the man behind linux
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page 3: Linus 2.0
Upside: Many people would find that decision difficult. It seems it was easy for you. Do you have a sense of why?
Torvalds: It's probably a difficult choice to make in the [United States, but] it's not a difficult choice to make in many other parts of the world. The [United States] is money-centered, and everybody is very aware of money, and that has some good points, too.
It's different from [Finland. There] you have a background where success is appreciated, but you appreciate other things [more]. I come from a family where, for example, an academic scholarship is appreciated. Learning is considered important. They weren't money-conscious people.
Linus 2.0
Upside: There's some fascinating cloak-and-dagger secrecy surrounding your work at Transmeta. Can you give me an idea of when somebody will be able to talk about it?
Torvalds: No. It could happen tomorrow, [or] it could take 15 years.
Upside: Did Transmeta find you, or did you find Transmeta?
Torvalds: Kind of both. I knew a person from Sweden [who was] inside Transmeta. I knew him as a Linux person. He came to Helsinki, [Finland], for a day to meet me, and I said, "Oh, I'm finally going to graduate," because at that point I hadn't relaxed for years. He asked me [about working for Transmeta], and I talked to his boss about [it]. A week later [in fall 1996], I was flying to California.
Upside: I know you can't tell me what your work is about, but can you tell me what excited you about it?
Torvalds: Part of it was that I'd been doing [Linux] for six years, and I wanted to have something else, too. I didn't want to get stuck in a rut. I didn't want my whole life to be Linux. I wanted to find something that was motivating for its own sake. And a small company is more personal. [Also], doing something that probably nobody else in the world is doing is exciting.
Upside: And it's not Linux-related?
Torvalds: They use Linux internally, and I use Linux every day. They're happy having me work on Linux, too--[partially] for PR reasons, [partially] because they use it internally.
Upside: But you're not paid to do that. Most people would find it bizarre that you could have such a huge unpaid job ...
Torvalds: Even the people who can't imagine doing something just for the love of doing something--they're sad people, but there are probably people like that. To them I can always use the argument that 10 years down the road when Linux is really successful, I can command whatever salary I want. This is like putting money in the bank. That's not why I do it, but you can use that as an argument for people who don't understand the other arguments.
I consider myself an artist, and [I] do what I love to do. And I don't have to live in squalor, because people pay programmers good sums of money.