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He may be not someone who matters anymore in terms of "money & success", but my bet is on Linus Torvalds -- 100 years later. He is the only one on that list who
by ldambra 18y ago
He may be not someone who matters anymore in terms of "money & success", but my bet is on Linus Torvalds -- 100 years later. He is the only one on that list who has created something that is transcendental, wich won't stop after his death because it goes beyond himself and is slowly but surely shaping History, in a virtually unstoppable way.
Oh, and I'm a proud Windows XP user, no fanboyism inside :)
- RK 18y agoI think your argument also works to say that he doesn't matter (by design), in that his project can continue with or without his active participation. If you read the kernel mailing list, there is sometimes the question of "what happens if Linus gets hit by a bus?" He always says that it shouldn't adversely affect development... :)
- DenisM 18y agoThe ultimate goal of a warrior is to lay down his sword.
- SwellJoe 18y agogit wholly altered Linus' position in the world of software. It was like George Foreman's comeback, proving that an old dog can learn new tricks and stomp all over the youngsters in the field. Anybody that's not looking at Linus (for a second time, if you were around for the beginning of Linux, or for the first time) with a sense of wide-eyed amazement just isn't paying attention. He's now helped reinvent two entire industries. git is pretty revolutionary...it builds on the shoulders of giants, just like Linux did previously, but it makes the leap that no one else as made and puts it into a simple package (Mercurial and darcs and bazaar all come close, of course, but all have a "research project" feel to them in several important areas--partly because git came last in the line and could learn from their mistakes, but the same is true of almost every great idea).