Linus was the a suitable person at a specific time with a "good enough" idea. It's a bit of a challenge to take him out of historical context and ignore the re

Linus was the a suitable person at a specific time with a "good enough" idea. It's a bit of a challenge to take him out of historical context and ignore the rest of the Unix pantheon, RMS, Tanenbaum, and even Microsoft as the "Bond villain" that made it all happen. Torvalds is an atom that looms large in a substantial chemical reaction. GNUHerd is interesting in this context, because it highlights the strongest reason to regard Linus as "great": leadership. Technical excellence is necessary, but not sufficient. The reaction requires a catalyst to complete. So, if one deems it important to work the definition of "great" to include Linus, then, sure.