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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
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