Hey, I'm a good software engineer, but I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. White socks and sandals don't translate to 'good design sense'.

What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.

Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.

By staying neutral, I end up being somebody that everybody can trust. Even if they don't always agree with my decisions, they know I'm not working against them.

I lose sleep if I end up feeling bad about something I've said. Usually that happens when I send something out without having read it over a few times, or when I call somebody names.

I do get my pizzas paid for by Linux indirectly.

Non-technical questions sometimes don't have an answer at all.

Once you start thinking more about where you want to be than about making the best product, you're screwed.

I don't expect to go hungry if I decide to leave the University. Resume: Linux looks pretty good in many places.

I'm a technical manager, but I don't have to take care of people. I only have to worry about technology itself.

An individual developer like me cares about writing the new code and making it as interesting and efficient as possible. But very few people want to do the testing.

The thing I love about diving is the flowing feeling. I like a sport where the whole point is to move as little as humanly possible so your air supply will last longer. That's my kind of sport. Where the amount of effort spent is absolutely minimal.

A consumer doesn't take anything away: he doesn't actually consume anything. Giving the same thing to a thousand consumers is not really any more expensive than giving it to just one.

I try to avoid long-range plans and visions - that way I can more easily deal with anything new that comes up.

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.

I've been very happy with the commercial Linux CD-ROM vendors linux Red Hat.

Helsinki isn't all that bad. It's a very nice city, and it's cold really only in wintertime.

No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal.

Finnish companies tend to be very traditional, not taking many risks. Silicon Valley is completely different: people here really live on the edge.

Before the commercial ventures, Linux tended to be rather hard to set up, because most of the developers were motivated mainly by their own interests.

Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day.

Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.

I've felt strongly that the advantage of Linux is that it doesn't have a niche or any special market, but that different individuals and companies end up pushing it in the direction they want, and as such you end up with something that is pretty balanced across the board.

I don't think I'm unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light.

Linux has definitely made a lot of sense even in a purely materialistic sense.

The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that I can depend on in return.

Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.

Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.

There were open source projects and free software before Linux was there. Linux in many ways is one of the more visible and one of the bigger technical projects in this area, and it changed how people looked at it because Linux took both the practical and ideological approach.

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.

I personally think of Linux development as being pretty non-localized, and I work with all the people entirely over e-mail - even if they happen to be working in the Portland area.

I'm perfectly happy complaining, because it's cathartic, and I'm perfectly happy arguing with people on the Internet because arguing is my favourite pastime - not programming.

I actually think that I'm a rather optimistic and happy person; it's just that I'm not a very positive person, if you see the difference.

If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over, the end result is bad.

I see myself as a technical person who chose a great project and a great way of doing that project.

I don't actually go to that many conferences. I do that a couple of times a year. Normally, I am not recognized; people don't throw their panties at me. I'm a perfectly normal person sitting in my den just doing my job.

I spend a lot more time than any person should have to talking with lawyers and thinking about intellectual property issues.

In many ways, I am very happy about the whole Linux commercial market because the commercial market is doing all these things that I have absolutely zero interest in doing myself.

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