Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary [Paperback]

Linus Torvalds wrote the Linux kernel but Just For Fun could refer to writing the book. It isn't about Linux, it's about Linus. Here he tells us about his childhood, his time at Helsinki University, his marriage to six times karate champion Tove, about his children and about his attitude to life.

He comes across as a nice guy who, until Linux made him a celebrity, interacted with the world only tangentially. This could be in part a response to his frankly weird early home life in Finland.

David Diamond (of Red Herring magazine) acts as editor while Linus tells it like it is. But while Linus appears open, the story he tells is polished. As Liberace used to say when asked why people liked his take on the classics, "I leave out the boring bits". His four years in a darkened room with a computer as a boy may not have made gripping reading for everyone.

Linus is probably brilliant, but it's obsessive hard work, alone behind closed curtains, which enabled him to create Linux. One of the most interesting aspects of his story is how success--in his marriage and the wider world--has changed him. If we're to believe his own words his wife and children together with a Californian lifestyle are now his chief source of fun.

Linus Torvalds will one day rate an academic biography. In the meantime, the message here is that one route to personal fulfilment is doing what you want to do, as well as you can, for your own reasons--even just for fun. --Steve Patient --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Time Magazine/Time Inc Some people are born to lead millions. Others are born to write world-changing software. Only one person does both. Torvalds. Financial Times, June 20, 2001 Linus Torvalds created Linux as a gift - and has forced us to ponder the nature of success. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[Linus Torvalds]chronicles his transformation from pale, skinny college kid to international folk hero. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

...a funny and readable book. Torvalds has charm and a low-key, selfdeprecating wit. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Linus Torvalds is a lot like Bill Gates...both are about the same height. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

...one of the most valuable volumes about IT that will go on sale this year and one of the most readable --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The book is a playful, witty and rather touching account of his progress.... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A gripping read on the whole which is easy on the 'technical eye' and full of good, solid information. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

In 1991, at the age of 21, Linus Torvalds, then a student at Helsinki University, sat down in his mother's apartment and wrote the powerful Linux operating system. Perhaps even more astounding than his programming prowess is what Torvalds did with it: he gave it away - free! The Linux operating system became available to anyone who wanted to download it. Instead of money, Torvalds asked people for suggestions to improve the system. Thus emerged the free software movement (known today as "Open Source") and an operating system that is more powerful and stable than anything that Microsoft can offer. As well as becoming a computer genius, Torvalds became Bill Gates' number one enemy. Today, LINUX is exploding on to the market, and its creator is a household name. Linus Torvalds is already a folk hero within the technolgy world, often mobbed at trade shows and forever asked to give interviews by the media. But Torvalds is a most unlikely celebrity: a family man, he lives in a cramped house in Santa Clara with his wife, Tove, a Finnish karate champion, and their two daughters. He claims to this day that he invented LINUX "just for fun".

Linus Torvalds was born in Finland and graduated from the University of Helsinki. He is the creator of the LINUX operating system and head of the Open Source movement. He presently works as a programmer at Transmeta Corp, a secretive company that designs cutting-edge microchips. He lives with his wife - the six-times karate champion of Finland - and children in Santa Clara, California. David Diamond has written regularly for publications such as The New York Times, Business Week and Wired. He is executive editor of Red Herring magazine and lives in Kentfield, California with his wife and daughter.