[ Thanks to Jeremy
Andrews for this link. ]
“It was recently asked on the Linux kernel mailing list if it’s
too late to get involved with kernel development, wondering if all
the interesting work is already done and if all that’s left is the
monotony of fixing bugs and optimizing existing code. Several of
the responses seemed to be of the opinion that while this may be
true for UNIX(like) operating systems striving for POSIX
compliance, there’s room to start over.“Linux creator Linus Torvalds replied to this by saying, ‘No.
Only stupid people think they should throw away old proven
concepts. What happens quite often in academia in particular is
that you find a problem you want to fix, and you re-design the
whole system around your fix.’ He went on to argue, ‘Not throwing
out the baby with the bath-water doesn’t mean that you cannot
improve the system. I’m only arguing against stupid people who
think they need a revolution to improve–most real improvements are
evolutionary…'”