Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Linus Torvalds: The Mind Behind Linux

January 1, 2017 by  
Filed under VidStyle

Linus Torvalds transformed technology twice. First with the Linux kernel which helps power the internet, and again with Git, a version control system (VCS) for tracking changes in computer files and co-ordinating work on those files among multiple people. It’s primarily used for software development but it can be used to keep track of changes in any files. In a rare interview with TED Curator Chris Anderson, he discusses with remarkable openness, the personality traits that prompted his unique philosophy of work, engineering and life.

ABOUT TED

TED is a small Non Profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design.

ABOUT Linus Torvalds

linus-torvalds Linus Torvalds says, “I am not a visionary, I’m an Engineer,” I’m perfectly happy with all the people who are walking around and just staring at the clouds but I’m looking at the ground, and I want to fix the pothole that’s right in front of me before I fall in.”

Fascinated by the economy and elegance of experimental operating system Minix, he wrote an Operating System kernel and shared it with independent programmers. The system they fleshed out and released in 1994, Linux was remarkable not only for its utility and efficiency but also for the collaboration of its community. He now enjoys mainstream respectability and the support of the computer industry.

Linux runs on the servers of Amazon, Google and much of the wired world. As the sole arbiter of code for the Linux Foundation (which he characteristically downplays by saying) “the only power I have is to say, no.” He inspires Open Source Projects all around the world and is, without doubt, one of the tech world’s most gracious achievers.

The VIDEO

Comments are closed.