
Linus Torvalds: The King of Geeks (And Dad of 3) - olegp
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/03/mr-linux/
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pessimist
RedHat's $1m stock is his only big payout, apparently. Rather sad, considering
the number of mid-level facebook engineers who will become many times as rich
in a few months.

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MatthewPhillips
Which of those will be remembered in 200 years. Wanna be the richest guy in
the graveyard?

~~~
icandoitbetter
Being the famous guy in the graveyard isn't particularly appealing either.

~~~
zerostar07
Millions of tourists who pay tributes to graves and memorials would disagree

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kamaal
None of that would matter for the 'dead guy' in the graveyard.

What matters is your experiences when your alive.

What matters more? The rich guy gets a more comfortable coffin too!

~~~
ttt_
>> _None of that would matter for the 'dead guy' in the graveyard._

That's up for the 'dead guy' and his beliefs to consider.

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colbyolson
Had the pleasure of meeting Linus last weekend while up in Portland, at a Go
Kart facility no less. Super nice guy, but I was a little too star struck to
form coherent words. His race nickname was Penguin, :).

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zerostar07
I cringed with the S.Jobs comparisons. Journalists should really stop doing
this. And this one was completely unwarranted

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rachelbythebay
How is that license plate holder legal? You can't even see the state name, and
you have to guess based on the lower loop on the "g".

Don't drive that car into Texas
([http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist25/pr03...](http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist25/pr03/p092603a.htm))
or any other state with similar laws...

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getsat
He could roll Steve Jobs style and have no plate.

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link2009
Only if he rolls in California, since that's the state where Jobs was
exploiting the law.

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js2
Linus' blog entry on the pre-Oscar party mentioned in the article -
[http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2011/02/pearls-before-
sw...](http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2011/02/pearls-before-swine.html)

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levesque
What's the point of this article? Feels like (tech) celebrity gossip.

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bicknergseng
"...he rubbed elbows with the likes of Robert Downey Jr., who didn’t know who
he was, and Mad Men star Jon Hamm, who did."

I'm mildly disappointed in RD Jr... he had so much geek cred after playing an
awesome Iron Man, but I guess that's why it's called acting.

~~~
untog
I'm far, far more impressed than Jon Hamm does. I've been a techie all my
life, and I would walk straight past Linus if I saw him on the street. I only
have a very vague idea of what he looks like.

And why should it otherwise? He's famous for what he's done, not who he is.

~~~
frou_dh
That reminds me of this tweet I saw. I was surprised to recognise 11 of 12 (I
think. Not positive on the lower left; don't know the one in the wig).

Evidently commissioned by a lover of Clojure:
[http://twitter.com/#!/ghoseb/status/167501457896120321/photo...](http://twitter.com/#!/ghoseb/status/167501457896120321/photo/1)

~~~
bicknergseng
Hah I thought that was Paul McCartney. The one in the middle with the wig is
Bach. I can only get half or so. Where is that?

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rmk
I am really getting sick of everybody and his uncle being compared to Steve
Jobs. I mean, a comparison to Woz might not be out of place (both men were
technical architects of things that revolutionised the industry), but Steve
Jobs was a businessperson with an uncanny eye for industrial design, not the
architecture of software.

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reirob
I am really interested what Linus will do about the metallic taste in the
espresso? I hope he will hack the Jura Espresso-Machine and we'll all end up
with Linux-Coffee.

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waterlesscloud
Off topic a bit, and maybe this is just me, but is Wired one of the slowest
loading sites on the internet for anyone else?

~~~
slug
It took less than a second, running latest firefox on linux and
noscript/adblock/flashblock/etc.

But on the same vein of off topic, I just want to know if the microwave and
coffee maker on that picture run linux.

~~~
zaphar
While I could _very_ easily be wrong Linus always struck me as the kind of guy
who would want a microwave and coffee maker that just works and wouldn't
really care if they run linux or not.

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veb
He strikes me as the kind of guy who just wants the best tool for the job. If
it doesn't exist, he makes it.

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javert
As opposed to Richard Stallman, who probably does not drink coffee unless it
comes from a coffee maker running free softare.

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sciurus
Just to be pedantic...

Stallman: I'm less concerned with what happens with embedded systems than I am
with real computers. The real reason for this is the moral issues about
software freedom are much more significant for computers that users see as a
computer. And so I'm not really concerned with what's running inside my
microwave oven.

Again, I'm happy if people find GNU/Linux useful for that. If some companies
finds it useful in a microwave oven I'll say, "That's nice." But I don't think
that's where the social and political issues arise. Those arise where the
computers are visible to the user as computers. We can load software into
them. We have thus the possibility of sharing and changing software. And then
it becomes a significant question whether we are allowed to do so or whether
we are blocked from doing so.

~~~
javert
Interesting.

I don't agree with Stallman on making this distinction. (I don't agree with
him in general, either, though.)

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aiscott
Amusing anecdote:

A few months back I was at the local Petsmart; getting out of my car I noticed
a guy walking toward the store. I thought he looked familiar, so I looked back
over my shoulder at him again... I didn't really recognize him but I thought
he might have been somebody famous for some reason.

Anyway, when I got back to my car I saw that yellow mercedes, and when read
the plate holder saying "Mr. Linux. King of Geeks." I figured out who it was,
kind of neat.

At the time I don't think I realized he lived in Portland.

~~~
dudeguy999
I had no idea he moved to America. Anyone know the reason? Redhat?

~~~
sho_hn
He moved to America in 2004, and became a US citizen in 2010. Two of his kids
are US citizens as well (by virtue of having been born there).

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adharmad
I think he moved to the US sometime in the late 90s.

~~~
sho_hn
I think you're right. 2004 was probably just his move to Portland.

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obtino
Proves that if you do what you love, you're bound to be successful.

~~~
michaelhoffman
It proves no such thing. There are many people who do what they love and are
failures.

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matt_yoho
Not _really_ disagreeing with your contention, but there are probably
different applicable definitions of "failure" here. It could be argued doing
what one loves is inherently successful, etc. (I'm sure you're familiar with
the sentiment.)

