Re: Linus Geek of the Week

["Bill Bogstad" <user=6@nabble.blu.org>]

 On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 3:47 PM,  <[hidden email]> wrote: 
> I have mixed feelings about Linus. When all is said and done, the first 
> version of Linux wasn't so hot. It took a lot of people a lot of work and 
> a lot of time to make it good. 
> 
> Also, where some people see that he has been a great administrator and 
> guide for Linux, one could just point out there are a lot of people who 
> could have done the same thing, and there's more about random chance and 
> opportunity that this particular guy ended up doing it. 

I don't disagree with what you say later about luck and other things 
making a difference, but I think you also underestimate whatever it is 
that Linus had/did.   Don't forget that 386BSD was released in 1992 
while the first (very primitive) Linux code was out in 1991.  For 
whatever reason, despite 386BSD being a well tested base on which to 
build; none of the free Unices that sprung from 386BSD were ever as 
successful as Linux.  Personally, I think it was for the following 
reasons: 

1. Use of the GPL. 
2. A more open style of development (yes, they were both 'open 
source'). Linus made it easier to get involved and submit patches if 
you were just a user as opposed to a "core" developer. 
3. It was easier to use Linux in a mixed OS environment.  386BSD 
didn't even support MS-DOS style disk partitioning at first 
so dual booting was impossible without purchasing extra hardware. 

The first two reasons are management decisions which I believe 
encouraged part-time contributors.   The third is technical, but had a 
major effect on people's ability to 'test the waters' without jumping 
in whole hog which again encouraged part-timers.  I was running SunOS 
at work and Minix (and DOS) at home and was deciding between 386BSD 
and Linux for my home upgrade.  I had used the BSD family at work 
since BSD 2.8 on a PDP-11 and I still switched to Linux because it was 
painless and because 
I felt like I would be allowed to make a contribution. 

Bill Bogstad 

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and 
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is 
believed to be clean. 

_______________________________________________ 
Discuss mailing list 
[hidden email] 
http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss