“How did you first learn about Linux? What were you doing in
your own life at the time?”
“Nick Holloway: I was a Ph.D student at the University of
Warwick, and I heard about Linux through Usenet around the time of
its inception. I immediately subscribed to alt.os.linux so I could
read more. In early 1993, I bought a machine specifically for
running Linux.“
“What attracted you to it, compared to FreeBSD, proprietary UNIX
systems, or lucrative areas such as Windows? What made you want to
help with development?”
“Nick: I had used UNIX (BSD and SunOS) almost exclusively since
starting at the University of Warwick in 1985, and was hooked. I
wanted a home computer, but I also wanted to be able to run UNIX.
It had looked as if my best bet was the BSD port, 386/BSD. However,
this was overshadowed by the lawsuit against BSDI.”
“When Linux became available, it was the obvious choice to me.
It had enough to get started and be usable, but there was plenty of
scope for being able to contribute to its development.”