When you say 'I wrote a program that crashed Windows', people just stare at you blankly and say 'Hey, I got those with the system, *for free*'.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Torvalds highlights the disconnect between developers who break systems and users who rely on them for free.
- In plain terms
- People take free stability for granted until someone breaks it.
- What can you take from it?
- Don't complain about free software when you didn't build it.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do you appreciate free software enough?
- Is stability a right or a privilege?
Another view
It ignores that users often pay for the system indirectly.
More from Linus Torvalds
Portability is for people who cannot write new programs.
Permalink to quote #16 If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply know better than you do.
Permalink to quote #18 See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too ;-)
Permalink to quote #15
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