Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.
Linus TorvaldsRead
I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker appreciates Linux for its technological merits, not as an anti-Microsoft statement.
In this quote, Linus Torvalds emphasizes that his motivation for developing and advocating for Linux was rooted in the fascination with technology itself rather than a reactive stance against Microsoft. This highlights the idea that innovation can arise from genuine interest and passion for the subject, rather than an opposition to a competitor.
Themes
LinuxTechnologyInnovationDevelopmentOpensource
In practice
Example use cases
During a tech conference discussing the impact of open-source software.
More from Linus Torvalds
All quotes βI often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.
Linus TorvaldsRead
I'm sitting in my home office wearing a bathrobe. The same way I'm not going to start wearing ties, I'm also not going to buy into the fake politeness, the lying, the office politics and backstabbing, the passive aggressiveness, and the buzzwords.
Linus TorvaldsRead
Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.
Linus TorvaldsRead
Most of the good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.
Linus TorvaldsRead
I have an ego the size of a small planet.
Linus TorvaldsRead
Similar quotes
Sharing the code just seems like The Right Thing to Do. It costs us rather little, but it benefits a lot of people in sometimes very significant ways. There are many university research projects, proof of concept publisher demos, and new platform test beds that have leveraged the code. Free software that people value adds wealth to the world.
John CarmackRead
Nobody wants to buy a $60,000 electric Civic. But people will pay $90,000 for an electric sports car.
Elon MuskRead
We are losing our common vocabulary, built over thousands of years to help and delight and instruct us, for the sake of what we take to be the new technology's virtues.
Alberto ManguelRead
Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
Vernor VingeRead
About three million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.
Bill GatesRead
The people who designed the tools that make the Net run had their own ideas for the future.
Tim Berners-LeeRead