One of the reasons that I really don't mind that people are selling Linux commercially is exactly because it does make me feel good that people use the product.

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'.

I never try to make any far-reaching predictions, so much can happen that it simply only makes you look stupid a few years later.

I'd argue that everybody wants to do something that matters, and the fact that Linux has had a huge impact on the tech market and is used virtually everywhere is obviously very personally satisfying. I think programming is fun, and the community around the kernel is great, but a project has to be relevant too.

Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.

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

In science, the whole system builds on people looking at other people's results and building on top of them. In witchcraft, somebody had a small secret and guarded it - but never allowed others to really understand it and build on it. Traditional software is like witchcraft. In history, witchcraft just died out. The same will happen in software. When problems get serious enough, you can't have one person or one company guarding their secrets. You have to have everybody share in the knowledge.