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> In Finland, we’ve been known only for Nokia phones. What about Linux?

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Wasn't Torvalds already working abroad by the time Linux became a major phenomenon (as opposed to a hacker's curiosity)?
- jseutter 6y ago
  It depends where you want to set the goalposts for a major phenomenon. Linus moved to the US in 1997 to work for Transmeta, while Linux hit 1.0 in 1994, and Red Hat got its start in 1993. The dot com boom was in full swing in 1999 when Red Hat went public. The rise of Linux really does parallel the rise of the public internet, which first became public in 1994.
wassenaar10 6y ago
Linus is an ethnic Swede, can't have that
- Hamuko 6y ago
  Linus perfectly embodies the Finnish spirit. http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2013/07/linus-torvalds-there-arent-enough-swear.html http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2013/07/linus-torvalds-there...
- hunter-gatherer 6y ago
  Finnish sauna is better than Swedish sauna.
- usr1106 6y ago
  His mother tongue is Swedish, but he is (or at least was) a Finn. Finland is a bilingual country. Well, if you don't count the Sami. If you do, you get more languages.
  - wassenaar10 6y ago
    > His mother tongue is Swedish Which is the definition of being an ethnic Swede. He's part of the relatively small Swedish minority in Finland. I was never contesting his Finnish nationality.
    - faster_harder 6y ago
      Most Fennoswedic families moved ~400 years ago from Sweden to Finland. According to that logic, Americans would actually be native Britons? Sounds wrong to me.
      - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
        The Finnish context and the American one aren’t really comparable. The USA is an 18th-century project where there was little emphasis on ethnicity. Modern Finland, on the other hand, is the project of 19th- and early 20th-century nationalism where the independent nation would be a home for specifically the ethnic Finnish people, while still providing rights and recognition for the ethnic Swedes (and, by the late 20th century, for the Saami). Complicating matters still further, some of the ideologues of an independent Finland for Finns, were ethnic Swedes who "switched sides", as it were. wassenaar10’s two posts above are quite reasonable and on-topic, though I can understand how they might sound odd or offensive to people unfamiliar with Finland.
        escape_goat 6y ago
        I am pretty sure that "Linus is an ethnic Swede, can't have that" was destined to sound offensive also to a fair number of people familiar with Finland, and that this was a predictable result. You also in passing manage to cast aspersions on the legitimacy of Finland as a nation-state while revealing a comprehensive lack of familiarity with American history. Please join wassenaar10 in resisting the impulse to visit your parochial resentments upon us and most certainly do not do so while appealing for tolerance under the banner of our 'unfamiliarity' with Finland. We are familiar enough with trolls and do not need to know any more than that.
- palae 6y ago
  Linus seems to disagree: Question: You were born in Finland, but your mother tongue is Swedish. Do you call yourself a Finn, or a Swede? What is it like to be a Swede in Finland? Torvalds: Oh, I’m a Finn, definitely. When Finland beats Sweden in ice hockey, it’s a national holiday, and Swedish-speaking Finns are celebrating. I only speak Swedish; there are no ties to the country of Sweden. And don’t say “Swede in Finland,” it’s really “Swedish-speaking Finn” (“finlandssvensk” in Swedish, “suomenruotsalainen” in Finnish). https://www.linux.com/news/interview-linus-without-linux/ https://www.linux.com/news/interview-linus-without-linux/
meshenna 6y ago
And SSH and IRC.

Wasn't Torvalds already working abroad by the time Linux became a major phenomenon (as opposed to a hacker's curiosity)?

jseutter 6y ago
It depends where you want to set the goalposts for a major phenomenon. Linus moved to the US in 1997 to work for Transmeta, while Linux hit 1.0 in 1994, and Red Hat got its start in 1993. The dot com boom was in full swing in 1999 when Red Hat went public. The rise of Linux really does parallel the rise of the public internet, which first became public in 1994.

wassenaar10 6y ago

Linus is an ethnic Swede, can't have that

Hamuko 6y ago
Linus perfectly embodies the Finnish spirit. http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2013/07/linus-torvalds-there-arent-enough-swear.html http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2013/07/linus-torvalds-there...
hunter-gatherer 6y ago
Finnish sauna is better than Swedish sauna.
usr1106 6y ago
His mother tongue is Swedish, but he is (or at least was) a Finn. Finland is a bilingual country. Well, if you don't count the Sami. If you do, you get more languages.
- wassenaar10 6y ago
  > His mother tongue is Swedish Which is the definition of being an ethnic Swede. He's part of the relatively small Swedish minority in Finland. I was never contesting his Finnish nationality.
  - faster_harder 6y ago
    Most Fennoswedic families moved ~400 years ago from Sweden to Finland. According to that logic, Americans would actually be native Britons? Sounds wrong to me.
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      The Finnish context and the American one aren’t really comparable. The USA is an 18th-century project where there was little emphasis on ethnicity. Modern Finland, on the other hand, is the project of 19th- and early 20th-century nationalism where the independent nation would be a home for specifically the ethnic Finnish people, while still providing rights and recognition for the ethnic Swedes (and, by the late 20th century, for the Saami). Complicating matters still further, some of the ideologues of an independent Finland for Finns, were ethnic Swedes who "switched sides", as it were. wassenaar10’s two posts above are quite reasonable and on-topic, though I can understand how they might sound odd or offensive to people unfamiliar with Finland.
      - escape_goat 6y ago
        I am pretty sure that "Linus is an ethnic Swede, can't have that" was destined to sound offensive also to a fair number of people familiar with Finland, and that this was a predictable result. You also in passing manage to cast aspersions on the legitimacy of Finland as a nation-state while revealing a comprehensive lack of familiarity with American history. Please join wassenaar10 in resisting the impulse to visit your parochial resentments upon us and most certainly do not do so while appealing for tolerance under the banner of our 'unfamiliarity' with Finland. We are familiar enough with trolls and do not need to know any more than that.
palae 6y ago
Linus seems to disagree: Question: You were born in Finland, but your mother tongue is Swedish. Do you call yourself a Finn, or a Swede? What is it like to be a Swede in Finland? Torvalds: Oh, I’m a Finn, definitely. When Finland beats Sweden in ice hockey, it’s a national holiday, and Swedish-speaking Finns are celebrating. I only speak Swedish; there are no ties to the country of Sweden. And don’t say “Swede in Finland,” it’s really “Swedish-speaking Finn” (“finlandssvensk” in Swedish, “suomenruotsalainen” in Finnish). https://www.linux.com/news/interview-linus-without-linux/ https://www.linux.com/news/interview-linus-without-linux/

meshenna 6y ago

And SSH and IRC.