd in th ofc To k om voing n on vsion of Linu, I usd Rd H t wok nd uE,  Euon vsion,  hom At on oint I f I wsnt ging nough cs, so I dcdd to id m c c th si mis wn ou tmn nd Tnsmts hdquts It ws on  Mond Th w no hs o cmb, but  stong wind w n t wong dcion, king i mo chnging hn I wnd B th m I  wok n hous , h wind hd shid so ht  ws s n h wong dicion I hond Tov nd sh ickd m u Ndss to s, ikingtowok didn hn gin  I dd this innocuous dti on o iust h th Linu vomns wn cng m di if Most of h ctivit ws tking c t cooions Tchnic o, who hd ong     .     !     D     D      

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known about Linux were being approaced by teir compaies leaders wo ad been seeig articles about Linux in te trade press or earing about it. Tey would ask teir tecnical lks wat te ss was all about. Te once tey learned te benets tey would make te decision to ave teir servers run Linux. Te situation was playing out in inrmationtecnology departments trougout te world altoug most of it took place in te United States. It was rarely a decision based on te oncost of Linux because te soware itself actually represents a small part of suc an investment. Te service and support are muc more costly. Wat tended to sway te suits were te simple tecnical arguments Linux was stronger tan te competition wic consisted of Windows NT and te various avors of Unix. And importantly people just ate aving to do tings te way Microso or anybody else says tey ave to do tem. You can do tings wit Linux tat you cant do wit te competition. Te original people wo used Linux did so because tey could get access to sources in ways tey couldt wit commercial soware. From tat perspective tings adnt canged muc since I ad released Versio 001 om my bedroom. Linux was more exible tan oter systems out tere. You got to be your own boss. And at least in te case of Web servers it didt contain te bloat"te many unecessary featurestat make up competig operating systems. Anoter ting Linux ad in its vor Despite its growing popularity as an operating system r Web servers it really didnt occupy a nice. Tis is important as a way of understandig Linuxs success. Mainame computers were a nice. Unix in general was a series of niceste U.S. Department of Defense supercomputer nice te banking nice. Te lks selling operating systems r mainames and oter big systems made money because tey were carging a lot r teir operating systems. Ten Microso came along and carged ninety bucks. Microso didnt go aer te bankig nice or any oter nice but suddenly it was everywere.  0

jus  for Fu n

t wa like getting nvaded by lout t' ad to get id of tat kind of nvaion (Not tat lout ae bad  like all animal t' a lot bette to be eveywee and take ove evey ne and tat' wat Mioo did Thnk of a ud oganm tat ow into any plae it an nd f one ne  lot t' not a bg deal The oganim uound te wold owng nto anytng tat' nteeted Te ame tng i appenng wit Lnux today t ow nto anytng tat' nteetd Lnux doen't ave ut one nie t' mall and exible and nd t way nto many plae You nd t n upeompute at impotant plae lke te US Govenent Femilab o NASA ut tat' kind of an outowng of te eve pae W  an outowng of te dektop paew  wee  got tated And at te ame tme you'll nd Lnux n embedded deve, eveytng om antlok bae to wate Wat it ow Meanwile tee' a geat advantage to ga oot Te bet and te bigtet of te next geneaton ae ung you podut beaue you ae te tng that make tat geneaton exted n an ealie geneaton, t wan't o m Moo and DOS but PC that got people exited f you wee into PC you wee nto DOS Tee wan't mu oie And tat wa a ge advantage  peadng Moo f you look at te bgtet young d aound tey'e not a doing Linux but a lot of tem ae Sue one of te eaon tat te open oue piloopy and Linux bot ave ao llowng in unveitie i mple te antetabliment entiment (Te ame antetablment entment tat made u a uge mpat on my dad' li t' te g Evl Mioo Copoaton & Wiked Geedy, TooFukngR ll ate  te We'ent teLoveandFeeSowaeEveybody & te SelfEang (Seeming Folk Heo Lnu  Tovald tng Toe kd gaduate and take job in opoaton wee tey bing wt tem te love  Linux So k wo've ventued nto te depth of Mioo tell L i n u s To r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d



e theye ee y ce o artboar My oly coet How col ayboy poibly i y oe t  ettin ahea of yelf M bi announceent in the prin of 1998 wa lowe by iilar anonceet by eery aor harware enor y Auut Forbes aazine ad icoere or ittle wrl by puttin a picture of e on te coer with the wor eace oe Soware A copany aer copany ae an (ieitabe coitmet to inx you no oer ha to pere the aocacy newroup to read the tea leae

1 2

     r   n

V

Linux had captured the panets heart ie some improae Oympic god medaist om an unrecognizae thirdword nation I was the poster oy In a press interview, ric aymond expained that part of my appea (or whatever was that  was ess visiy odd than a ot of other hacers  Oay hats one hacers opinion Not everyody ied the situation ichard Staman cam paigned to change the name Linux to gnu/Linux, using the ogic that  had relied on the GN g compier and other ee soware tools and appications to get Linux o the ground Others were growing increasingly irritated by the ct that Linux w nding a home in the corporate realm The press was paying up the dichotomy etween the Idea ists and the Pragmatists (not my terms among Linuxs now hun dreds of thousands of participants nder that division, those who feared that Linux's ideals were incompatie with the goas of capi talism were dued the ideaists I ed the pragmatists ut  saw such anaysis as journaistic nonsensea simpistic attempt to t everything neatly into a world of ac vs white ( have the same problem with the way ls view the Linux phenomenon as a inux vs Microso war, when in ct its something ese entirey, some thing r more widereaching ts a more organic way of spreading technoogy, nowedge, weath, and having n than the word of commerce has ever nown  o me, it was a nonissue Without commercia interests,  63

ow ese woud ux ow to ew markets How else woud it create opportutes r ovatos How ese woud t be able to reac te peope wo wat an aternatvea ee alternatveto te bad tecoogy tats out tere Wat more realistc way r ope source to tae od ta troug te sposorsip of corporatos  Ad wat better way of gettg some of te less iteresting work accompsed, borg stu ke maiteace and support, ta dog  t sde compaes Ope source s about ettg everybody play Wy sould usess, wc es so muc of societys tecoogical advacemet, e excudedprovded tat tey play by te rules Open source ca do otg but mprove te tecology tat companies create, ad maye make tem ess greedy. Ad eve if we wated to stop te rces of commercialism, wat coud we do I was ot wg to suggest we de, go undergroud, rese to tak to commercia peoe Atcommerca setiments ave aways bee a part of te ope source commuty, ut t wast ut iux became a ouseod word amog owtec ouseods tat tere was a ot at stake Te ewsgroups were aame wit te paraoid ratngs of some of te voca craes Noe of te ux deveopers I iteracted wit were worred at a But oters raged o about ow ed Hat or some oter compay woud pervert te otos of ope source, ad aout ow some peope were osg teir deas m. To some degree, ts probaby true tat some ope source ks stood to get dverted om teir ideasm But wile certain peope saw tat as a osg propostio, I fet tat it smply gave us more coce Tecca peope wo were worred about tigs ike edg ter kds ow ad a opto, r exampe You ca stll be as deastc as youve aways ee or you ca coose to be part of te ew commerca reed. You dot ose aytg by avg someody ese come  ad gve you a ew opto. Bere, obvously you coudt coose aytg but beig pure. By te way, Ive ever fet tat I was i te idealstic camp. Sure Ive aways see ope source as a way of makng te world a 4

jt for F n

better place ut more tan tat,  see it as a way of aving n Tats not very idealistic And  ave always tougt tat idealistic people are interesting, but kind of boring and sometimes scary n order to old a very strong opinion, you ave to exclude all te oter opinions And tat means you ave to become unreasonable Tis is one of te problems  ave wit Am  rican politics visvis European politics n te American version of te game, you draw te enemy lines and te skill rests on one side's ability to be divisive European politicians tend to win by demonstrating tey can ster cooperation So 'm stuck wit te conciliatory approac Te only time  was ever nervous about commercialism was very early on, wen Linux didn't ave muc of a name At tat point, if commercial people ad coopted Linux, tere would ave been noting  could do ut tat's obviously not te case now One concern raised in newsgroup ames amid te activity of 1998 was tat commercial people wouldn't give anyting back To some extent,  a to trust te new corporate players as muc as Linux developers were trusting me And tey proved temselves to be trustworty Tey aven't eld back So r it's been very positive As poster boy, older of te Linux trademark, maintainer of te Linux kernel,  felt a growing sense of responsibility  felt increasingly responsible r te ct tat millions of people now relied on Linux, and immense pressure to make sure it worked as reliably as possible t was important to me to elp corporations understand wat oen source was all about Tere was no war, as r as  was concerned, between te greedy corporations and te altruistic ackers No,  wasn't giving up my ideals by meeting wit ntel wen tey asked me to elp tem deal wit te Pentium FO OF lockup bug (Pentium F F bug?"  ear you ask Yea, it's us wacky engineers, making up wacky names again F F is te exadecimal representation of te rst two bytes of an illegal instruction sequence tat made Pentium CPUs lock up Tus te L  n u  To r v a l d a n d D a v  d D  a m o n d

 6

name). No, t wasnt ypota to pomote te wondes of open soue ode we oetg a salay om a ompany tat was so osed t woudnt even te peope wat t was do. e t s, I espeted, and st do, te owpowe p ansmeta was deveopng, and I saw t as te most teestg teoogy poet out teeand te one wt te boadest possbe patons. And,  te eod, I as pat of an eot to et te ompany to eease at least some o ts ode I fet pessue to od my gound wt te open soue ommunty as someoe wo oud be tusted om bot a tenoogy standpont and an eta standpont. It was mpotant to me not to take sdes among ompetng Lnux ompanes. No, I wasnt selng out by aeptng stok optons tat Red at was knd enoug to oe me as tanks. But t dd ake sense to tun down te entepeneu n London wo was oeng me 10 lon ust to end my name to s edgng Lnux opany as a boad membe. e ouldnt tom tat I woud tun down su a uge amount  su tte eavy g It was ke, "hat part o ten miion doars dont you unrstand?  It adt oued to e tat I mgt e su ssues. And Lnuxs newund populaty bougt wt t some tky tmes not ust  me but  te ente vtua ommunty In t, as open soue ode ganed te wods atteton  1998, one o te bg debates deat wt te ame tsef Ut te e ad eeed to te penomenon of sag sowae, unde su enses as te GP, as ee soae, ad n genea efeed to te ee sowae movement e tem as ts oots n te Fee owae Foundaton, w was unded by Rad taman n 1985 to pomote ee sowae poets su as GNU, t ee Unx e auned uddey, evangezes ke  Raymond wee ndng tat ounalsts wee onsed. Dd te od ee mean t ddnt ost anytng Did t mean ee as n no esttons Dd t mean ee as in eedom It tuned out tat Ban Beendof, wo was tak ng to ounasts on beaf of Apae, was enounteng sma ustatons Ae weeks of pvate ea exanges n w I was 

 u  t fo  F u 

not a patpant but was meey ed (I was neested n e pota sde), a onsensus was eaed e woud e to t as open nstead of ee ene, te ee sowae movement beame te open soue movement peope wo pefeed to see t as a movement, w I guess t was. oweve, te Fee o wae Foundaton s st aed te Fee owae Foundaton, and Rad taman s st te psyooga masted bend  As one of te de to eades o f tat movement, I was neasngy n demand Evey tme my pone ang a ans metaand t ang a te tme tose dayst meat oe of wo tngs Ete a jounast waned to nvew me, o te oganz es of a onfeene wanted me to speak In ode to spead te wod about open soue and Lnux, I fet obgated to do bo. ake a sy mat wz, put m on e geetandgn ut  a popust ause, and youve eated a k eo Foget wa E Raymod sad about me beng ess vsby odd tan a ot of akes. A bg pat of my appea (o wateve you want to a t) s tat I wasnt B Gates Jounasts seemed o ove te t at, we Gates ved  a gte akesde manson, I was tppng ove my daugtes paytngs n ou new oatona teebedoom an ouse of a dupex wt bad pumbng n bong ata aa. And ta I dove a bong Ponta And answeed my own pone o wouldnt ove me As Lnux ame to be vewed as a ea tea to Moso and a te tme of Mosos antust woes, t sue eeded at eas te appeaane of a ea teatte pess uped on evey deve opment as f t wee oveng od a III omebody eaked e aoween Doument, an ntena Moso memo ndatng tat te ompany was oneed about Lnux oon eve Bame was quoted as sayng, ue, Im woed. e t was, even f Mosoft stood to benet by payng up te ompeton ts n dows NT as getng om Lnux, te eaty was tat te ompe tton woud ony get moe ntense. I ddnt have to stand on a soap box and say obe ngs          l    D     D      

7

about Miroso. at would be te point Events just play teseves out, and tey played eselves out in or o Linux. Jornalists loved it al Te ospoken (like a x) David vs te Monopolisti, Meanspiited Goliat And, sine I bein petey andid, I atually enjoyed talkin about it all to reporters.  ike to al journalists sum, but I und most o y interiews to be n Te epoters typially were interested in our storyw woudnt root  te undedo One tey ot teir ll o te AoebatatDestredMioso plot (note in te interest o ll dislosure, tis setee as been speleked by a Mioso produt), journalists wanted to undestand te onept o open soure. Tat essae was takin less and less time to get aross, sine people ould now see exaples o it in atin at seeed to amaze te next was te administation o Linux. Tey oudn't rasp ow te larest laboative pojet in te istory o uanity ould possiby be managed so eetively wen te averae tirtyperson opany typially degeneates into someting resemblin barnyard aos omebody oined te prase Benevolent Ditator to desibe ow I an te woe tin. Te rst tie I eard te ter, al I ould tink o was some sunnynation eneral wit a dark mustae anding out bananas to is starvin asses I don't know if I feel omtable wit te Benevolent Ditator iae.  ontrol te Linux kene, te undation o it all , beause, so r, everybody onneted wit Linux tusts me moe tan tey trust anyone else. My metod  managing te pojet wit undreds o tousands of deveopes is te same as it was wen I oded away in y bedoom I dont proativey deegate as u as I wait r people to ome wad and volunteer to take over tins. t started wen  divested myse o te esponsibilities I und less interestin, ike te useeve ode People stepped rward and oered to tae ver te subsystems Eveyting ltes up to me tro te aintaines o tose subsystems I appoe o disapprove o teir work, but osty  let tings appen natually. f two people are aintainin siilar  8

  s t fo r F  n

kinds o tngs, I aep bot o tem to see w ges used ometmes tey bot get used but wnd up taking dieen pats One, tee was intense ompetition between two people wo insisted on sendng pates tat ugt ea ote's pates I esed to aept pates om ete, untl one o te developes lost inteest Tat's ow Kng olomon would ave andled tngs i e an a pesool Benevolent dtato No, I'm us lazy I ty to manage by not makng desons and eng tngs ou natually Ta's wen you get te best esuts My appoa made eadlines But te iony ee is tat wile my Linux management style, su as  is, was eanng g maks n te pess, I was an undenable lue dung my be stnt as a manage at Tansmeta At one pont, it was deded tat I soud manage a team o developes I opped As anyone wo as ventued nto my unk eap o an oe knows, I'm totally dsoganzed I ad ouble managng te weekly pogess meetngs, te pemane evews, te ation items Ae tee monts t beame obvious tat my management syle wasn't doing anyting o elp Tansmeta, despte te pase I was etting om ounalss  te way I was unning Lnux Meanwie, te pess kept poundng away a anoe ssue agmentation Tose wo ave llowed e oky, unappy stoy o Unx know abou te endless bkeng between Unx ven dos Te questn ame up al te me n 1998 ould stoy epeat tsel n te wold o Linux  My answe was aways at wle tee undoubtedly s bkeng among Lnux vendos, t an't lead to te agmentation tat as kep Unx a peenna almostbeen Te poblem wt Unx s at ompeng vendos wasted yeas mplementng simila atues, simply beause ey ddn't ave aess to te same soue base Developng e same eatues independenly not only ost Unx yeas bu t also ed o bloody ngtng ue, I would tell te pess, Lnux vendos don't ost egulaly seduled LoveIns But tee s and wll ontnue o L i  u     a l a   D a  i  D i a    

 6

be less agmentation inside te Linux ommunity tan in te Unix ommunity, beause even Linux vendos wo ae not iendly an see te same soue base and an euse ea otes wok. Te soue ode is a epositoy om wi anyone an daw. Te moe ounalists stated gasping su onepts, te moe I liked meeting tem. (Unlike te ounalists I emembe om my yout in elsinki, most of tem in te United tates in te 1990s wee sobe.) I patiulaly enoyed te oppotunity to debate wit tem. But speaking was anote matte entiely. Im not wat youd all a natual peme. Remembe Im te felow wo baely e is bedoom tougout is idood. I neve was vey good at even writing speees, so I always waited until te nigt bee an event to pepae. omeow, tat didnt seem to matte. Typially, I would step out to te podium and people would ise to tei feet and applaud even bee I opened my mout. I dont want to soud unappeia tive, but Ive always und tat to be an embaassing situation. Anyting you say sounds wong, even my standad, Tanks, Now Please it Down. Im open to suggestions. But not all te alls wee om ounalists o onfeene oganizes. One nigt I was sitting at ome wit Tove. e wee eading to te gils. Te pone ang. I answeed Tovalds. U. Is tis te Linux guy Yes. Two seonds of siene. Clik Anote nigt a fellow om Las Vegas poned me at ome, tying to get me to sign on wit some Linux Tsit business. Te obvious solution would ave been to get an unisted pone numbe. I didnt bote to do tat wen we st moved to alinia beause it was moe expensive tan aving a listed numbe. Ive sine leaned te pie you pay  being so ugal, and am now unlisted. One, bee I got delisted, David misplaed my ome numbe and poned dietoy assistane. e asked  my 1 70

jut

fo F u 

number and te operator wo provided it said wit great astonis ment "Hes listed? With al his miions?  But no tere werent miions Miions o Linux users sure Not milions o dolars r Linus And tat was perecty ne

 i n  s o r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

7

 

Most days I wake up tinking Im te lukiest bastard alive I dont remember if ednesday, August 1 1  1 999 was one of tose days, but it sould ave been It was te seond day of te Linux orld onvention and trade sow wi ad been taking plae at te an Jose onvention enter Dirk ondel, wo is EO of uE and traveled om Ger many r te trade sow, ad spent te nigt on te guest bed in our mily room Ive known im r years es one of te old XFree86 people, and is on te grapis side of Linux es also Danielas godter I woke up, made appuino r Tove and Dirk, read everyting in te an Jose Merury News exept te sports pages and te lassied adslike I always doand ten we piled into te Toyota Rav4 r te tenmile trip to downtown an Jose I remember saking a lot of ands Tis was te day tat Red at would be going publi Te ompany ad years earlier given me stok options, and ad only reently sent me some paperwork ta I never botered to look at It sat somewere in a stak of papers near my omputer I remember I really wanted Red at to do well It wasnt so mu a matter of being exited about te optionsI didnt quite realize wat tey meant I was extremely jazzed r anoter reason In many respets, te IPOs suess would be a validation of Linux o I was a bit nervous tat morning, but I wasnt te only one Te market ad been doing poorly r weeks, and people wondered weter or not Red at would even pull o its IPO  72

he qudty eent" dd n ct happen. We got word on the conference oor that ed ats ntal publc oerng came n at $ 1   r was t $ 1 8 ?  dont remember. he mportant thng was that t ended the rst day of tradng at $35 Nothng recordbreang but t w oay.  remember drng home wt ove and Dr n te car rst feeng reeed. hen when  thought about the money rong excted. ny when we were stuc n Northbound trafc on ghway 101 dd t stre me that n one day  had gone om bascay zero to haf a mlon dolars. My eart started beatng ster. t was eaton tempered wth dsbee  w cueess about stoc and decded  needed to nd out what to do next. So  phoned Larry Augustn VA Lnuxs CE.  told hm he was the only person  new who ad a clue about ow stoc wors. My exact words Do you hae lke a stockbroer or somebody that you trust because  dont want to go on eay" ed at had gen me optonsnot an outrght grant of stoc  ddnt now what to do about exercsng tem. I knew there mght be a locup perod but  ddnt now f t appled to me and  hadnt thought about the tax consequences Larry wo s good t ths sort of thng and who nows a ot of people got me n touch wth ths guy at Leman roters wo souldnt ave been handng me at a because  wasnt a bg customer e promsed to nd out what  shoud do. Meanwhe two days aer the P  got an ema om someone n ed ats uman esources Department or ther lawyer n whch they mentoned sometng about the stoc hang spt bere the P.  new nothng about t. So  traced down the mana eneope contanng all te stoc opton paperwor  had neer bothered to read and there t was n pan (r legaese Englsh: My optons ad magcally doubled. My halfmon dolars was actually a miion dollars! eardess of the mage tat has caugt on n te press of e as a seess geerthemasses lng under a ow of poerty I was anly derous here  sad t  i n    r va l d a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

1 73

I sat down and ead all te Red Hat papes. Yes, I was subjet to a 180day lokup Do you have any idea how ong 80 days an be when you're a rst-time miionaire on paper? Now I ad a new spot (o a spot, peod) keepng tak of Red Hats stok pe, w ontnued esalatng dung te l lowng sx monts. It went up gadually and jumped a few tmes and just gew and gew. At one pont, Red Hat even splt one moe At best, I was wot 5 mllon om te optons Red Hat stated elatvely low and ned skywad as all teet, n te toes of ts love aa wt anytng even emotely elated to te Intenet, dsoveed Lnux e wee te Flavo of te Mont dung te oldweate monts at te end of 1999 Investment pundts on televson and n te geneal pess ouldnt get enoug of ts azy lttle opeatng system tat was pomsng to upend Moso My pone ang onstantly It all eaed a stunnng lmax wt te VA Lnux IPO on Deembe 9t Tat was an endosement beyond anyones expetaton Lay Augustn and I went up to an Fanso to be on ste at te ofes of Fst Boston  edt usse   te IPO I was weang wat I always wea a ebe Tst and sandals e bougt ou wves and kds It was a azy sene wt te toddles unnng aound among te buttoneddown nvestment bankes It all appened so suddenly Fgues steamed aoss montos  ndatng tat VA Lnux, on te st day of tadng, was sellng n te 00asae ange Ts was unead of Even f we adnt seen te gues, we would ave known t was a eod beause of te way te nvestment bankes wee ypnotzed by NN and te Bloombeg nanal annel Fo s pat, Lay was s usual ool self I dont tnk e batted an eyelas dung te wole tng I wouldnt know  sue, beause I was busy asng ae my daugtes Even te dwelles of Madagasas anests pobably wee awae of ow  t all made Lay He ad dven up to an Fan  74

j   t o r   n

iso witot m of a nanial net wot and dove bak to ilion Valley wot someting on te ode of  1 .6 billion. And as te pess ontinally pointed ot e was still in is twenties. Fo my pat I ad been given a stok gant and options  saes in VA Linx. As wit Red Hat I oldn't sell saes  six monts Bt nlike Red Hat wi imbed steadily VA Lin ad nowee to go but down Ae its eodsetting opening day te stok dopped steadily  a yea eaing a low point of 6.62. Patly te stok was a vitim of te maket oetion tat t most tenology stoks tat Apil. But also Linxs stint as Flavo of te Mont ad ended wit te sping taw. Bease of te VA Linx lokp peiod I oldn't take advantage of te ype maket wile it lasted It was psyologially m ade to llow te ompany tan it ad been to llow Red Hat to know tat evey nigt wen I awled into bed I wold wake p wit a lessened nanial net wot. Bt I still felt like te lkiest bastad alive.

 i n   o r v a / d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

1 75

Linu drive up to my Saualito oe one evening in Janua. Aer nikering about my ue of a Maintoh and a non-Linux operating y tem, he it down to read the rt dra of a lengthy prae I have writ ten, whih i in the rt peron, from hi perpetive. I it maybe two inhe away. The only noie Linu make i when he trip over a line about how he never expeted to nd himethe only global upertar Finland ha produed other than Jean Sibeliu and Nikki the Reindee After may be ten minute, he nihe the prae and hi only omment i: "Boy, you write long entene.  We pend a ouple of hour making the entene horter and hanging ome of the language to word that he would atu aly ue, and learning how to olaborate at work, having already proven that we are hamp at goong o olaboratively We eventuay dithed that prefae. Then Linu attempt, unuefuy, to improve the reolution on my t reen. It wa lat year' tateoftheart omuter reen, and I thought of it a omething of a tatu ymbol "How an you readfrom thi thing? he ak. He i unueful at improving the reolution quality to meet hi tanrd. Then he take out a piee ofpaper and tart drawing diagram and explaining w monitor work. At ome point I ay, "Hey, let' grab ome uhi.  "Thi money thing i driving me razy,  he ay. ut the waiting for the lok-up period to end. It' like having lot of money but not having lot of mon. It' on my mind ontantly.  I orr aki. He orr fruit juie beaue he i driving. "Up until now, we almot never had more than 5000 in our  7

heking aount. Exept for some stoks and stu we have for savings that we an't touh, that was a the mon we had to spend. So now I have a this mone on paper and "Like how muh mone? A ouple of miion? "How about 20 miion? That's what the stok from the VA Linux PO is worth, as long as it doesn't drop. But I don 't have aess to the mone until the lokup period in six months. o, now it's ve months.  "I don't see the problem here. You have to wait ve months bore buing a big house? I don't mean to be unsmpatheti but  . .  "He, we it seems at rst that it's enough mone that we should be able to bu an house we want. But we need a house with ve bedrooms and we want enough land around the house so we an hear animals and I've been plaing pool eveda at work so we' need a room that's big enough to hold a pool table. And we want a separate unit for when Tove's parents visit, or so we an have m sister's friends ome from Finland and sta a few months and help us with the kids. It's funn, we had Patriia when we moved from Finland to the states. We had Daniela when we moved from our apartment to the duplex, and . . .  "So ou gus are working on having another kid? "We, we're letting things happen natura.  "Where I ome from, ou pronoune that, We're ting to have another kid, ' dude.  "Oka. So we' need more spae and we've gone to a ouple of Open Houses and the houses available are unbelievabl expensive. I mean ou get 20 miion and it's like, wow, I an ford an house in the world. But we looked at a house for 2 miion in Woodside that had no land and was rea trash. The best house we saw was for 5 miion. But if ou have 20 miion, ou've gotta gure that ha of that goes to taxes. Then ou have 0 miion to work with, but the taxes on a house like that ould be like 60000 a ea so ou've got to set mon aside for that. And I don 't know. This is going to be the onl time in m li when I' get so muh mone and I don't want to overextend mseand not be able to afford to live in the house. And we don 't want to have a mortgage hanging over our heads.  L   u s o r v a l s a   D a v   D  a  o  

 77

"I'm not ein so for you. First of a, you' probaby do okay if ransmeta does okay in an IPO.  "Yeah. But I'm ony a junior eninee so I'm not ettin that muh stok. And my saa isn't that hih.  "Linus, you oud o to any venture apitaist in this ton and et anythin you anted . . .  "I uess you're riht. 

 78

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V III

Tis is te place wee I slip in my golden ules Numbe ne is Do unto otes as you would want tem to do unto you I you llow tat ule you'll always know ow t o beave n any situaton Numbe Two is Be poud o wat you do  Numbe Tee And ave n dong it  couse it's not always easy to be poud and ave n A mont bee te VA Linux IP I accomplsed neite wen I deliveed a keynote speec at te 1999 Comdex Sow in Las Vegas Comdex as most eveyone knows s te biggest baddest tade sow known to umanty Fo most o a week te seepy town o Las Vegas Nevada becomes a magnet  evey concevable g tec poduct tat could possibly be peddled and te masses o peo ple wo would buy and sell tem It's te only tme o te yea wen you can oll down te window o a Las Vegas cab lean out and ask a andom ooke stutting past Wat tme s te keynote and se'll know te answe It was a big dea tat te tade sow oganizes asked te benevolent dictato o Planet Linux to gve a Comex keynote speec It was te compute ndusty's way o acknowledgng tat Linux was a ce wit wic to be eckoned Bll Gates deliveed te keynote on Sunday te st ngt o te sow He ad attacted a standingoom cowd in te Venetian Hotel balloom wic is about te sze o seven aveage IKEA stoes Conencegoers wo wee eager to ea wat e ad to say about te antitust talwic w appening at te tme 1 7

wo jst wanted to be abe to tel tei gandiden tey ad seen te wod's iest man in te es, ined p os beeand in a snake patten in te ote onfeene ente's massive base ment eve Gates's spee began wit a awye joke, ten inded weoeogaped demonstations of Mioso eb tenoogy and igy poised video segments, one of tem wit Gates dessed ike and imitating Astin Powestat sent te adiene into ts of agte. I wasn't tee. I was eping ove sop  a bating sit Bt te llowing nigt, I deiveed my spee in te same oom I wod ave ate gone sopping. el, not eay  . . It's not tat I wasn't pepaed Odinaiy I wite my spee te day bee, bt tis time I atay got a ead stat. It was a Monday nigt spee and on atday I ad witten it and set p te ompte to pojet its sides veyting ooked eally good. I ad even pt my spee o tee dieent oppies, jst to potet mysef in ase one of tem migt tn ot bad e one ting I ate moe tan speaking is speaking wen someting goes wong. I even pt my spee on te Intenet, jst in ase a te oppies wee bad. ee was a omdexinspied taf j am on te tip so we aived at te Venetian ote ony a afo bee I was de to begin I was wit ove and te gis and some ks om te sow. en we nay got into te biding, we ad pobems getting aess to te bakstage aea bease one of te oganizes ad mispaed te seity badges I mean, eveyting went wong. o nay we got inside. I wod ave been nevos if  wee abot to speak bee ty peope, et aone te biggest adiene of my ife en it appened I disoveed tat te ompte itsef, wi ad been so painstakingy set p two days eaie, was nowee to be nd. It was insane. omeone mentioned tat peope ad stated ining p

80

J u s t fo  F u 

 te spee downstais moe tan u ous in advane, and tat te waiting aa was paked to apaity Meanwile, we wee unning aound like ens witout eads, seaing bakstage  te maine. It was a noma desktop system wit ta Ofe, one of te Linux ofe suites, installed And I was supposed to just put in my oppy and go Eveyting ad been set up so tat tee wouldnt even be any ables to atta But the omputer had vanished. Appa enty te maine ad someow gotten mislabeled o someting, so it was sipped bak appily, I ad my laptop wit me and I ad te atua side le of my spee on te laptop and I did ave ta Ofe installed Beause tis was my laptop, I didnt ave al te igt nts  at meant tat te ast ine on all my sides was missing en I eaized tis, I tougt Who ares? I'm going to get through this alive. en we ad to ook up all te ables I mean, liteally, tey stated etting people in bee eveyting was set up I was up tee, stil tying to get it to wok, as a ood of umanity wased into te umongous auditoium, ling evey avaiabe seat and ten ing te standing aea aong te sides. Lukily, tey gave me te standingovation before I opened my mout. I stated out wit some lame eene to te lawye joke tat Bil Gates used to open is spee I gave a onesentene int about wat tenseetive ansmeta was developing It ad been wildly umoed in te pess tat I woud use te Comdex spee as an oasion to (naly) announe ansmetas ip But we wee just not eady. e main pat of my spee simply invoved tiking o te benets of open soue ompu ing I wasnt in a mood to ak as many jokes as I odinaiy do At one point, Danielawo was sitting wit ove and Patiia in te st owbegan a ying spel tat was pobably audible tougout Las Vegass asinos and stip lubs at was not a spee tat wil go down in istoy among

L   u   r  a l a   D a    D  a    

181

te geat oatons Late, someone ted to cee me p by nmng me tat Bll Gates, too, ad been vsbly nevos on te same stage te ngt bee Howeve, s onstage appaats ad woked wtot a tc e toble was, e ad te U.S. Depat ment o Jstce beatng down s neck I gess I came ot aead

 82

j   t o r F  n

It seemed like a stratey out ofournalism 0: Find the person ho had been aitin the lonest to hear Linuss keynote, and han out ith him (undoubtedly, him) in line. What better ay to ather insiht into the deebie hord ho folo Linus like hes some sort of vendoare-ad God. At 5  m on an esalator desendin into Geek Woodstok. At the head of te vast, snakin line is an intense omputer siene stunt from Wala Wala Collee ho eaerly arees to let me join him. He has been aitin, so fa to and a ha hours to see Linus, and he ill be aitin another to and a ha hours bore bein let into the auditorium. His assmates, ho are behind him in line, arived in the queue maybe ha an hour aer he di Th drove don from Washinton State ith one of their prossors and are slpin in the ymnasium of a loal hih shool. They a seem to have started their on b sin business. They seem to have onveniently divid up the universe ofronups into to roupshakers and suitsand are onstantly pointin out members of the latter ateo in the roin line, sayin thins like, "Man, look at a the suits here,  the ay their Delta Tau Chi ounterparts miht survey a beah durin sprin break and observe, "Man, look at al the foxes here.  But like their Delta Tau Chi ounterparts, th are doin al the usual horseplayslappin eah other hih-ves, tradin insults, althouh the insults a relate to motherboards or iabytes. And then they talk about Linus. His name omes aross apitalized, as in "LINUS ouldnt ork at a ompany that asnt oin to be open soure, He just ouldnt  They have been slavish 8

rutinizer of lahdot and other b ite here rumor of Tranmeta huhed going-on irulate like the lurid detail of a oyood tarlet love life Thi mania and the peulationaination int happenin only among the ardent groupie ho arived he rt I viit the men room and take my plae at the only empty urinal interupting a onveration in progre "Thi peeh i going to be ay boring ompared to the Gate knote  ay the o to my l "What do you expet replie the other guy "inu i a hake not a uit I mean give him a break  When e nay get into the auditorium omeho e are no up front but tord the bak of the middle My linemate from Waa aa forget for a moment about the exitement of eeing hi heo live and go into a rage about not being in the rt ro here he e to be Soon he i pointing out the uit in the audiene ven though ere maybe eventy-ve yard from the front it poible to ath a glimpe of inu on the rkened tage eated at a omput e quikly type into the omputer hile being urround by a fe ofial What ould be happening up there Some ort of lat-minute oare emonration ventuay inu and he other leave the tage Someho inu International Exeutive Diretor Maddog on a) i introdue My ompanion from Waa Waa get viibly exite "hek out the bear  he ay Then Maddog announe h pled he i to introdue a n ho i like a on to him inu reemerge and get a big hai hug from Maddog Even from bak in the hp eat I ould te he a neou "I anted to tart ith a laer joke but that a taken  he ay a rerene to antitrutuitplagued i Gate ereeived opening the previou nigh "Anybody heard any good layer joke e proeed to give a one-entene hint a t Tranmeta eretive operation Then the ret of hi peeh oit of ratling o the enene that are hed on lide high above hi h tatement about the groing importane of open oure Nothing urpriin Nohing ne It i livered in a tir-but-heerful monotone At one point one of hi daughter rie

 84

     r   n

In mid-sentene he says, That's my ki  You ould look up at the monitor and see the stage lighting rting o the beads of seat on his rehead Aerar audiene members line upfor questions He quikly deines to say hih of the Linux ord proessing soare he prrs When someone asks him ho many stud penguins he has at home, he ansers: Quite a fe  A n audiene member asks ho he likes living in Califoia, to hih he responds by rhapsodizing about the eathe It's November and I'm sti earing shorts In Helsinki I'd have lost my ron jeels by no  A fan alks up to the mirophone for audiene questions and announes, simply, Linus, you're my hero  To hih Linus responds, as  he has heard the same statement a miion times and ansered it a miion times: Thanks  Aer the questions are ove hundreds ofpeople ood into the area belo the podium, here Linus has no moved and is shaking as many hands as he possibly an

 i n    r v a l d a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

 85

X Is h Lnux Rvouon vr?    C W

" u r cang. 'The Rvti is  fyou  like he   tnux, jJlas pr on



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It appears Linus Toads has a hand hih must mean this hoe Linux thin is mainstream, so foret aout the roution and et ak to ork on your ndos desktops One as a time hen reporters oud a the inventor of the Linux operatin system at his oe at oakander marketed Trans meta Corp. , punh in his extension and reeive a famiiar dear ative "Tovads from the n himse on the other en He as patient and he ansered your questions He tod you hen he had no time. Sometimes he tod you hen you asked useess neophyte pro rammer questions But he ansered the phone Today, hen you a Transmeta and punh in his extension, a peasant femae voie reets you "Thank you for ain Linus Toads This voie mai does not aept messaes To ontat him, pease send a fax to     What? And it starts to sink in: Hes not ettin ak to you Hes had enouh. Hes a eerity and ettin a quik intervi ith him no i e ike ettin a quik inteie ith that other i omputer indust eerity The oman rattes o a fax num

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ber and you're already thining of hiting the old 0-# ombo r a reeptionist    "Our reeptionists do not tae messages for him, nor do th eep his alend  D'o She's pleasant The worst "But they wi gladly get your fax to him  Uh-huh And Bi wil gladly brea up Mirosoft to appease David Boies Oay, so the Linux revolution isn't ove but lie any revolution, the rag-tag rraff is being superseded by mainstream sympathiz ers Suburban new wave supplanted urban pun ro Wealthy landowners in the olonies rose up after the poor taxed man (The wealthy landowners, by the way, later tried to foist on frontiers men a whisey tax not so dirent from the tea tax imposed on them a few yrs earlie ) In fat, it's probably high time Linus stepped ba It was inevi table, reay, given the number ofpress as and the maddening range of topis he was elding Tae his press Q + A session at the Linux World Expo in San Jose eaier this month Tovalds, who agreed to the session beause he simply didn't have time to eld the innumerable individual requests, rst had to rattle off what were beoming familiar answers to familiar questions Can open soure wor in the busi ness world? Are you trying to rule software the way Bi Gates rules software? What do you thin of Mirosoft? What is open soure? What is Linux? Why a penguin? Torvalds, by this point, was early entering the anned realm of sports gures with his answers Thin Tim Robbins in Bull Duram: "I just need to go out there and give 0 perent to try and help the team    .

And beyond the redunnt, the questions rom journalists outside the teh world veered wildly At one point during his press onr ene, the Finnish phenom was ased how he was going to apture

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the sma and medium business market. Typiay Torvadian retort "I personay haven't tried to apture anyone. ) To ques tions ate an eage 'vegotauniqueangetothisopensoure mess reporter asked Torvads hat he thought of orporations patenting agriutura genomes. (Typiay quotabe Toadian response "I'm of to minds he� it omes to patents. There are good bad ones and reay bad ones. ) Programmers, heed this If someone starts asking you about agri utura genomes, it's ikey time to get a hande So maybe it's a good thing that Linus doesn't anser his phone anymore Sti, e' miss the andor and sedepreation ofTor vads, hih ame aross so genuiney to reporters used to burning their throats on the d, pressurizedairpaneair marketing being bon by most ompanies. And e hope, faxes do in fat reah his desk, and he does in fat respond to questions, he i keep the Torvadian tone. Beause if thefauxpeasant PR voies take ove this Linux thing on't be neary so muh fun.

Okay, I gess  owe Mr. erinato an explanation bt not an apology. Anyone reading this colmn wold assme the monting pressres of my role as chief nerd had trned me into an asshole. t thats wrong. I alwas was an asshole. I ll start at the beginning. I think vice mail is evil . t is the perfect example of a bad technology n ct it is the worst technology that exists, and I hate it with a passion. So at Transmeta we started ot with a perser voice mail system that allowed each employee to store twenty mintes worth of messages. Aer that callers got the message saying the mailbox was ll please contact the receptionist. Mine was always ll.  think it was the jornalists who cased the backlash. The 88

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would badger the Transmeta receptonsts because my voce malbox was ll Aer the rst hundred tmes , the receptonsts started gettng rrtated They knew I wasnt nterested and tey ddnt want to be the ones tellng peope to ck o So  started deletng messages wthout lstenng to tm, just so the ont desk people wouldnt get annoyd Most o the tme I would never lsten to my messages, anyway For one thng, people usually mumble ther phone numbers nto the recordng, and  would have to lsten een tmes just to gure out what they've sad Also, I rese to call people back  I have no reason to call them back People would get a warm and zzy elng tat they had le a message Untl they realzed I wouldnt return ther call Thats when they would call the recptonst Te receptonst wouldnt know what to say, so I would tell hm or her to tl te caller to x me Faxes are as easy to gnore as voce mal, although at least wth a fax you could make out the number, should you want to I never wanted to At rst, te receptonst poltey told callrs to pea send me a x Eventually, pople caught on to the ct that I ddnt rad the x, and they would call back a week later and complan tat they had already xed me So the receptonst agan got caught  the mddle It wasnt her job to handle my calls Yes, Mr Bernatos generous descrpton o  me n te good old days bere Lux took o notwthstandng, I truy always av been an sshole Ths snt anythng new The x soluton dnt last tat long In te end, tey set up a specal ponemessagng account r me that ddnt have voc mal By ths tme Transmeta had hred a PR prson who volunteered to handle my rquests Theyre traned to do ts, Im told They stll tell me  should always call journalsts back becaus, even f I don't want to talk to them , reporters gt a warm and zzy feelng that I returned ther call My reacton to that s: I dont care about ther warm and zzes Okay I do answer my own phone to calers who appen to  i n u s o r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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all wile I m sittig at my desk But tat souldt be iterpreted as a attempt to appear acessible Ad it ertaily ist a politial statemet Te poit about ope source as ever bee tat Im moe aessible ta aybody else Its ever bee tat Im more aessible ta aybody else Its ever bee tat I m more ope to oter peoples suggestios Tats ever bee te issue Te issue is tat eve if Im te blakest demo om Hell, eve if  m outrigt evil, people a oose to igore me beause tey a just do te stu temselves Its ot about me beig pe, it s about tem avig te power to igore me Tats importat Teres o  ofial" versio of Liux Teres my versio ad teres eveybody elses versio Te t is, most people trust my veso ad rely o it as te de cto ofial versio beause teyve see me work  ie yeas o it I was the oigial guy ad people geerally agree tat Ive bee doig a good job But lets say I save my ead to display a 666 ad say, Bow bere me because i you dot I will smite tee ! " Tey would just laug i my ce ad say, OK, well just take tis little kerel ad do wat we tik is rigt" People trust me But te oly reaso tey do is tat so  Ive bee tustworty Tat doest mea I m willig to liste to voie mailor to ayoe wo appes to reac me o te poe Ive ever felt tat people sould see me as tis good guy wo likes to respod to ayoe wo alls or seds me email Ad wile were o te subjet, its stage to ave tese stoies makig me out to be tis selfefig mok o sait wo just doest are about moey at all I ave tried over te years to dispel tat myt, but my eots ever make it to rit I dot wat to be te peso te pess wats me to be Te t is, Ive always ated tat selfefcig mok image beause its so uool Its a borig image Ad its utrue

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Crawling out of my bedroom and into the spotlight, I quickly had to learn the sort of tricks of living that other people probably picked up en route to kindergarten For example, I never could have anticipated how ridiculously seriously peope would take meor my every move Here are two situations , both of them variations on a theme Back at the university, I had a root account on my machine Every account has a name associated with it The name is used r inrmational purposes So I named the root account on my machine Linus God" Torvalds I was God of that machine, which sat in my ofce at the university Is that such a big deal? Now, when somebody ngers" a machine under Linux, or Unix, they are checking to see whos logged on to that machine Due to the advent of rewalls, the act of ngering doesnt take place much anymore But years ago people would nger anothers machine to see if the user had logged on or had read his email It was also a way of checking out someones plan," personal i nrmation the person had posted on their machine, sort of a predecessor to web pages My plan always included the latest kerne version  So one way r people to gure out the version of the day was t nger my machine Some people had even automated the process They would nger me once an hour as a way of keeping up on version changes Regardless, whenever someone ngered me, they would see that my root account was named Linus God Torvads This wasn't a problem early on Then I started getting emails om peo 

ple who told e tht ws blsphey. So  eventully chned it These re people who tke theselves too seriously nd tht drives e crzy. Then of course there ws the incident in North Crolin. Guds! Tht ws bd. A recently published book bout Red Ht de it sound like n interntionl incident of potentilly ct strophic proportions. t wsnt relly uch.   hd been invited to spek t  eetin of Linux users hosted by Re Ht which is bsed in Durh. The uditorium ws pcked. The oent  wlked out onto the ste everybody rose to their feet nd strted cheering. The rst words out of y outh were the rst thin tht ce to ind   your God." It  mnt to be   joke, for ing out oud! t wsnt  relly  convinced tht   your God nd you should never ret it." t w Oky oky oky.  know  your God. Now plese just sit down nd hold your pprecition until er you ctully her wht  hve to sy lthouh  genuinely do pprecite your preeptive pprecition."  cnt believe  willinly reliving this. Aer y urword reetin everyone ws silent r  oent. Hours lter those ur words hd becoe the topic of newsroup postins.  dit it t ws tsteless but unintentionlly tsteless. Actully it ws probbly y wy of delin with the ebrrssent of hvin people stnd up nd pplud you just becuse you step out to the spekers podiu People tke e too seriously. They tke  lot of thins too seriously. And one lesson ve lerned o y yers s Linuxs hood ornent is tht theres soethin worse Soe lks cnt be content to just tke thins too seriously on their own. Theyre not hppy unless they convince others to o lon with their obsession. This hs becoe one of y jor pet peeves in li. Hve you ever stopped to hink why dos love huns so uch? No its not becuse their owners tke the to the rooers every six weeks nd occsionlly pick up wht they leve behind on  2

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the sidewalk It's because dos lov etn old wha o do It ves them a reason to lve (This s particularly important snce so many of them ar out of workspayed or neutered, whch mans they've been ad o om ther job as repoducers of new gneatons of cannes Aso, wth a few eeptons, th sn' much al r their wredin jobs, like snifn out odnts) As a human, you're the leader of the pak and you'e tellin th dos how thy should behave Folowin your orders s heir passon And they ike it Untunatey, that's how humans are bul, too Popl want to have somebody tl them what o do It's n our krnl Any socia anmal has to be that way t doesn't mean you'r subsrv I jus mans tat you ar lkely to o alon wth others when tey tell you what to do Then there are people with ndvdual das, lks who hav convictons in ertain areas to the der tha hy say, No, I won't o alon" And thse popl becom ladrs I's asy to become a leade (I has to be I bame one, h) Then, othr peope who don't have onvctons n hose aas ar mor tha happy to et these eaders mak th decsons r em and tll them what to do It's absoutely the riht of any human bin to do what they're tod by someone they choos as a ladr I'm not arun aainst that, athouh I nd tha part deprssn owvr, what I nd to be unacceptable s when people, ither leadrs or llowrs, hen try to impose their own world viws o othrs Tha's ot jus depressinit's scary It's depressn tha peopl wl llow jus about anyone, incudn me And t's say that peopl wl then want to impose their llownnssif tat's a wordon ohs, incudin me Foret the cleancut robot/poslytzrs who always sem to ban on your door whenever you're on th computr, concentran on a tricky technical problem , or whenev he kids a nally nappin and you're just statin to t amorous A mo rlvant exampe s close at hand n he opn soue ommuny th zalots  i n u s o r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

193

who believe tht  innovtion shold be licensed nder the GPL (GPd" in hcker prlnce.) ichrd Stllmn wnts to mke everything open sorce. To him it's  politicl strggle nd he wnts to se the GPL s  wy to drive open sorce. He sees no other lterntive. The trth is  didn't open sorce Linx r sch loy resons.  wnted feedbck. And its how things were done in the erly dys of compters when most of the work ws done t niversities or defense estblishments nd they ended p being very open. Yo gve yor sorce wy to nother niversity when people sked r it. Wht ichrd did er getting ct o om projects he loved ws to be the rst person to consciosly open sorce. Yes there re enormos benets to be gined by opening p ones technology nd mking it vilble nder the sme terms s Linx nd  host of other innovtions. To get  glimpse of those benets ll yo hve to do is jst look t the comprtively low stndrds of qlity of ny cloed sowre project. The GPL nd open sorce model llows r the cretion of the best technology. t's tht simple. It lso prevents the hording of technology nd ensres tht nyone with n interest in  project or technology won't be exclded om its development This is ot  minor point. Stllmn who deserves  monment in his honor r giving birth to the GPL ws inspired to jmpstrt te ee sowre phenomenon minly becse he ws sht ot of  sccession of interesting development projects when they moved om the open cdemic world of the Msschsetts nstitte of Technology to the proprietry corporte environment. The most notble of these ws the LISP mchine. LISP strted ot s prt of the rticil intelligence commnity. As with mny things somebody thoght it ws so good tht they shold rm  strtp to mke it  commercil sccess nd mke money on it. This hppens ll the time t niversities. t ichrd wsnt prt of the commercil crowd so when LSP becme  commercil proj ect nder  compny nmed Symbolics in 1981 sddenly he ws

1 4

   t  r   n

ct o. To add inst to injry, Symboics hired away many of his cohorts om the A ab. The same thing happened to him a few other times . The way  nderstand it, his motivation r promoting open sorce was not so mch anticommercia as it was antiexcsion. For him, open sorce is abot not getting e ot. t's abot being abe to contine working on a project regardess of who makes i t commercia. The GPL is wonder in its gi of etting anyone pay. Jst think abot what a major advance r hmanity that is! Bt does that ean that every innovation shod be GPd? No way! T his is the abortion isse of technoogy. t shod be p to the individa innovator to decide r hersef or himsef whether to GPL the project or to se a more conventiona approach to copyright. The thing that drives me crazy abot ichard is that he sees everything in back and white. And that creates nneces sary poitica divisions. He never nderstands the viewpoint of anybody ese. f he were into reigion, yo wod ca him a reigios natic. n ct, the most annoying thi ngsecond ony to reigios enthsiasts knocking on my door saying what  shod beieve inis peope knocking on my door (or bombarding me with emai) saying how  shod icense my soware. This shod not be a poitica isse. Peope shod be abe to make p their own minds. t's one thing to sggest to someone that they consider GPLing their soware, and then eaving it at that. t's another thing to argue the point. t's reay bad when peope compain abot the ct that  work r a commercia company that doesn't GPL everything it does.  te them it's not their bsiness. The thing  nd hgey irritating abot ichard is not that he beieves that Linuxbecase its kerne reied on appications om the gn soware projectshod more righty be caed gnu/Linux." t is not that he openy resents me r being a poster boy r open source even thogh he was sharing code whie  was sti seeping in a andry basket. No, the reason  nd him so

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 95

pesy is a e conti nuay compains about oter people not sing e GPL I admire Ricard om ar r a bnc of reasons And I guess I end o respect people, like Ricard, who have very strong mora opinions Bu wy cant ey keep tese opinions to temselve? Te ing I disike the most is wen peope ell me what I soud or soud no do I absoutey despise people wo tink ey ave any say over my personal decisions  (Except, perhaps, my wife) Over  e course of e deveopment o f Linux, pundits suc as Eric Raymond ave suggested a e operating sysems success and e ongeviy of open source deveopment ave partly inged on y pragmaic approac and my abiliy to keep om aking sids in dispues ile Eric is arguably he best articuator of e opensource penomenon (and wile I strongly, strongy disagree wit is progun senimens) , I beieve es a bit o he mark on is pecepion of me Is no a I keep om taking sides It's jus a I so songly resen anyone wo ries to impose his or er orals on oes You can replace e word moras wit religion, compuing preferences,  watever us as iposing moras is wrong, e nex institution alizing moasis douby wrong Im a big beiever in individua coice, wic means a I tink I soud make my own decisions wen i comes to mora issues I wan o decide  myse Im very muc against unnecessary rues imposed by sociey Im a big believer tat you sould be abe o do waever you wan in e privacy of your own oe as ong as you don ur anybody else Any aw saying oerwise is a very, very broen aw And ere ae as a say oerwise I nd some scay rues, especiay some a are imposed on scools and cidren Imagine even i nking of imposing rules about teaching evouion, and aking a ino e wrong direcion Tat I nd scay Tis is socia conscience rearing is gly ead in places it reay as noing a a o do wi . A e same ime, my personal beief is that wat is more 

j u s t fo r F u 

mportant than me and my ndvdual moral decsons s, not even the human race, but olution To that extent,  want my ndvdual choces to take socal ssues nto account. ut thats probably bult n.  thnk t s bult nto human bologyevolutonthat we do take socal thngs nto account. Otherwse we'd have been gone long ago. The only other thng worth rantng about: peope who are too preachy. Theres just no reason r lks to evangelze, and to be so selfrghteous about t. And m soundng just lke one of them. ut ts an easy trap when people start takng you r too serousy.

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1 7

XI

Americans make a big ss over March 17h (S. Paricks Day May 5h (Cinco de Mayo and Ocober 12th (Columbus Day bu hardly any aenion is paid o December 6h which as any Finn can ell you is Finnish  ndependence Day Mos lks in Finland ceebrae Finnish ndependence Day the way they celebrae everyhing else by parying o excess They paryoexcesseven by Finnish standardshe nigh bere and recover in on of he elevision set r amos he enire naional holiday The opion  guess is o go ou and rudge in he snow hung over Wha keeps everyone glued o their TV ses is a single even the Presidens Ball Finland doesn have much in he way of high sociey so he Presidens Bal is prey much i he only truly big sociey even s eevised naionay o keep people om driving wih hangovers and o prove o ourseves ha we can sage our own respecable version of he Academy Awards No a beer meaphor: ts he Super Bowl of Finnish high sociey So hroughou he day om Usjoki in he norh o Hanko in he south Finns munch on gravlax and aspirin as hey watch a procession of inviteesmen in aicoas and women in ourageous (r Scandinavia evening aireshake hands wih he presiden Nineeen hundred and nineynine was he year  go invied You auomaically ge invied if youre an ambassador o Finland or if youre par of he Finnish parliament Maybe one hundred or wo hundred random people are invied on various 8

gounds. Tey may ave won a medal in te Olympics o maye tey elped te president on is campaign. If you are te captain of te ice ocey team and youve j ust won te wold campionsip, you gt invited. If te opeating system you ceated gains wold wide attention, you get an invitation. Spouses and companions come, too. In ct, it was lucy tat Tove and I could go at all In August we ad applied to te INS  pemission to go to Finland and etun. We weent approved until early November Two weeks later we received our invitation to te Pesidents Ball. Now iagine wat its lie. Pictue 2000 Finnsand not even te most important 2 000 Finnspaced into te pesidents castle. It was a ome tat ad been built r a Russian mecant It really is just a large ome, not exactly a onemily om e but maybe a ome r one mily tat as a lot of suppotcoos, maids, and te lie. ts not a uge place. So you arive. Someone takes your coat and ten youe j ust jammed in tere. You dont now wee to go. Bowls of punc proliferate. Obviously, tey contain voda. Tis wouldnt be Finland if tey didnt. t basically taes awile to nd people to talk to You end up speaking to journalists, because, anly, teyre te most interesting people tee. (Maybe it was te punc tat made tem seem more inteesting tan a parliament membe om, say, Lati) I didnt expect it to be muc n, because I wouldnt now many people tee. I was te only one om te open souce cowd invited I expected it to be lie te armymore enjoyable to talk about late. But it actually  n. Tove wore a green gown tat would ave been stunning and attracted media attention even if we wee at te Oscars, not te Finnis Pesidents Ball. Because se looed so good, and because Finland adnt won te wold ice ocey campionsip tat year, te press dubed us King and Queen of te Ball. Watever.

 i n    r va l d a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d



"You enter this house not as a journalist but as a friend.  are aowin no journalists in this house.   had never seen Tove so ebulient. She reeted me at the door of the new house on the day she and Linus reeived the key It's one of those monster homes the Media Room (whih now houses Linus's pool table probably doesn't share a zip ode with the Super Bonus Room, where Patriia and Daniela sleep, althouh it ould handle an entire preshool From the front door there's a wide, lon anled halway leadin way bak to the family room. f they remove the fany talian tiles, it wi b a great plae for the girls to pratie skateboarding some y Linus's oe on the rst oor has a mirrored slidin-glass doo Five bathrooms Maybe they've found more of them by now. t's a in a ated ommunity far from the hrt of Silion Vaey. Nike Torvalds is visiting Father and son retu from a trip to the old duplex in a rented BMW Z3 t's the model Linus wi soon be purhasing, and Nike wi drive it to the Stanford University libra this aernoon. But rst, he leans against the hot tub, situated in the unland saped bakyar and announes that this is the larest house anyone named Toalds has er owne Then he takes a piee ofpaper and lists a twenty Toaldses. He didn't know that a twentyrst was on its way. Linus, too, is thried in the empty house. Nike videotapes the surroundins and I ask Linus to arry Tove aross the threshold so I an photograph the event. There's some very un-Finish publi displayin of tion. "Did you ever think our hose would be this bi Tove asks me 200

• • • Tove needed to be on hand at the opening of the Ikea store in Emevie to buy aoires for the new house, so I suggted Linus bring the kids over to a house I was renting in Stinson Beah. As soon as they aived, I urged Linus to t out the kayak in the lagoon. He paddled around by himse then wth h of the girls, and imbed bak onto the dok with wet pants. I wanted Linus to give me his thoughts on a hapter entitle "Wi Suess Spoil Me? and took the girls outside to the beah so he ould read it undisturbed. Patriia and Daniela spent mayb a ha hour hunting for starsh and tiptoeing into the wat ter whih one of them announed Kisin komme" whih translates to: "Ive got to potty.  We returned to the house to nd Linus sitting at the omput in his undea a bag ofpretzels at his side, intently typing away. It took him maybe een seonds to rlize we had aive He looked up from the monito His rst words were: "Boy, your Maintosh suks.  Then: "Oh, and I put my pants in your de  He had retitled the hapter "Fame and Fortune,  guring that "Wi Suess Spoil Me ? sounded a bit egotistial. He wanted more time to write, so I took the girls out to searh for seals while he nished the hapte

 i n    r v a /d a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

2 0

XII

ts easy to ght windmills if you dont realize how hard it is. Five years ago when people asked me if  thought Linux would be able to take oer the deskop and make a dent in Microso, they always had a doubtl edge to their voice.  invariably told them that  thought it would. They would look skeptical. The ct is, they probably knew more than  did about the reality.  didnt really understand all the steps it would take to get there. Not only what it takes to tackle the technical problems of developing a robust and portable operating system, but what it takes to make that operating system a commercial, as well as technical, success.  would have been discouraged if  had known in advance j ust how much inastructure would need to be in place to make Linux as successl as it has been. Its not only that you have to be good. ou have to be good, sure, but everything has to turn out the right way, too. Any sane peson would have gazed up at the rugged mountaince that needed to be scaled, and would have been absolutely daunted. Just think about the technical problems of supporting PCs, which are about the most varied hardware out there. You have to suppot people who have bugs that you cant reproduce on appli cations that you dont even care about. But you care about Linux, so you care about helping to x them. Even to think about penetrating the commercial market, you have to have a respectable level of user support. From early on with Linux, you could have real support by doing it internally 202

witin a company. ut to make it in a big way you ave to ave a ot of peope and a ot of inastructure. It's not enoug to ave a 1 900 number or a 1800 number r te rst tirty days. To some extent support is no onger muc of an isue because it can be bougt at any number of placesLinuxcare Red Hat IM Silicon Grapics Compaq Dell. ut it ceary was someting tat ad to be in place. For te ongest time I didn't even realize ta. It as been a maor calenge r years. Unike business people wit soid tecnical backgrounds or ournaists wit a commercia bent I was a narrowly cused soware deveoper wo was naive about wat woud be required. Te tecnical probems aone would ave kept me om embarking on tis ourney. If I ad known ow muc work it woud take and tat I woud stil be doing it ten yeas laterand tat it would be amost a time ob tose entire ten yearsI never would ave started. And te abuse! I dont get tat muc abuse tese days bu it stil appens. People wo don't like open source or people wo are ust upset about bugs wi send me email cursing me over teir ustrations. Compared to te amount of positive mai I get it's minuscule. ut it sti appens. Yes if I ad realized ow muc work and ow ard ow difcut a lot of tings would ave been I probably would not ave done it. If I ad ad enoug knowedge to understand te probems in advance I probably never would ave taken Linux r beyond its initia release. If I ad known ow muc detail you ave to get rigt and ow muc peope expect of an operating system I woud ave been abe to envision orror scenarios of tings I coudn't andle. u t I aso wasnt able to predict te upside Like ow muc support I woud get and ow many peope would be workng togeter on tis. So now I cange my mind. I guess if I ad actuay known te upside  probably would ave done it.

 i n u  To r v a ld  a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

2

In tel ectual Propery

The intellectual property debate is so hot these days that  can't wander into a restroom without running across grafti supporting one side or the other Some people think that patents and other rms of intelectual property law are the bane of the ee universe and that these laws are not just misguided but actually i and should be struck down as soon as possible Others are convinced that pretty much the whoe world economy is driven by intellectua propety And those people want to do anything to strengthen the legal status of P rights As a result the grafti on the issue gets quite graphic at times Of course most of it is on the virua restrooms on the nternet not so much the restrooms in the hotspots of San ose's nightlife* There'll be huge amests over some specic issue associated with intellectua property law with people arguing everything om First Amendment rights to whether P aw might make open source development impossible sometime in the ture. And  nd myself certiably schizophrenic on the issue t's not that  don't have an opinion  have very strong opinions on the worth of intellectual property but they end up being on both sides of the argument  can tell you this can be very con This, as anbod who lives in San Jose can tell ou, is called IRON San Jose doesnt have nihtlife. People livin here dive to San Mateo if the actuall want to have n.

204

sn It ens tht  en p rn both ses An I think this s becse there relly   two ses to intellectl property n they shre nothn bt the ne To ny people ncln e   ntellectl property is ll bot hn inentenes s bot the ery thn tht kes us mas nste o ns tht n thbs o corse) An i n tht settn the ery ne ntelect property" s n ront: t s not property to b e sol l ke chttel it s the ct o cretion ts the retest thn ny hn cn eer o ts Art wth  c tl A ts the Mon Ls bt ts lso the en reslt o  lon nht o prorn n ts n en reslt tht yo s  prorer re ne prod o Its soethn so precios tht selln it snt een possble: ts nelbly  prt o who yo re Tht kn o crettywhether it be n the rm o pintn sc scptre wrtn or prorinshould be scre The cretor n the thn he or she creted he  bond tht cnnot be seere ts lke the bon between  other n chld or between b Chnese o n MSG ut t the sme tme its soethn tht eeryboy n the whole worl shoul be ble to be prt o becse t is hnty An then in the other corner wehin in t n pproxite seen llon  llion US ollrs  yer intellectul property s he bsness un cretity ot  price t nd it trne ot to be qte expense Cretity s rre nd s  reslt t s not jst expensie bt lso extreely lcrtie Which brns n  totlly erent clss o rents n totlly dif erent kns o people The kn o people who cll the end reslt o hn cretty property " Not to mention of course lwyers e the ttle o this chpter in The property" people re wnnin Aer ll ther ne stck So whts the problem? The ost welknown exple o ntellectul property is the noton o copyrht Copyrhts re bsclly the coction o the rhts o ny cretor to o with hs or her creton s he or she  i n     v a ld a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

0

wises Te owner" of te creation can decide on ow tat creation soud be used Coyrigts are aso egay very sime to get You dont ave to register your coyrigt: You are automaticay te coyrigt oder of watever creative work you do Tis is an imortant distinction om most oter i nteectua roerty aw, mainy because it actuay makes it easy r individuas, not just big cororations, to own coyrigts You can own a coyrigt, simy by virtue of writing, ainting, or generay creating someting uniqu If you want to, you can add a egend ik (C) Coyrigt 2000 Yourname Here," but quite anky, you dont need to You own te coyrigt weter you say so or not Saying so just makes it easier r oter oe to track you down if tey want to use your work Of course, just owning a coyrigt in itsef is not very use ut te ct tat you own wat you create means tat you can contro ow it is used You ave, r exame, te rigt to se suc a work of art to somebody ese , and nobody but te IRS gets to ave any say in te matter ut its about more tan just te money, and tats were a ot of eoe seem to nd temsves ummoxed For exame, you can use your ower as owner of a coyrigt to try to do more interesting tings tan j ust se i t You can icense it Tis is even better tan seing it ins tead of seing te work of art you can se te icense to do certain tings to it, and sti retain te coyrigt on it asicay, you can ave your cak and eat it, too is is ow te Microsos of te word get created: endessy seing te rigts to use someting, witout actuay osing anyting No wonder eoe just love to own tis kind of roerty Does anybody eras start o see a robem ere? If you dont see anyting strange so r, I ave a bridg and a few ieces of wateront roerty to se you Te basic robem wit inteectua roerty is starting t sow itsef: You as te owner of inteectua roerty can eectivey se it rever, witout ever osing anyting yoursef You dont risk anyting, and in ct you migt decide to write your icense in a 206

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way that basically says that even if the property is wed you can not be held responsible in any way. Sounds preposterous? You'd be surprised. Flaw no consumer protection. It gets worse The copyright holer not only has the right to sell his or her property without losing it, but also the right to sue people who sell property that looks like his or hers. Clearly the copyright owner has rights over that derived work Clearly? Not so st. Where do you draw the line between inspiration and copying? And wat happens when dierent people come up with similar ideas ? Who gets the gravy train of being able to sell his idea over and over and over again, and gets to tell the other people to butt out of his business? It's not just consumers who aren't protected, it's also other creative people who are not protected by the notion of intellectual property. " What makes the discussion ugly at this point is that a lot of the arguments r stronger intellectual property rights are based on the notion of giving inventors and artists more protection." What people don't seem to ever realize is that giving such powerl rights to some people also ends up taking rights away om others. And maybe not so surprisingly, the proponents of stricter intellectual property laws are the organizations that stand to gain the most. Not the artists and inventors themselves, but the clear inghouses of IP companies that make a living o other people's creativity. Oh, and lawers, of course. The end result? Copyright law amendments like the inmous Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which removes the last vestiges of consumer rights over the use of copyrighted material. Now, if you are getting the notion that I think copyrights are actually detrimental, you're wrong. I happen to absolutely love copyrigts, I just don't believe in taking the rigts of the authors too r. Not to the point of screwing the consumer over. And I say this not j ust as a consumer, but as a producer of copyrighted material myself, both in the rm of this book and of Linux itself. I, as a copyright holder, have my rights. But with rigts  i n u s  r v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

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ome obgatonsr as tey say n ertan eigboroods, nolee olie Ad so  ave te obgaton to se tose rgts  responsible ways, and ot as a weapon aganst oters wo lak s rgts As one great Ameran one delared, Ask ot wat yor opyrgt an do r yo, ask wat yo an do r yor opyrgt"r sometng to tat eet And n te end, opyrgt s, despte even te DMCA, a rly mld and wellbeaved rm of ntelletal property Te noto of r se" does stll exist, and oldng a opyrgt does not gve a rgts to te work to te opyrgt older Te same anot be sad r patents, trademarks, and trade serets te eavy drgs of P Dsssons over soware patets  partlar ave gotten so named n tenal rles tat t ofaly onts as one of te sbj ets yo sold not dsss  n polte ompany, along wt g ontrol, abortio rgts, medal marijaa, and weter Pepsi tastes better tan Coa Cola And te reason s tat patets, in many ways, gve otrol over new nventons smlar to tat of opyrgts, bt wit w of te redeemng qaltes of opyrigts One of te most awkward sses wt patents is tat, nlik wt opyrgts, yo dont get a patent jst r nventng sometng new No, yo get a patent aer yove gone trog te pan and proonged proess of ng r  t wt te patent ofe Watng r te patet ofe, by te way, s a bt like standng n lne at t e DMV, bt yo ave to realze tat yo stand n lne wt abot twelve patent lawyers, and te lie s TWO YEARS LONG n sort, its not sometg yo do r n o a Frday eveg f te kds fel asleep early As f to add inslt to injry, te patent ofe doesnt neessarly ave te resores to ek weter te patent r a new invention of yors s really all tat grondbreakng ts ot as f tey ave Enstens* working r tem, so its rly ard to gve *Actuay, Einstein  work r te patent ofce wen e did is work on specia reativity. But e was specia Even most patent cerks admit tat.

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new nventons te pope ceckng. c means tat n many cases obvously bogus patents ave been accepted. nk of t as te post ofce wt P.D. smnus t guns So wats te esult? Vey few ndvduals get patents  obvous easons Companies, on te ote and get a ton of tem. ey ae usel as weapons aganst ote companes tat teaten to sue ove te patents th own. e patent system of today s bascally a Cold a wt IP nstead of nukes. And  ts not muc pette e people le uddlng n bomb seltes ae te dvdual nventos wo ave to deal wt a system gone cazy and wo lack te esouces to ave  2 ,000 lawyes on sta Now f you want to avod te bote wt patents you can go  te stongest dugs of IP tade secets  e advantage of te tade secet s tat you dot ave to woy about a ade Secet Ofce o anytng at all: You can j ust stamp you ntellectual pop erty secet" and be done wt t You can stll tell people about t but you ave to tell tem ts a secet People used to do ts all te tme bee and tat s actually wy patent law was ognally toduced I ode to encou age ndvduals and companes to epose te secets patet law allowed  potecton  te maketplace  some tme if you divuged what your seret to suess was A basc m of tttat You tell ow you do sometg and well gve you eclusve gts  X yeas Bee patents people would guad te tecnologcal advantage jealously and take te secets to te gave. at was  obvous easons bad  tecncal evoluton because pomsg tecnologes wee neve dvulged to anybody else e pomse of eclusve gts made patents a vey powel cetve to tell all as you no longe ad to woy about you competto ndng out wat you wee dongat wc pont you would otewse ave lost te potecton of t beg secet. Howeve tat was ten and ts s now. ese days even tade secets ave legal potecton  untomable easons Any sane peson ealzes tat once a secet s out t s no longe a    u  o   a   a   D a    D  a  o  

20

secret. Except i te strage ad twisty passages of itellectual property law, were secrets ca cotiue to be secrets eve aer everybody kows wat tey are. Ad were te kowledge yo ave i your ead ca get you sued, if you appe to go to work r te wrog employer. Some itelectual property law is dow rigt scary. To a large degree, dig peace i tis itellectual prop erty war is wat ope source is all about. Wile a lot of people ave teir ow opiios about wat ope source realy tries to do, i may ways you ca see it as a igtec dtete , a des ig of copyrigt as a weapo i tis gt of itellectual prop erty. So ope source would rater use te legal weapo of copy rigt as a ivitatio to joi i te , rater ta as a weapo agaist oters. Its still te same old matra Make Love, Not War, except o a sigtly more abstract level (probably a lot more abstract, cosiderig some of te geeks I kow). But as wit ay major pilosopical ri, tere is always te oter side of te story. Tis is were my certiabe scizopreia comes m. Ive tried to explai wy a lot of people feel tat itellectual property, ad especially te stregteig of itellectual property laws, is dowrigt evil. May i te ope source commuity (ad outside too, i all oesty) would like otig better ta to tear dow all te ukes altogeter, ad totaly abolis te Cold War of kowledge. Oters disagree Te oter side of te picture is tat yes, itelectual property may be uir, ad yes, itellectual property laws are largely desiged to rter te aims of large corporatios over te rigts of cosumers o eve te idividual autor or ivetor. But boy is it lurative! It cocetrates te power of te powerl, ad te very ct tat i ts a powerl weapo makes it so eective i te market place. Te same reaso tat made uclear weapos te ultimate rce i te Cold War makes itellectual property so attractive i te war of tecology. Ad tecology sels. 20

}   t f r F u n

And it also generates a very powerl positivefeedback cycle. Because intellectual property is suc a good source of revenue a lot of money is being spent on creating  intellectual property. And tat very ct is important. In te same ways tat wars ave istorically always been a source of invention and great leaps in engineering (initially te computer itself was largely developed r purely military purposes te virtual war of intellectual property rigts elps feed te engine and brings neverbereseen resources into tecnology development Tis is a good ting. Of course I as an intellectual snob am convinced tat merely trowing resources around is not really all tat conducive to true creativity Just look at te music business of today. Kajillions of dollars are spent every year on nding te next ot artistyet nobody really tiks tat te Spice Girls (wo ave been ricly rewarded r teir contributions to teir art can compare to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (wo died destitute. So trowing money at te problem does not make r tat kind of genius. But intellectual snobbismte youcant buyagenius pilosopyoesn't really work as a longterm business model. Te creative juices are just so unpredictable so ard to court on nding tat any longterm planning sould not concentrate on te promise of pure genius. Te tecnology development of today (and sadly te music depends not on te Einsteins (and Mozarts but on a uge army of plodding engineers (and in te case of music wellendowed young females wo may sow only occasional ases of brilliance. Te added resources do not make r great art but r slow and steady progress And in te end tis is all to te best. Te notion of plodding engineers may ave less romantic appeal tan te eccentricgenius approac. Just tink about ow many Mad Scientist" movies tere are compared to te number of Plodding Engineer" movies. However wen it comes down to business you do want your occasional ases of genius but even  i n u s o r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

211

moe ta tat, ou wat te stead steam of small imovemets ove time. Ad tis is whee te owe of itellectual opet shies: Havig gow so lucative, it has become the hol gail of mode techolog compaies , feedig this big machie. Ad tus, taks to IP otectios te stead ogess goes o, uhideed. It ma ot be all that ceative a moe, but it 's deedable So I see bot sidesaltoug I ave to admit tat most of te time I'd ate see a moe  ad ispiig wold of tecolog. Oe wee ecoomic ctos would't always pevail . I ave a deame da IP laws will be dictated b moals, ot o wo gets the biggest iece of the cake. Tust me, I udestad te ecoomic issues At te same time, I cat hel but wis the did ot have such a ovewhelmigl egative imact o mode itellectual oet law. The ecoomic icetives to stegthe te oweship of itellectual poet, ad te difcult i exessig the otio of i use ad moals i legal text, have caused te two viewpoits o IP to gow the apat. As i a dispute betwee two eigbos, eithe side is willig to eve ackowledge that the ight solutio is likel to be somewee i betwee the two extemes Cleal, as te utuate assig of te DMCA showed, ecoomic icetives ae doig well. Te questio is, wat kid of itellectual opet law would help dive develomet while beig less dive b cass moegabbig iteests ? The issue is itesied b the ct tat mode techolog (ad te Iteet i paticula) ae weakeig ma of the taditioal ms of itellectual oet otectio almost ste tha we ca keep u Ad i was obod could ave edicted. Who would ave imagied tat Midweste gadmotes would be piatig eedlepoit istuctios ove the Iteet? The abilit to cop woks of atad techolog itself a lage scale as

22

J  s t f r F  n

bcom so widsprad and asily availabl tat institutions wit vstd P ar running around doing t bst ty can to sor up tir intrsts Ty ar doing all ty can to mak suc copying illgal and introducing nw masurs to actually outlaw tcnol ogy tat can b usd r piracy Wats wrong wit tis pictur? T problm is tat a lot of t nw orts to mak it ardr to illgally us otr popls intllctual proprty also mak it muc ardr to us otr popls work in lgal ways T classic xampl of tis om t Linux world is t socalld DCSS lawsuit n t DCSS suit popl wo wr working on tcnol ogy to dcod DVD movis wr sud by t ntrtainmnt industry r making t cod availabl to ot  rs on t ntrnt t didnt mattr to t j udg on t cas tat t ultimat aim of t projct was prfctly lgal t ct tat t projct could potentiay b usd r illgal purposs mad it illgal in t Unitd Stats to distribut vn t inrmation on wr to nd t instructions to do t dcoding (T DCSS" nam itslf coms om t projct undoing t DVD Contnt Scrambling SystmCSS So you dCSS" somting in ordr to rmov t scrambling so tat you can watc t movi on your computr) Tis is a prfct xampl of intllctual proprty law bing usd not to lp str innovation but to control t marktplac to control wat consumrs can and cannot do ts an xampl of intllctual proprty law go bad Suc misuss of intllctual proprty powr arnt limitd to tcnology by t way Anotr classic xampl is t us of trad scrt law to proscut and prscut t popl wo trid to inrm t public about Scintology. T Curc of Scintology succsslly claimd tat tir scripturs (Advancd Tcnology") fll undr trad scrt protction and usd P law to dnd tm om bing mad public Wat ar t altrnativs? magin an intllctual proprty

 i  u  To r v a / d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

2

law tat actually took other peopes rigts into account, too Imagine IP laws tat encouraged openness and saring Laws tat say sure, you can still ave your secrets, weter tey be tecnological or religious, but tat doesnt mante legal protection r suc secrecy Yea, I know How unrealistic o me

24

J u  t fo  F u 

A Ed to Cotol

The way to survive and ourish is to make the best damn produt you an And if you ant survive and ourish on that, then you shouldnt If you ant make a good ar, then you deserve to go down like the rok that was the US auto industry in the 970s Suess is about quality and about giving lks what they want Its not about trying to ontrol people The trouble is, people and ompanies are too oen motivated by pure greed And that always auses them to lose in the long run Greed leads to deisios governed by paranoia and a eed r total ontrol Those are bad, shortsighted deisions tht ed up in disas ter, or near disaster The simple example on everyones mind has been the phenomenal early suess of wireless tehnology in Europe at the expense of Amerian ompanies While the US ompanies individually tried to ontrol the market by using their own propri etary standards, the European ompanies rallied around a single standard, GSM, and hose to ompete based on whih ompany ould produe the best produt ad provide the best servie The US ompanies have llen behind, plagued by their own ompet ing standards With a market buoyed by a ommon standard, the European ompanies have all shared in the boom Thats why kids in Prague were swapping ellphone text messages years bere kids in Peoria had even heard about it as a new way of heating on tests  If you try to make money by ontrolling a resoure, youll eventually nd yourself out of business This is a rm of despo tism, and history overows with examples of its ill eets Say its 25

the 1800s in the .S. West and yo coro the sorce o wter r oca rmers Yo're stigy with he water and overchrge. t some point, it inevitaby becomes protabe r someone ese to devise a way to bring it in om somewhere ese, ad then yor market coapses. Or technoogy advaces so that pipes ca tras pot water, om a distance. Either way, as circmstances change yor hod gets broken and yo're e with nothig his happens a the time, and it's amaing that peope sti can't see it coming Fash ward to the msic idstry in the wanig yers o the twentieth centry. he resorce it contros is entertainmen  company owns the rights to an artist's work hat artist prodces a nmber o sccess singes, bt the company pts maybe one or two o those siges on each CD it prodces hat way it ca se mtipe CDs, instead o the one that everyoe wats hen some body invents the technoogy r MP3 Sddey, msic ca be downoaded om the nternet MP3 is abot doing the right thig  cosmers by giving them a choice So if a typica CD costs $ 1 0 and contains two singes a co smer wants, it may make more sense r him to prchase those singes sepaateyaong with others he wats MP3 r $150 apiece. No onger is the byer trapped in a despotic sita tion, ivig by the greedispired res o the msic company, which wnts to give p jst the bitesied pieces tha i chooses o give p. There's a good reason why the msic idstry is scared to death o MP3 and its sister technoogies, Napster and Gnea he price o water got so high that it became protabe r some body to devise a new method o bringig it i om somewhere ese t this is an idstry with a history o rying to coro consmersi not by what msic it chooses to reease, the by copyright and technoogy his is the indstry that tripped a over itse in the 1960s, trying to keep consmers om copyig msic onto tapes when that technoogy entered the market ecase he indstry t tapes were the perect medim r peope to disbey copyright aws, it arged r ways to protec its copyrights his was a bad excse. he idsry was takig he moa high grod 2

     r   n

and pleadg copyrigt wen t was smply tryg to maintain control of ts ice ancse Te ct is tapes never urt te musc industry Sure people coped music r teir own use but tat only meant tat people actually bougt more LPs om wic to copy Du  A few decades later wen CDs came out te players were built so tat you couldn't copy your tape perfectly Paranoia strkes agan Next came dgtal tapes Tey nvolved a dierent sampling rate om CDs48 kloert versus 44 1to prevent users om copying teir CDs onto digital tape Again te indstry tred to screw over te customer to get control ut in te case of dgital tapes te market never quite it t was a bit lke oling wit Moter Nature y trying to control eac successive tecnology te music indstry only elps inspre people to devise new ways around t Are tey ever gong to get it ? Tat brings us inevtably to DVDs Tis time te entertainment ndustry delivered muc better sound and video tan VHS tapes plus a smaller rmat and greater easeofuse ut tey added encrypton to prevent copying And to add insult to injury tey added geograpic area codes Te DVD you bougt at te San Francsco arport woldn't play in Europe t made a perverse sense to te industry Hey you guys we can sell movies at a iger price in Europe! So let's make sure tat Europeans can't buy movies o te United States Could te entertainment industry not ave predicted te obvious? Tat te price of water would get so ig tat somebody would devise a new metod of piping it in om somewere else? Yes wile te industry was greedily trying to control people troug tecology te DVD encryption was crackednot even by people wo wanted to copy DVDs but by people wo simply wanted to vew tem uder Lnux Tese are lks wo actually wanted to buy DVDs but tey couldn't te dscs would ave been useless on teir equipment Te ndustry's moves to protect its ef dom backred t simply prevented te market om expanding and created te incentive r te cracking of te DVD encryption  i n  s o r v a l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

27

Once again te sottem stategy tuned out to be te wong ting to do Te entetainment industy is just one example The same ting as been appening  yeas in sowae Tat's wy Micoso's stategy of bundling sowae is ultimately doomed to il Open souce poducts on te ote and cannot possibly be used in i n a despotic manne because tey' tey' e ee f somebody tied to bundle tings wit Linux somebody else could just unbundle it and sell it te way people eally want it It's's doubly It doubly tile t o attempt to contol people people toug toug tech nology In te end it always not only uts te company but also indes i ndes te t e acceptance of te tecnology te cnology A ecent example is i s ava wic as lost a lot of te appeal it oiginally ad By tying to contol te ava envionment Sun Micosystems basically lost it ava is still dong easonably well but it suely asn't lived up to itss potential  it Sun wasn't tying to make money on ava itself but te companyy saw te pogamming anguage as a way to make its compan i ts comco mpute moe unique uni que to uses and get us out of Mic Micoso's oso's gipand gipand sell moe Sun adwae by te way But wile they ween't eally tying to make money on ava tey did feel tat tey ad to keep contol of it as a penomenon and and as a micobe m icobe All of tei licensl icensing tems te ms came wit a lot of exta bagg baggag agee j ust  tis contol Good poduct But te poblem was tat they wee tying too ad to scew ove Micoso Tey wee motivated by fea loating and ate wic w ic is i s sot of a midtolate 1 990s app appoa oach ch to business (Tink of te Gatel Dead lyic: Ain't no time to ate") And because tey wee so atel of Micoso and so aaid tey made made al te t e wong wong licensing lice nsing decisions decisio ns Tey made it i t difcult difcult  eveybody even tei patnes to use te poduct Tat's wy companies like Hewlett Packad and BM all eventually decided to makee tei own av mak avaa implementations Tey just said Scew  Scew Sun " Sun tied to get ava standadized toug two dieent standadization bodies and eac time they basically pulled out because because of te contol issues issues  On te one and Sun wanted to stan 28

j u s t fo fo r F u n

dadze te language But at te same tme tey ddn't want to lose ontol. o te standadzaton boads basally sad Hey ts s not just about you. And as a esult un just aked out. It's an example of a ompany tyng to ontol tenology n ways tat make no sense  te people wo atually use te tenology te nology.. And A nd t 's always gong to l    te ompany ompany.. It also makes te tenology tself  tself lo take longe longe  to be aepted. aepted . ontast tat wt te Ifyoulovesometngsettee stategy taken by Palm omputng Te lks at Palm made te development envonment open and also opened up te platm not only to vendos but to ndvduals wo would want to wte pogams  te platm. Tey opened up te APs and made t easy to get te development tools  ee at ts dd was eate a ottage ndusty aound te Palm Plot. It made te Palm penomenon moe tan just one ompany stugglng n a new maket. o now you ave ompanes sellng games tat wok on Palm Plots and moe advaned alenda pogams tan wat Palm tself oes. Now te onsume an oose wat e o se wants and eveybody benets patulaly Palm w enjoys a lage maket as a esult of openng tself up. Handspng s dong te same tng wt ts deve, te Vso. It's a Palm ompetto tat uses te Palm opeatng system and te ompany takes openness a step te by allowng adwae plugns lke GP eeves and moble pone attaments. Lke Palm Handspng s atng a ommunty of ompanes to suppot a new platm. at un ould ave done s allow anybody to do te own Javano stngs attaedwle wageng tat tey temselves ould do a bette job Tat's te sgn of a ompany tat snt blnded by geed o by fea of ompetton. It's te sgn of a ompany tat beleves n tsel. And doesn't ave tme to ate.

L i n u s   r va v a l ds ds a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

2

T H E A M U S E M E N T R I D E A H E AD AD

Is tere anyting more obnoxious tan business prognosticators? Tose selfimportant types wo pretend to know were te insane tecnology amusement ride will take us? I guess tey serve a good nction Tey populate te panel discussions and keynote speeces of te indistinguisable tecnology conferences tat seem to crop up like unpleasant unpleasant  inedib i nedible le musrooms in your ower bed People oping to cas in on tecnology trends spend tousands of dollars to ear tem speak at tecnology conferences It keeps an army of otel workers nd od anders and bartenders onestly employed so I suppose tey serve a purp purpose ose And now David tells me tat I sould do one of tose Future of Business capters too I fee a bit sullied by te tougt but ey e didnt let me drown wile we were boogeyboarding and if e believes tat readers will tink te ture of business is more interesting interesti ng tan te meaning meaning of life life ten ten Il I lll j ust sut up and write Howeve Ill go on record saying tat I've not been a very good predictor di ctor of muc of anyti anyting ng in my lif li fe  as r as I can remember re member Did I predict tat te little operating system I started writing r my own use would someday be al over te place? Nope ook me by surprise it did My only defense is tat nobody else seems to do be doing any better on tis crystal bal ting t ing eiter eit er and if I was taken by surprise by ow big Linux became in te industry ten everybody else was absolutely abbergasted So I probably did better 

tan most. And wo knows Maybe toug tis apte I wil be known as te Nostadamus Nos tadamus of ou time ti me.. And maybe not. ee goes, anyway We an, of ouse, look to past expeiene. We an tae in sad detail ow, say, an invinibl  seeming ompany ike A& went limpand we an pedit tat if we stik aound long enoug, te weeds weeds will oveun tose tose tidy little l ittle geen buildings build ings in Redmond someday, too Just as today's ot young stalet will develop dev elop winkl winkles es and sagging sagging beasts beasts,, today today's's business busi ness eo wi be be supplanted by a new, moe inspied model and te eo's ompany, even if it beaks a sweat einventing itselfo wateve tey'e alling it tis montwill end u sagging and goaning, Astyle. all it evolution. It's etainly not oket siene No busi ness will live eve eve, , and tat is ust  ust as well well.. But wat is it tat atually dives tis evolution Is tee some ndamental, ineent evolution of tenology tat will one day ause ause omputes to take ove, ove, leaving te uman ae bei nd in te dust, like some people seem to tink O is it ust some andom inevitability of pogess, a staigt aead and damn te topedoes kind of ting tat auses tenoogia advanes I say no. enol enology ogy is wat we make of it, and neite ne ite business no tenology will wi ll ange te t e basi natue of uman needs and yean yean-ings. As wit eveyting else, te evolution sowly but inexoaby will ause tenology to move away om pain suvival toug a soiety based on ommuniation and naly into te eam of entetainment d u alet Yes, you've seen tis teoy bee in tese pages, and, assuming you stik aound to te bitte end, you'll see it one moe). umans ae destined to be paty animals, and tenology willl l wil low. ow. o get get al te pedition pedit ionss about wat tenology an do do in ten yeas. yeas . at's not vey elevant elevant at all. We wee able to put a man on te moon ity yeas ago, and we've not been bak sine. I'm  i n u s o r v a l ds ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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pesonally convnced tat is smply because te moon tuned out to be a dab place wt bascally no nigtlife at allsot of like San ose. As a esult, people ddn't want to go back, and te amount of tecnology we've amassed in te meantime doesn't mean a tng t ng Te moon stays stays empty. empty. Wat eally mattes wen you tak about te ture of tecnology s wat wat people want Once you've gured gured tat out, te only eman emanng ng queston s ow quickly you can massproduc massproducee te tng t ng and make it ceap enoug tat people can get t witout sacricing anytng else tey want Noting else eally mattrs. A small digession is in order ee Wat eally sells, of couse, is pereption not ealty Cruise liners sell te percepton of eedom, of te salty seas, of good od and omance of Love Boat proportons Wo caes f te cabin is camped f you feel like you'e ee as a bd! And wat does tis all means? It explains, r example, wy people ae going so gaga over te Sony PlayStation 2, te single bggest pece of tecnology to it te stoe selves tis yea. ('m wrting ts just days ae it was introduced in te United States in late Octobe 2000). Talk about te embodiment of te entertanment society! It also ponts out ow personal computes ave a pecepton poblem pobl em Clea Clealy ly te PC industry is i s nevous nevous about game consoles consoles,, mainly because tey ae seen as nonteatenng, n and ceap, wle PC's ae mostly seen as complcated and expensve. Sometimes even nmcal It also makes me pesonally convinced tat f we're stll talkng n a big way about opeating systems een yeas om now, someting is seously wong somewere Tis may sound strange comng om somebody wose main claim to me s writing s own opeatng system, but te ct s tat, statistcally speakng, nobody wants an opeating system. n ct, nobody even wants a computer Wat eveybody wants s tis magcal toy tat can be used to bowse te Web, wite tem papers, play games, balance te ceckbook, and so on 222

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he ct that you need a compute and an opeating system to do all this is something that most people would athe not eve think about his is why a lot of analysts like the notion of devices like the Sony PlayStation 2 tat take ove a numbe of the chores of a compute, without having that scay handsweatproducing pop ety of being obviously complicated, scay machines Which is technologically senseless, as we'e getting moe and moe comput es into the ouse all the time like this, while being unaware of how complicated and scay they could be So my bet  te next Micoso would be Sony, if they can just get all the pieces lined up popely Now I'm not claiming that this is a pediction of Nostadamuslike mindbogglingness (yes, I know that's pobably not a eal wod, but it shoud be) hee ae othes wo would agee with this, but I'm tying to aticulate why it is happening Not that I'm pedicting the demise of the PC, like many ave unsuccesslly done bee he ndamenta stengths of PCs ae still thee tey ae the Swiss amy knife of computes Overtly complicated enough to scae o people wo don't like tecnol ogycomplicated exactly beause tey ae not tailomade  only one thing hat exibility becomes te vey thing that makes them attactive And ten, te one ing to ule them all, and in the dakness bind them: communication veywhee You can't live without cecking email at least twice an hou? No poblem, my email addicted iend You can ave te slightly guilty feeing of taking the day o at te beach, yet always be in touch wit wat's going on at wok Remembe: What sells is not te reaity of being on vacation, but the pereption of eedom Sie does matte ae all, if only to make all of the technological wonders seem trivial and nontheatening And wee is Linux itself, and open souce geneally, in all tis? You won't even know It will be inside tose Sony machines You'll never see it, you'll neve know it, but it's thee, making it all  i   s o r va l ds a  d D a v i d D i a m o n d

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rn It will be in that cell phone, which is at the same time acting as yor very own personal commnications hb r the rest of yor electronic widgets when yore away om yor wireless local area network Yo'll see It's only a matter of time And money

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W HY O  E N S O U R C E M A KE S S E N S E

BM i s a ompany wit a istoy of swing popl ov I  mad its mony by gtting a aptiv audin and maing su noody ls got a oold. Tats ow mos omut omanis wod, in t. Its ow som of tm still do. Tn, wn IBM dvlod t psonal omput, it unintntionally opnd u its tology  anyon to pliat. Tat singl at did mo ta anyting o spu t PC Rvolution, wi as in tun spud t Inmaion Rvolution, Intnt Rvolution, Nw Eonomywatv it is ty now alling t massiv angs taing la ougout t wold. Its t bst illustation of t limitlss bns to b divd om t opn sou ilosopy. i t PC wasnt dvlopd using t opn sou modl, it is a aml of a nology tat was opnd  any son o ompany to lo and impov and sll. In its pust m,  on sou mod allows anyon to patiipat in a pojs dvlomnt o ommial xploiation. Linu is obviously t most sussl am at statd out in my mssy lsini bdoom as gown to bom t lagst ollaboativ pojt in t istoy of t wod. t bgan as an idology sad by sowa dvlos wo blivd tat omput sou od sould b sad ly, wit t nal Publi Linst antiopyigtas t movmnts owl tool. It volvd o bam a mtod  t ontinuous dvlopmnt of t bst tnology. And it volvd t to gain widspad mat aptan, as sn in t snwballing adotion 5

f Linx as an peratin system r Web serers and in its nexpectedly eners s What wa inspired by idely has pred itself as technly and is wrkin in the marketplace Nw pen srce is expandin beynd the technical and bsiness dmains At Harard Uniersity Law Schl prssrs Larry Lessi (wh is nw at Stanrd and Charles Nessn hae brht the pen srce mdel t law They started the pen Law rject which relies n lnteer lawyers and law stdents pstin pinins and research t the pr ject's Web site t help deelp arments and briefs challenin the United States Cpyriht Extensin Act The thery is that the strnest argments will be deelped when the larest nmber f leal minds are wrkin n a prject and as a mntain f inr matin is enerated thrh pstins and repstins The site nicely sms p the trade m the traditinal apprach: What we lse in secrecy we expect t reain in depth f srces and breadth f arment" (t in anther cntext: With a millin eyes all sware bs will anish  t's a wrinkle n hw academic research has been cndcted r years bt ne that makes sense n a nmber f nts Think f hw this apprach cld speed p the deelpment f cres r disease r example r hw with the best minds n the task inter natinal diplmacy cld be strenthened As the wrld becmes smaller as the pace f li and bsiness intensies and as the technly and inrmatin becme aailable peple realize the tightsted apprach is becmin increasinly tmded The thery behind pen srce is simple n the case f an peratin system the srce cdethe prgrammin instrctins nderlyin the systemis ee Anyne can impre it chane it explit it t thse imprements chanes and explitatins hae t be made eely aailable Think Zen The prject belns t n ne and t eeryne When a prject is pened p there is rapid and cntinal imprement With teams f cntribtrs wrking in parallel the reslts can happen r mre speedily and sccess lly than if the wrk were bein cndcted behind clsed drs 22

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Tat's wat we expeienced wit Linx. magine: nstead of a tiny cloisteed development team woking in secet yo ave a monste on yo side. Potentially millions of te bigtest minds ae contibting to a poect and ae sppoted by a peeeview pocess tat as no e pee. Te st time people ea abot te open soce appoac it sonds ldicos. Tat's wy it as taken yeas  te message of its vites to sink in. deology isn't wat as sold te open soce model. t stated gaining attention wen it was obvios tat open soce was te best metod of developing and impov ing te igest qality tecnology And now it is winning in te maketplace an accomplisment as bogt open soce its geatest acceptance Companies wee able to be ceated aond nmeos valeadded sevices o to se open soce as a way of making a tecnology popla. Wen te money olls in people get convinced. One of te least ndestood pieces of te open soce pzzle is ow so many good pogammes wold deign to wok  absoltely no money A wod abot mtivation is in ode. n a society wee svival is moe o less assed money is not te geatest of motivatos. t's been well establised tat lks do tei best wok wen tey ae diven by a passion. Wen tey ae aving n Tis is as te  playwigts and sclptos and entepenes as it is  sowae enginees. Te open soce model gives people te oppotnity to live tei passion. To ave n. And to wok wit te wold's best pogammes not te few wo appen to be employed by tei company. Open soce developes stive to ean te esteem of tei ees. Tat's got to be igly motivating. t seems tat Bill Gates doesn't ndestand tis . s it possi ble tat e's now embaassed by an optting etoical qestion e asked in 1976? One ting yo do is pevent good sowae om being witten Wo can aod to do pofessional wok  noting? " e wote in a lette to open soce pogammes n ct one way to ndestand te open soce penomenon is to tink abot ow science was peceived by eligion so many  i n    r v a ld1 a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

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cntus ago (f not today, by som catus) Scenc was oginally vwed as somtng dangous, subvesv, and antiestablsmntbascally ow sowae compans somtims view open souc And just as scnc wasn't bon out of an eot to undemn  lgious stablsmn, opn souc wasnt concived in od to dtonat t sowa stablsment t s tee to produce t bst tcnology, and to s w it gos Scnce on ts own dos not mak mony t as ben te sec onday cts of scnc tat ca all t walt. Te same gos  opn souc It allows t caton of sconday industis tat callng stablsd busnsses, muc t way t spnos of scnc callnged t cuc You nd small companies like VA Lnux takng advantag of opn souc and suddenly being able to compt wt tadtonal copoatons In t wods of Sir Isaac Nwton, standng on t soulds of gants And ys, as open souc gans momntum n t wold conomy, and as ts dvlops an cognton, tey ae becomng ncasngly bankable as mploys Companis sac c�dit lists, wc a adtonally appndd to opn souc sowa contbu tons, to dmne wo s makng multpl contributions And tn ty nstuct t uman soucs dpatments to delver a wlbaow ll of mony and stock options to potental mploys In a pvos paagap I ponouncd at mony s not t gatst movao, and, no, I avent cangd my mnd n te ensung snncs But I must say tat mony snt suc a bad tng o av as a wad  ad wok It ctanly s andy wn t coms o llng up t gas tank n my BMW Lk scnc tslf, opn sourcs sconday cts ar ndlss It s cang ngs tat untl cntly w considd mpossbl, and opnng up nxpctd nw makets Wit Lnux, as wt ot opn suc pojcts, compans can mak te own vsons and t own cangs, wc ally sn't possbl any ot way It's xctng to ealz tat just about vyting tat's v bn don wt Lnux was not motly on t ada wn w statd It s vn takng o n Cna Tadtonally, sowae
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opmen in Asia has primarily been abo ransaing American or Eropean soware. Now lks in ha par of he world are sing Linx o develop heir own soware. And 'm really prod of he gy who came p o me a Comdex and waned o show me he gasoline pmp ha was rnning Linx.  was a prooype gasoine pmp ha was rnning Linx becase he waned o have Web browsers so gasoline csomers cold go o CNN.com dring he hree mines hey're waiing r heir anks o ll. Sanding on he sholders of gians . 's inspiring ha people are sing echnologies like Linx o js make a beer gas pmp Tha sor of innovaion is no likely o have happened wihin he connes of a company becase if yo were a company aking Linx o marke yo wold go r he obvios which righ now is he server marke or he highend deskop marke.  open sorce in general allows companies o make heir own decisions abo wha hey wan o do. So i's Linx in embedded devices 's Tivo rnning Linx and he Transmea Web Slae rnning Linx and Telephony sing Linx This is how billions of dollars in weah is being creaed om open sorce. 's like leing he niverse ake care of iself. y no con rolling he echnology yo are no limiing is ses. Yo make i available and people make local decisionso se i as a anching pad r heir own prodcs and services. And while mos of hose decisions don' make sense in he larger scale of hings hey ac ally work really well. This is no abo rying o spread Linx 's abo making Linx available and hen leing i spread iself. And his doesn' apply only o Linx.  applies o any projec ha's open. Open sorce makes sense. People don' qibble wih he need r ee speech.  is a lib ery ha people have defended wih heir lives Freedom is always somehing yo have o defend wih yor life.  is also no an easy choice o make iniialy. And he same is re of openness. Yo js have o make he decision o be open. 's a difcl sance o ake a rs b i acally creaes more sabiliy in he end  i n    r v a ld a n d D a v i d D i a m  n d

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Tink o politics I te logic tats used against open source were applied to government ten we would alwas ave oneparty rule. Obviousl a singlepart rule is a great deal simpler tan our system o multiple parties te open politica system n wic muc o te world operates. Wit one part you dont ave to worr about getting agreement wit oter eople Te reasoning would llow tat government s too mortant to waste on te giveandtake o openness For some reason people see te llac o tis argument as it apples to olitcs and goverment  but not as it applies to business Ironically in business t makes people nervous. Te arguments a compan uses to keep om opening up tecnolog are convincing. Thats not how things are done, management says And its scary. People are igtened o cange partl because tey dont know ow t is gong to turn out By stickng to te status quo a company can make a better judgment o were it will go and sometimes tat seems more important tan beng ugey successl. Tese are companies tat will be predictabl successl instead o beng unpredictaby real real rea successl It isn easy r a corporation to turn an exsting product into an open source product. Tere are a ost o torn issues For one ting over te course o monts or years tat it developed te product te compan bult up a great deal o internal knowledge Tis nouse intellectual propert is te compans bread and butter. Te organizaton is unwillng to relinquis te intellectual propert tat keeps it alive But also te very eistence o tis internal knowledge creates a barrer r outsiders It discourages tem om particpating. But I ave seen companies make te move om closed to open. One story s Wapit a Fnns comany creatng service and support inastructure r various interactive devices Tis project involved te companys wallponestyle Web server For tem te decision to open source teir soware makes erect sense. Tey want to build up ter servce but tey ave to buld up teir inastructure rst Tat requires wrting a lot o soware ts a necessary evil. So instead o viewing it as a decision to make 230

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its intellectual property available to oters, tey look at it tis way Te writing of soware takes a lot of engineering time, but it isn't someting tat creates value om being tigtly eld at te company. Tere were a few tings working in Wapit's vor. First, it was not a uge project. Second, te decision to open source was made in te early stages of te company's existence. Management reasoned tat it ad te resources inouse to develop te product, but it wanted to pus to ave someting more tan could be cre ated inouse. It also determined tat open sourcing is a good way of rtering Wap as a standard r oters to work on. Early in te game, te company asked r my advice and I told tem tey needed to gt te urge to ave decisions made internally. I suggested tat if tey were aving meetings in wic decisions sould be made, tose meetings sould not be closed to outsiders. By keeping te decisionmaking process a company aair, tey would run te risk of alienating outsiders, wo would ave trouble getting past te company's Old Boys network. Tat's one of te major problems of establising and maintai ning an open source project om a corporate environment. It's easy to give lip service to open source, but it can unintentionally degenerate into a twotier society: Us vs. Tem. A lot of decisions get made te easy waysitting at te cafeteria table discussing te options ad developing a consensus witout ever opening up te discussion to te outside. People om te outside wo ave valid opinions are essentially voted down by te ct tat te decsion was aleady made in te company cafeteria. Tis was one of te problems tat plagued Netscape i te monts llowing tat company's mceralded decision, in te spring of 1998, to release te source code (called Mozila)  its nextgeneation browser. It took a long time bere te project truly lived up to its open source promise. Tere was a camp of Netscape insiders wo would not accept small patces om out siders. Everybody inside knew eac oter, and if tey ween't pys ically sitting around a coee sop making decisions, tere was a  i n   o r v a l d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

2 

vitual co sop in whic t insids stayd ily clos nsted of bing sen as mbaking on t st geat xpienc in takg an xisting commcial poject and opning i t up Ntscape geneatd a bit of bad pss Wn wod of its inctivity got ot Ntscap could no longe tak t ig moal gound Tht helped tm opn up to outsids Now t pojct sems to be mch mo dynamic Wn lks st a about t possibility of opning p n xisting commcial pojct, ty tnd to ask th sam qestions On qustion as to do wit ow popl insid t company wold fl about t possibility of aving an outsid poduc wok that is btt tan ti ownand aving tat so publicly noticeabl  tink ty sould fl gat about it, and geat tat tey ae getting paid  not vn doing most of t wok n tat gad ope souco opn anythin   tat mattis ungiving t sows wo can gt t job don, who is btt You cant ide bind manags Opn souc is t bst way of lvaging otsid talnt Bt you still nd to av sombody insid t company wo keeps tack of t ompanys nds at pson may not vn b t pojcts lad In ct, it could b a bnt to t company if somoe on t outsid taks it ov and is doing it   ts n i f somon outsid is doing a btt job  toubl is, t outsidr migt lad t pojct in a diction tat dosnt satis t companys quimnts o t company must tak ca of its own nds The opning of t pojct migt nabl t oganization to sink its local soucs, but tat dosnt man it can gt id of tm Th pojct could pand to bcom  bigge tan i t would av bn at a singl company Outsid soucs mak  a cap moe complt, and mo balancd systm, but ts tis ip sid: T xpandd systm no long taks only t ompanys nds into account It actually migt consid t nds of customs Pobably t most vexing ting in t wol pocss is giving up contol and just accpting t ct tat outsids may actally know btt  ot difculty is nding a stong tecnical 3

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leader in the company. This as to be somebody who is trusted by everyone on two levelsboth a technical and a political level. It has to be someone who is able to acknowledge the ct that the project may have been awed om the start Instead of trying to hide om such problems, the leader must be able to convince everybody that the best ting to do is to go back and start over, which means breaking stu. Its not a message people want to ear However, coming om someone who commands espect, ts a message people will accept Given the natue of ofce politics and ho w corpoations typi cally wok, the technical lead person would have to be someone wit a irly stong personality He or se should be somebody wo likes working by email and who avoids takng sides I wouldnt use te word liaison, because tat would imply there are two distinct sdes herethe inside camp and the outside camp. And thats not the way it should be This techncal lead person gets paid by te company to do open source He or she knows, and everybody else knows, that this person s not pad to gree wit is counterparts in te company, but simply to do the project  Teres a danger wit aving te leader too closely associated with the company. Folks migt tust his or e technical ability, but not the nontechnical judgmen Is there a diplomat in th e house? It's like "Find me one honest man  This s why I have tried so had over the years to avod get ting involved with Linu companes. Tis is becomng nceas ingly crtical now tat the money is materializing With so many dollars oatng around, people start questionng you motivatons For me, its elpl that Ive been known as being neutral You hae no dea how important t s to me to maintain tat neutalty It drives me nuts Okay. Youe rigt, I should stop preacing Open source s not r everyone o evey project or every coporation. But te moe that people stat taking stock of te success of Linu, the moe they ealize ts isnt te kneejerk rantings of idealistic, unwashed ighschooles.  i n  s o r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

33

Open p anything and the possibilities will llow. ve been talking abot open soce  as long as jonalists have been asking me abot it which is basically the lat ve yeas. t sed to be that yo had to explain and explain what's so geat abot it. And ankly it fet lke an endless tek. t was like tdgig in md. People get it now.

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\ht bot the brden o me?" Tht's wht some people will sk me. And let me tel yo the  brden" is not  brden t ll. t's n bein mos nd mos people who sy oterwise re st tryin to be nice nd mke nonmos people feel like they're better o. Yo're spposed to be hmble bot yor me nd complin bot how it destroys yor i. t ce it everybody drems o me nd riches  know  did. As  teener  wished to become  mos scientist Albert Einstein bt better. Who doesn't?  not  scientist then  rcecr driver. r  rock str. r other Teres r the President of the nited Sttes. And ctly ettin there ws not t ll pinl Sre  my not be Albert Einstein bt  el comrtble bot hvin ctly mde  dierence nd bot doin somethin meninl. And ettin reconized r it mkes the whole thin ll the better. So the next time yo her somebody complinin bot me nd riches inore them. They're st doin it becse it's wht yo're spposed to do. So is it ll ood?  corse not. There re certinly down sides to bein welknown.  don't hve people reconize me in the streets (or t lest not very oen bt the he mont of emil  et is interspersed with the occsionl messe tht is relly hrd to nswer nd so hrd to inore. Wht do yo sy to somebody who sks yo to ive the eloy r his dd tht yo never met?  never

2 3 5

epled to tat emal, and I stll el a bt gulty about t Tat was a vey mpotant tng  somebody, and to me t ended up being just an convenience O ow do you tell somebody wo asks you to gve a keynote speec at a confeence tat you eally dont ave te time o te nclnaton? How do you make people ealze tat you long ago stopped lstenng to ponemal messages, witout appeang to be an nconsideate bastad? Wc you eally ae, ae all Its not as f I end up cang all tat deeply about evey ssue, just because I cae deeply about te ssue m known : Lnux Of couse, eventually t becomes eally easy to j ust say no O gnoe te equests entely one of te easons I love emal s tat ts so convenent and easy to gnoewats one moe emal n te few unded I get evey day? Te medum s so  emoved om te peson tat t vey seldom gets pesonal enoug to make you feel gulty about gnoing t It appens (see above), but t doesnt appen vey oen And even when you dont gnoe t, sayng no" ove emal s a lot ease to do tan n peson o ove te pone Te poblem s ndamentally one of te expectatons people end up avng about wellknown people And te ct tat ts obvously not possble to lve up to all te expectations wle feelng lke you sould at least ty to do so Tats patly wat made witng ts book a petty nevewacking expeencetyng to wte a easonably pesonal book, wle at te same tme not eally dsappontng people wo expected sometng deent And some of te expectatons ae downgt slly I often get te feelng tat some people expect me to be a modenday monklvng a ugal life n solitude All because  tougt tat makng Lnux open and eely avalable on te Intenet was a good idea, and because  ddnt take te tadtonal commecal appoac to sowae So ten I get selfconscous and ate densve about te ct tat I actually enjoy spendng money, 26

j  s t fo r F  n

 h e y re y o otic Grd A to oehi ore . hich bri  he eco qeio er the brden of e" oe. ey i cce oi Li (/or Lix? " Wi  r io  efceere oie br who write book abo hief bece he ike eei hi e i ri nd bece it y o hi ew ee cr? he wer of core i ye. Aer  ke  ero whoe lifeo hioohy h bee o he   o oehi ierei he dd oe oney  e  wh o yo exec wil he ? tt hithro i?  o hik o. Gii wy oey o chriy rely neer ee eere y i i i cly ke the quetion duri he ki of hi book  looke t hi blnky. Shae the whe" w he r hi h ce to y id Obioly  wa o bor o he re ci reoibiiy oe cce che how you hik abot thin? t doe Lix wa  dieren i whe here were jut y ery technic er  ooe o  iio (or whteer he number i ody or eoe who e i  e occaiolly Ad Linux w ery iere bck whe he oy eole worki on it were eoe who i i eirey bece i w n and interetingwith oe of he coerci i nere tht re o obiouly there today A he e i re of Lin the eron Thi chane  cii ht hi it o oet chne he c Linux i not he e oee i w e yer ao nd Li i't the ame ero he wa bck he. An r of wh h de doin Linux r's o wro wt a Potac Grad Am, ad its a  car Its also proay  mos "avra o ca  h ho Uitd Sas, ad som jourass av u t trs tha I ould av such a mbarrass y rular car I's ot v apas, r crssak! Popl will los all rspc r m w I adm ha I sp hours aoizi ovr th xact color of m w car-a muc ss pracca BMW Z Rmmbr-"ust r Fu ha car s comp ad ury usss r ayt b  Ad a's jus h wa I k 

  n    r v a / d a n d D a v  d D  a m  n d

23 7

so very interesting to me as been exactly te ct tat it asnt been te same, and tat new issues ave continuously kept coming up And tey avent been just tecnological issues, but issues involving ow te wole meaning of Linux canges in te ce of success Life would be boring oterwise So instead of using te word spoiled," Id prefer to j ust say tat commercial success as made bot Linux and me dierent" Id esitate to say grown up" tink,  r me, aving tree kids made r more of a dierence tat waybut simply dierent Bet ter, in many ways, but also less pure Linux used to be just r tec nical people, and a safe aven r geeks A bastion of purity, were tecnology mattered and little else  Tese days tat is not true anymore Linux still as te strong tecnical background, but aving millions of users makes everybody very aware of te ct tat you ave to be a lot more carel about wat you do Backward compatibility is suddenly a ctorand some day, twenty years om now, somebody will come along, say tat enoug is enoug, and start is own operating sys tem called Fredix"* Witout all te istorical baggage nd tats exactly as it sould be But wat makes me inordinately proud is tat even wen Fredix" comes along, tings wont be te same anymore If not ing else, wat Linux as done is to make people aware of a new way of doing tings, of ow open source actually enables people to build on te work done by oters Open source as been around r a long time, but wat Linux did was to move it into te general consciousness So wen Fredix comes along, it wont ave to start om scratc And tus, te world as become a sigtly better place

*Or "Diannix, as the case may be. In another twenty years hoelly com uter science will have rogressed ast the curret maledominated scene it is now .  .

238

   t o r F  

Neary a year a e started orking on this book, Linus and I paid a Friday night visit to the ar raing/batting age pae here e had ompeted ith eah other months earie This time, Linus obbered me at both ativities: He drove faster and made better hits Late over Turkish food, I bamed my ousy performane on a partiuary frustrating day at ork. He ooked up and said: We, youve got to hang in there for three more months.  Why? Isnt that hen you vest your rst hunk of stok options? The reason I bring this up is beause the night of our previous ompetition at the ar raing/batting age pae, Linus onssed that beause of his poor memo, he reguay had to ask Tove to remind him of his phone numbers. Suddeny he no remembers somebody eses vesting shedue, and he an ratte off here e ere hen I rst mentioned it to him. A year ago he seemed to deight in the roe of an absentminded prosso fuzzy about the detais of anything ess signant than Super String Theory or the memory apaity of his riest omputers. No he is inrediby tuned in. Bak in Janua e sat in my od hot tub and I joked about the Marin Historia Commission bugging me to donate it to their museum. In August he asuay says, Hey, hen are you going to donate that hot tub? He doesnt have to onsut an eetroni devie to remember the dates hen Avuton i be visiting. He is pugged into the personal detais of friends and o-orkers in a ay he didnt seem to be a year earie In 23 9

fat, he even knows what's going on with m friends and o-workers And for a ow whoserst words to me on the subjet were, "Atuay, I don 't remember muh of my hidhood,  he suddeny seems to have onjured up the memories: "Did I te you how embarrassed I was when my mother wanted me to ask my grandfather to give me the extra 00 FM I need to buy my rst wath? The arity thing was just one way Linus seemed to have hanged ver the ourse of an important year in his  There were itte things In Novembe we took the famiy road trip to Los Angees that provided the bakdrop for the "Meaning of Li prefae, party beause the Torvadses were invited to stay at the Brentwood home of the Finnish Consuate Genera Bore the trip, Linus was gazed-eyed as he sanned the wine ounter of a Santa Cara Safeway "Hep me pik out wine as a gift,  he sai "I know nothing about wine  Ten months ater he knows whih of two simiar abernets we shoud hoose from the Boga Bay Lodge miniba to drink whie wathing an inroom ation movie I ath him swiring his wine before drinking And then there's the exerse thing On my rst visit to Linus's home, he seemed to have a typia geekike avaer approah to hs body and physia webeing, the "my-body'sjustthere-toararoundmy briiant-mind phiosophy Linus en seemed to take pride n the fat that he never exerise Tove obviousy t dierenty Her karate trophies ined a fu bookase, and her aerobis videos rested on the teevision set And it seemed to be a point of ontention "Maybe in ve years some dotor wi te me I'  have to ose weight or something,  Linus said at the time I ike to exerise andgured t shoud be a main omponent of our outings I wanted to introdue him to surng, but it made sense to start out with boogie-boarding We drove over to Ha Moon Bay one aernoon in eary May, rented wet suits and boards, and Linus protested heaviy at the thought of wading into the hiy waters of the Pa, even in a wet suit But within minutes something amazing happened: He ighted in ridng the waves "This is great,  he enthused ike a ve-year od at one point, sapping me a high ve Of ourse, about fteen minutes ater he deveoped a nasty eg rampfrom beng so out of shape, he reasoned and had to stop (When the ramp hit, he just sat there in the white

40

j  s t  r   n

wate apparently unale to get up, as waves washed over him. My rst thought was: "Oh fuk If I ki this guy, I  have miions of nerds on my ase. ) He looked forward to everything we did during the reporting phase of this ook: playing tennis, raing eah other at swimming, doing the sary amusements at Great A meria, driving go as. It got to the point at whih he eame less interested in sitting around taking into my tape reorr than he was in whatever ativity I had arrange The mud aths, hiking up Mt. Tamalpais, shooting pool, what "I ould do this on a regular asis,  he sai sweating heavily aer playing tennis with me near my home That time he orrowed oth a raquet and running shoes. Afterwar he kept his new pair of running shoes in the trunk of his a just in ase.

 i n u s o r v a ! d a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

24 

THE MEANNG OF LFE 

Have yo ever lain back on a warm smmer's night looking p at the stars and really wondered why yo are here? What is yor place in things and what are yo spposed to do with yor life? Yeah well neither have I. Yet I ended p having a theory abot Life The Universe and Everythingor at least the sbset called Life." Yo were introdced to this theory in the prece of this book. And since yo've gotten this r  might as well explain myself a little more. My theory didn't come abot while staring p at the stars immersed in wonder over the immenseness of it all on a clear night It came abot while  was preparing r a speech When yo become well known r one thing people jst assme yo can be trsted to generate brilliant insight into nrelated bodies of knowledge that have been mystifying hmankind r millions of years And they want yo to share those insights bere a herd of perfect strangers. No it doesn't make mch sense. I got into Linx becase  was a technology geek not becase  was any good at pblic appearances let alone philosophizing witot pdent limits. t few things in li make all that mch sense so 'm not complaining. Back to the sbject at hand. This time I was invited to a local event in erkeley called Webrsh." Normally  woldn't even consider it bt the invitation came throgh the Finnish Conslate here in the United States and being a patriotic person (or at least feeling slightly gilty 242

abot ating snow and aving moved abroad, I ad stpidly said kay.  t  Now, nobody expected m e to tak about te meaning o f life, least of all mysel t tis event was abot ife in te networked society, and  was tere as te Internet person and representative of inand inland, de to Nokia (te largest, best , and most beauti company in te word as any inn will tel yo, is into commnications in a big way, and te networked society" is were it is at. Weve already discssed ow tere are more cell pones tan people in inland, and te crrent researc into nding ways of impanting te tings srgically at birt So tere  sit, wondering wat I sold talk abot regarding commnications. O,  rgot to mention tat most of te rest of te pane wod be comprised of pilosopers talking abot tecnology. Tis is erkeey, aer all. Te two tings tey take very seiosly in erkeley are erkeley politics and erkeley pilosopers So wat te eck If tey were going to ave piosopers taking abot tecnology, wy not ave a tecnoogist like me taking about piosopy? Nobody sod accse me of not aving balls. Tey migt cal me terminally stpid (and ey, tey probably dobt hiken? Not tis geek. So tere I am, feverisly trying to come p wit a sbject to speak abot te next day ( never get arond to doing speeces until it is way too ate, so late te evening bere te event is sally wen yoll nd me worrying abot it. And Im strggling tere, trying to ponder te commnication society" and wat its al abot, and wat Nokia and al te oter commnications companies wil eventally evove into. And te best I can do is to jst expain te meaning of life. Its actally not mc of a meaning. " Its more a law of life, ereaer to be caed Linss Law." ts eqivalent to te second *"Yes, sure, ll do it

L i n u s To r va l ds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

243

law of termodynamics in pysics, but rater tan explaining te devolution of order in te universe, it is about te evoution of life Im not talking evolution" in te Darwinian sense ere Tats a dierent tingr Webrus I was more interested in ow society evoves, and ow we moved om te industrial society into a communications society Wats next, and wy? I wanted to make i sound good, and to make enoug sense to convince an audience r te duration of a pane discussion Everybody as is or er own agenda, and tat day mine was to emerge alive om a panel discussion wit two notabe piosopers So wy do societies evolve? Wats te driving ctor? Is it reay tecnology tat drives society?wic seems to be a common view Was it really te invention of te steam engine tat got Europe started as te industrial society, and eventualy evoved us troug Nokia and cell pones into te communications society? Tat seemed to be te pilosopers take on tis all, and tey seemed to be interested in ow tecnology canges society And I, as a tecnologist, know tat tecnoogy drives noting It is society tat canges tecnology, not te oter way around Tecnology just sets te boundaries r wat we can do, and ow ceapy we can do it Tecnology, ike te devices i t creates, is at east so r i nerently stupid Its only in teresting insor as wat you can do wit it, and te driving rce beind it is tus really uman needs and inteests We dont communicate more tese days because we ave te means to do sowe communicate moe tese days because people are babbermouts, and tey want to communicate and if te means arent ere, tey will be created Tus Nokia So, my argument went, n order to understand te evolution of society, you ave to understand wat eay motivates people Is it money? Is i t success? Is it sex? Wat funmentay makes peope do wat tey do? Te one obvious motivationa ctor tat probably nobody will argue wit is simple suvival Tat is wat denes li, aer alit survives It doesnt just blindly llow te secnd law of te 244

J u s t fo  F u n

modynamcs, but nstead survves despte a unverse tat seems rly nmcal to te knd of complexty and order tat s te very underpnnng of lfe So survval s motvatonal ctor # 1  n order to rank te oter motvatonal ctors,  ad to con sder ow tey would stack up aganst tat very smple wll to sur vve Te queston s not Would you kll r money? " but Would you die r money?" Te answer tere s clearly no So we can safely strke money o te lst of ndamenta motvatonal ctors But tere are obvously tngs tat people are wllng to de r Tere are a lot of eroc stores of people and even anmas wo are n ct wllng to de r some larger cause So pan sur vval alone does not explan te motvatonal ctors tat drve our socety Te oter motvatons  came up wt r te talk n Berke ley were smple and not very contested at te panel So at least somebody agrees wt tem (Or, n consderaton of te Fnns consulate, tey were just beng polte) Tere aen't very many tngs tat man s wllng to de r, but socal relatons s de ntely one of tem Te examples of socal motvaton beng enoug to drve people to rget about survva are numerous, om te lterary Romeo and Julet (dead not because tey wanted anytng as crass as sex, but because tey would rate de tan lose ter socal rela tonsp) to te case of te patrotc solde wllng to rsk s lfe r s country and s m ys socety So calk up socal rela tons as motvatonal ctor #2 Te trd and nal motvatonal ctor s entertanment" Tat may sound trte, but t's unquestonably a very strong rce People de every day dong tngs tat tey're only dong r n umpng out of perfectly operatonal arlanes just to get te rus, r example And entertanment doesn't ave to be trte t can be a game of cess, o te ntellectual entertanment of tryng to gure out ow te world really works t can be te curosty and exploraton of a new world Anytng tat makes a person st n a crowded L i n u  To r v a lds a n d D a v i d D i a m o n d

2 4 

ocket on top o a gadzilion pounds o igly explosive mateial just to be able to see te eat om space can cetainly be called motivational" And tats it: Survival. Your place in the social orde And enter tainment. Te tee tings tat make us do te tings we do Eveyting ese is wat a sociologist would pobably call emergent beavio"pattens o beavio tat emege om tose muc simple les But its moe tan just tese ae te tings tat motivate people" I tat wee all it wouldnt be muc o a teory o lie Wat makes it interesting is tat te tee motivational ctos ave an intinsic ode an ode tat sows up weeve tee is ie Its not ust tat were motivated by tose tee tingstey also od tue  s o li ote tan uman li and tey sow up  te natual pogession  any lielike beavio Survive Sociaize Have n Tat's te pogession And tats also wy we cose ust  Fun" as te title o tis book Because eveyting we eve do seems to eventually end up being  ou own entetainmentat least i we ave been given te pos sibility to pogress  enoug You dont believe me? Look at ow we classiy animals as lowe" o iger" order animals Tey all suvive But te ige you get in te evolution ay scale te moe you ae likely to st ceate socia pattens even ants iy low down on te scale ave vey stict social pattenstat eventually pogess into aving n Playing wit your od is not someting ants tend to do a lot     But cats do Ants dont enjoy sex eite Yes take someting as basic and deligtl) as sex I don't claim tat it is one o te ndamental motivational ctos pe sebut it's a geat example o ate ndamental uman beavio tat as undegone te woe evolution o lie Tere's no question tat it stated out as a pue suvival tait Ae all even plants ave sex" in te survival sense and at some stage billions o years ago sex was pobably puely a survival ting  tose singlecelled 24

J u s t fo r F u n

anmals tat woul slowly volv nto gks and ot umans And tes no queston tat s long ago volvd om a puly suvval pnomnon nto a vy socal pnomnon Its not only among umans at you nd maag cemones and a lot of socal nastuctu  gttng lad Tnk of t tual dance of t Sandll canwc mates  lf, by t way I ct, no dnat amounts of enegy gt spnt evy day on te socal coutsp tuals assocatd wt t smple matt of epoducton of all t spcs  Enttanmnt? Tat too, I assu you Not just among umans, but t s pobably no concdnc tat t most volvd spcs on t planet also sems to mak t most out of te nttanmnt aspect of s T pogsson o suvval to socal bavo to nttanment s vywe Tak wa: vey muc a suvval tat back when t only way to gt to t watng ole was to kll t pople n you way wo wantd tat souce of wat  tmslvs Wa as long snce bcome a tool  mantanng socal ode n socty And wth t advnt of CNN, t as become nttanment Lk t o not, ts sms to b  te  nvitabl pogsson Cvlzaton tslf llows te sam lag patten Ognally t was a way to ensu suvval by coopaton and pow n numbes Tat s notng unqu to umans Most anmals and vn plant lf cate socts n od to suvv btte by elpng ac ote And wat s so ntstng s ow socty tself moves om beng suvvalbasd towad bng mo socal ow all uman cvlzatons nd up buldng bgg and btt oads and communcaton cannls n od to b abl to btt socalze And n te nd cvlzaton too bcomes gead towad ntetanmnt Look at t Roman Empmous not only  ts oad buldng and stong socal od, but also, specally lat, vn mo mous  ts nttanmn t O look at t ntd Stats today Dos anybody doubt tat  lm and computgam ndusts a not about usng n t nttanmnt socty? Fom avng bn nc makts not L i    To  v a !  a   D a v i  D i a m o  

47

a long ago ey are now among he bigges indsies in he ricest contry in e world And wat is interesing to me a a echnologis is how this paern repeas iself in e tecnology we ceae We call the early age of modern ecnology e Indsrial Age b wha i eally sould be called is e Age of Tecnological Sial Technolog p nil no a long ago was almos exclsiely r sriing beerbeing able o weae cloh beter an o moe goods around ser Ta wa some of e original impes r i all We call e crren perio he nrmaion Age ts a big sif Is abo ecnology being sed r communication and spreading inrmaiona ery social behaiorraer han js surviving in beer syle Te Inerne and e c a so mc o f or ecnology is saring o moe oward i is a big roadsign of or imes: I means a people in e industrialied conries are saring o ake e srvival ing r graned and sddenly e nex pase of ecnology becomes he big and exciing one: he social aspec of commnicaion ecnology of sing ecnolog no js o live beer b as an inegral par of social li Te ulimae goal of course is sill looming as he inrmaion sociey e enerainment sociey A place were he ner ne and wireless commnicaions wentyr hors a day is taken r granted and doesn ge any eadlines anymore A ime when Cisco is e old marke and Disney Corporaion owns the wold A ime probably no oo r in he re

So wa does is all mean? robably not mch Ae all my eory of e meaning of life doesn actally gui yo in what you sold be doing A mos i says Yes yo can ght i bt in e end e limae goal of life is o ae n " I does to some degree explain wy people are willing and eager o work on projecs like inx on he nernet or me and r many oer people inx has been a way o scrach to motia ional ices at e same ime Taing sial r granted inx 248

j u  t fo r F u n

has instead brought people both the entertainment of an intellectua chalenge and the social motivations associated with being part of creating i t all. We may not have seen each other cetoce very much but emai was much more than just a dry exchange of inrmation Bonds of iendship and other social ties can rm over email This probably also means that if and when we ever meet another intelligent life rm in this universe their rst words are not ikely to be Take me to our leader" They're more likely to say Party on dude! " Of course I might be wrong.

L i n u s T o r a l ds a n d D a  i d D i a m o n d

2 4 9

Inx

Adams, ougas, 28

Bamr, Stv, 167

advocacy nwsgroups, 1 5 5 5 6 , 1 5 7 , 1 5 8 , 1 5 9, 1 6 2 A S articia intignc AX (BMs Unix), 157 An, Pau, 141 Apha computr, 1 32 Amiga computr, 39, 132 Amoa oprating systm, 98, 106 antistaishmnt sntimnt, 161 Anvin, Ptr, 64, 1 1 8, 14 2, 144 Apach (Linux r W srvrs), 157-58 App Computr, 1 49-5 1 App  computr, 39 articia intignc, 194 assmy anguag, 39 , 4 1 , 44, 4 5 , 46, 63 Astroids (computr gam), 46 AT&T, 5 3 , 56-5 7 , 2 2 1 Atari, 132 audiocasstts, 216-17 Augustin, Larry, 1 7 3 , 1 74 7 5 Avuton S Virumaki, Jouko

BASC (programming anguag), 7, 10 Bhndorf, Brian, 166 B Las (AT&T), 53, 56 Brinato, Scott, 186-88, 189 Brky Sowar istriution cod- (Unix), 5 7, 1 52 , 1 5 3 Brn Cnvntion, 94 inary programs, 82 BOS, 62 Bois, avid, 187 Bourn Sh (Unix), 82-83 Brcht, Brtot, 32 rowsrs, tsca, 1 5 5- 57 , 2 3 1 -32 BS S Brky Sowar istriution cod-as unding, sowar, 218

C (programming anguag), 45, 52 Caa, ntrnt, 1 1 7, 1 1 8 cacuators, ctronic, 6 Cadra, 130 Carngi Mon Univrsity, 149

Index

25 

"Cathedral and the Bazaar, The" (Raymond), 1 cel phones, 32 3 3 , 2 3 , 2 China, 96, 22829 Church of Scientoogy, 213 Cisco, 28 clones computer game, 6 persona computer, 22 CNN (cable network), 27 Coherent operating system, 92, 129 Comdex Show (Las Vegas; 1999), 1798 commerciaism, Linux user con cerns, 11, 1, 1636 Commodore 6 computer, 39 Commodore VIC20 computer, 67, 3  , 3 9,  2, 6 Common Desktop Environment, 130 communication, 2 2 3 , 28 meaning of life and, 22 1 , 2 communism, Torvalds's ther and , 1  , 6  , 66, 67 compact discs, 216, 217 Compaq, 203 computer games, 17, 68, 6, 61 computer graphics, 6, 7 computer programmng assembly language, 3 9,  1 , ,  , 6, 63 BASC language, 7, 10 C language,  ,  2 Forth language, 3 Java language, 1 6, 1 8, 2 1 81 9 machine anguage, 1 0, ,   open source development, 121 22

22

Index

programmer motivation, 122, 2 27 , 2 28 Torvads's early eorts, 8, 10, 17 , 37 Torvalds's scination with, 73 76 computers cost of, 23 ngering of, 191 games r, 1 7 , 68,  6, 6 1 graphics, 6, 7 mainame, 160 multitasking, 1 oprating systems, 39, 1 S also spcic oprating sstms as Toadss childhood hoy, 910, 1619, 2, 26, 397, 69, 71 S also personal computers; spcc computr mols consumer rotection, licensng and, 207 control, of resources, 2 1   1 9 copyrights Berne Convention and, 9 diital act (U.S), 207, 208, 212 extension act (US), 226 intelectual property and, 20 8, 210 icenses,  8 , 1 2 , 206 Linux operating system and, 997, 19 music industry and, 216 17 S also General Pulic License creativity, intellectual property issues and, 207

Dataass, Linux and, 5859 Cruz, Patrick, 34 CSS awsuit, 23 ECS (igita' s sr Group), 32  Coputr, 203 iaond, avid,  07  2 ,  4,   5, 45, 220, 2394  oogioarding with Torvads, 50, 2404 Codx Show 999), 8385 rst ncountr wi th Torvads y, 2023 ispacing of Torvads 's phon nur, 707 pnguin as Linux syo and, 3840 Toads's charita incina tions, 237 Torvadss chidhood oris, 3435 Toadss iy intrviws, 657 Torvadss aning of if thory, xviixxii Toads's ony anxity,  76 78 Toadss nw hous, 20020 iaond, Kay,  38 digita audiotaps, 27 igita Euipnt Corporation, 53,  32, 43 igita Miniu Copyright ct, 207, 208, 2  2 disasrs, 44 isny Corporation, 248 MC S igita Miniu Copyright ct

OS oprating syst, 39, 54, 6 V tchnoogy, 23, 278

E instin, rt, 208, 2 3 5 ctronic cacuators, 6 rgnt havior, 246 ncryption, 157 , 2  7 ntrtainnt aning of if and, 22  as otivationa ctor, xviii xxii, 245 49 ntrtainmnt industry, V tchnoogy and, 213, 278 ntropy, xxi Evans, Bruc, 62, 87, 00, 03, 04 voution, Torvads's viw of, 154,  97 244, 246-47 Ewing, Larry,  39

1

 air us" concpt, intctua

proprty and, 208, 22 Farr S Saxrg, O Tod Eis Faror S Toads, Mrta Frias, 61 ngring, ofcomputrs, 9 Finand,  3 , 3 1 33 c phon usrs in, 32 3 3 , 2 43 ducationa systm, 24-25, 27, 33 , 404  Prsidnt's Ba, 9899 rindr popuation, 3, 32 saunas in, 3-32



2

(Finland cont.) stoicism o citizens 3 2 tecnoloy and 3233 wintertime i n  9 Finnis Independence ay 198 Finnis News ency 4, 5 First Boston redit Sisse 174 Forbs (maazine) 162 rk (Unix operation) 54 5 5 Fort (prorammin lanae) 43 FreeBS 57 Free Soware copyrit license S General Pic icense Free Soware Fondaion 58, 66, 167 Free Soware Manieso 58 Ftre oesn 't Need Us e oy) 15354

G ames comper 17, 4648, 56, 6 1 asoline pmps and inx i lization 2 29 Gates Bill 187 omdex Sow keynoe address y 1 7980, 1 8 1 , 1 82, 1 84 estalisment symoism o 161 open sorce pilosopy and 227 oads compared wit 2 1 , 23 , 1 67 S also Microso Gass arl Friedric 76 G compiler 8 7, 8 9, 91 , 96, 163 General Plic icense 58, 59, 9697, 19496, 225

54

Indx

nemacs 78 GNU operatin system 58, 163, 166, 195 Gntela 2 1 6 GP S Genera Pic icense rapical ser interce 1 1 5 1 6 rapics compter 46, 47 Greece ancient ii reed 97, 21 5 , 21 9 GSM sandard wireless ecno oy 2 1 5

H all Henry 139 Hal on (Maddo) 1 32 , 1 34, 135, 139, 143, 184 Haloween ocmen (Microso memo) 167 Handsprin 219 ardware emaion 147 Haard Uniersity aw Scool 226 Hesnki elepone ompany 18 Henry Bisop 13 Hewe Packard 218 Hondel irk 17 2, 1 7 3

I BM 149, 2 1 8 , 225 in operatin system and  5758, 162, 203 personal compters 4849 Indstrial e 248 Inrmation e 248 Inrmix 15859 Intel 135, 42

entium FO OF lockup bug 165-66 intellectual property 204-14 230 creatiity and 2057 DeCSS lawsuit 2 1 3 "ir use" concept 2 08  2 1 2 Internet and 2 04  2 1 2   3 open source and 204 21 0 230 patents 204 2089 trade secrets 208 2091 0 2 1 3 See also copyrights Internet 53  5 7 88 248 adocacy newsgroups 1 5 5 - 5 6  1 57 1 58 15 9 162 chainletter hoaxes 93 intellectual property issues 2 04 2 1 2  1 3 Linux newsgroup 1  7 - 1 8 M3 technology and 2 1 6 Internet Cabal 1 1 7  1 1 8 I. See intellectual property "Is the Linux Reolution Oer?" (Berinato) 18688

J aa (programming language) 1 5 6  1 5 8 2 1 8 1 9 ]ini (interaction agent language) 1 5 1  52  1 5 7 Jobs Steen 1 49 5 1  1 5 4 Jolitz Bill 5 7 Joy Bill 5 6  1 5 1 - 5 4

L anguage computer See pro gramming languages

Law of Entropy xi Lehman Brothers  7 3 Lemke Ari 808 1  87  88 Lessig Larry 226 licensing consumer protection and 207 copyrights and 58 1 52  206 IBM and 158 Sun Microsystems and 1 5 2  156 157 21 8 See also General ublic License "Linuss Law" 243-44 Linucare 203 Linux International 1 3 2  1 3 4-3 5  157 Linuxjournal 1 32  1 34 Linux operating system 20 72 1 5 6 2 1 7  2 1 8  2 25 29 adocacy newsgroups and 1 5 5  1 57 1 58 159 162 commercial successs impact on 23738 copyright policy 94-97 195 corporate interest in 1 3 0  1 3 2  1 33 1 5 5  15 962 164 165 early user feedback 88-89 91  93-94 95 nancial reimbursement issues 9396 agmentation concerns  69 70 ture technology deelopment and 22324 IBM and 1 57-58 162 203 idealist s pragmatist debate 163-66 Inrmix and 1 5 8  5 9 initial posting of 8789 Internet newsgroup 1 1 7   8 legacy of 23 8 248-49

nex

255

ux opratg systm, cont  Mcroso thrat, 163 1 67 68 202 Mx compard wth, 92 98 106 multprocssor machs, 146 am orgally plad r, 84 88 tworkg ad, 1 1 6  1 7 Orac ad, 159 orgs of, 57  5 8 64 7887 pagtodsk, 9 1  9 2 pgu symo, 13840 portalty, 10 12 1 045 1 32 pulc rlatos cosdratos, 12729 scodary projcts utlg, 22829 scurty ssus, 1 1 7 Su Mcrosystms ad, 1 5 7 support astructur, 2023 Taaum' s attacks agast, 9 8 1 00 1 0 6 1 1 1  1 2  1 1 7 Toalds as usr commuty ladr ad, 20 1 2022  1 68 69 190 Toalds's mag of lf thory ad, xx tradmark dsput, 20 13335 Vrso  rl, 1 1 7  1 27  29 vrso rlass, 8792 96 1 1 6 1 1 7  1 3 2 X wdowg systm ad, 11516 ux SMP, 146 SP mach, 19495 ookg Glass (Ux dsktop), 130

256

Index

M ach programmg la guag, 10  44 45 Mach opratg systm, 1 4 9  5 1 Mac opratg systm, 8 1 Mac OS X opratg systm, 149 Maddog See all, Jo maam computrs, 160 Madlrot, Bot, 7 5 Mark Wllams Compay, 92 Massachustts sttut of Tchoogy, 1 1 5  1 94 mathmatcs, 6 7475  76 McKusk, Marshall Krk, 5 6  1 1 4 mcrokr approach, opratg systms ad, 9899 10 1  1 04 1 50 Mcroso, 1 1 4 1 49 1 5 1 udlg of sowar y, 2 1 8 allow Documt, 167 BM ad, 158 lcsg ad, 206 ux as thrat to, 1 6 3  1 6 7 68 202 ux systm compard wth, 16061 Ntscap ad, 1 5 6 McroVAX computr, 5 3  5 4 Mx opratg systm, 129 ux compard wth, 92 98 106 Torvalds as usr, 5 2  6 1  6 3  7 8  8 1  8487  9091 MT See Massachustts sttut of Tchology mo phos See cll phos modms, 63 moolthc approach, opratg systms ad, 99100 10 1 104

Morr See Trnqvist, Leo Waear motivation inuencing ctors, xviii-xxii, 244-49 r programmers,  2 2 , 2 27 , 228 Motorola, 4 Mozart, Wolfgang Amaeus, 2 Mozila (Netscape project,     7 , 2 3  - 32 Mozilla Crypto Group,  7 MP3 technoogy, 2 multitasking, by computers, 4 music inustry, recoring technoogy an, 2  -  7

N apoleon, 3 Napster, 2 Nationa Aeronautics an Space Aministration (NASA,  Nesson, Charles, 2 2 NetBSD, 7 Netherans Unix Users Group, 3 Netscape, 20 Mozia project,   - 7 , 2 3  -32 networking,   7,    Linux an,   -  7 newsgroups avocacy, -, 7, 8, 9, 2 Linux,  7 - 8 Newton, Isaac, 94, 228 Nokia, 33, 94, 243, 244 Norssen igh School (esinki, 24, 2 

Noay, 32 Novel, Inc , 7 ,  30

O penBSD, 7 Open Law roject, 22 open source, 20 ,   4,  2  -22 ,  2 8,  4  antiestablishment sentiment r,  Apple Computer an, 49-0 control issues, 28 ee soware movement an, 8, -7, 94-9 ture tecnology evelopment an, 223-24 General ublic License an, 8 , 9 , 9-97 ,  94-9, 22 IBM an, 7-8, 2 iealist vs pragmatis ebae about, 3- Inrmix an, 8-9 intelectual property issue an, 204, 20, 230 Netscape browser technology an,  -7 , 23 -32 Palm Computing an, 29 programmer motivaion an,  2 2 , 2 2 7, 2 28 rationale r, 22-34 Sun Microsystems an, , 2 See also Lin operating system operating systems (OS, 7  , 22 2- 23 early versions, 39, 4 microkernel approach, 98-99,  0  ,  04 ,   0



57

oeran sysems S), cont) monoc aroac, 9900 0  04 orvads's eary nkern w, 44 S also nx oeran sys em; othr spcific opratin systs Oratin Systs: Dsin and Iplntation anenam), 5   5 2  5 4 7980   2  2223 race, 59 S/2 oeran sysem,  5 8

Prnce o  Persa comer ame), 6 rorammn anaes assemy, 39 4  44 4 5 46 63 BSI, 7 0  4 5 5 2 For, 43 Java,  5 6   5 8  2  8   9 macne,  0 44 45 S also omer rorammn roeced mode, 62

0S oeran sysem, 4  Ft Man comer ame), 46 47 aeodsk, 9   9 2 Pam omn, 2  9 Pam Plos, 2  9 aens, 204 2089 Ps S ersona comers PC Wk maazne), 8688 PP 1 1 comer, 56 enn, as nx symo, 38 40 Penm F F lock , 6566 erceon, roe o, 2 2 2  2 2 3 ersona comers, 39 4  48 49 5   2 22 2 3  22 5 Playboy maazne), 6 8 Poyecnc Unversy o Hesnk, 58  29 oray, 02 045 32 PSIX, 7 9 PSIX sandards, 7980 Presden's Ba Fnland), 9899

258

Indx

Rand Toads's ca), 5 0  5   23 Raymond, Erc,  5 6 57   6 3  66  67   96 readony memory RM), 4445 62 rea mode, 62 recordn ecnooy, msc ndsry and, 2  6   7 Red Ha,  4 3   5 8   5 9   64   6 6  7 2 7 5   9 2  2 0 3 Rd Hin maazne), 65 rendeer, Fnland and, 3   3 2 Rche, enns, 5 6 RM readonly memory), 4445 62 Roman Emre, 247 roo accons,  9  roo eer, Torvads's dske o, 3  36 Rssa,  3  3 2  3 3

San jose Mercu News, 20 saunas, 2   2 2 3   3 2  3  Saxr, O Toad Es Farr; randhr,  4 scnc, orna prcpons o, 22728 Scnoloy, 2  3 scury ssus, Lnu and,   7 sx, Torvadss mann o  hory and, xx, xv, xx, 24647 sharwar, 93 sh command, 54 shl prorams, 8284 87 Sus, Jan,  7 6 Slcon Graphcs, 203 Scon Vay, 2   22 23 49 Sncar, v, 4   4 8 Sncar QL compur, 4  46 48 49 5   5 3 Snrycho my,  6 68008 compur chp, 4  42 48 soca ordr, as movaona cor, xv-xx, 24549 socks, Unx,   6 Sony, 223 Sony Paysaon 2  2 2 2  2 2 3 sourc cod, 82 94 See also opn sourc Spac Wars compur am, 5 6 Spkrum co cu, 2728 77 0- Spc Grs, 2   Saman, Rchard, 5859  96  56 63  66 67  9496 Sar Oc,  5 2   8  Sun Mcrosysms,  5 5 3 Java prorammn anua,  56  58 2 89

Jn nracon an an ua,  5  - 5 2   5 7 Lnux and,  5 7 Unx opran sysm, 79 82 suva, a movaona cor, xv-xx, 24448 SuSE Lnux vrson,  5 9 Swdn,  3 Symocs, 9495 sysm cas, 5 4 5 5  7 9 8   8 3 Sysm V cod-as Unx, 5657

Tan opran sysm, 49 Tannaum, ndrw S aacks aans Lnu y, 98  00  0 6      2    7 Mnx opran sys and, 52 6 Operating Systems y, 5   5 2  53  7980  2223 ask-swchn, 63 TP/IP nworkn sandard, 7 chnooy ur dvopmn prspc vs, 22024 Torvads s mann o  ho  and, xx-xx, xx T, 43 phony, Lnu uaon o, 229 rmna muaon, 62-64 77 7 8 90 Tvanan, v, 4950 Thompson, Kn, 5 6 Tmx compurs, 4  Tvo, 229

Id

25 

Trnqvist, Leo Waldear orr; grandther), 6 7 9 1112 14 18 35 136 Trnqvist, ormor grand mother), 1 8 Torvalds, Anna ikke mother), 1 5  1 6  1 8  84 1 2 3  1 2 8  144 145 background and meeting with, 6571 Torvalds, Celeste daughter), 1 4 1 Torvalds, Daniela daughter), xvii, xxi, 23 25 34 14 1  144 1 7 2  1 7 7  1 8 1  20 0  2 0 1 Toalds, Leo alf-brother), 1 0  1  1 5  16 Torvalds, Linus accessibility of, 18690 army duty, 2829 50 BW sports car, 10910 237 as cat owner, 5 0 5 1  1 2 3 childood appearance, 35 college years, 2728 50 5 1  54 6064 7781  90 1 10 1 1  1 1 4  1 3 6 37 commercial success's eects on, 23738 computers as childhood hobby, 910 1619 24 26 3947 6 9 7 1 control as issue r, 2 1 5  1 9 courtship and marriage, 7 1  12223 128 144 earl programming eorts, 8 1 0 1 7  4347 me's upside and downside, 23537 mily background, 1 3  1 6 milys recollection of child hood of, 657

60

Index

n websites, 1 2 9 fascination with programmin, 7376 rst computer, 68 1 2 35  39 rst PC, 6064 rs program writen, 8 rst U.S visit, 13032 on Frbes cover, 162 ture technology development perspectives, 22024 guiding life principles, 1 7 9 high school years, 2426 image misconceptions, 18890 increased interes in exercise, 1 33  24041 intellectual property concerns, 20414 Jobs Steven) meeing with, 14951 as journalist vorite, 1 6 3  1 67 69 1 8688 Joy Bill) meetings, 1 5 1  5 3 as Linux communiy leader, 20 1 2022 1 6869 1 90 meaning of life theory, xvii xxii, 5 1  2 2 1  24249 move to new house, 200201 online colection r, 64 118 142 open source phiosophy ratio nale, 22534 parents' divorce, 10 18  34 67 on people's overbearing seri ousness, 19197 political views, 1 6 5  2 3 0 as Presidents Ball i nvitee, 9899 public speaking and, 1 1 2  1 1 3 14 1 20 170 1 7985' 192

as research assstant, 1 1 5  1 3 3 root account, 992 schoo stend awards, 404 sees mortance to, 48 soca nsecurt o, 26 27 110 s Sektrum cu memer, 27 2 8 7 7 1 1 0  1 stock otons, 66 17278 summer jos  chd, 40 as teachng assstant,   5   2 2 23 termna emuaton rogram, 6264 77  7 8 90 at Transmeta Cororaton, 20 7 1  1 1 5   4 1 4 8  5 9  1 6 6 169 178  8 1  1 8689 unstng o hone numer, 7071 See also Lnux oeratng sstem Torvads, Mrta (Farmr; grand mother), 1 4  9 1 Torvads, Ns (Ncke; ther), 1 0  1  1 5  1 7  1 8  26  4 1  60 6 5 6 8 69 84  2 3  1 2 8  2 00 Torvalds, Patrca (daughter), xv , xv, xx, xx, 2 3  2 5  3 4 7 1  1 3 2  1 4 1  1 44   4 5  1 5 4 1 5 5  1 7 7  1 8 1  2 00  20 Torvads, Sara (sster), 4 8   1   5  1 9 2 5  63  64 65  677 2 84 9 2  1 2 3  1 5 5 Torvalds, Tove (we), xv, xx, xx, 1 1  50  1 0 8  1 3 6  2 3 9  240 Comdex Show (999) and,  8 0  8  courtsh and marrage, 7 1  12 223 1 28 144

daughters rths, 1 4 1  1 44  155 m e, 2 3  3 4  5 9   7 0 journasts and, 29 Lnux engun smo and, 3839 move to new house, 20020 move to Unted States, 4445 at Presdents Ba, 199 Red Hat nta uc oer ng,  7 2   7 3 as squash aer,  3 3  1 3 4 trademarks, 208 Lnu oeratng sstem ds ute, 20 13335 trade secrets, 2 0 8  209   0  2 1 3 Transmeta Cororaton, 2 0 7 1    5   4   48   5 9  66 1 69 178 1 8  1 84 8689 Transmeta We Sate, 229

U trx oeratng sstem, 5 3 Unted States Corght Extenson Act, 226 Unverst o Carna-Berkee, 5657 Unverst o Helsnk, 2 7  5 3  5 4  1  7  1 2 2  1 2 8 29  14 3 Unverst o  nos, 56 Unx Doman Sockets,   6 Unx oeratng sstem, 20 52 5 8  7 9  8 7   3 0 1 60 Berkee Soware Dstruton codease, 5 7 152 153 Bourne She, 8283 B Ms verson, 1 5 7 vendor dsutes, 169

Inde

1

8 vectr graphcs, 46 VH tapes, 1 7 V20 See mmdre V-20 cmputer Verumak, Juk (vutn), 49 69 7 84 94 1 34 39 Vkngs, 1 3 Vsr (cmputng devce),  1 9 VM peratng system, 5 3  5 5

Wendt, Ernst vn (greatgrand ther), 1 5 Wndws NT peratng system, 1 58 1 60 167 Wndws peratng system, 5 5  1 18 1 58 Wired (magazne), 1 5 3 wreess technlgy, 2 1 5  48 ce l phnes, 3 33  43 44 Wrzenus, Lars, 7 58  64 1 08 1 1 5  1  72 8 Wsnak, teve, 4 1

Wapt, 3031

X86 nterpreter, 147

war, Trvadss meanng f fe thery and, xv-xx, , 247 Werush (Berkeey event), 42 44 We seers, Lnux and, 1 5 7  5 8  1 60 26

XENX peratng system, 108 X wndwng system, 1 1 5  1 6

V Lnux, 1 3 5  1 7 47 5  1 7 7 

22

ndx

Zrwsky, Orest, 1 1 5  1 6