“You had to see it to believe it. When Linux kernel developer
Linus Torvalds spoke at an event last week in Chicago, he was
granted a rather modest room in comparison to other brand-name
keynoters. At the last minute, however, Torvalds was moved to a
venue three times the size- and even that space failed to
accommodate the throngs that came to hear him talk. Listeners
crowded the aisles and even sat prone against the dais.”
“Later, as I interviewed Red Hat Chief Executive Bob Young in
the middle of a busy hallway, customers began to gather. During a
pause, several of them approached to ask questions and make
comments about some of the company’s latest software. They wouldn’t
leave until they had a chance to do so.”
“I haven’t seen anything like this since the early days of this
industry, when excitement-and innovation-were in the air. When Bill
Gates was a lot geekier and Steve Jobs could bring Mac addicts to
tears with his demos.”