Linus Torvalds has been working on Linux for 32 years, longer than many software developers have been alive. Surprisingly though, Linux, Torvalds’ earliest “hobby project,” arguably gains in importance each year, despite its age. It’s rare for any software to remain relevant for a few years, much less a few decades. In the case of Linux, its ongoing relevance isn’t an accident. Instead, it’s a testament to some key lessons Torvalds has learned and applied for years. He shared some of those lessons at the recent Open Source Summit in Japan.
Among those lessons: figuring out how to collaborate with others and motivate contributors to ensure Linux keeps evolving. These are central to Linux’s success and, indeed, all successful software projects.
“People seem to think that open source is all about programming,” Torvalds stresses, “but a lot of it is about communication.” For a demographic sometimes characterized as geeky hermits more comfortable with ones and zeroes than social engagement, this is an interesting insight. “People are hard,” he says, but “code is easy.”
