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Founders: #176 Linus Torvalds (Creator of Linux)

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What I learned from reading Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. ---- [0:01] From a party of one it now counted millions of users on every continent, including Antartica, and even outer space, if you count NASA outposts. Not only was it the most common operating system, but its very development model—an intricate web of its own, encompassing hundreds of thousands of volunteer computer programmers—had grown to become the largest collaborative project in the history of the world. [1:08] Revolutionaries aren’t born. Revolutions can’t be planned. Revolutions can’t be managed. Revolutions happen. And sometimes, revolutionaries just get stuck with it. [9:05] The Swedish language has no equivalent to the term “dysfunctional family.” As a result of the divorce, we didn’t have a lot of money. Mom would have to pawn her only investment—the single share of stock in the Helsinki telephone company. I remember going with her once and feeling embarrassed about it. Now I’m on the board of directors of the same company. [10:13] Linus has no handlers, doesn’t listen to voice mail, and rarely responds to email. [10:40] I found Linus to be unexpec

[00:00:00] During the euphoria of the final years of the 20th century, a revolution was happening among all other revolutions. Seemingly overnight, the Linux operating system caught the world's attention. It had exploded from the small bedroom of its creator, Linus Torvalds, to attract a cultish following of near-militant geeks. Suddenly, it was infuriating the corporate powerhouses controlling the planet. From a party of one, it now counted millions of users on every continent, including Antarctica, and even outer space if you count NASA outposts. Not only was it the most common operating…

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