Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds [Full-length]

aaltouniversityace · 2M views · 2012-06-16 · 1:03:56

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Overview

Linus Torvalds is interviewed at Aalto University in 2012, followed by an audience Q&A. He talks about Linux, kernel development and the desktop, and about Nvidia support. The Q&A has a well-known moment where he is blunt about Nvidia.

On Hacker News

HN links it for individual clips: the Nvidia moment, his views on C and his blunt communication style. Some commenters say the whole talk is worth watching.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2012–2025

Topics

Tech pioneers & interviews Linux & open-source ecosystems

What people said

mreiland · 2015-11 · Recommendation
That's a caricature of his actual position, please be more honest than that. edit: Here's another video that does a better job of conveying his reasons for being the way he is. [VIDEO] He's also been on record as saying multiple times that a lot of it is because he comes from a culture that's much more abrasive than US.
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dmiladinov · 2013-03 · Recommendation
I'd like to piggy-back on your mention of Linus. It reminds me of a recent video I saw wherein he talked about how the work on the kernel works within a natural hierarchy. The whole video, IMHO is worth a watch, but the relevant snippet is here, you can watch from about 15:57 to about 18:20 to get the idea: [VIDEO] I especially liked his comment at the end of this section: "The way people work ... is inherent in our brains ... the whole development process ... works really well ... we used the hierarchy that just worked on its own, and that turns out to be the right hierarchy."
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jcfrei · 2012-08 · Recommendation
in a q&a round at aalto university in finland linus adressed the question why linux never took off on the desktop: the lack of being a pre-installed os. he mentions that without preinstalled operating systems there's now way to gain a significant market share in the desktop segment. the whole talk by itself is very recommendable: [VIDEO]
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