
Linus Torvalds on the Google vs Oracle verdict - patrickaljord
https://plus.google.com/102150693225130002912/posts/TZsT2BP3TDh
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gouranga
Having dealt with Oracle, it won't happen like that.

Oracle will throw marketing and lawyers around to hide as much of their
failure as possible by threatening other vendors and any dissident opinion.

Oracle has a suitably large reality distortion field.

~~~
einhverfr
I am having trouble seeing the difference between your opinion and that of
Linux, to be honest.

~~~
huhtenberg
*Linus

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tsurantino
I'm more astounded by the fact that Linus is on a social networking site like
Google+.

I'm really hoping he makes a Twitter account for his rant-I mean comments :D

~~~
bradwestness
Google+ seems to have been adopted by a lot of major players in the tech
industry. Quite a few notable people post on it pretty regularly, possibly
because it's hard to effectively tweet about technology issues in 140
characters.

I'd probably switch to it exclusively too if I could use it to export to
Twitter and Facebook.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Linus also works at Google. I suspect he'd probably still be exclusive to lkml
otherwise.

~~~
jemfinch
No, he doesn't.

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falava
I'm sad that the only thing I can see is this:

Mobile terms of service

By tapping 'Accept', you agree that Google will use your location in this
product and accept the Mobile Terms of Service.

Edit:

After reading the terms and accept...

Using iPhone (nope I'm on iPad) download our app from the store, it's more
fun. (no thanks)

Or continue with the standard site. (very small)

And, that last link goes to my home in Google+, not the Linus post.

I have to searh the post again in HN and tap.

The Linus words are funny but not for so much effort.

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mrebus
Got this too. Closed the page in safari and reopened the link. Worked from
there. I did click accept for the location and no for the google plus app.

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beedogs
Why the hell haven't shareholders gotten fed up with Ellison yet? These waste-
of-time legal junkets he goes on from time to time must be so infuriating.

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sgift
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation>

Revenue: US$ 35.6 billion (2011) Operating income: US$ 12.0 billion (2011) Net
income: US$ 8.5 billion (2011)

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jebblue
He is a handsome guy, and right usually, oh yes, I'm straight. Snap. I agree
too, I hope Larry grows some wisdom instead of the usual hair he sports. It's
bad enough Oracle owns Java already, it should have been IBM IMHO.

~~~
bad_user
IBM owning Java would have been even worse.

~~~
jebblue
Maybe, maybe not but they are heavy users of Java, it seems to me like it
would have been a good fit.

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EternalFury
Oracle could pull all resources dedicated to the development of Java. Burn the
forest to get the Google tree. Drastic and unrealistic, but Ellison doesn't
like to lose.

~~~
excuse-me
Resulting in an improvement in Java for everyone

C/C++ doesn't seem to have done too badly since Bell labs stopped developing
it!

~~~
huhtenberg
> _C/C++ doesn't seem to have done too badly since Bell labs stopped
> developing it!_

I wouldn't be so sure about the C++ part ;)

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ionforce
Can Linus ever not sound like a pompous jackass?

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DanBC
There may be cultural factors at work here.

In England when you say "Hello! How are you?" the answer is almost always
"Very well thanks, how about you?", even if the person is not very well. This
is considered polite. Other countries find this odd, and consider it lying.

(<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386>)

~~~
arethuza
I remember going in for a surgical procedure a few years back and just before
the operation a non-British doctor told me "This is really going to hurt" - I
was expecting "There may be some slight discomfort", which is the usual
British way of saying "This is REALLY going to hurt".

I was quite concerned (i.e. British for "terrified") until they gave me the
pre-med Valium.

And yes, it did sting a bit.

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DigitalSea
I don't really care what Linus has to say on the Google vs Oracle verdict, a
guy who created one of the worlds most useful operating systems that he
doesn't even really contribute to any more who would rather sit on his
computer all day ranting about Github's implementation of Git, rant about
Linux becoming bloated and now ranting about the Google vs Oracle case.

I get Torvalds is a genius, but with the ending line in his G+ post,
"Sometimes I really wish I wasn't always right. It's a curse, I tell you." it
sounds like all of those caffeine fuelled late nights have deprived him of
vital nutrients, he's nuts nowadays.

I realise everything I just said is a rant, I'm a hypocrite at times.

Side note: anyone else think Linus looks a bit like Nicholas Cage in his
Google Plus profile picture?

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sophacles
I'm not sure why you think Linus doesn't really contribute to his operating
system anymore. He doesn't really write code, but that's because he's become
too busy as a project manager for it - which is a different sort of
contribution. Not sure what about this makes you so angry...

Anyway, at least he earned his right to rant about git and linux, I mean, he
sort of created them. And regarding Google v Oracle, he is a stakeholder in
the verdict - if APIs are copyrightable, there will be people filing suits
against linux on the way out of the courtroom.

What did you do to earn your right to rant?

~~~
DigitalSea
This isn't about Linus not being allowed to rant. I was merely stating that
Linus is starting to come across as an old bitter programmer who hates
everyone and everything. It's pretty unprofessional for a guy of his stature
and influence to go on these ranting tirades, professionals don't air their
disdain for things publicly unless there is a valid reason, he just comes
across as a jerk regardless of whether or not he's earned the right to do so,
it's unprofessional.

If he's project manager for Linux, why was he surprised that that the Linux
core is getting bloated? If he's a project manager, shouldn't he be managing
the team to unbloat the operating system? I'd hardly call flaming your own
team and operating system a contribution. Nothing about this makes me angry,
Linus is a genius and he knows it which is why it frustrates me to see a guy
like him resort to sometimes school yard words and ways of dealing with
things.

Linux itself has already been through what Google has, remember the whole
Microsoft debacle? Regardless of the verdict, pretty much every software
company that has felt threatened by Linux I'm sure has tried some kind of
legal action in some way, shape or form.

I earned my right to rant the day I got an internet connection, which was a
very long time ago.

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koeselitz
He's not really a project manager for Linux, to clarify what was said above;
he is the coordinator of development of the Linux kernel, the very heart of
the GNU/Linux operating system. For what it's worth, this is the largest
software project that has ever existed by several orders of magnitude; it's
seen hundreds of changes to its source code per day for the past decade. This
is not a small project, and managing it is not a figurehead role.

Also, please note that Linus' way of interacting with other people online is,
at least according to him, a calculated strategy which is part of his
management style. For more details on this, it's instructive to read over his
brief and entertaining (to me, anyway) document on kernel management style.
[1] Here, he says revealingly that he doesn't think it's possible to be polite
all the time, so it's better to try to criticize everyone equally "so evenly
that nobody really ends up feeling like they get unfairly targeted. Make it
inventive enough, and they might even be amused." He also says that politeness
usually masks honesty, and that he doesn't think anybody is likely to trust
you if you spend a lot of time being polite.

I think a lot of this has to do with his character, but it's worth noting that
he is not oblivious to the way he comes off. He believes he's come up with an
effective strategy for managing the incredibly large and important project
he's in charge of, and it's hard to argue that it hasn't had some spectacular
results. Even if you disagree with how he approaches it - and I emphatically
would not approach any management job the way he does - you have to admit that
he's conscious of what he's doing and he believes it has a purpose.

[1] <http://lwn.net/Articles/105375/>

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lmm
> For what it's worth, this is the largest software project that has ever
> existed by several orders of magnitude;

Hardly. Even just talking about publicly-available open source projects,
consider e.g. FreeBSD.

~~~
koeselitz
I can't edit any more, but I've looked around, and this clearly isn't true.
For some good details on the size of the Linux project, check out the
beginning of this talk by Greg Kroah-Hartmann, one of the chief kernel devs;
it's from 2008, but things have only moved faster on the kernel:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2SED6sewRw>

