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Then you are much like the overwhelming majority of other university students, which I think makes my point for me. Torvalds is the exception, not the rule. He
by chrismeller 12y ago
Then you are much like the overwhelming majority of other university students, which I think makes my point for me.
Torvalds is the exception, not the rule. He had an idea and the motivation and knowledge to turn it into life. Could he have done this if he'd had to pay for school? Could he have done it in 4 years, instead of 8? Could he have done it after work instead of after class? With the possible caveat that it may have taken a little longer, I'm willing to bet the answer is "yes" to all three.
More importantly, to me at least, how many people do we let goof off for 8 years in the hopes of getting a fraction of a percent who are a Torvalds or a Bill Gates? Who, I'd like to remind everyone, dropped out of Harvard to start a company instead of sitting around doing it after class for the better part of a decade.
- graeme 12y ago>Then you are much like the overwhelming majority of other university students, which I think makes my point for me. I'd say it's also true of the overwhelming majority of office workers too. I didn't start side projects when I had jobs. Everything flipped for me when I discovered entrepreneurship, and I just did it full time once that happened. We'd really need a study to settle this. Does the Finnish system lead to more tinkering on average?
- chrismeller 12y ago> I'd say it's also true of the overwhelming majority of office workers too. Most definitely. But they have jobs, they're paying taxes, and they still have the ability to take on side-projects if they are so motivated and inclined. > I didn't start side projects when I had jobs. Everything flipped for me when I discovered entrepreneurship, and I just did it full time once that happened. Well then you took the Bill Gates model, so you kind of screwed the whole Torvalds argument anyway...