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Dat e : Mon , 18 Oct 1 9 9 9 1 4 : 1 2 : 2 7-07 00 ( PDT )
From : Linus Torvalds < torva l ds @ transme t a . c om>
To : David Diamond
Subj e c t : Ho humm . .
MIME-Version : 1.0
I hope this is s til l your email addres s . I noticed
that I didn ' t have any contact inf o rmation f o r you
anywhere , probably because I ' ve trashed your busine s s
card al ong with a l l t h e o thers , and because you ' ve
ac tua l ly contac ted me by phone much more than by
email .
I ' ve thought a l o t over the weekend , and if you ' re
intere s ted , I think I ' m get ting more and more int e r
e s t ed . Let ' s cut a deal : I f you think we c an make a
fun book , and more importantly if you think we can
have fun making it , l et ' s go for it . You ' d drag me
( with family ) camping and ( without family ) skydiving .
Things that I woul dn ' t ever do o therwis e , j us t
because I think I ' m t o o busy . Give m e a n excus e t o do
the things I haven ' t done during the l a s t three years
even though a l l the opportunities are there . . . So
maybe I wouldn ' t read a book about me when it ' s done ,
but at l e a s t I ' d have fun with it .
Linus
... And sometimes, revolutionaries just get stuck with it.
Linus Torvalds
xi
Contents
Acknowledgments
xv
Preface
xvii
BIRTH OF A NERD
1
BIRTH OF AN OPERATING SYSTEM
37
KING OF THE BALL
125
Intellectual Property
204
An End to Control
215
The Amusement Ride Ahead
Why Open Source Makes Sense
Fame and Fortune
235
The Meaning of Life II
242
Index
251
220
225
Acknowledgments
The authors. wish to acknowledge the following establish
ments for their role in creating this book-or at least making it
fun. (None of these places have paid us any money. Which is a
damn shame.)
FM 1 07.7 the Bone. Classic Rock That Rocks; Zelda's
Restaurant, Capitola; Kiva Retreat House, Santa Cruz; Hagashi
West Restaurant, Palo Alto; Malibu Grand Prix, Redwood Shores;
Bodega Bay Lodge, Bodega Bay; Saturn Cafe, Santa Cruz; Cafe
Marmalade, Ross; Half Moon Bay Boardshop, Half Moon Bay;
Santa Cruz Billiards, Santa Cruz; Cafe Reyes, Point Reyes Station;
California Sushi and Grill, San Jose; Santa Clara Golf and Tennis
Club, Santa Clara; Ideal Bar and Grill, Santa Cruz; Silver Peso Bar
("Where Janis Played"), Larkspur; Rosie McCann's Irish Pub and
Restaurant, Santa Cruz; Mayflower Inn, San Rafael; Grover Hot
Springs State Park, Markleeville; Left Bank Restaurant, Larkspur;
Potrero Brewing Company, San Francisco; The Rice Table, San
Rafael; Ross Valley Swim and Tennis Club, Kentfield; Fallen Leaf
Lake Marina, Fallen Leaf Lake; Peer's Coffee and Tea, Greenbrae;
Hawthorne Lane Restaurant, San Francisco; Indian Springs Resort,
Calistoga; Samurai Sushi, Sausalito; Blowfish Sushi, San Francisco;
Paramount's Great America, Santa Clara; Robata Grill Sushi, Mill
Valley; Buckeye Roadhouse, Mill Valley; Barnes and Noble, San
Jose; Sushi Ran, Sausalito; 23 Ross Common, Ross; KFOG-104.5
FM; Rutherford Grill, Rutherford; In-N-Out Burger, Santa Rosa;
Seto Sushi, Sunnyvale.
xv
Prefa ce:
The Mea ning of Life I
(Sex, Wa r, Lin ux)
SETTING:
This book has its origins in a late-model black Ford Expe
dition in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 , somewhere in Cali
fornia's Central Valley. Linus and Tove Torvalds and their young
daughters, Patricia and Daniela, are accompanied by an interloper
as they travel 3 5 1 miles to Los Angeles, where they will visit the
zoo and an IKEA outlet.
DAVID:
Now I've got a fundamental question to think about,
and it's sort of important. What do you want to get
across in this book?
LINUS:
Well, I want to explain the meaning of life.
TOVE:
Linus, did you remember to fill the gas tank?
L:
I have a theory about the meaning of life. We can, in the
first chapter, explain to people what the meaning of life
is. We get them hooked that way. Once they're hooked
and pay for the book, we can just fill up the rest with ran
dom crap.
D:
Oh yes. That sounds like a plan. Someone told me that
since the dawn of man there have been two lingering
questions.
One:
"What is the meaning of life?" and
Two:
"What can I do with all this pocket change that accumu
lates at the end of the day?"
L :
I have the answer to the first one.
D:
What's
the answer to the first one?
xvi i
L:
Basically it is short and sweet. It won't give your life any
meaning, but it tells you what's going to happen. There
are three things that have meaning for life. They are the
motivational factors for everything in your life-for any
thing that
you
do or any living thing does: The first is
survival, the second is social order, and the third is enter
tainment. Everything in life progresses in that order.
And there is nothing after entertainment. So, in a sense,
the implication is that the meaning of life is to reach that
third stage. And once you've reached the third stage,
you're done. But you have to go through the other stages
first.
D:
You're going to have to explain this a little more.
PATRICIA:
Papa, can we stop for chocolate ice cream ? I would
like to have some chocolate ice cream now!
T:
No, sweetie. You have to wait. When we stop to go potty
you can have ice cream.
L:
I'll give you a few examples so you can kind of get the
idea. And the obvious one is sex. It started out as sur
vival, but it became a social thing. That's why you get
married. And then it becomes entertainment.
P:
Then I have to go potty.
D:
How is it entertaining ?
L:
Okay, I'm talking to the wrong person. How about this
one?
D:
No, go back to sex.
L:
It's also on another level . . .
o:
(to self): Oh, entertaining to participate in as opposed to
watch. Okay, I get it.
L:
. . . On another level, if you look at the illusion of sex in
a biological sense-How did sex come about in the first
place? It was survival. It wasn't entertaining initially. It
was just getting together. Okay, let's drop the sex part.
D:
No, no. I think this is a whole chapter.
L:
Let's pick war instead. It's obvious it started as survival,
xvi i i
j u s t fo r F u n
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