As many DistroWatch Weekly readers will be aware, I recently spent a week in Hobart, Australia, at Linux.conf.au. The popular annual conference draws many big names from the open source world, including Linus Torvalds (pictured on the right), chief architect and creator of the Linux kernel.

The book "The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time", part of a series from the Encyclopaedia Britannica titled "The Britannica Guide to the World's Most Influential People", lists the top one hundred most important and influential inventors since Cro-Magnon man.

A lengthy debate that began with a suggestion to dual license the Linux kernel under the GPLv2 and the GPLv3 [story] continues on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. Throughout the ongoing thread Linux creator Linus Torvalds has spoken out on the GPLv2, the upcoming GPLv3, the BSD license, Tivo, the Free Software Foundation, and much more.

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, has, along with others like Richard Stallman, literally changed the world of software forever.

After years of watching the software industry twist itself in knots trying to differentiate “open” vs. “free” and having to re-invent code simply because it had the wrong comments at the top, I think it’s time to put an end to the madness. This promoted me to write the following letter to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel

Linus Torvalds seems to be trying very hard to make the latest Linux kernel update as boring as possible. Reading this release announcement, if we can even call it that, you'd never imagine that Torvalds was leading the evolution of software.

Most years, Linus Torvalds comes to Australia. He apparently likes the place, so the creator of the Linux kernel makes his way to the Australian national Linux conference in January. Torvalds is an excellent subject for an interview; he never evades a question, not even if he has a single word to offer as reply. And despite claiming to have a big ego, he is indeed very approachable.

This is a comprehensive explanation of the different perspectives of the Free Software Foundation and Linus Torvalds on the GPL. It explains that Linus likes the GPL mainly because of its share-and-share-alike principle, and doesn't care about the FSF's vision of software freedom.

Linus Torvalds is known, rightly so, as the creator of the Linux kernel. What began as his own hobby project now powers major data centres, enabled the netbook market to exist, and has given rise to many a user group install-fest. It's no wonder his opinion is canvassed regularly but the answer may not always be what you expect. Here are some of the best and most defining.