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Linus Torvalds Officially a Hero 406

CortoMaltese writes "The European edition of the Time magazine has selected Linus Torvalds as one of the heroes of the past 60 years. From the main article: 'In the 60 years that Time has been publishing an Atlantic edition, extraordinary people have emerged from the churn and turmoil, creativity and chaos of a period that witnessed the aftermath of world war, the toppling of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the vanquishing of apartheid in South Africa, the advance of women, the failure of old certainties and the rise of new fears. These people are our heroes, and in this special anniversary issue, we celebrate them and their many achievements.' The article on Linus is titled 'By giving away his software, the Finnish programmer earned a place in history.' Linus is cited in the 'Rebels & Leaders' category along with Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, and others."
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Linus Torvalds Officially a Hero

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  • Heroes (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:46PM (#16826528)
    If giving away Linux earned him a place as a hero, imagine what would happen if Bill released Windows for free!
    • Re:Heroes (Score:5, Funny)

      by EllynGeek ( 824747 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:50PM (#16826598)
      That would make him a terrorist, by magnifying the problem of windoze botnets, spams, phishes, malware of all kinds, fraud, and identity theft a hundred times worse. We wouldn't even be able to get on the Internet at all- all the world's bandwidth would be devoured by warring malware bots.
      • Re:Heroes (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Abreu ( 173023 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:56PM (#16826692)
        Haha, this confirms that the difference between a Freedom Fighter and a Terrorist resides only on who gets to write the history books afterwards.
        • Re:Heroes (Score:5, Interesting)

          by MikeFM ( 12491 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @04:08PM (#16827790) Homepage Journal
          Giving native Americans blankets would have been a good thing. Giving them blankets that infect them with small pox was a bad thing. That's the difference between giving away Linux and giving away Windows.

          However, I think major good would come out of a totally open Windows - patent and copyright free - if it was released because it'd let Linux code merge into Windows, Windows code merge into Linux, and of course code merging with other free software. If Microsoft could open all it's file formats and protocols and ask hardware developers to release full specs to their devices it'd be a huge thing that I think would earn Bill an equal status as a hero.

          I think everyone that makes an effort to do things for the good of others, or especially for the good of the public at large, is a hero. Maybe a need to help others is just as selfish as any other need on some deep subconscience level but at least you leave the world a little bettr for having been there.
        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by sp3d2orbit ( 81173 )
          Osama would be happy to see that you've swallowed the Islamo-Facist-Propoganda hook, line, and sinker. Most people understand that a freedom fighter, well, fights for freedom for themselves and others. Most people understand that freedom fighters don't fly planes into buildings, they don't behead those who don't share their ideology, and don't shun the diplomatic processes that could actually lead to freedom. See, most people understand that there is a huge difference between someone fighting for freedom an
          • Re:Heroes (Score:4, Informative)

            by smitingpurpleemu ( 951712 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @05:26PM (#16829112)
            Ronald Reagan back in the 1980's called the Mujihadeen in Afghanistan (and by association Mullah Omar and Osama himself) freedom fighters for fighting against the USSR.... I'm sure that's what the poster was referring to. Those then-freedom fighters are now the terrorists that are fighting the Americans in Afghanistan.
          • Re:Heroes (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Hatta ( 162192 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @05:48PM (#16829502) Journal
            See, most people understand that there is a huge difference between someone fighting for freedom and someone who calls themselves a freedom fighter to win the support of the mentally weak and susceptible.

            Are you sure? Most people reelected Bush.
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by a.d.trick ( 894813 )

            freedom fighter, well, fights for freedom for themselves and others

            If only life was that simple. Often there are many motives behind insurgents (desire for freedom, power, revenge, etc). We use the word 'freedom fighter' as a euphamism to describe an insurgent with good motives and 'terrorist' as a dyphamism for an insurgent with bad motives. For example, take the rebels in Chechnya a few years ago. They were fighting for the 'liberation' of Chechnya and caused a lot of collateral damage. The Russians swor

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Xyrus ( 755017 )
            "Osama would be happy to see that you've swallowed the Islamo-Facist-Propoganda hook, line, and sinker."

            As you've swallowed the the GOP rhetoric I assume. What the hell is an Islamo-Fascist? The term doesn't even make sense! Please show how radical fundamentalists blowing up infrastructure, businesses, and people even remotely resemble fascisim.

            "Most people understand that a freedom fighter, well, fights for freedom for themselves and others."

            Yeah....and....

            "Most people understand that freedom fighters don'
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by _Sprocket_ ( 42527 )
      If giving away Linux earned him a place as a hero, imagine what would happen if Bill released Windows for free!


      He would be an "innovator".
      • No (Score:3, Insightful)

        by G3ckoG33k ( 647276 )
        No, he would be sued, by SCO. For what? SCO wouldn't know, but Gates would. SCO: You know what you've done!
    • Re:Heroes (Score:5, Funny)

      by s20451 ( 410424 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:58PM (#16826720) Journal
      imagine what would happen if Bill released Windows for free!

      He would be poor.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      I guess Bill giving away all of his money isn't good enough.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Total_Wimp ( 564548 )
        No, that was Bill's friend, Warren Buffett. Bill gave a nice percentage, but he kept far more than he gave.

        Bill is awesome for giving as much as he did. Don't mean to put him down. Just wanted to give credit where credit was due to Buffett, who's giving away basically everything.

        TW
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by hdparm ( 575302 )
        You guessed right. The way you make billions must count for something, too.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Probably knighted or something. No, wait: that's been done.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by pilgrim23 ( 716938 )
      I have heard of Linus, after all he is a a Hero. Time Mag says so, and he will be remembered as such. Who is this "Bill" of which you speak?
    • As for heroes, I can't decide between the cheerleader and the hottie from Final Destination (the latter uses Linux as we all know, but -- ick -- KDE. Any hope the cheerleader uses GNOME?)
  • All Hail (Score:3, Funny)

    by thejrwr ( 1024073 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:46PM (#16826530) Homepage
    All Hail King of the Geeks! Linus! Linus!
  • And (Score:5, Funny)

    by Konster ( 252488 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:49PM (#16826584)
    RMS screams out loud, "No, that is GNU/Hero, damn it!"
    • Re:And (Score:5, Funny)

      by One Louder ( 595430 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:56PM (#16826684)
      Yeah, I'd hate to be a chair in Richard Stallman's office right about now - assuming he actually uses a chair and doesn't just levitate.
    • "Torvalds has achieved fame as the godfather of the open-source movement, in which software code is shared and developed in a collaborative effort rather than being kept locked up by a single owner"

      you know that stings...
    • by bogado ( 25959 )
      Does gnu/hero reimplement this closed source application?

      http://stella.sourceforge.net/game-images/hero.png [sourceforge.net]
    • Re:And (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:27PM (#16827138)
      Actually, this is more on point than you might think. From the article:

      Torvalds has achieved fame as the godfather of the open-source movement, in which software code is shared and developed in a collaborative effort rather than being kept locked up by a single owner.

      The title of "godfather" probably more accurately describes someone like RMS or Theo de Raadt, who are both very, uh, ideological with their software. Linus, on the other hand, is simply the chief hacker on a very important piece of software in the Free/Open ecosystem. He himself even says that he's more a coder than any kind of revolutionary.

      Personally, I think it's a bad idea to focus too much on any one person, as no one can really claim to be the most important. Sure, the kernel is maybe seen as "most important" in some ways, but we shouldn't forget the hundreds of other critical pieces of software that people use every day. And even within a project, there is often a core group of people who defer to one head. For example, the core kernel team: people like Alan Cox, Andrew Morton, Ted T'so, and on and on.

      Then there are people who pushed free software/open source forward in other ways. People like Michael Tiemann, who pioneered the business model of selling support and development services for the GNU toolchain. Or the folks inside Netscape (including Jim Barksdale) who pushed for the release of their code.

      I guess my point is that "journalists" should really try to not oversimplify things, and to get the facts right besides.
  • by Srin Tuar ( 147269 ) <zeroday26@yahoo.com> on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:57PM (#16826704)

    You have a pretty faced popular guy who gets acclaimed as the hero, and a snarling rough-edged guy behind the
    scenes who is the real hero.

    Linus isnt a charlatan or a bad guy, he just doesnt want to change the world.
    RMS isnt entirely grouchy, but its popular to credit him with being so.
    Meh, maybe its not such a good analogy.

    But the main point stands: Real "Heroes" are not always the popular/friendly/nice to look at types.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      actually, a few insightfuls would be good mods to your post:

      and hence, before Linus's "heroic deeds" could even have started, we had:
      In the OS corner:
      -- Hurd: 1990
      -- Net/1 (BSD): 1989
      In the applications corner:
      -- Stallmans GNU tools: 1983
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 )
        Well, HURD (note capitals; it's an acronym) wasn't really usable in 1990 (and only just is now). Net/1 didn't run on x86, as I recall, and wasn't ported until a few months after Linux 0.1 was released. Minix was around, but wasn't Free Software (it is now; BSD-licensed). In the userspace corner, don't forget the MIT-licensed X server and the BSD userland tools.

        To really address the impact, it's interesting to see what would happen if you took a particular tool away. If you took Linux away, then you wo

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Klivian ( 850755 )
      The most common form of hero is the person that actually goes about to get the hard parts done, not the one preaching about doing it.
  • by jdgeorge ( 18767 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:57PM (#16826716)
    How proud Mandela, Walesa, and the others in this list of "Rebels and Leaders" must be to have been included in the august company of Linus Torvalds, a man known if for nothing else, for his unwavering commitment to the ideals underlying the successful proliferation of his operating system kernel.

    Congratulations for that acheivement!

    Ahem.... On a less sarcastic note, this is a recognition of the real leadership Linus has demonstrated in keeping the herd of kernel developers working together fairly efficiently. Congratulations, Linus.
  • by One Louder ( 595430 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @02:58PM (#16826730)
    I hope he saves the cheerleader.
    • by antdude ( 79039 )
      Yeah, it goes like this:

      Hiro: Linus Torvalds?
      Linus: What? Are you doing this?
      Hiro: You look different without the scar.
      Linus: I don't know you.
      Hiro: Not yet. My name is Hiro Nakamura. I'm from the future, and I have a message for you. I don't have much time. I'm risking a rift just by coming here. The girl. You have to save her.
      Linus: What girl?
      Hiro: The cheerleader. It's the only way to prevent it.
      Linus: Prevent what?
      Hiro: Everything. Listen to me. She must live. The painter, Isaac, go to him. He will know
  • by Wills ( 242929 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:00PM (#16826762)
    In the copyright sense, "Linus Torvalds giving away his software" is not an accurate description. What happened is that "Linus Torvalds retained the copyright on his software and published it under a licence". "Giving away software" is more akin to "putting software in the public domain".
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NineNine ( 235196 )
      Dude, this is article is for the general public. The general public does not know, and does not care what the difference is. It's accurate enough for this audience.

      The IT community is incredibly myopic in they seem to think that what is important to them is important to the rest of the world. Other groups of people tend to be a lot more realistic in their views of the world, in that they understand that what is important to them is not necessarily what's important to other people.
  • Article text (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Konster ( 252488 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:00PM (#16826768)
    From the article:

    "Linus Torvalds was just 21 when he changed the world. Working out of his family's apartment in Helsinki in 1991, he wrote the kernel of a new computer operating system called Linux that he posted for free on the Internet -- and invited anyone interested to help improve it.

    Today, 15 years later, Linux powers everything from supercomputers to mobile phones around the world, and Torvalds has achieved fame as the godfather of the open-source movement, in which software code is shared and developed in a collaborative effort rather than being kept locked up by a single owner.

    Some of Torvalds' supporters portray him as a sort of anti-Bill Gates, but the significance of Linux is much bigger than merely a slap at Microsoft. Collaborating on core technologies could lead to a huge reduction in some business costs, freeing up money for more innovative investments elsewhere. Torvalds continues to keep a close eye on Linux's development and has made some money from stock options given to him as a courtesy by two companies that sell commercial applications for it.

    But his success isn't just measured in dollars. There's an asteroid named after him, as well as an annual software-geek festival. Torvalds' parents were student radicals in the 1960s and his father, a communist, even spent a year studying in Moscow. But it's their son who has turned out to be the real revolutionary."
  • by Anti-Trend ( 857000 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:01PM (#16826774) Homepage Journal
    Personally, I think the thing that sets Linus apart from others in the open source movement is that he has quite a bit of charisma for an engineer (I hesitate to say "free" because that often implies "cheap quality" in our day & age). Others, like our good friend RMS, contribute a huge amount as hackers and in other important respects but lack the some of the trickier diplomatic skills which are required to hold things together. I agree with RMS on almost every issue, but I think it's important to have a relatively moderate personality like Linus' in a position of such high visibility, to really humanize things for everyone. Some people may disagree, but that's what I feel on the matter.

    That said, congrats Linus! You're certainly my hero, and I've been living the open-source dream for years now. Also to RMS, the FSF, and the rest of the GNU, Linux and open-source community. Hats off to you all; without your hard work and ideals, there would be no Linux!
  • by RLiegh ( 247921 ) * on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:03PM (#16826796) Homepage Journal
    Sorry, but all that Linus did was to get help on his pet project. The real people who advanced freedom and the cause of free software were the folks over at the GNU project and (at the time) the CSRG. Usually I agree with the people who roll their eyes when Stallman goes on about GNU/blah but this time I can see his point... Linus winning this award actually helps to bury them, and worse yet it detracts from the ideals of the GNU movement (and remember, in 1992 if there had been no GNU, there would have been no Linux; period).

    Sorry, as far as impact and influence goes -like him or loathe him- Stallman has had more of an active, positive influence on the open source movement; Linus is merely a clever student who managed to wring the most homework help out of the internet...Stallman started the movement which eventually led to Sun opening up their crown jewels.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      I agree with the essence of the parent's comments. There is no question that Linus is a gifted and accomplished hacker. At the same time, though, there is no question that, without the GNU tools, there would be no Linux today. In one aspect, though, I do feel Linus was visionary, and that's in his finally settling upon the GPL as the kernel's licence. Without a doubt, that's his single most important stroke of genius. But, again, where did the GPL come from?
      • by dedazo ( 737510 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:22PM (#16827062) Journal
        And without Linux these "but GNU is teh best" arguments would simply not exist, because it was Linux that propelled the GNU project to where it is today, not Stallman's bitching or his obvious inability to ship a working kernel. So maybe they should be co-heroes or something?
        • by monopole ( 44023 )
          Amen, RMS suffers from "The perfect is the enemy of the good enough" syndrome. Linus was pragmatic enough to go with the "good enough". It's on the order of Ted Nelson and Project Xanadu versus Tim Berners-Lee and the WWW. Xanadu is, in theory, vastly superior, and in practice. well... it doesn't exist, while WWW is a central tool of it's age.

          In the same vein, where would GNU be without Linus and the BSD guys?
        • by duh P3rf3ss3r ( 967183 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:37PM (#16827328)
          No, I'm sorry but you are wrong. The GNU tools were useful and were used a great deal before the Linux kernel came along. Just look at how many of them shipped with the various flavours of BSD (several of which pre-date Linux, I might add.)

          Yes, the Linux kernel filled a huge void on the road to a completely GPLed operating system. But it did not create the concept of a free OS nor did it create the concept of freedom. Those concepts pre-date Linux and were embodied in the GNU project.

          I'm not trying to get into a RMS/Torvalds flamewar -- we've had too many of those. But I also don't accept revisionist history that says that GNU would be nothing without Linus's kernel. If you truly believe that, perhaps you can explain to me how the GPLed parts managed to exist for almost a decade before the kernel came along. Do you think that, once the kernel appeared, someone said "Oh, yeah, there was a bunch of mouldy stuff in the bottom of the drawer over there that was invented nearly a decade ago and we couldn't figure out what it was for -- let's try it here!"
          • by dedazo ( 737510 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @05:31PM (#16829214) Journal
            No, I'm sorry but you are wrong. The GNU tools were useful and were used a great deal before the Linux kernel came along.

            I'm not saying that's the case, of course the GNU project and the toolchain predate Linux itself. What I'm saying is that Linux is what has brought the FOSS thing to where it is today, and it brought everything else along for the ride. Without GNU Linux would have taken a lot longer to push out; without Linux GNU would not have had the visibility and maturity that it has today. The FSF would not have nearly the same pull as it has today. It's a symbiotic relationship, and the "you must call it GNU/Whatever" crap from Stallman doesn't help. That's all.

    • Linus winning this award actually helps to bury them, and worse yet it detracts from the ideals of the GNU movement (and remember, in 1992 if there had been no GNU, there would have been no Linux; period).

      But where would GNU be these days without the Linux kernel? Yes yes, I know about all the technicalities of calling it GNU/Linux, but the kernel is the heart of the system. Without it, you don't HAVE a system. At least, that is the way I hurd it. [ snicker ]

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      and remember, in 1992 if there had been no GNU, there would have been no Linux; period)

      And if there had not been Linux (GNU was already developing Hurd at that time...) there would have been GNU? Yet another chicken/egg stupid question.

      I'm sick of this "linus sucks, RMS rocks" attitude, and the contrary. The reason why FOSS is success is because of the COMMUNITY. Both RMS and Linus made possible FOSS. No one was better than other. FOSS is about COOPERATING, about community progress. It's shocking to find pe
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by RLiegh ( 247921 ) *
        >And if there had not been Linux (GNU was already developing Hurd at that time...) there would have been GNU?

        Yes, because the GNU tools were preffered (to vendor supplied ones) on most unix platforms at the time, and many of them were incorporated into 386BSD when it was released in 1990/1991.

        There was a ton of corporate sponsorship of the FSF before Linus submitted his homework request to the net because the GNU tools were considered superior to what was shipped with most Unixes.

        So yes, virginia; if Lin
  • What now? (Score:2, Funny)

    by mapkinase ( 958129 )
    Now he has to get his own comic strip, graphic novel, a movie and a computer game.
  • by Marcion ( 876801 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:05PM (#16826818) Homepage Journal
    Its brave but correct to go with Linus over Microsoft. Just because you are a huge company does not always equal innovation or contribution to the human race. I personally would have also plumped for Tim Berners Lee (The WWW) over J.K.Rowling (Harry potter) but thats just me...
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:07PM (#16826864)
    Frankly, if you were to only pick one person from the whole Free/Open Software world, it would have to be Richard Stallman. I give him 'hero' status because he's the man who spelled out the four freedoms of software [gnu.org] which are more important than the GPL(any version).

    • The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
             
    • The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
             
    • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
             
    • The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ClickOnThis ( 137803 )
      Frankly, if you were to only pick one person from the whole Free/Open Software world, it would have to be Richard Stallman. I give him 'hero' status because he's the man who spelled out the four freedoms of software which are more important than the GPL(any version).

      Agreed. If someone is going to be called a hero, they ought to have done something heroic. RMS might just manage to belong in the same league as Nelson Mandela or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but surely Linus doesn't. Linus was clever, effective a
    • by dfghjk ( 711126 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @04:19PM (#16827936)
      They probably wanted to pick someone who showers. As I understand it, Linus doesn't claim to be allergic to water.
  • This is old news: Linus is a Hero [slashdot.org]

    Of course, we can't say it enough.

    In related news, Richard Stallman is a Hero [slashdot.org].
  • .... if he didn't give away LINUX, then the terrorists win.
  • How many people do you know who have an operating system named after them?
  • True greatness is measured by how much freedom you give to others, not by how much you can coerce others to do what you want. ~ Larry Wall
  • by slightlyspacey ( 799665 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:12PM (#16826930)
    From the dictionary definition of "hero" [reference.com]

    hero
    -noun
    1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
    2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child. .....

    5. a large sandwich, usually consisting of a small loaf of bread or long roll cut in half lengthwise and containing a variety of ingredients, as meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.

    I vote for number 5 myself with mayo and mustard.

  • Who? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by delirium of disorder ( 701392 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:12PM (#16826932) Homepage Journal
    Linus has done a great amount to advance freedom, as has RMS. Their actions, however, were quite safe. They certainly are not in the same category as those who have risked their lives for human rights. However, the fact that a reactionary authoritarian like Thatcher is on the list totally discredits it. So, I guess Linus's inclusion is a non-event.
  • Ferris Bueller, you're my hero!
  • This is the same magazine that awarded YouTube "Time's Invention of the Year for 2006" (source) [time.com]

    Forget any medical inventions that actually save lives, Time would rather lavish praise on Asian boy-band lip-syncers and blows-to-the-crotch videos. So, should we really take it serious when Time calls Torvalds a "hero?" Again, has Torvalds really saved any lives or made the planet any better by giving out a free OS? Yeah, I know, down with Bill Gates and all of that, blah, blah, blah. But Torvalds a "hero?" C
  • and we have ourselves a religion, complete with folklore, script(ure)s, saints, and heroes. A step closer to world domination...

    chepati
  • by kentrel ( 526003 ) on Monday November 13, 2006 @03:24PM (#16827092) Journal
    Bill put a desktop on every desk, in every home.
  • Linux vs. Minix is resolved.
    Take that Andy Tanenbaum!

    Thanks to TIMEeurope for resolving that.
  • What about CowboyNeal?
  • Sad... (Score:2, Insightful)

    This is sad. They award people like him, compared to people volunteering in central Africa risking their lives for refugees. People like those deserve such awards. Nelson Mandela, Gorbachev, Thatcher are very prestigious people. With Linus on the list, he really didn't contribute to anything except for corporations having a "free" option. Linux does not feed people in Africa and other poor nations, no sirey. His presence on that list dilutes the other recipients prestige.
    • (and I'm falling for it)

      Corporations have a free option ... so does the rest of us. Including people in less developed countries, who is now less dependent of those corporations.

      Linux is a single but important brick in a a world-wide free computer infrastructure, which has the potential of bringing more freedom and prosperity than any revolution in a single country.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by SEMW ( 967629 )
      >People like those deserve such awards. Nelson Mandela, Gorbachev, Thatcher are very prestigious people... Linux does not feed people in Africa and other poor nations, no sirey. His presence on that list dilutes the other recipients prestige.

      Absolutely! Let's all get together and admire the great work Margaret Thatcher did to improve the plight of the poor; both in Africa, and through greatly improved social welfare programs in Britain. And lets not forget her stellar work on the NHS, without which
  • During the course of history, people who did great service to 'the people' have always been acknowledged 4-5 generations after, and even after they died. This was generally due to short-sightedness of community those days.

    But we are living in a more cohesive, more in-the-know and connected civilization these days. So it is natural that good things are recognized in their due time.
  • In my book a hero is someone who risks themselves to save others. Many great political figures qualify because of taking stands which put themselves, and sometimes many others, at risk in order to accomplish the greater good.

    Has Linus done this? Not that I don't think he's done great things, and any list of the major players in the history of computing would be remiss without him. But who exactly has he saved? And from what?

    To me it seems a lot more like the magazine in question is just running out of p

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