4 ms·

Yes, he merely gave us the greatest operating system of human history for free. Such an incredible lack of generosity. By the way, I read this quote as a since

by cjfd 8y ago

Yes, he merely gave us the greatest operating system of human history for free. Such an incredible lack of generosity. By the way, I read this quote as a sincere attempt to understand what was going on in the mind of some people. I am afraid the actual explanation may be a bit more prosaic. A monolithic kernel might -o horror of horrors- be quite mundane. And where is the tenure in that?

MisterOctober 8y ago
Plus -- git! I'm a confirmed Linux user [switched from macOS], but to me it's clear that git dwarfs Linux in terms of sheer _significance_. Sure, Linux is what runs most big systems and that is really cool, but if Linux hadn't come around, there was already BSD [which is also good and a lotta my buddies were advocating in the mid-late 90s]. But git is quite unique and has / had no easy substitute. I don't [personally] know a single technology person who doesn't use or interact with git daily. And the benefits of reliable, free/open, and distributed version control are just monumental for the average working code stiff.
- cesarb 8y ago
  > But git is quite unique and has / had no easy substitute. There was Monotone, which was git's main inspiration. If it weren't slow as molasses, we might be using it today instead of git.
  - BurningCycles 8y ago
    I'd say the main inspiration was Bitkeeper, which is what Linus used until the free usage was withdrawn by the author.
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  Mercurial appears to have come out at the same time as git and covers almost exactly the same usecases.
  - muxator 8y ago
    Plus: non specialists have a chance of being able to use it proficiently, without having to know its internals.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- deleted 8y ago
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shadowfox 8y ago
> Yes, he merely gave us the greatest operating system of human history While I like Linux, that may be overstating the case
pjmlp 8y ago
Which would have gone nowhere without those getting paychecks from IBM, Compaq, HP, Intel, Oracle.
sureaboutthis 8y ago
Essentially, Linux was a copy of UNIX (yeah, I know MINIX) so...
- snvzz 8y ago
  A copy of UNIX written by a MINIX user and OS design&impl reader, Linus.

by cjfd 8y ago

MisterOctober 8y ago

Plus -- git! I'm a confirmed Linux user [switched from macOS], but to me it's clear that git dwarfs Linux in terms of sheer _significance_. Sure, Linux is what runs most big systems and that is really cool, but if Linux hadn't come around, there was already BSD [which is also good and a lotta my buddies were advocating in the mid-late 90s]. But git is quite unique and has / had no easy substitute. I don't [personally] know a single technology person who doesn't use or interact with git daily. And the benefits of reliable, free/open, and distributed version control are just monumental for the average working code stiff.

cesarb 8y ago
> But git is quite unique and has / had no easy substitute. There was Monotone, which was git's main inspiration. If it weren't slow as molasses, we might be using it today instead of git.
- BurningCycles 8y ago
  I'd say the main inspiration was Bitkeeper, which is what Linus used until the free usage was withdrawn by the author.
yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
Mercurial appears to have come out at the same time as git and covers almost exactly the same usecases.
- muxator 8y ago
  Plus: non specialists have a chance of being able to use it proficiently, without having to know its internals.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

shadowfox 8y ago

> Yes, he merely gave us the greatest operating system of human history While I like Linux, that may be overstating the case

pjmlp 8y ago

Which would have gone nowhere without those getting paychecks from IBM, Compaq, HP, Intel, Oracle.

sureaboutthis 8y ago

Essentially, Linux was a copy of UNIX (yeah, I know MINIX) so...

snvzz 8y ago
A copy of UNIX written by a MINIX user and OS design&impl reader, Linus.