While I may not get any money from Linux, I get a huge personal satisfaction from having written something that people really enjoy using, and that people find to be the best alternative for their needs.
There's innovation in Linux. There are some really good technical features that I'm proud of. There are capabilities in Linux that aren't in other operating systems.
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 think the open software movement (and Linux in particular) is laudable.
We can build a better product than Linux.
Don't forget that Linux became only possible because 20 years of OS research was carefully studied, analyzed, discussed and thrown away.
Obviously Linux owes its heritage to UNIX, but not its code. We would not, nor will not, make such a claim.
Linux doesn't have IP roots.
We're not talking about insignificant amounts of code. It's substantial System V code showing up in Linux.
IBM has taken our valuable trade secrets and given them away to Linux.
We counted over a million lines of code that we allege are infringed in the Linux kernel today.
I was Computer Shopper's linux columnist for more than half a decade, from the late 90s onwards. Yes, I know about Linux. (My first review of a Linux distro in the press was published in late 1996.)
Well, lets just say, if your VCR is still blinking 12:00, you dont want Linux.
