I’m about two thirds of the way through “Just for fun”, by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. In a nutshell it’s Linus’s story of how Linux came about.
It’s a story I’m more than familiar with, having been using Linux since 0.99pl11 or somesuch, back in 1993. I think I even e-mailed Linus at some point about Sound card support. I don’t think I got a reply.
Anyway, it’s a very well put together book. I’d almost class it as ‘un-put-down-able’, in the sense that I’m finding it hard not to resist reading a bit more. What makes it enjoyable is that it’s clear Linus is very much at ease with how things came about. Spending days couped up in a darkened room producing code is fun, something I can speak of from experience with LEAP, a product that appeared after many such weekends (mainly when I was working in Duesseldorf), but it’s not something that is well appreciated, shall we say, outside of the geek community.
His observations and comments as he writes are great tangents from the central theme of Linux’s evolution. I particularly like the statement builds up, and self-defacing put-downs that follow soon after. My particular favourite: So folks who’ve ventured into the depths of Microsoft tell me they’ve seen my face on dartboards. My only comment: How could anybody possibly miss my nose?
Dave Diamonds sections are great too, presenting life with Linus and his family in a “he’s a normal guy with a great family”. Some great excusions and moments make life in California seem very desirable.
So, with about a third of the book left to read, we’re into transmeta territory now, and Linus settling into life in California. Clearly he likes it there. His meetings with technical alumni (Steve Jobs and Bill Joy) are interesting. He’s clearly a techy who isn’t particularly awestruck meeting such people (as I suspect I’d be), and will happily disagree with them (as you should really).
But the thing that comes through most is how much of a nice and honest chap Linus is. You may not particularly like Linux as a technology (I certainly have my issues with how it’s presented by the big linux vendors), but it’s a technology that’s here to stay. Understanding it’s origins helps understand perhaps why he takes a pragmatic view on many current issues (such as DRM), often in the face of the groupthink of many techies.
The only gripe I have is the very American target audience of the book. Perhaps that’s something that came through in editing, but many points about life in general seem directed at the reader. For a book with such a huge non-American audience, it seems a sad oversight. But it’s clear Linus sees much of life in America critically, and doesn’t feel he shouldn’t point out things that the US doesn’t get right, at least, from a European perspective (his observations on the political setup is very apt, and could even apply here in Blighty).
All said and done, despite still not having finished it, a definite recommendation to read. And given that I picked it up in Hay-on-Wye for £1 last weekend (hardback!), I figure I got very good value for money. I’d happily buy this book if I’d heard more about it before.
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