Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't think "Linus is as likely to be 'wrong' about desktop Linux as most others who use the desktop." While I agree that other peop

Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't think "Linus is as likely to be 'wrong' about desktop Linux as most others who use the desktop." While I agree that other people might be overestimating the importance of Linus's opinion on desktop Linux, I believe he's less likely to be wrong about these things than a whole bunch of people. It's not the same as with "rocket ships, film production, oil recovery techniques", because he has a lot more to do with Linux in general than those other topics. Yes, it's important not to jump on a bandwagon, but that goes both ways: it seems to be increasingly fashionable to attack "celebrities" in our field through thinly veiled ad hominems. Calling Linus a "grumpy-head" or describing Stallman as "waddling" and having a "beard matted into a bizarre pizza crust flapping off the end of his chin" [1] are just recent examples. It's ruse and it does not truly contribute to the point the author is trying to make anyway. As @math and @forgottenpaswrd mentioned in their comments, Linus is a smart guy who, furthermore, has a non-negligible level of expertise and credibility when it comes to Linux-related topics in general. I'll pay attention to his opinions and try to extract facts from them, in order to form my own. I understand that the author is frustrated with people who don't do that, but dissing Linus is not the way to rectify the situation. In the end, I don't care what Linus uses on his computer as much as why he uses (or refuses to use) it and how that might applied in general. [1]: http://brooklynhacker.com/post/35445721578/that-moment-when-rms-walks-into-your-hackathon http://brooklynhacker.com/post/35445721578/that-moment-when-...