FOSS Debates, Part 1: Kernel Truths

"As the father of Linux and coordinator of the kernel's development, Linus Torvalds might be expected to have strong views on its importance. In fact, in a recent interview with LinuxInsider, he said he looks at the question in a few different ways.

""The first one is the purely personal one: I think system programming -- and kernels in particular -- is just more interesting than doing the more mundane kinds of software engineering," Torvalds told LinuxInsider. "So to me, the kernel is simply more important than anything else, because it does things that no other piece of software does: It's the thing between the hardware and 'ordinary programs.'"

"Of course, "the kernel really is the heart of the OS and tends to be pretty central even aside from my personal opinions," Torvalds added. "The kernel ends up being involved in everything you do, which means that if there is a performance PEER1 Managed Hosting - free firewall and SAN Backup for six months. Click to learn more. issue or a security issue with the kernel, you have fundamental problems with anything that builds on top of it -- which ends up being absolutely everything, of course."

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