“Pleeeeeeeease, Linus, will you sign this?” the 20-year-old
university computer tech asked, jamming a program guide in the face
of Linus Torvalds, the developer of the lesser-known Linux computer
operating system.”
“Hadam was among the more effusive of the scores of techies who
jammed an overflowing conference room at Chicago’s McCormick Place
to meet the man who created the operating system she uses at Loyola
University. But she was far from the only one who asked for an
autograph or a handshake from the somewhat bewildered Torvalds,
whom some say is David to Gates’ Goliath in the high-tech
world.”
“Hadam and others praise Linux because its source code — the
programming language that makes Linux run — is freely available,
allowing programmers to personalize it to suit their needs.”