Wired: The Peacemaker

“It’s no accident that Linus Torvalds has been calling the shots
for Linux longer than most world leaders have been in power. In the
12 years since he uploaded his operating system and became de facto
master of the open source universe, the 33-year-old programmer has
endured waves of attacks from developer zealots seeking to hijack
open source to further their own agendas–toppling Microsoft,
fighting the music industry, stopping the commercialization of open
source software. Through it all, Torvalds has maintained a Zen-like
ability to defuse political opposition and saved Linux from being
either co-opted or abandoned. Torvalds, who holds down a day job as
a software engineer at chipmaker Transmeta, told Wired how he keeps
the peace.

“WIRED: The open source community has all manner of
rabid devotees. What’s your strategy for keeping these forces at
bay?

“TORVALDS: My basic strategy has always been to
not care too much. It actually ends up working wonders–avoiding
confrontation by just walking away. The thing is, I don’t usually
feel as deeply about some of the issues they feel strongly about,
and that makes it easier just to ignore the politics–and as a
result, the political consequences. That also allows me to
concentrate on the things I do enjoy, namely the technical
discussions…”

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