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Linus To Recieve Honorary Doctorate 152

Posted by Hemos from the honor-your-mother-and-father dept.
JariK writes "Linus Torvalds will recieve an honorary doctorate from the University of Stockholm Mathematical Department. The information can be found, regrettably in Swedish only. " Well, my Swedish is rusty - anyone post a translation below?
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Linus To Recieve Honorary Doctorate More

Linus To Recieve Honorary Doctorate

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  • Rough translation (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It doesn't say much more.

    This year's honorary doctorates from Stockholm University are now decided. Notable among them is
    a mere 29-year old Swedish-speaking Finn, Linus
    Torvalds, who (among other things) created the world famous operating system Linux. Torvalds lives in Santa Clara, USA.

  • Re:odd how he had to do a thesis (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In the end, though, it's not worth much anyway. Linus may as well have been a suit or polotician.

    The fact is, he didn't contribute anything to computer science per sae. However, I suppose his hard work deserves some recognition. Then again, why not any other Linux developer who is just as 'smart'and hard working as Linus? Then again, that's not the purpose of these kind of throw-away doctorate degrees...

  • Re:Honorary Degrees--big deal? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It depends a lot... I think maybe one of the reasons that European honorary degrees aren't as meaningless is that most univerities are government owned, and honorary degrees are seldom related to monetary donations.

    Rather, honorary degrees are usually given to people that the universities see as important persons in a field closely related to the degree, and that the university believe will "represent them well". Thus an honorory degree is mostly a statement from the university that they would be honored to be associated with the person in question.

    Of course it is no real indication of the contributions of a person to the field, just a way for the university to give credit and receive PR :-)

    But anyway, it's not something that's lightly given away by most European universities.

  • The Encheferizer (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Maybe they should add the encheferizer [tufts.edu] to babelfish. Unfortunately, it only goes english -> swedish, though.

    Another multi-lingual translation service along the same lines:

    Chef/Jive/ValSpeak/Pig Translator [utexas.edu]

    bork bork bork

  • Re:Maybe you should translate it too... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    So the ignorant Barbarians can understand it...

    Extremly Q-and-dirty word by word transl.


    Linux-creator to become honorary doctor in Stocholm.

    Linux Torvalds becomes a recordyoung honorary-doctor at the mathematic-naturescientific faculty (?) at Stockholm University

    Finlandswedish Torvalds, that in a pressannouncement from the faculty is called "IT-rebel and computergenius, is the man behind the operatingsystem Linux, a free program that are praised by scientists around the world.

    With Linux it becomes possible to cheaply get hold of a computer that in performance surpasses the workstations that for a couple of years ago
    cost hundredthousands of crowns (SEK), the faculty writes

    It has "promoveret" three more honorary doctors; the chech professor Josef Houstek and the
    Canadian professors Larry Mayer and Ross Norstrom
    All will be "promovated" (???) on the 24 of september.


    The party will be held in "blå hallen" which is the same place where the Nobelprize winners are presented.

    And unless I'm mistaken (which I probably is) isn't this the same guys who decides who shall get the Nobel prize in Physics ?

    Or is that KTH ?

    ---
    I still wouldn't use an operating system developed be someone who talks like "Mumintrollet"

  • Re:What did he do that's deserves genius? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I truly believe you are completely right. There is no doubt that I like Linux, and I thank Linus for his effort and dedication (as well as the hundreds of people that helps him). There is no doubt that he has done great work, (and so hundreds of other people). It is really an example to everyone, but genius? I obviously have not measured his IQ, but why everytime that someone sees someone out of the ordinary the word genius comes out. This is like a marketing thing. You do this or we believe that you did that, therefore you are this or that. Either way, if I was Linus, I still would accept it, and enjoy the ride while it lasts!

  • Re:Quick'n dirty translation (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Perhaps one can pick out a few common Latin or Germanic roots and cognates in non-technical writing, but the evolution of Indo-European languages has happened such that one must be careful... a French-speaker doesn't mean what you think he does when he says "J'attends le slashdot," and a German-speaker isn't necessarily talking about an unusual skin-color when he remarks of you, "Er sieht blau aus."

    -.

    "Three cheers for lingui...uhm...wait!...hey, dudes, what phonemes are we going to scream?"

  • What did he do that's deserves genius? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Did he design a new OS paradigm?
    no.

    Did he start the whole "put out there and share the code" or the Free Software or Open Source idea?
    no.

    Did he rewrite an improved Unix implimentation all by himself based on new ingenious concepts?
    no.

    did he start a small kernel based on existing and tested ideas and then have thousands of people expand it, imnprove it and make it grow?
    yes.

    is he an excellent programmer (probably 100x better than me)?
    yes.

    does this make you a genius or a really good programmer?

  • How about this ? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    First things first. In Sweden honourary degree's isn't handed out to everybody, and as several (Swedish) posters alread pointed out it usually takes quite an effort to get one. There have been mistakes of course but much more often than not the people that get's the degree has definitely earned it. A little odd though that it was from a mathememathical faculty.

    And to all of you that obviously doesn't think that linus deserves it, i have a few words to say:
    Before Linux i can't remember i've seen a free SMP capable os with quite good driver support,robust kernel and even games and apps being built for it by ISV's. Now, have you ? In the same scale as Linux ? I Haven't for sure, and if that isn't something to give awards for i don't understand what in the open source movement should be awarded !

    And for all of you that has contributed to Linux success i'd like to say that you work is highly appreciated. And i hope that you'll take this award as a recognition that what you do actually is something that is unique in it's own sense.

    /Micke

  • Linus breakes the record (Score:4)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @07:01AM (#1886742)
    This [tv4.se] small news blurb (also in swedish) states that Linus is the youngest person ever to receive a honorary doctorate by the mathematical faculty. They call him a computer rebel and genius.
  • I believe you're talking about Tannenbaum's comment during the "Linux is obsolete" flameware in comp.os.minix.

    He said:

    "I still maintain the point that designing a monolithic kernel in 1991 is a fundamental error. Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a high grade for such a design :-)"
    See: Linux is Obsolete [educ.umu.se]
  • Isn't it more than a bit ironic for an Anonymous Coward to ask for credentials?

    My $0.02.

  • Didn't _Michael Bolton_ get a honorary Ph.D. from somewhere a couple of years back?

    ---

  • > professor Ross Norstrom, National Wildlife Research Centre, Kanada and the above mentioned
    > Linus Torvalds.

    Kanada? Var ar Kanada? Jag kommer fran Canada, is that the same place? Still, strangely Svensk sounding name on that Kanadian, maybe, along with Herr Torvalds, they mostly like ethnic Swedes. How Stockholm of them! :-)

  • For example, he explicitly chose to build a monolithic kernel as opposed to a microkernel. Conventional theory dictates that a microkernel is more flexible and expandable, but Linus believes it is better to put core system functions together in one large piece of memory. Now that Linux is available to everyone, we can all evaluate that choice and more aptly decide for ourselves whether abstraction is the right choice for our needs.

    If that doesn't earn him a doctorate, I don't know what does.

    That doesn't earn him a doctorate. Making a design decision to go with one of many preexisting options isn't exactly earth-shattering. Nor was his decision to license it under the preexisting GPL.

    His true contribution was to 'rally the troops', and gain support for his fledgling kernel back in its foramtive days. In other words, for lighting the first spark.

    And that contribution wasn't even to "computer science". Save that distinction to folks like von Neumann, Turing, Church...

  • Translation (Score:4)

    by Unknwn ( 646 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:54AM (#1886749) Homepage

    "Young Computer Genius One of This Year's Honorary Doctors

    This year's honorary doctors at Stockholm University have been awarded. Among them is the merely 29 year old Finnish-Swede Linus Torvalds, who, among other things, created the world famous Linux operating system.

    Torvalds resides in Santa Clara, USA...

    The honorary doctorates are going to be formally awarded at a ceremony in Bla Hallen in the Stockholm City Hall on Friday the 24th of September..."

    Found it on LinuxToday [linuxtoday.com].

  • Bill Gates has even earned an Honorary Doctorate from some university.
  • I think that Linus is Swedish even though he lived in Finland. He is a member of an ethnic minority. So, his fatherland really is Sweden.

    From http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/linus/index.html :

    "4. If Linus is Finnish, why is his birth language Swedish?
    Finland has a significant (about 6%) ethnic-Swedish minority population. They call themselves ``finlandssvensk'' or ``finlandssvenskar'' and consider themselves Finns; many of their families have lived in Finland for centuries. Swedish is one of Finland's two official languages."

  • I don't even need to know swedish to read that much. It was not clear if the other awardise were honary docorates or advisers to Linux (most live in the USA leading me to incorrectly guess the latter) I did realise that it didn't say much at all about Linus though.

    Put effort into it, and you will be surprized how much of a foreign language you can read. Mind you it takes practice to understand it, but to read and catch the drift is something you can do. Well, not with chinese or russian because the symbols have no meaning, and the languages don't have the latin influence that this all goes by.

  • Er, *here* (Score:3)

    by jzitt ( 1054 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:49AM (#1886753) Homepage
    Funny, that Swedish message looked just like a Slashdot error. Maybe it's here [info.su.se].

    (A M00se once bit my HTML Validator...)
  • A thesis is just writing things up. Any documentation he's done (either for the LDP or just on it's own) therefore counts as part of a thesis. Any copy of any write-up he's done that's been printed, bound and stored in the University Library qualifies as properly submitted, by the usual standards at most Universities. There are 17 million external examiners currently reviewing his work. I vote for him passing.

  • Translation (Score:5)

    by MoNickels ( 1700 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:58AM (#1886755) Homepage
    This is the best translation I can do with my limited Swedish:

    "Our best wooden furniture does not compare to the genius of Linus Torvalds. We bow and scrape before him, and in respect, we silence our mobile phones. We give him the door codes to our buildings so that he may visits our flats. We let him wear his shoes in the house. Cars stop in the streets for him. We drink Aquavit to him, and we compose and sing songs to him at our Kreftskivas. We name species of crayfish after him. Last year Stockholm was the Culture Capital of Europe, this year it is the Linus Capital of Europe, and we will name him winner of Eurovision automatically."
  • I had a professor who went to grad school with Bill Joy. It was his opinion that Bill could have presented his BSD work for a Ph D if he were interested.
  • I think the orignal poster was hinting about Linus's work at Transmeta. That would still just be speculation though.

  • Linus' achievements, the design decisions taken in the implementation of the Linux kernel and the open-source development model used to manage such a large, distributed project, are both closer to the realm of software engineering than that of computer science. CS is a more abstract, theoretical discipline, whereas Linux is firmly grounded in the world of day-to-day use and practical considerations.
  • Software Engineering is a branch of computer science in most academic institutions.

    Not at my institution (Monash University); here, both SE and CS are subdivisions of "computing and information technology". The taxonomy seems to be Computer Science = theoretical stuff (AI, image processing, architecture); Software Engineering = development methodology, applied design.

    Even on that front, Linus's contributions were nill.

    I wouldn't say that; he did preside over a novel development model, harnessing the work of hundreds of programmers across the world and coordinating these efforts into a kernel in quite a short time.
    I imagine that, were he to write this up in a thesis, he might get a degree of some sort for it, or at least be a good way towards one.
  • Research in pure computer science might get you a name in the computer science history books, but
    software engineering seems like a lot more fun.

    I beg to differ; computer science is where you get to play with cool, interesting technologies without any regard to real-world constraints. :-)

    -- acb [doing a thesis in computer-generated music]
  • Well, SAAB 39 *Gripen* (gryphon) or 'the most expensive plough in Sweden' [www.abc.se] Viggen (lightning) was the model before.

    (btw 90000 was the Swedish emergency phone number and "dyr-grip" means "expensive thing")
  • I already shouted hooray when I read the blurb. And I'm not going to take it back. I think Linus deserves all the honours he gets.
  • Stop This!
    I am reading this at work and am drawing undue attention to myself by bursting out in fits of laughter.

  • Why not? (Score:5)

    by Chilli ( 5230 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @04:25PM (#1886764) Homepage
    First of all, I don't want to discuss the value of honorary degrees in general, but comment on whether or not Linus deserves a doctorate. I am holding a doctorate in computer science (which I got by writing a thesis and all that) and I am currently assistant professor at a computer science institute; so, in contrast to many of the earlier posters, I guess, I know what I am talking about.

    What Linus did is, he conducted a large scale experiment in software engineering. He tried a bazaar style development on a scale that nobody before him did. As a result, we know more about this software development process today than we did before.

    If you read some academic magazines, such as, Communications of the ACM, you will find that many respected researchers complain about the lack of experimentation in CS. Linus did it. Sure, he didn't really plan to do what he did and he didn't write his findings properly up; that's why he gets a honorary degree and not a "real" one. Or maybe ESR should also get a degree, because in CatB, he wrote much of what Linus discovered up (he even verified the experiment on a smaller scale).

    And regarding the complaints that the degree comes from a mathematical faculty: it doesn't. The article says "mathematical and natural science faculty". In Europe, CS (including software engineering) is often more closely associated with mathematics than with the engineering disciplines.

    So, keep cool.

    Chilli

  • Don't forget to blast the Cardigans on your way out. And stay away from Ulf Samuelsson (*crunch*) !

    -- CoffeeNowDammit, who still vomits upon hearing the opening notes to Lovefool..
    -----

  • Gave it to a person like Linux? I was the assumption that his name was Linus. Anyway, Very good thing giving a good man like our Hero Mr. Torvalds a doctorate. So what do we call him now, Dr. Linus Torvalds?
  • At least that's how the popular story goes... From what I've heard (note: rumour, rumour... OK, I read it in the Samba main author's Mindcraft rebuttal), one of Linus' professors wrote in a newsgroup message something like:

    "Writing an OS only for the 386 in 1991 will give you your second F this term."

    Anybody confirm this? I'm way too lazy to search DejaNews, and this is probably too old anyway.

    /* Steinar */
  • Seems like Rob forgot what he always tells us (from the comment posting page):

    (Use the Preview Button! Check those URLs! Don't forget the http://!)

    Especially the last part... Will probably work fine in (sigh) Internet Explorer, but not in a (at least semi-) standard-abiding browser like Lynx. Would be funny to make such a link on purpose, to lock all the newbie (you can get around it by typing the link manually, of course) IE users.

    /* Steinar */
  • Debian comes with this program (called "chef") in the "filters" package.
  • So it's politically based, is that what you're complaining about?

    Go away.

    --
  • I am one of the people out in the real world who
    chose not to go down the academic path. In this
    world too many believe that we need degrees or
    doctorates to achieve something.

    You asked what his thesis was? The Linux Kernel,
    a true thesis.

  • odd how he had to do a thesis (Score:4)

    by fishbowl ( 7759 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:50AM (#1886773)
    I always thought it was odd how Linus had to take
    time out to do a Masters Thesis. (I mean, LINUX
    should have been worth a thesis). I think it's
    great that the University sees fit to award him
    a doctorate. Way better than giving one to some
    suit, or politician...
  • Recognition is always a good thing. If anyone is deserving of this, it's certainly Linus. Not only is he brilliant, has a good sense of humor, and has incredible programming skill, He was nice enough to give Linux to us. Bravo!

    P.S.: "Dr. Linus Torvalds." I think that sounds cool.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • For a group of people who pride themselves for being rebels and saving the world from bad software, there's a lot of bitterness towards people with university-issued bits of paper.

    This industry was built by people who did and didn't graduate and some who don't give a damn about college. In the end, it's the software that matters.

    Linus is being recognized by a group of folks for his INTELLECTUAL, not financial, contribution. I say he takes the doctorate and that we applaude the fact that someone in the Outside World acknowledges that what he's done is a Great Thing.

    Hell, let's see if we can get a few more honorary degrees for some of the other Free Source coders and organizers out there...

    -S. Louie
  • As I recall, there are over a million people with doctorates in the United States. Are you sure that they're all more deserving than Linus Torvalds? I suspect not - in fact, at the very least, I know one person who is not. So there we go, at the very least Linus Torvalds is more deserving of a PhD than one person who worked to get his by writing a dissertation. Linus just got his by writing a kernel, that's all.

    My question is why Slashdot, which was the home of "College sucks - true geeks just hack!" has all of a sudden turned on Linus for not deserving this degree. I would guess that what Linus has done by popularizing OSS is far more influential and important than what most people in CS academia do, and it's not like Linus hasn't upheld academic traditions. Linux is, after all, under the GPL and a work done with thousands of collaborators.
  • Hmm, yes, "confer a doctor's degree" sounds a bit better, perhaps. "Promote" does have the correct meaning, although it might be a bit belligerent. Like I said, this was a quick'n dirty translation :)

    As for mudding... Not much. Exam week. Need I say more? :)

  • Quick'n dirty translation (Score:5)

    by NickElm ( 9556 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:53AM (#1886778) Homepage

    Young computer genius to receive one of this year's honorary doctorates

    This year's honorary doctors at the University of Stockholm have now been appointed. Among them is the 29-year-old Finnish-Swedish Linus Torvalds, creator of the world-famous Linux operating system. Torvalds lives in Santa Clara, USA.

    [snip other doctorates]

    The honorary doctors will be promoted (?) at the traditional installation- and promotionceremony in the Blue Chamber of Stockholm City Hall on Friday the 24th of September, when new doctors and jubileedoctors (?) will be promoted as well. New professors will also be installed at this time.

  • And he is still worth approximatly 947 gazillion dollars more than you, me and Linus put together.
    Oh, and if money isn't everything.. he is greatly respected by a whole lot of people. Maybe not the Linux crowd, but I remember when I was just starting to program and I dreamed that I would be as bad-ass as Bill Gates.
    I don't feel that way any more, but lots of people do.
  • Bah, you beat me to it. That's what I get for staying outside in the sunny weather rather than spamming ctrl+r on Slashdot like I usually do. Btw, my English lexicon says that "promovera" = "confer a doctor's degree on". Oh the joys of academic Swedish.

    So how's mudding going? ;)

  • uhm... (Score:1)

    by sp- ( 11321 )
    so, in order for someone to have earned an honorary
    degree, they have to have invented something...
    gotcha...

    ----------------------------------------
    ...A view of the Universe functioning...
  • Hey! I was going to do that!

    Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries! I fart in your general direction!
    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction
  • Please note that Linus hasn't earned a degree.

    Hasn't he already got two?

    J

  • What a curious mixture of elitism and anti-authoritarianism. If I were Linus, I'm not sure if I'd be insulted that you didn't seem to think I deserved a doctorate, or whipped up into a political furor over the way acadamia operates.

    Let him accept his degree if he wants to. He certainly did enough work to earn it. I see nothing wrong with honoring great intellectual achievements this way, even if it does perpetuate the false mystique of acadamia.

  • Well, gee, it's the *faculty* of mathematics and natural science, and anyone who cared enough to actually look things up, for example the org. chart at http://www.su.se/english/organization/nscience.htm l, will find that besides the Math and Physics departments,the Department of Numerical Analysis and Computing Science is also part of this faculty... (Although this particular department is a cooperation with KTH (the Royal Institute of Technology), which conferred a honorary PhD to RMS some years ago...)

    He could also have been made a honorary doctor at the faculty of social sciences, where you'll find the department of computer and system science, but that would still not have made him a doctor of, say, sociology, just because the department of sociology happens to be part of that faculty and resemble part of the name of the faculty...

    As for the question if he deserves a honorary PhD: Well, it seems that the criteria for handing out honorary PhDs in Sweden and the US are different. As has been pointed out in previous posts, most universities in Sweden are state owned (although most research in CS and related fields is actually financed by grants from industry), and I suspect you'd have to put up a serious stack of bills (as in several hundred million US dollars) before you'd even be considered for a honorary PhD based on monetary contributions alone, and if you did, well that kind of money DOES go a long way to promote research, and would be comparable to the donation a guy called Alfred Nobel made to promote science some time ago...

    As for Linus contribution to CS? Well, it seems that wherever I travel in the world, people at CS departments are using Linux as one of their primary vehicles for experimentation, and guess what -- I am too. And not only that, it is a platform for which we can exchange our results with little or no hassle. A major contribution indeed.

    Now, you can argue about *BSD distributions giving the same benefits, and you can argue that Linus has only written a small part of Linux, but I'm certainly thankful for his contribution.

    Does it qualify for a "real" PhD? No, it probably doesn't, and he's not getting one. Has his work helped others do interesting work? Well he has certainly helped *me* get the platform to do the work that hopefully will end up giving *me* a PhD. I'd say that qualifies as a contribution. And I'm sure that if you keep looking, you'll find other contributions, again perhaps not the type that would land you a "real" PhD, but perhaps appropriate for a honorary PhD.

    It is a judgement call, and my guess is that if Linus had been 20 or 30 years older, a lot fewer people would argue that he doesn't deserve it. But if he receives it on merits along, the fact that he's still a fairly young guy shouldn't prevent him from getting it, right?

    Sure, the Stockholm University are surely hoping for some PR for doing this. Why shouldn't they? They certainly don't avoid the good PR their *other* honorary PhDs will give them, and again, why should they?

    Swedish universities usually think long and hard about who to nominate for honoarary PhDs, and since this nomination has survived long enough to actually become official, I'm pretty sure they have a fairly solid motivation. Also, this is a fairly large (34000 students -- http://www.su.se/english/facts95.html) university which lots of research, and I suspect they, like my own university, are pretty careful about their reputation, both nationally and internationally.

    So no, I don't think this is *just* a publicity stunt...
  • I think his work is as good or better as many Ph.D. theses. And many a thesis is simply a bunch of papers or reports put together into a single document anyway, further blurring the lines between a "thesis" and "practical work".

    There are many honorary degrees that are only awarded so that the institution can ingratiate themselves with some dignitary. I think an honorary degree for Linus, however, really is a recognition of excellent work, work that could probably have counted as a Ph.D. if done within a university.

  • I believe the only actual requirement for a Ph.D is an original contribution to the field. This usually takes the form of a thesis, but doesn't have to. I suspect the Linux kernel would qualify.
    thejeff
  • i am not disagreeing that Linux contributed to the CS field, i am just wondering if he is in the same category as Turing, Einstein and Newton.

    You don't have to "beat Einstein" to get a degree. Being "good enough" is enough. I think Linus is good enough. Some says he just used what he learned, such as an engineer building a bridge. Well, if the bridge is sufficiently unusual or spectacular...
    To take the analogy further: Linus' "bridge" is unusually big, it won't fall down in an earthquake, and anybody may cross it for free. Lots of people have come to depend on it.

  • Philosophy is what the Ph in PhD means!

    Linus has held both the project AND ideals together! Was he the first? ... No! Will he be the last? ... Hell no!

    But Linus and avoided most of the pitfalls of other projects, free or not. He does not boast his achievements, and he, more importantly, does NOT take advantage of them either! In addition, he is CAREFUL how he bashes competitors. He does it in a ETHICAL, SINCERE AND TECHNICAL FASHION -- something most software companies need a good lesson in.

    He is a GREAT LEADER for the OpenSource front. He has the character as well as the technical knowledge. He is not the best of either, but the best combination of the two I have ever seen.

    -- BitMan

  • Just wanted to tell you that Linus was interviewed over telephone on the Swedish "P3" radio channel at 10:35 UTC 20 May... :)
  • If I remember correctly, MIT has only given out one honorary degree in its history, and that was to Winston Churchill.

    Salman Rushdie was made an honorary visiting professor; as a columnist for the school paper quipped, this made Rushdie MIT's most inaccessible faculty member.

  • Linux-maker to become honordoctor in Stockholm Linus Torvalds is to be record-young honordoctor at the mathematical/natursientific faculty at Stockholm University
    Finland-swede Torvalds, who in a pressmessage from the faculty is called "IT-rebel and computer genious", is the man behind the operating system Linux, a free program which is honored by sientists all over the world.
    With Linux it is becoming possible to, for a reasonable amount of mony, get a computer, which is a lot better than workstations which, just a few years ago, did cost hundreds of thousends of crowns, the faculty wrotes.
    Three additional honordoctors are promoved; the tjechian professor Josef Houstek and the canadian professors Larry Mayer and Ross Norstrom. All of them are promoved the 24th of september.
  • Hey, speaking of honorary degrees, does anyone else get those annoying spam e-mails selling "prestigious degrees based on life experiences" from non-accredited universities. I've gotten at least 20 of those e-mails in the past 6 months.
    Four years of college, three years of graduate school, and they think I need more degrees?!?! argh. Actually, I was kinda thinking about going for that L.L.M. hmmmmmmm.

  • Re:Honorary Degrees--big deal? (Score:3)

    by tommortensen ( 15979 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @07:58AM (#1886794) Homepage
    In Denmark (and i guess in Sweden) it is actually a great honor to receive a honorary degree. We don't use em much, and you usually have to be 70 before you get one, as a reward for a life long achivement.

  • Honorary Degrees--big deal? (Score:3)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @07:28AM (#1886795) Homepage Journal
    In the USA, honorary degrees are handed out for silly reasons. Colleges that don't offer real Ph.D.s will still give out honorary Ph.D.s. Graduation speakers almost always are given an honorary degree. They really are pretty meaningless.

    I've heard that in Europe that this isn't the case. In some cases, honorary degrees are considered more prestigius than earned degrees. Hence, this could be a really big deal for Linus.

    Someone from Europe care to confirm or correct this understanding?

  • Honorary Doctorate (Score:3)

    by Ruinah ( 16486 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:52AM (#1886796)
    At least they gave it to a deserving person such as Linux. On the other hand, at my graduation a few weeks ago, they gave Ted Turner an Honorary Law Degree from the University of Georgia. The guy sat and spoke about how we were going to die from nuclear attacks. It seems as though "honorary degrees" are being given out like mad lately. The more money you give = Honorary Doctorate?
  • He organized a new development model (bazaar). Maybe this shouldn't go under cs, but it's worthy of some kind of honorary degree.

    Honorary degrees do not involve the same kind of knowledge conventional degrees do, that's why they're called honorary.

  • Is he getting the degree in CS? Is it just a generic math degree?

  • No, it's a totally different kind of (not necessarily worse or better) category, but still a category of which the best members of should receive recognition.

  • The transaltion is boring: it says that Stockholms University has recognized outstanding people, one of them is Linus Torvald who developed Linux, and lives in Santa Clara Calif, 29 years old. He has been honored the Honor Doctors Degree By Stockolmas Univ.
    Thats all, then it talks about other Swedes who also earned this Honor Doctorsdegree.


  • I believe he has made a significant contribution to computer science. To my knowledge he has not released any new theories or programming models, but he has helped us to apply a practical perspective to existing theories.

    For example, he explicitly chose to build a monolithic kernel as opposed to a microkernel. Conventional theory dictates that a microkernel is more flexible and expandable, but Linus believes it is better to put core system functions together in one large piece of memory. Now that Linux is available to everyone, we can all evaluate that choice and more aptly decide for ourselves whether abstraction is the right choice for our needs.

    If that doesn't earn him a doctorate, I don't know what does.

  • You know, you're right. There is a distinction between software engineering and computer science and I often blur the two.

    Research in pure computer science might get you a name in the computer science history books, but software engineering seems like a lot more fun. :) Go Linus!
  • Acctually, RMS didn't receive is doctorate from SU but from KTH (The Royal Institute of Technology). He received it in 1996 together with Karl-Johan Åström and Nils Abramson.
  • I guess I'm lucky to be at a unversity which has never given an honorary degree out. We also have a tradition of having the commencement address given by faculty only. Clinton asked to speak at this year's commencement and there was a big debate about whether we should have refused. In consolation, I believe that he's not going to be listed as the official commencement speaker, that honor goes to a Bio prof, Elaine Fuchs. And he's definitely not going to get a degree, the administration response was that we only give degrees for academic work of the highest caliber.
  • ROTFL!!!

    When I was a kid, one of my best friend's mother was Swedish. When she would talk to her relatives on the phone, my friend's father would "translate".

    He actually didn't speak a word of Swedish. He would pick up dribs and drabs of sylables that sort-of sounded like something in English and spin outrageous hilarious context around these dribs and drabs. It was PURE GENIUS, considering how he would be doing it on the fly.

    Anyone present would be paralyzed with laughter!

    This reminded me of that! Good fun!

    Of course, while this was going on, my friend's mother would be hissing to her husband, "Shhhh!
    I'm talking long distance to SWEDEN forgodsakes!"

  • Translation (Score:3)

    by bsletten ( 20271 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @06:54AM (#1886807)
    Leenoos Turfelds is tu be-a geefee un hunurery Ducturete-a degree-a frum zee Uneefersitiy ooff Stuckhulm. Mr. Turfelds is heeeled es zee
    creetur ooff zee Leenoox oopereteeng system, a ferseeun ooff Uneex imbreced by zee Oopee Suoorce-a mufement. Bork Bork Bork!
  • Henry Ford didn't invent the car or the assembly line, the IBM PC wasn't the first PC, The internet wasn't the first network, but they are all important.

    Though linus may not have created a new OS paradigm, I think he deserves credit under then "lasting contribution to the field" sort of thing.

    just my $.02
  • Well swedish and english is quite similar, both are germanic(?) - indoeuropean languages. Russia Hindi and greece are indoerupean also but got non-latin alphabet

  • Young computergenius one of this years honorary doctorates.

    This years honorary doctorates at the Stockholm University are now apointed.
    Among them is the 29 year old finisch-swedish Linus Torvalds that created
    the world faoums operating system Linux. Torvalds is livning i Santa Clata USA.
    [...]
    (bla, bla about the rest of the guys)
    ...and at the Mathematical Department [...] Linus Torvalds.

    The honorary doctors will be confer a doctor's degree at the usual installation
    at the Blue Hall at Stockholms City Hall friday the 24 September. [....] bla bla


    Ralf
  • It also says that thanks to linux you can get a computer that used to cost hundreds of thounds swedish kronor ( ~20 000 - 100 000 $) for ' a few bucks'. Not bad. :-)

    Raffe
  • Creating an entirely new operating system that the whole world is going to use is really not a big feat considering the crud foisted on us by those Microguys.

    However, using a stupid looking penguin as a moniker for it and having everybody accept it, now that's something worthy of a phd
  • machine that it came out of. If you has a lot of spare money laying around, wouldn't you buy one??

  • Linus has done more than enough to earn a PhD (Score:3)

    by scruffy ( 29773 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @11:02AM (#1886815)
    Most (almost all?) PhD dissertations are quickly put to eternal rest on dusty library shelves, never again to see the light of day. In contrast, Linus has made a visible and significant contribution. Several of you have complained that it is not original. Linus is the developer/coordinator of a free OS kernel that has put fear into Microsoft and all other commercial OS companies. No particular piece is original [note: no piece of a program is original if you look at small-enough pieces, e.g., all programs are formed out of machine instructions], but the combination forming the Linux kernel clearly is original by observing the results. You naysayers can prove me wrong by programming your own world-class OS that gets used by millions of people.

    By the way, I don't mean to belittle all the hard work that all you PhDs have done, but unfortunately, an original contribution does not equate to an important contribution. And I also think the *BSD OSes are significant contributions, certainly >= PhD quality.

  • Let me put it this way. In order for the university to convey 'honor' on Linus (or anyone else), it must first have some authority. If I give Linus an honorary doctorate would anyone (including Linus) care? I really doubt it.

    By accepting the 'honor' Linus accepts the authority of the presenter. I say Linus should reject it out of hand, because in the end you have to ask yourself, "Is the university honoring me, or am I honoring the university?"

    Of course, as with the honorary doctorate, no one really cares what I have to say 8*)

  • Before everyone shouts hooray... (Score:5)

    by Shotgun ( 30919 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @07:10AM (#1886817)
    Please note that Linus hasn't earned a degree. He may be the most brilliant man to ever touch a computer, but there is a lot more to earning a degree than demonstrating that your brilliant. What about a thesis?

    I've always seen honorary degrees as nothing more than a way for the academic elite to maintain their stranglehold on 'intelligence'(i.e., the attitude that your not truly intelligent until you have a degree). What happens when great things are created by people without the academic stamp of approval? Some school rushes in to give them the stamp so that they can now be 'officially' intelligent.

    Linus, refuse their degree. Tell the world that you were smart enough to guide the development of one of the world's greatest software systems without a degree, and that others can do the same.

    People who have earned real doctorate degrees have every reason to be proud. It's something that takes years of hard work to obtain. Those achievements shouldn't be watered down by giving 'honorary' degrees to people who haven't done the work, just so universities can be the gatekeepers of intelligence.


  • The Dialectizer [rinkworks.com] offers several pseudo-translators.

  • >>Even on that front, Linus's contributions were >nill.
    >
    >I wouldn't say that; he did preside over a novel development model, harnessing the work of hundreds of programmers across the world and coordinating these efforts into a kernel in quite a short time.

    OK, so give him a management degree. Or philosophy. But not CS. I agree with those who say he has done nothing to advance the "state of the art". Linux could have been written ten years before Linus, by any of a hundred programmers who'd had exposure to Minix or XINU etc. Some would argue that the functional equivalent of Linux _was_ written ten years before Linus, by the authors of a coupla dozen UNIX flavors from BSD onward.

    What Linus did is a great _practical_ achievement, but at the theoretical level which is justification for a doctorate it just doesn't count.
  • The elephant must have felt so left out.
  • Can you back this statement up?

  • Not Much (Score:3)

    by Rocket Boy ( 34136 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @08:51AM (#1886823)
    Did he design a new OS paradigm?

    From Merriam-Webster [m-w.com]
    Main Entry: paradigm
    Pronunciation: 'par-&-"dIm also -"dim
    Function: noun
    Etymology: Late Latin paradigma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknynai to show side by side, from para- + deiknynai to show -- more at DICTION
    Date: 15th century
    1 : EXAMPLE, PATTERN; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype

    Could be.

    2 : an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms

    Probably not

    3 : a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated

    Now here is something. GNU is nice, but you would have to admit, Linux has pushed the GNU movement ahead by leaps and bounds. Linux could be considered the framework

    Did he start the whole "put out there and share the code" or the Free Software or Open Source idea?

    No, he didn't invent it, only helped it.

    Did he rewrite an improved Unix implimentation all by himself based on new ingenious concepts?

    Not exactly no. He wrote the orginal kernel which started all this nice AltOS movement. Things don't have to be ingenious to recieve praise. They just have to work better.

    did he start a small kernel based on existing and tested ideas and then have thousands of people expand it, imnprove it and make it grow?

    Not bad for a college student from Finland who speaks Swedish and has a thing for Penguins.

    is he an excellent programmer (probably 100x better than me)?

    Never seen ya program...
    He has a good work ethic and that is what makes a programmer who he is.

    RB


  • So do you mean if you created your own kernel for a free OS and 8 years later it is so popular that the University of Stockholm was going to offer you a Honorary Degree you would turn it down.
  • As the old perl adage goes,

    s/(?=c)ie/ei/
  • As the old perl adage goes, "s/(?=c)ie/ei/".
  • Another point is that many (Western) European countries are monarchies. So they always have some prestigious medals and order-of-the-blah-blahs that they can ceremoniously hand over to politicians and other dignitaries. Thus the people who really do get the honorary degrees from universities in these countries have usually done something to deserve it.
  • way back when i was in college i had a swedish chef translation program -- i don't even remember what it was called anymore and i've long since lost it. does anybody happen to have it or know where to find it?
  • Hi all,

    Why is it that so many people are so quick to put Linus down for his doctrate. Surely if you had managed to create an operating system, for free, and make it good enough and popular enough so that other people freely use it, you would be pretty happy when you got a doctrate for it.

    I know that my ambition is to become a major jazz musicien (I'm currently only 17). However, I am aiming to make my money in computing... it's pretty difficult to get into money with music.
    Anyway, I am aiming to got to university and do computer science. I would ideally like to study further and get a Ph.D. This is going to take a lot of work, *but* a lot less work that Linus has done with Linux.

    So, would that make me any less deserving for a doctrate, honerary or other ? I would hope not.
  • Pfft...you think that's bad? When I graduated in '97, the University I graduated from gave Sharon, Lois, and Bram (the childrens story tellers/musicians) honorary doctorates. I guess they were all out of deserving individuals.

  • well,i don't think all Canadian speak french,the majority of French Canadian speaker are in Quebec,there's some minority in other provinces but they're not numerous.
  • Ok, it's really famous and and important what Linus do.
    But...
    Revolutionate this the Computer Cience ?????
    Or it's only a really good implementation/organization ??

    Like an ingenier making a big bridge, nothing more than using what he learned.

    I think that he should not receive a honary doctorate.

    Ok folks, not blame me, it's only my opinion. :)
  • Ok, it's really famous and and important what Linus do.
    But...
    Revolutionate this the Computer Cience ?????
    Or it's only a really good implementation/organization ??

    Like an ingenier making a big bridge, nothing more than using what he learned.

    I think that he should not receive a honary doctorate.

    Ok folks, not blame me, it's only my opinion. :)

  • Translation of the article. (Score:3)

    by Skogshuggarn ( 51572 ) on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @07:07AM (#1886834)
    Young computergenious one of this years honorary doctorates.

    This years honorary doctorates at the university of Stockholm, have now been selected. Among them the only 29 year old finland-swede Linus Torvalds, who among other things has created the worldfamous operatingsystem Linux, is noticed. Torvalds is a resident of Santa Clara USA.

    The following will be honorary doctorates:
    Philosofical honorary doctorates:

    At the faculty of humaniora:
    dr Herbert Blume, Braunscheweig, Germany
    professor Donald Davidson, Berkeley, USA and publisher Per I Gedin and professor Birgit Åkesson, both from Stockholm.

    At the faculty of social studies:
    professor Barney Glaser, Mill Valley, USA, socionom Leif Holgersson, Västerhaninge and FN:s special envoy in disability issues Bengt Lindqvist, Tyresö

    And at the faculty of mathematical-natural science:
    professor Josef Houstek, Checkian sience academy, professor Larry A. Mayer, University of New Brunswick, Kanada, professor Ross Norstrom, National Wildlife Research Centre, Kanada and the above mentioned Linus Torvalds.

    Legal honorary doctorates:
    Judge Leif Sevón and former chief prosecutor Eric Östberg, Stockholm.
    --------

    Hopefully this is all translated reasonably correct.




  • Who said that Linus is going to get a Doctorate in Math? He is getting a Honorary Doctorate from the Faculcy of Mathematics and Sciense, no in mathematics as a subject.
  • Linus Torvalds is just like everyone of us. He knows how to program, like most of us have some sort of niche. I'm sure there are plenty of programmers that are _better_ than he.

    For instance, I've never seen him in Silicon Valley, and honestly it's a small place. He lives in Santa Clara, I live about 10 minutes north. I doubt most people have met him. Besides, he's like us, why would we want to.

    He didn't change the industry. AT&T did. The industry is not using Linux, it's using Solaris, WindowsNT, and often *BSD. Linux is for poor companies, or companies that are trying to gain share holders' favor.

    Linus is definately a great *person*. But that's all he is... just another programmer, like me, like the rest of you. I, in fact, honor his work, and his efforts to shape the open source community with a far superior operating system; but lives weren't saved, exceptional and superior work was not given, nor has he done anything to make him different. Bill Gates is different because he is a selfish money hoarding advocate of control; monster. Linus is a guy.

    Just consider this: With all your hard work, excellent ideas, life-long devotion, and industry changing talent, have you and will you ever be recognized in a way that very few (Gates, Torvalds, Ellison, etc) get to be?

    With that in thought, do you think he deserves it now?

  • Re:Eh? (Score:1)

    by poj ( 51794 )
    Kanada is just the Swedish way of spelling Canada. C:s in the beginning of words is very uncommon in Swedish.

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