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My gut instinct to the inclusion of Torvalds was "No, that's totally wrong", but on further reflection I think it makes sense. Linux is much bigger than him now

My gut instinct to the inclusion of Torvalds was "No, that's totally wrong", but on further reflection I think it makes sense. Linux is much bigger than him now. The whole point of the list is "In the areas where these people are considered 'important', who could I totally piss off and not see too many negative ramifications?'" I just don't see Torvalds wielding the kind of power or influence to really make or break a person/business. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to besmirch Linus, I think he's pretty awesome. I'm just saying, after thinking about it some, I understand why he might be on this list. And I don't know that I would call git innovative, per se. git wasn't the first dvcs, and it's not substantially better than some other systems (mercurial, for example). git's prevalence today is purely because it won the popularity contest, plain and simple (being Linus project certainly helped!). On top of that, while git may be a big deal for developers, git's importance to the world at large is tiny -- frankly I'd argue that github is more important than git itself.

bryanlarsen 15y ago
Linux is influential not because of git or Linux themselves, but because he represents to a lot of people how to manage an open source project. And to a lesser but still very large degree, he represents how to manage ANY software project. So the management decisions he makes end up being copied across open & closed source projects around the world.
SwellJoe 15y ago
git's prevalence today is purely because it won the popularity contest, plain and simple I don't believe that is at all plain and simple (or correct). I worked with many DVCS systems before git. git was obviously better, from the moment I first tinkered with it, and the more I understood of its internals the more obviously better it seemed. There's a reason that after years of DVCS fighting it out for turf and never really gaining any traction, git exploded onto the scene and took over a huge portion of projects. git got everything right...that's why it won the "popularity contest". On top of that, while git may be a big deal for developers, git's importance to the world at large is tiny Developers make the world as we know it today. And git is what developers use. github is awesome, but git is the engine to github's fancy automobile exterior.
- 4ad 15y ago
  And people buy automobiles, not engines.
  - Deestan 15y ago
    This is a discussion about engines. Your comment is non sequitur.
    - Game_Ender 15y ago
      It's the front end that the github people have created which is desirable. They could have created something very similar with Darcs or Mercurial and it would of been just as nice to use.
      - heelhook 15y ago
        darcshub.com mercurialhub.com? Nah, github sounds cooler... extra points for shortness.
        4ad 15y ago
        I take your mercurialhub and give you a hghub instead. Ooops, it's actually shorter than hghub. github sounds cooler though, I take that. You can actually pronounce it.
  - SwellJoe 15y ago
    The internal combustion engine changed the world. It did it by way of automobiles (and other powered machines), but the internal combustion engine, in and of itself, was required for any of that stuff to come into existence. Likewise, git is the engine for numerous things. I'm not sure I understand how hackers can continually underestimate the impact of our own tools and technology. There are millions of developers using git today, and the ones who use git are the most important and influential developers in the world. Sometimes I wonder if nerds even realize how much impact they have on the "real world"....
pbreit 15y ago
So did Linus have anything o do with it winning the popularity contest? A here something about git that made it the foundation for github vs oth dvcs? It seems like you are making the point unintentionally.
tlianza 15y ago
> Linux is much bigger than him now. Linux was much bigger than him then as well. I'd agree with you that in my world github is more important than git, but in the Linux kernel development world, I believe git is what has allowed Linus to remain very involved, and manage a lot of the commits very actively without becoming a bottleneck. In other words, I think it's git's invention that makes Linus a bad choice on this list, because that invention has allowed him to continue to maintain a lot of control/oversight over the Linux project.

bryanlarsen 15y ago

Linux is influential not because of git or Linux themselves, but because he represents to a lot of people how to manage an open source project. And to a lesser but still very large degree, he represents how to manage ANY software project. So the management decisions he makes end up being copied across open & closed source projects around the world.

SwellJoe 15y ago

git's prevalence today is purely because it won the popularity contest, plain and simple I don't believe that is at all plain and simple (or correct). I worked with many DVCS systems before git. git was obviously better, from the moment I first tinkered with it, and the more I understood of its internals the more obviously better it seemed. There's a reason that after years of DVCS fighting it out for turf and never really gaining any traction, git exploded onto the scene and took over a huge portion of projects. git got everything right...that's why it won the "popularity contest". On top of that, while git may be a big deal for developers, git's importance to the world at large is tiny Developers make the world as we know it today. And git is what developers use. github is awesome, but git is the engine to github's fancy automobile exterior.

4ad 15y ago
And people buy automobiles, not engines.
- Deestan 15y ago
  This is a discussion about engines. Your comment is non sequitur.
  - Game_Ender 15y ago
    It's the front end that the github people have created which is desirable. They could have created something very similar with Darcs or Mercurial and it would of been just as nice to use.
    - heelhook 15y ago
      darcshub.com mercurialhub.com? Nah, github sounds cooler... extra points for shortness.
      - 4ad 15y ago
        I take your mercurialhub and give you a hghub instead. Ooops, it's actually shorter than hghub. github sounds cooler though, I take that. You can actually pronounce it.
- SwellJoe 15y ago
  The internal combustion engine changed the world. It did it by way of automobiles (and other powered machines), but the internal combustion engine, in and of itself, was required for any of that stuff to come into existence. Likewise, git is the engine for numerous things. I'm not sure I understand how hackers can continually underestimate the impact of our own tools and technology. There are millions of developers using git today, and the ones who use git are the most important and influential developers in the world. Sometimes I wonder if nerds even realize how much impact they have on the "real world"....

pbreit 15y ago

So did Linus have anything o do with it winning the popularity contest? A here something about git that made it the foundation for github vs oth dvcs? It seems like you are making the point unintentionally.

tlianza 15y ago

> Linux is much bigger than him now. Linux was much bigger than him then as well. I'd agree with you that in my world github is more important than git, but in the Linux kernel development world, I believe git is what has allowed Linus to remain very involved, and manage a lot of the commits very actively without becoming a bottleneck. In other words, I think it's git's invention that makes Linus a bad choice on this list, because that invention has allowed him to continue to maintain a lot of control/oversight over the Linux project.