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Just For Fun
from the those-wacky-impetuous-finns dept.
The Scoop
When Linux finally showed up on media radar screens, journalists scrambled to put a friendly face on the "burgeoning Open Source movement." The humble and affable Linus Torvalds became a posterboy. Curiously enough, at least to media types, he eschewed their attention in favor of fun things -- spending time with his family, drinking beer, and hacking.Torvalds' coauthor, David Diamond of Red Herring, had to bribe him with fun activities like surfing and camping to produce this autobiography. They've produced an entertaining portrait of the man behind the kernel. It's an easy read aimed at the average non-geek type -- with plenty of apologetic philosophy mixed in for good measure.
What's to Like?
The Torvalds story is engaging, and it's wittily told. The narrative has a genial, almost self-deprecating tone. From humble beginnings in Finland, the kind of drive and dedication and singlemindedness that makes so many hackers lock themselves away in dark rooms chasing obscure and interesting knowledge paid off. At least, it paid off eventually.The central part of the book revolves around Linux's also-humble beginnings. This, again, involves a unique sort of focus requiring long, dark winters and unsocial (not anti-social) people. Torvalds is at his best in this section, capturing his excitement at technical achievement and surprise that other people are along for the ride. It ends with the release of Linux 1.0 and a surprising first date with Tove. (Yes, that sounds like a bad soap opera. No, it's not bad.)
From there, the book veers into the heady world of Success. Linus describes the increased media attention and the circumstances surrounding his move to the US and Transmeta. Corporate acceptance and the inevitable black-and-white Linux versus Microsoft debates come up, and the overall reaction is, "Who cares? I'm doing this for fun!" One might compare his thoughts on stock options to those of other hackers -- Torvalds even calls himself "the luckiest bastard alive." The success of his little project has changed him, but life is about that change.
A few chapters of philosophy round out the book. His vaunted neutrality is exposed as a case of not wanting to tell other people what to think. He takes on intellectual property abuses, citing cases near and dear to the hearts of Slashdot readers. Readers get a few short thoughts on the history of technology and an essay on why open source makes sense. Finally, Torvalds expounds again on his simple philosophy of life. People do things first for survival purposes, then for social purposes, and finally for recreation. (Hence the title.) For Linus, at least, Linux continues to meet the latter two needs nicely.
What's to Consider?
Interwoven with the standard biography chapters are short vignettes about the writing of the book. Told from Diamond's point of view, these are intended to give a current portrait of the man. They give a sort of clinical observation feeling, like looking through a window on a test subject. On the other hand, they're consistent with Torvalds' presentation of himself. The different styles can be jarring -- Diamond has a snappy, clever new-media style of prose that occasionally obscures his point.Technically-minded readers curious about the sort of geeky details only a kernel hacker could provide will be disappointed. A "jargon ahead" disclaimer forewarns readers before launching into brief descriptions of the fabled Sinclair computer. The book walks a narrow path between avoiding these details and requiring some knowledge -- readers unfamiliar with RMS, ESR, and even the Tanenbaum debates might have trouble catching up in spots. On the other hand, you know a book that explains what EEPROM is can't be too hard.
The Summary
Written mostly in a conversational style, this is an entertaining little book. It's suitable for nearly all audiences, without too much in the way of jargon. Additionally, it's an interesting portrait of Linus himself, cutting through some of the myths. This is a book that might explain to parents and significant others the world over why we do what we do.Table of Contents
- Birth of a Nerd
- Birth of an Operating System
- King of the Ball
- Intellectual Property
- An End to Control
- The Amusement Ride Ahead
- Why Open Source Makes Sense
- Fame and Fortune
- The Meaning of Life II
You can purchase this book at ThinkGeek.
Alternate Title (Score:1)
Anonymous Kevin /. went down the toilet
Proudly posting as Anonymous Coward since 1997
Annoyingly ignored since
Re:What we really need is a kernel story (Score:1)
Re:© Linus (Score:3)
brief chapter excerpts (Score:3)
You people have got no humour! (Score:1)
I read
Re:Growing up in Finland (Score:2)
the stress that you experience in places like the US (gotta get successful NOW!) is simply not there
I suppose for the people who worship money and/or fame that may be true. Those that feel their possessions define who they are fall into the same boat. I haven't ever felt that sort of stress. I chose a profession that I enjoy and have a nice job. My car is a plain old econobox, not some money sucking status symbol. Learning new things helps keep boredom away. Any stress involved other family members who have a case of the 'But I want it' disease. Telling them to shut up and stop focusing on what they don't and to enjoy what they do have doesn't always work.
Re:What's Not To Like (Score:5)
Netcraft also measure OS penetration. See the following sample from one of their SSL surveys:
Note that their OS breakdown is generally only available to paying customers, although I've heard from those who've seen it that Linux fares very well in the non-SSL rankings.
Meaning of liff (Score:1)
Linus and I (and everyone else I assume) must stare a taste in Dougless Adams:
There are three stages of civilization, known as the how, why, what stages: how do we survive, why are we here, and what's for lunch?
-- butchered from memory.
Bitter because he's Bill Gates (Score:2)
The reason is right there in what he said: "if it weren't for Microsoft and IBM" Sorry, but the world was already changing in nice ways thanks to Intel and Zilog and Motorola and Commodore and Apple, etc.
We never did need Microsoft and IBM to come in and monopolize the blossoming microcomputer market place.
And as the above AC notes, PDPs were very nice minicomputers; we didn't need to be saved from them.
('Course, he's right that Torvalds isn't the be-all and end-all of OSes and free/open source; I personally am keenly aware of earlier traditions from e.g. Stanford and MIT and Berkeley that we are still building on.)
Linux Anniversary? (Score:2)
Re:© Linus (Score:1)
Re:In 1000 years (Score:1)
I thought their decision to buy QDOS was due more to time constraints. I'm also pretty sure there was a porting effort somewhere in there (new hardware and all) that you missed. And considering how hardwired all that crap was I imagine it wasn't quite as easy as a netbsd port..
Re:So.... (Score:1)
This is so classic that this post got marked as redundant. How is it redundant? Given that Mr. Torvalds is an advocate (or least is held up as one) of open source/no intellectual property rights then one would fully expect this book to appear online, or at least with a preface/copyright condition that allows anyone to retype it in (or sorry, following the GPL concept he should provide the original text layout format source) and provide it to the world with no fear of legal recourse.
But wait: Just as the Torvalds/GPL fans will rewrite IP restrictions for processor design (and as I stated in another article processor design is no different than software system design) they will just as quickly claim that meanderings are more worthy of protection than source code.
Re:Interwoven and Vignette? (Score:1)
I'm as shocked as you are. What next, companies named 'omphaloskepsis', 'agilent', or 'diastema'?
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Re:What we really need is a kernel story (Score:2)
Bill Gates wouldn't write a book like this (if the comments on it are reasonably accurate). His books are about his ideas, not himself.
His books are also quite dull and not recommended unless you're into pretentious businessspeak.
D
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Linus is an ordinary person (Score:1)
Linus is a fairly ordinary high tech guy who
achieved extraordinary things by refusing to set
limits. He did a lot of hacks all of do as kids,
had good but not elitist education and so on.
That should inspire the rest if us "ordinary people"
to strive for extraordinary goals.
Re:Published on the web? (Score:1)
http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/excerpt_xml.
Re:My title of choice... (Score:2)
Linus lost the kernel? (Score:1)
Re:© Linus (Score:2)
Maybe it is. After all, the GPL is a copyright.
loose is not lose! (Score:2)
Re:What we really need is a kernel story (Score:2)
Yes, he praises Thompson and Richie (and Stallman) (Score:2)
He talks about first seeing Stallman on page 58, and then on pages 95-96 he says Stallman is a giant upon whose shoulders Linus was able to host himself, thanks to the GNU tools, especially Stallman's GCC.
Re:cool (Score:2)
Um, lessee, perhaps before this "internet" thing hit and everybody jumped on AOL to swap MP3s? How many of us would have gotten picked on and/or beaten up for wearing the ThinkGeek "geek." shirt to school? Now I wear it and people are like "cool man". So yes you bastard, you must not be old enough >:|
Re:© Linus (Score:2)
Re:What's Not To Like (Score:2)
Linus on NPR (Score:2)
Felt a little rough (Score:3)
Still, it's quite a lot of fun, and rather inspiring too. I had to stop last night about halfway through because I felt like I should be doing some programming of my own :)
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Re:What's Not To Like (Score:2)
Ahh sweet house child labor... nothing teachs you to code faster than getting beat with a stick creating a buffer overflow in your code!
Child programming labor.. you can't beat it, but you sure can beat them!
Re:Yes, he praises Thompson and Richie (and Stallm (Score:2)
What does Linus have a fetish with using Newton quotes? This is like the four time I seen Linus "take" words from Newton...
What we really need is a kernel story (Score:5)
Linus is a nice guy and all, and an autobiography is nice, but that's what it is. Methinks Slashdot wouldn't have reacted the same way with Bill Gates' book.
Re:We must thank his sister (Score:3)
My title of choice... (Score:5)
...would have been: Linus Torvalds: The Man Page
But I think the public might have misconstrued the book's content.
Re:Survival - Social - Recreation - trimethyl xant (Score:2)
Nope.. see 'Things to Hack in L.A. When You're Dead', film at 11, for details. The fact that survival is a prerequisite for hacking, is exactly why programming fluids [tuxedo.org] have been developed. "You left your programmers alone without caffeine? Mr. Gates, your men are already dead." ;-]
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Survival - Social - Recreation (Score:5)
My Humble opinion: Geeks/hackers are people who prioritize recreation over social purposes.
--
Growing up in Finland (Score:2)
(yes I know about the Sammi people, and greatly admire the resurgence of their culture!)
But with the large social safety net, and the ability to go to university at low cost, etc. the stress that you experience in places like the US (gotta get successful NOW!) is simply not there. and this leads to an interesting perspective on the US.
I can imagine coming to the US is like coming in from Mars or someplace like that. There are going to be a lot of things that seem quite daffy.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire [eplugz.com] comic strip
Published on the web? (Score:2)
Re:What's Not To Like (Score:2)
That would be because this is a biography of Linux, not Linux.
~cHris--
Chris Naden
"Sometimes, home is just where you pour your coffee"
Re:cool (Score:2)
Doesn't mean we didn't have our heros. Along with Linus, my other heros include Berkely Breathed [dragonswest.com], Walt Kelly, Benjamin Harrison Adams, and Mark Knopfler.
-- .sig are belong to us!
All your
© Linus (Score:5)
Gee, shouldn't that be GPL'd?
-- .sig are belong to us!
All your
What's Not To Like (Score:5)
At one point he even seems to confuse the Netcraft surveys of the webservers with a measure of penetration of Linux. The Netcraft surveys measure Apache, a server that also runs on FreeBSD, AIX, MacOS, and dozens of other OSs.
For this reason I think both Rebel Code and Free for All do a better job with the history. The only really novel part here are the stories about growing up in Finland and spending his life coding in a closet. Those parts are great fun. He's a charming guy. The book's great. But I wish he could spread the credit around a bit more.
Great Book! (Score:2)
Just for Fun is an excellent book. If you wonder about the thoughts and feelings surrounding the beginning of Linux, this book will satisfy your interest.
The contrast between Torvald's Book and the book by Bill Gates, The Road Ahead, is huge.
Apparently Bill Gates does nothing for you unless you give him money. The Road Ahead is a series of cliches. It reads as though someone went through it and removed anything that might be of value. I think anyone deliberately trying to write something so boring would probably accidentally say something interesting.
The feeling of interacting with Microsoft and Microsoft products is a feeling of constantly having to defend yourself against abuse. The products and the company reflect the adversarial personality behind them.
For example, a lot of people don't realize that Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME crash because of deliberate limitations in the availability of memory available for what Microsoft calls "User Resources" and "GDI Resources". Anyone who doubts this should run the program called "Resource Meter" to verify one cause of the crashes.
People who inhabit the idealistic brotherhood of GNU free software find it amazing that Microsoft deliberately did a poor job, apparently so users would have a reason to upgrade. Think of all the lost work and lost time caused by the crashing. That is deliberate! Microsoft deliberately causes people grief so the company can make more money!
The feeling of interacting with Linux is a peaceful feeling that reflects the peacefulness of the creators. Even someone who doesn't want to know anything about computers might read Just for Fun to know more about one of the most important social revolutions in the world today.
No one involved with Linux claims it is perfect. Linus Torvalds in his book points out many of his own shortcomings. But both are remarkably free of adversarial behavior.
In 1000 years (Score:2)
> will be treating this book like the Bible and Torvalds like a prophet.
In a thousand years, I would hope that the concept of operating systems will be as out-of-date as your interpretation of our liking for Linus.
> Ditch the hero worship. It's unbecoming in serious folk and makes
> you all look like kids.
Your implication that hero-worship is childish is wrong on two counts. First, hero-worship does not have to be childish. In fact, most of us just refer to it as "respect". Second, Linus is in fact a hero, and not because he's a god, but because he is a prophet, although I admit to having a very loose definition of "prophet". He's the best demonstration we've had in the last decade that an everyman can change the world.
> Add to that the fact that most of you would still be working
> on PDPs if it weren't for Microsoft and IBM making babies.
Don't be daft. If IBM and Microsoft didn't exist, someone else would have done it instead. And, as a side note, IBM sold off the OS project for PCs to Microsoft because they thought of PCs as unworthy of their own developers. Microsoft themselves thought so highly of the project that they too decided to buy MS-DOS from another company and rebadge it rather then waste their time building it. So, don't be such a hero-worshipper of IBM and Microsoft yourself. They are neither irreplacable in the history of OSes nor were they particularly visionary.
> You zealots are all alike: witless, ungrateful, patricidal loons.
Oh, get off it. You overgeneralize by far too much for me to take this seriously.
> Remember your roots, and realize that Torvalds is not the
> figurative loins from which the OS movement sprang. There were many
> ancestors, some of whom you revile today without knowing that their
> contributions make it possible for you to hang out on a hobby site and
> bitch about people who are richer than you because they work for a living.
Good heavens, you're serious, aren't you? You're right that the open source movement didn't start with Linus Torvalds, but by that argument the PC movement didn't start with IBM (Texas Instruments and Tandy and Apple were making PCs long before IBM ever tried), and Windows didn't start with Microsoft (Bill swiped it from Apple, who in their turn swiped it from Xerox PARC), and so on. The point is that Linux is what pushed the OSS movement into the public eye, and Linus created Linux, so he gets the credit. And, most people (myself included) revile Microsoft (or IBM, for that matter) because of their business practices, not their product.
Perhaps you need to do a little reading, and a little growing up yourself, before you toss around such blatant and inaccurate information.
Virg
Re:My title of choice... (Score:2)
We must thank his sister (Score:2)
If it weren't for his sister he might not be the Linus today. At least if they weren't competing on learning English we might not be able to understand what Linus said and couldn't understand his humor in Finish. Also he might have written lousy English in his Linux's README such that no one could follow.
People said every man has a woman behind, it's very true.
Ghost writer (Score:2)
Great Book - Just for fun (Score:2)
Re:Ghost writer (Score:2)
cool (Score:2)
"Good at math, good at physics, and with no social graces whatsoever. And this was before being a nerd was considered to be a good thing."
Am I not old enough? When was being a nerd not a good thing? When did people not realize that nerds made the money and got all the chicks? Okay, or at least made the money. Linus was always cool, I won't hear otherwise!
Re:© Linus (Score:2)
No silly. Its your hobby, you like writting programs. And you do it anyway. But instead of keeping the source to yourself and giving out .exes you decide to share it.
And then all of a sudden you get a job at transmeta.
After that you have the chance to make monay from a book (not a hard one like science fiction or something, just describe the facts you lived). Can you imagine more fun job?
you should read the book......
PS- my keydroab has troblems so excuse my selling erorrs. It will buy a mew one.